SEVENOAKS LOCAL GROUP SEPTEMBER 2016 NEWSLETTER Leaving the EU could remove some of the wildlife protection protected by the Habitats and the Birds Directives, and affect the funding of farming stewardship schemes which compensate farmers for loss of productivity when more environmentally friendly practices are employed. We therefore need to ensure that our government, whatever its political colour, continues to maintain the improvements in the environment that have been gained over the past decades and that all the campaigning and work of wildlife supporters like us is not undermined. Organisations such as the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts are vital guardians and we must give them as much support as possible. It was good therefore to hear at the Sevenoaks Group’s AGM on 7th May that in the last financial year we had donated £3,800 to the RSPB, plus a further £544 from sales of goods, and also collected £7,741 from pin badge sales. Thank you to all our loyal supporters, some of whom have elected to receive this Newsletter electronically rather than by post. This year is already off to a good start, with participation in the National Trust Bird and Birdsong event at Knole Park in April, an Allotment Day in Sevenoaks in July and, also in July, a charity “bucket collection” at the Sainsbury Supermarket which raised £218.51. Our next event will be a tent at the Shoreham Heavy Horse Show on Sunday 4th September. This is always a highly enjoyable event, so do come along and visit us. Anne McGregor has taken over from Nick Barlow as mid-week field meeting leader. Nick will be a very hard act to follow, but Anne has already made her mark and has produced an excellent programme of trips which can be found in the Diary Section (p5-8) along with John Waterman’s weekend trips, and the varied indoor meeting programme, produced by Jean Nobbs, which starts on September 1st. The “Diary Section” is deliberately printed as the centre sheet so that it can be easily removed and kept as an aide memoire, though members still occasionally say they didn’t know an event or meeting was happening. All our events are also listed on the website which is where any last minute alterations or cancellations would appear in the “News” section on the front page. In this issue there are also details of our next Quiz Evening, Photographic Competition (both p9), and a 3-day Minibus Trip to deepest Lincolnshire (p10). It’s always nice to round up with some good news, so on page 11 is a report on the breeding of waders in north Kent by Alan Johnson, the RSPB South East Region Conservation Manager. This was first published in the Kent Ornithological Society’s Kent Bird Report 2014 (number 63), which is the current issue. A colour version of this newsletter will appear in the “News” section on the website: www.rspb.org.uk/groups/sevenoaks. Brian Nobbs, Editor. [email protected]. 36 Main Road, Sundridge, Sevenoaks, TN14 6EP. The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076; Scotland no. SC037654 1 June 2016 – what a month for our garden birds! This year Brian and I decided to remain at home in June to make the most of the garden at its best. Best for whom (or what)? Having returned at the end of May from Romania, we found the garden had burgeoned, recent rain having suited our very sandy soil. In mid - May the first signs of a wildlife takeover had been evident. A pair of very feisty Mistle Thrushes built a sturdy nest in the fork of a tree not four feet from the ground in the wildest area of the garden. We did not hold out much hope the nest would succeed, but as the leaves covered the tree, and four eggs were laid we went off on holiday leaving the parents in peace. On our return, the “missiles” as we referred to them made it very plain neither we nor any other form of wildlife were welcome at the bottom of the garden. We resigned ourselves to the odd quick dash to the compost heap Garden Mistle Thrush © Brian Nobbs or shed, and admired the developing wild flower meadow from afar. Yellow Rattle, a semi parasitic plant on grasses was proving a good method of reducing grass vigour, to the benefit of other wild flowers. The Mallards continued to trash the pond, but eventually returned to the lake having eaten a lot of unwanted plant material, leaving just the native water species such as Bog Bean, Water Soldier and Cotton Grass. The weather remained damp, but the birdsong was intense. Three pairs of Song Thrushes competed with themselves and a number of pairs of Blackbirds, one Blackbird pair nesting in a Mahonia three feet from the sitting room window. The three pairs of Robins got on with raising families with the occasional skirmish, and rush to the mealworm feeders topped up twice a day. (We delayed at our peril!) We kept up feeding sunflower hearts and mixed seed as well as fat balls and fat blocks. The Blue and Great Tit parents were glad of this, but had to compete with two pairs of Greenfinches, and at least two pairs of Goldfinches which met occasionally in an aerial dog fight, plus a Nuthatch. Successful breeding was indicated by a raid on the feeders by 10 Goldfinches, the juveniles obvious without the adult red mask. A family party of 10 Long-tailed Tits also put in an appearance, and a Goldcrest was heard in the Cedar tree. On 10th June it was clear that the parent Mistle Thrushes were not straying far from the garden, keeping watch from a lakeside Alder tree, a rose arch or our sun dial. Woe betide any Magpie or Jackdaw which ventured close. Then on the 13th I came upon a youngster by the vegetable patch which flew in an ungainly manner to the top of the shed. Had we got the bottom of the garden back? No! The harsh cries of a parent escorting junior to safety made me back off again. We hoped the other three were with the other parent. Also on our return home we noticed a pair of Pied Wagtails perching on the telephone wire or ferreting for insects on the roof. They started to get more agitated as time wore on, and I realised they had a nest – under the solar panels! Was the front garden now off limits? Not quite, but we had to leave the property occasionally ….. So what had Romania to beat this? Well lots of Cuckoos of course, but I guess we will stay at home again in June next year. For more on Romania, see the next item! Jean Nobbs 2 A Taste of Romania, from Transylvania to the Black Sea Text and photographs by Brian Nobbs May proved to be an excellent time to visit Romania. Extensive woodlands covered the hills, a number of the fields had wild flowers growing, apparently to provide nectar for pollinators (including hives of Honey Bees transported from site to site) which included a vivid variety of butterflies, and birds were holding territories and feeding young families. The first part of our visit was based in the small Transylvanian town of Zarnesti, backed by the mountains of the Piatra Craiului (Rock-of-the King) National Park in the Carpathians. The limestone is cut by dramatic gorges, with wooded areas in the clefts home to warblers and the streams to Dippers and Grey Wagtails, whilst more open areas contained Red-backed Shrikes and a variety of woodpeckers, including Grey-headed and the spectacular Black Woodpecker. Overhead Common Buzzards were joined by Kestrels hunting for rodents or perhaps lizards. The highlight, however, had to be an evening visit to a bear hide deep in the woods. The Brown Bears are tempted to come near the hide by the regular provision of light snacks, but they are wild animals and there is no guarantee that any will come – though Romania still probably holds the largest population in Europe, together with Wolf and even Lynx. Zarnesti Gorge The escorting warden made sure we were all safely in the hide and then took a bag of corn and biscuits from his vehicle and started to place some around the clearing in front of the hide, but his extremely hasty exit alerted us to the entrance of a female bear with three cubs. Over the course of two hours nine individual bears came and went, Eurasian Brown Bear stopping to sample the fare and to engage in a little socialising before melting back into the woods as another, perhaps more dominant individual arrived. Although the bears could almost certainly smell or hear us, even if they were too short-sighted to see us, they were totally nonchalant and it really was a magical evening. Whilst in the area we stopped at Castle Bran. The castle itself felt somewhat Disneyesque, and was surrounded by sellers of “Dracula” souvenirs (including a blood-coloured alcoholic beverage called “Draquila”). However, more interesting to us were the surrounding grounds and gardens which seemed to have large numbers of Fieldfares harvesting insects and worms for hungry chicks, whilst White Wagtails pursued more aerial prey. After a few days we moved south-east to Tulcea on the banks of the River Danube, where we boarded our floating hotel.