246 HOC NEWS August quarterly bulletin for herefordshire birdwatchers 2018 Tawny Owl Survey page 10 Curlew recovery project page 11 HOC indoor meetings page 13 Snippet 17: Robins - A population crash of Sparrowhawk byMickColquhoun page 18 Photo Editorial! "by Nicky Davies" Hello again from a very hot and uncomfortable Editorial Towers! Despite the heat this summer, members have been extremely busy volunteering with projects, surveys and watching the fate of our feathered friends. For many birds, it appears that the extended hot and dry season is having a detrimental impact. Insects are not surviving or readily available to breeding birds, the essential component to starting off in life for many species. Wetlands are drying up, small mammals are struggling to survive and heat exhaustion is taking its toll - this doesn't look good…" HOC recognises that without the extremely valuable effort put in by our volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to provide so much support for both our breeding and visiting birds. Thank you. And whilst on the subject of volunteers, there are opportunities to get involved in HOC’s activities. Interested in surveying for Tawny Owls, Sand Martins, Swifts or Curlews? For more information, there are more details throughout this newsletter with contact details. If you have a willingness to assist in the engine powerhouse of HOC, there is a vacancy for someone to take over the reins from our one and only Jim Wilkinson who after many years, needs a break and can be unleashed to go on long birding holidays and get involved in practical works at some of our valued sites across the County." Robert Taylor has provided an article on the series of Herefordshire Birding Sites (page 4) and is asking if anybody would like to contribute to compiling information on a list of sites. Talking of which, Mervyn Davies has provided information on Site 45 - a personal favourite of mine - the River Wye at Winforton, maybe I shouldn't have published this, I want it all to myself!" Chris Robinson has summarised the Nest Recording Scheme training day - thank you to all who took part and Herefordshire can now boast that it has 12 more trained and competent nest recorders. It looks as though it was a great day and much was learnt." The beloved Robins are back. Guy Woodford has provided another intimate observation on these birds and how they have fared over the brutal winter months." Remember that the closing date for submissions for the next edition of HOC news is 14th October. Please add this date to your diaries. Submissions dates are the same every year. They are as follows; 14th January, 14th April, 14th July, 14th October" Finally, If you have any queries about submitting information, please contact me on (07855 126642) or "email at [email protected]" Happy birding" Nicky" www.herefordshirebirds.org Ringed Plover. By Nick Pegler !2 Contents " Editorial!!!!!!!!!!2! " Herefordshire Birding Sites!!!!!! 4! " Sand Martin Project!!!!!!!!5! " Treasurer wanted!!!!!!!!5! " What’s in a Name?!!!!!!!!6! " Nest Recording Training Day!! !!!!7! " Birding Spot Highlight - River Wye, Winforton!!!8! " Tawny Owl Survey!!!!!!!!10! " Curlew Recovery Project Update !!!!!11! " HOC Field Meetings!!!!!!!!12! " HOC Indoor Meeting Dates!!!!!!13! " HOC Field Meeting Reports!!!!!!14! " Event Notice!!!!!!!!!17! " Robins - 17. A population Crash! !!!!!18! " Swift Survey - Help Required!!!!!!19! " Advertising/Submissions/Contacts!!!!!20! 3 www.herefordshirebirds.org Common Sandpiper Picture taken by Nick Peg;er Herefordshire birding sites! by Robert Taylor! This edition of the Newsletter includes the ninth and latest birding spot highlight, Winforton, River Wye written by Mervyn Davies. The aim is to produce similar articles for all forty-five "sites of ornithological interest in Herefordshire." Writers have been identified for a further fifteen sites and these will be published in due "course.! This, however, leaves twenty-five sites for which we are seeking writers. The sites are: Bircher Common; Bunch of Carrots, River Wye; Coneygree Wood, Ledbury; Harley’s Mountain; Haugh Wood; Holme Lacey, River Wye; Hergest Ridge; High Vinnals; Leominster by-pass; Letton Lakes; Lyepole, River Lugg; Mary Knoll Valley; Mahon Gravel Pits; Midsummer Hill & Hollybush; Milton Cross & Shobdon Industrial Estate; Sellack, River Wye; Shobdon Court "Pools; Kinnersley; Wapley Hill; Wigmore Rools and Wilton, River Wye." If one or more of these sites are on your ‘patch’ would you be able to help us complete "the set?! We can supply you with a blank template into which all the necessary information can be added and will provide any help needed to complete the template. Alternatively, you could "provide the necessary information and we will complete the templates." It would be really good if we could complete the work on all sites by the end of this year, so that the articles can be loaded onto the Club’s new website which is scheduled for launch early in "2019." "If you can help, please contact Robert Taylor at [email protected] or on 01989 730537." Dipper. By Thomas Winstone www.herefordshirebirds.org !4 Sand Martin Project By Andrew Strong! Two beautiful early June mornings on the River Wye and 88 Sand Martins caught for ringing. Of those caught, 28 had been previously, all at the same site. Analysing this data provides important information about our local colony. " Last year one of the birds caught on the Wye had been ringed in France, giving details of its route between Herefordshire and their wintering grounds in the Sahel region of Africa (from Senegal eastwards)." This year we caught a bird that we had ringed in 2014. It was an adult then and therefore has travelled between here and Africa at least ten times, a total distance of over 40,000 (forty thousand) kilometres. All on a diet of insects and without a satnav. " 2018 saw Sand Martins, and other hirundines, arrive much later than usual. Also, various locations across the UK are reporting colonies being much smaller. Whilst the reason for this has yet to be established and could be due to factors anywhere, in either their wintering grounds or on their migration route, the data we are collecting will help show any local changes and effects." High rainfall in the UK in June has been shown to have a negative impact on Sand Martin colonies as they struggle to feed young. This year rainfall has been far below the average and may help balance things, but stressed birds arriving later have smaller broods, so it’s a complicated situation." Steph Tyler continues to be a vital part of the ringing team, and this year students from Cardiff University Ornithological Society were invited to attend. The students greatly appreciated the opportunity to assist with our fieldwork and showed that there are young ornithologists keen to be involved in club activities when given the chance. " Further updates will appear as this project progresses." " Andrew Strong and Dan Webb" Treasurer wanted!! by Jim Wilkinson! ….not the best headline perhaps. The money is all still there so don’t worry but I do intend relinquishing the post at the next AGM in March 2019. The time is right for a new appointment so it would be good to find someone who could work alongside me for the remainder of my term. Over the last few years, with the progress of technology, the Treasurer’s role has become much simpler. It is a job for which you would need to be comfortable with spreadsheets and online banking but nothing very complicated. The busiest period is in January when subscriptions are due with most being paid by Standing Order direct into our account. There are bills to pay throughout the year but in 2016/17 I wrote 11 cheques all year. All other bills were paid on line which makes it much easier than when I started. HOC cannot function without a Treasurer so, if you might be interested in taking on the role and making your contribution to the future of the club, please get in touch with me. My contact details are on the back page. !5 www.herefordshirebirds.org What’s in a name? Number 3 by Robert Taylor! " The old English name for this bird was Hragra, still preserved in in Shetland as Hegrie and "Hegril’s Skip. In Suffolk it is sometimes called Frank after its call. " This species was often used as prey for hawking – ‘a marvellous and delectable pastime’ according to Harting writing in the Ornithology of Shakespeare in 1871. There is a print from 1799 in the British Museum showing a group of men on horseback riding in a line across grassy hills, with three riders in the foreground, the one in the centre pointing with his whip towards two hawks preparing to attack the species in question." " " However, the prey often escaped by flying high and avoiding conflict with the hawks. It was due to hawking that the species was accorded a reputation for cowardice, and the exiled French noble Robert of Artois who presented Edward III with a dish of these birds roasted, signifying that they were cowardly birds for the cowardly king who did not invade France, made a play on this. The dish may have had the desired effect, as Edward III subsequently did invade France, "leading to the Hundred Years War! " In past times, this species was thought to have sympathy with the moon, and in Angus in Scotland, the species was believed to wax and wane with the moon, being plump when the moon is full and lean at the crescent. Old medicine too, took account of lunar cycles and recipes often often prescribe the picking of a herb only when the moon was at its fullest.