The RSPB North Staffs Local Group The Ouzel September 2016 ‘Out of this wood do not desire to go.’ William Shakespeare A ruff afternoon at RSPB Frampton Marsh in April - photo credit Ian Worden Group Leader’s Message – Geoff Sales Welcome to the start of another season and what we trust is an excellent line-up of indoor talks and birding trips. You will have read in the last edition of the Ouzel about the Staffordshire Birders’ Conference held in March, you may have even been there, either way a second one is now being planned for Sunday 5 March 2017. There was certainly much support for a follow-up event and one sooner rather than later to maintain the momentum. The format will be similar to last time. Two speakers are so far arranged: Kate MacRae, who is the Group’s guest speaker in October; and Mary Colwell, who recently undertook a 500-mile walk to raise awareness of, and money for, the plight of the curlew. This walk, from Enniskillen to Boston (Lincolnshire), took Mary through our county and she spoke at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife Fair in May. The few of us who turned out for the final car-share trip of last season were treated to the sight of a handful of curlews on their breeding ground near the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border. Connections, connections! For information on the plight of curlews, visit On the ‘red list’ since December Mary’s blog and website at 2015 – curlew photo credit Andy www.curlewmedia.com. Both Hay (rspb-images.com) these speakers have appeared on Springwatch and Countryfile, and Kate is frequently a guest on BBC Midlands Today. Conservation Matters: (1) The Hen Harrier Trident has been in the headlines a lot over the last six months or so but one good piece of news about it emerged in early August. That was when the RSPB reported on the successful rearing of four hen harrier chicks at HM Naval Base Clyde’s high security Coulport site in Argyll, the storage and loading facility for the nuclear warheads. Thanks to the Ministry of Defence, the Society ringed all four birds and tagged both a male and female. The Ouzel Sadly the species has had an extremely disappointing year south of the border, where it is believed there have been just three nests compared to 15 in 2015, a distressingly low figure in itself. As those who attended the Hen Harrier Day rally at Edale in Derbyshire on 7 August learnt, no hen harriers have bred in the Peak District since 2014. Although there have been suggestions that bad weather and a decline in the vole population may have contributed to this year’s national outcome, the RSPB’s Conservation Director, Martin Harper, has stated that the Hen harrier - Society is photo credit Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) convinced ”that the primary reason for the continuing scarcity remains illegal killing”. So convinced, in fact, that in July it felt it could no longer support DEFRA’s Hen Harrier Action Plan. The plan, introduced in January, required conservation bodies, landowners, hunters and the Government to work together in promoting the survival of the bird and increasing its numbers in England. Explaining the Society’s decision to withdraw its support, the Conservation Director stated, “We have come to this conclusion because we believe that reform to protect the hen harrier will only come through licensing of driven grouse shooting where, for example, crimes committed on estates managed for shooting should result in the withdrawal of their right to operate.” Not surprisingly none of this year’s nests were on grouse moors. The Ouzel (2) England's Last Golden Eagle In April, England was presumed to have lost its only golden eagle as a result of natural causes when it failed to reappear in its traditional territory in the Lake District after the winter. Although his partner, a considerably older female, died in 2004 'Eddy' continued to build nests for her, with the RSPB reluctant to provide a new mate given the unsuitability of the Lake District for eagles in recent years. (3) A Stuck Up Patient The staff at Stapeley Grange RSPCA in Nantwich had to nurse an unusual patient in May when a goosander found in a chimney in the Manchester area was handed in to them. Although there have been no explanations as to how the bird got there, goosanders are known to regularly nest in tree cavities. Butterfly Walk, 22 July small tortoiseshell butterfly - photo credit Chris Shield (rspb-images.com) Our first butterfly walk, led by Geoff Sales and Dave Goodwin, produced sightings of 10 different species, with two day-flying moths and 19 birds, including a hobby, thrown in for good measure. Whilst none of the butterfly species were particularly rare – notwithstanding the small tortoiseshell’s recent decline as, it is partly believed, the parasitic fly, sturmia bella, has extended its range with global warming – the event did provide a glimpse into a different aspect of the natural world a lot of us often overlook. The Ouzel Skomer Island, getting close to nature – Peter Durnall In May 2016 I was fortunate to spend a week on Skomer as a volunteer assistant warden. Skomer is about a mile off shore from the Marloes peninsula in south west Wales and separated from the mainland by a stretch of water known as Jack Sound. The island is free of all land based predators which makes it one of the most important nature reserves in the world and since 1958 it has been designated a national nature reserve, managed by the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust. There are no cars or shops, no TV or mains electricity and just the wardens plus a few researchers and guests remain overnight. Skomer is basically a big lump of rock of around 300 hectares, which was formed in the Silurian period about 440 million years ago and separated by rising sea levels in later periods. This treeless island, covered with a deep soil cap, has cliffs over 60 metres high in places. These characteristics make it a perfect sanctuary for burrow nesting puffins and Manx shearwaters. Skomer has the largest puffin colony in southern Britain, given its 10,000 pairs, and almost half the world population of Manx shearwaters with 165,000 pairs. The latter are largely nocturnal and only fly to and from the island at night to avoid predation by great black-backed gulls! Their legs, set well back, are designed for a life at sea. They have great difficulty moving with grace or precision on land and lay their single eggs in fairly deep burrows, which they either excavate themselves or adopt after rabbits have ceased using them. There are over 10,000 rabbits on the island plus 10,000 lesser black-backed gulls, a similar number of guillemots and many hundreds of razorbills and kittiwakes. There are also good numbers of fulmars, herring and great black- backed gulls during the breeding season. The Ouzel I was awoken on my first night by the ghostly sound of the shearwaters returning to the island, the night sky being full of the whirring of their wings and loud cries as they called to their partners underground. How they find their own burrows amongst Manx shearwater at midnight – infra- red photo credit Peter Durnall the many thousands is amazing! These birds fly all the way to the south Atlantic off the coast of Argentina for the winter and return each spring to this tiny tip of Wales, a journey of over 7,000 miles. Skomer is the ideal place for the shearwater to breed as it is not too far north, giving it a reasonable amount of darkness in spring and early summer. How does one become a volunteer assistant warden? Well, you have to apply by the end of September the previous year. Six people are selected for a week by the resident wardens, dependent on their previous experience, knowledge of wildlife and ability to converse with other people, particularly the day visitors, in order to help them enjoy their visits to the island. They also have to be able to walk several miles each day and climb steep steps. Transport to the island is by the boat Dale Princess which makes a special sailing each Saturday morning for volunteers, staff and overnight guests plus all their luggage and stores for the island. The favourite duty with most volunteers is working at the ‘Wick’, a sheer cliff carved with ledges. This is the best place to see the puffins, which come very close and even cross the path right under your feet. There are no foxes, badgers, rats or squirrels only voles of which the Skomer Vole is a unique sub species of the bank vole, being considerably larger. The Ouzel Keeping rats off the island is paramount as it can take years to eradicate them as the RSPB have found out at nearby Ramsey Island which has finally been declared rat- free! They are now awaiting the arrival of some puffins, which had been wiped out there! A puffin at the Wick - Rumour has it that they photo credit Peter Durnall have installed dummy puffins and put up a sign saying “Puffins Welcome.” Let’s hope they are successful next season. The only reptiles on Skomer are slow worms, of which there are a considerable number. During my seven day stay the weather was very mixed with strong winds and rain followed by lovely sunny spells which necessitated sun cream and hats being on as there is little natural protection.