BAWC Conference 2016

Having spent the last couple of Saturdays enjoying some really good birds, I spent this one enjoying the company of a good sized flock of really good people. It's the Birders Against Wildlife Crime, 'Eyes in the Field' conference in Bristol this weekend and I was able to make it along for day 1.

After a foggy but otherwise unhindered drive up the M4, I made it to the venue in good time. In fact 20mins before registration was due to start. But I was welcomed in by the BAWC guys,  Paul @vivthesetter (sorry Paul, didn't get your sir name) Phil Walton and Charlie Moores. I've had the pleasure of meeting Charlie before but until now I only new Paul and Phil from the Twittersphere, so it was good to talk in the real world. And as more people started arriving I was able to meet several other 'virtual friends' for the first time. It was great to speak to people like Stewart Abbott, Rob Sheldon, Yolo Birder and Peter Howe.

Charlie Moores introduced proceedings and first up to speak was the Urban Birder, David Lindo. You tend to think of wildlife crime as being a rural disease but David enlightened us about issues like peregrine persecution by pigeon fanciers and a recent upsurge in trapping song birds for the cage.He spoke of the need to educate people and the tough but not impossible task of changing cultures.

Next up was someone else I've long since followed on Twitter. Sergeant Rob Taylor from the Rural Crime Team, North Wales Police. Rob does a truly outstanding job and in his few years in the role, he and his team have reduced rural crime by a staggering 84% in their area. It was disappointing to hear of his impending retirement but encouraging to hear that he has been working on rolling out his undeniably successful models and methods to other units including North Yorkshire where it is very much needed.

Despite the fact that Rob was addressing an audience of hardened wildlife crime campaigners, he still managed to shock most of us. Graphic stories and slides drove home the true horror and brutality that comes with the grotesque world of dog fighting. There was gasping and head shaking in the room as he described the spine shuddering barbarism inflicted on not just the fighting dogs but even more so the Jack Russells  they steal to dig the badgers out of their setts, and the badgers themselves as they rip out their teeth and claws with pliers so they can act as harmless 'sparring partners' for the fighting dogs. It was surprising to hear how this despicable industry is synonymous with the world of organised crime in general, including the drugs trade and firearms. I guess some people are just rotten to the core.

He explained to us that what we refer to as wildlife 'crimes',the police call wildlife 'offences' as they are not recordable and that any successful prosecutions are met with derisory sentences as we know. Incredible isn't it. More Rob Taylors please.

Dr Louise Robinson, Lecturer in Forensic Biology, took us up to lunch. Her talk was very scientific for my brain limitations but it's great to know that there are people like Louise working hard to try and help solve crimes against wildlife.

After lunch, Emily Wilson of World Animal Protection, told us about the great and sadly all too necessary work she's doing to assist our under resourced and under-equipped Police Forces to tackle wildlife crime. Sterling stuff Emily and more power to your elbow.

Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations for the RSPB, was next to take the stage. I've often been critical of what I deem to be a namby pamby approach from the RSPB to the crime scenes that are Driven Grouse Moors but this is a man with a specific and potentially soul destroying job to do and along with his trusty accomplice Guy Shurrocks they seem to work bloody hard in unpleasant and dangerous conditions, with the odds stacked against them. Bob's passion and dedication were evident and I don't think politics feature in his job description too much.

We were treated to a talk on bats next by Stewart Rowden from the Avon Bat Group. I love bats and they invariably make me smile whenever I see them but I must admit to knowing very little about them. So I'm pleased to say I now know a bit more after listening to Stewart.

The headline act for the day was our glorious leader Mark Avery. Or should that be 'inglorious' leader. Not because Mark is inglorious of course but he did write the must read bible titled Inglorious.

Mark had to cut his talk to considerably shorter than planned due to a Batman Robin his time (sorry). But he did of course give us a whole raft of reasons why Driven Grouse Shooting should be banned and some reasons why if we all keep the faith and stay focused WE WILL WIN.

So all in all it was a great day. Well done BAWC. The venue and organisation were first class, the speakers were interesting and relevant and it was just a pleasure to spend a day in the company of so many like minded people, a few of whom I already new and others that it was a joy to meet. It's so reassuring to know that all these people are out there, committed to fighting the good fight. Events like this reinforce a sense of 'team' and 'movement' and unity in the face of common adversity. I must try to do the whole weekend next year.

If you're not familiar with the work of BAWC, check them out.http://birdersagainst.org/projects/eyes-in-the-field/  These guys are driven and not afraid to say it how it is. If you care about our hen harriers and other raptors for example, then give them your support.


 

Gloucestershire serves up the birds.

Finally a Saturday where the weather wasn't horrendous, so a 6.00am meet with Sharpy and we set off on a pleasant drive through the Chilterns and then the even more pleasant Cotswolds. We arrived in Brockworth around 8.00am and within 10 minutes we were watching two fantastic male Penduline Tits foraging through the reed mace on the Horsebere flood pool.

We gleaned over an hours enjoyment from these little stonkers before they took to the sky and departed. A quick wander round the pool revealed a few Common Snipe tucked away in the rushes before we moved on.

A few miles up the road was the Forest of Dean and in the Forest of Dean there are Goshawks. A no brainer where to go next. New Fancy was our viewpoint of choice and albeit through murky light we were soon rewarded with a distant 'Gos'. But a biting North-Easterly was howling through the valley. Probably not the most conducive conditions for raptor watching so we opted to have a look for the Great Grey Shrike at Crabtree Hill.

Following some other birders we'd just befriended, we were on site in a matter of minutes. It didn't take long to find the shrike either, although it was rather distant on the top of a large Larch. Over the course of the next hour, apart from occasionally flying from one Larch top to another, it showed no sign of coming down to perform for us so we decided to leave it be. A Treecreeper was far more confiding as we returned to the car.

Another short drive soon had us at Parkend where we were immediately treated 4 Hawfinch in a treetop by the Cricket field. We hoped they might drop down to feed around the Yew trees we were close to, which apparently they do if your lucky. But alas they flew off towards the church, another of their known favoured haunts.

A short jaunt to the church brought no further sightings of Hawfinch but the sun had now broken through and was illuminating a cracking pair of Crossbills in a hedgerow. Not only had the sun broken through but the arctic blast had eased significantly.Thoughts of Goshawks displaying on thermals were too powerful to ignore.

The panoramic view from the top of New Fancy looked altogether more promising on our return. Buzzards were soaring and Ravens were cronking over the forest. These were surely good signs.

A small dot over a distant village turned into a Goshawk when viewed through the scope. Soon after a second bird appeared above the ridge to our right. This one was a bit closer and proceeded to delight the small assembly of birders by swooping and tumbling and rising again sharply, only to plunge headlong towards the trees again. A displaying male!!! Fantastic!!! But things were set to get better when another male Gos appeared to our left and this one was much closer. It initially drifted away from us slightly but then looped round and came closer... and closer... and closer. Gasps of awe interspersed with some joyous profanities were reverberating around the viewpoint as it just kept coming. These are the moments I get out of bed at silly o'clock and go out in the cold for.

Bearing in mind my modest camera equipment and blissful ignorance of how to use it properly, the views through the bins were as we say... 'crippling'!!!

What a bloody good day it had been in Gloucestershire. We'd seen everything we'd hoped for and more. We'd enjoyed the company of some familiar and some unfamiliar faces and the sun even came out in the end. There was even time to get home and catch most of the rugby.

But not to be as the day still had another little twist in store. News broke of a Glaucous Gull at Little Marlow. This was half hour from home and near enough on the way. The merest of detours and our luck was holding as the misfortunately ugly brute of a gull was still there.

Glaucous Gull- pic courtesy of Sharpy.

On the way home I grabbed a Chinese takeaway and a bottle of wine. I still made it for the last 20 mins of the rugby, which England won. Even QPR had managed a victory which is rarer than a Penduline Tits teeth lately. Every now and then you get a day where everything just falls into place and this had been one of them.

Short Drive-Short Speed walk-Short of Breath-Bam!!!-Short Eared Owls.

I hadn't visited the fields below Bayhurst Wood for approaching 20 years. This was back when I had a dog as an excuse to roam the countryside without feeling like I looked suspicious. I've since discovered that binoculars do the trick as well. They're not as good company but you don't have to feed them. Anyway, when I was last there with my old buddy Loftus, the nearest thing to wildlife was sheep. Lots of sheep, and tightly grazed grass. This is why I was struggling to work out where these SEOs were that were being reported. So I got away from work a bit prompt on the Friday before last, (POETS Day after all) and went to check it out. I parked at the car park for Bayhurst Wood and followed the path downhill to the bottom. As soon as I got a view of the fields through the trees, I could see that they had been transformed. Rough tussocky grassland with rushes and sedge and large clumps of native plants in winter die back. A Shorty Shangri-La no less. I'd set out with more hope than expectation but suddenly expectation was taking over.

As I entered the fields I spotted a small passerine hop up on top of a teasel. It was a stonechat. I'd never seen a stonechat in Harefield in the 27 years I've lived here. Siskins were having a pre-roost gathering on the edge of the wood. I haven't seen many siskins in Harefield either. I soon realised that there was a decent expanse of unmanaged, ungrazed land around me, so I started heading for a high point to scan from. But before I got there I was distracted by an aerial commotion.  Corvids were noisily haranguing something. Not just something. A Short Eared Owl. Carrion Crows and Jackdaws were joining forces to relentlessly mob the owl and seemed to be intent on driving it high above the treeline as if to stop it hunting. A second owl flew over me from behind and was treated to more of the same.

So the cranky crows restricted me to distant views in fading light but the joy of seeing the owls outweighed the frustration. So much so that I returned at dawn the next morning and met up with Sharpy, hoping for better views. No corvid capers this time but a bit of mist rapidly became fog and visibility was lousy. A brief and foggy view of one Shorty in flight was the best we managed. Again there were siskins and a decent number of Reed Buntings enjoying the the winter seed heads but the owls weren't tempted by such rubbish hunting conditions.

Yesterday I took an early morning trip to Fishers green with Sharpy and Ephraim on a quest to see Bittern. In the wind and showers, a year tick Water Rail was the highlight so I returned home to do my Big Garden Birdwatch. It was a bit slow in the naff weather but the female of my regular pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers graced the peanut feeder for a while. 14 species in total. As the afternoon wore on the sun started trying to break through. The wind was still gusting but the temptation to nip down the road in search of Short Eared Owls got the better of me. Within 5 minutes of arriving in the fields I was on a Shorty. Thankfully unhassled by crows it was quartering a field near the woods. As I edged a bit closer I inadvertently put up the second owl as it was roosting on the ground in front of me.  I was treated to a breathtaking display as they demonstrated their rodent ravaging skills for over an hour.

Again a Stonechat put in an appearance as did Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel.

And the Owls just kept performing.

I don't very often go birding round Harefield even though I live there. It is semi-rural but it's intensively farmed and so quite naturally sterile. Isn't it amazing what happens when you just leave a bit of land alone. 'Natural' habitat takes over and 'nature' comes. Even Short Eared Owls. You've always got these cretinous oafs blathering on about how the countryside has to be "managed" or the Earth will spin off it's axis or something. Sadly us Townies are too ignorant to understand apparently. Well I'll tell you what. Insert your countryside management in your most shady of orifices. I'd rather have nature than your greed driven biodiversity disasters.

Anyway, enough of that ranting. Short Eared Owls near Home. Brilliant!!!

Happy New Year List to all you Good Folk & a Prosperous 2016 to our Hen Harriers.

Jan 1st 2016 - Bed at 00.45 up at 04.45 and on the road to Norfolk with Sharpy, Ian and Ephraim to kick start the new year list and walk off some Christmas excess. Luckily Sharpy was happy to drive as I doubted my ability to stay awake at the wheel all day.

First stop was Lynford Arboretum. It was now first light and this is as good-a-place as any to rack up a few woodland species. At this point it was a lovely winters morning with the sunrise casting an eerie glow over the frosted landscape. On a couple of rare occasions we've managed Hawfinch here but fail more often than not. However one of the first birds of the year was indeed a flyover Hawfinch and we managed to find a second one perched in a distant treetop. A great start to the year.

Distant but a great start

Sadly no Crossbills on offer today but Marsh Tit and all the usual woodland fare got the list up and running on our way to the north coast.

The big prize we were hoping for was Pallid Harrier so Flitcham was next in the sat nav. I got a sense of deja vu here as for the second time in less than a week I was subjected to a no-show from this rare and regal raptor. But we were viewing from further up Abbey Road today and the huge mixed flock of passerines in the hedgerow in front of us, although mostly Chaffinch, also contained in it's midst Brambling ,Tree Sparrow, Yellow Hammer and Reed Bunting. A Grey Partridge occasionaly revealed itself at the end of the track.

Brambling at Flitcham

A team decision was made that we needed to move on and cash in on Norfolk's bounty of species. Fresh news revealed that the 2 Rough Legged Buzzards were showing nicely at Cholsey Drying Barns, so that made the decision easier. Unfortunately they weren't by the time we got there. A couple of Buzzards were up and about but after close scrutiny we couldn't turn them into anything other than commons.

If you're in North Norfolk and you want to get species on your list then Titchwell is a must. Obviously a whole lot of other people had the same strategy as we completed several circuits of both car parks before managing to squeeze into a slightly improvised space. Myself and Ian then queued for a lifetime to order some much needed hot food and then waited through what must have been a reincarnation for it to be served. Finally, suitably sated, we made it onto the reserve. Good old Titchwell served up a further 23 species  to add to my list, including Water Pipit, Rock Pipit, Spotted Redshank Marsh Harrier and a huge raft of Scoter on the sea.

The early morning sun had long since vanished behind a solid blanket of cloud and it was now a race against the fading light to squeeze a couple more new years ticks in. Thornham was just down the road and there were reports of a flock of Twite near the car park and the lingering 3 Shorelarks towards Holme Dunes. On our arrival, 20+ Twite obligingly got up from an island in the creek and gave us a nice display. It's barely a stone's throw to the beach on the other side of the harbour where the shorelarks hang out but it's a right old stroll round the houses (although there's no houses) to get to it. In the now dying light they weren't easy to find and we began to think they'd gone to roost but we eventually stumbled across them quietly poking around in the shingle.

So dark was now winning the battle against light and that was surely that for the day. Barring a jammy Barn Owl on the lengthy, indirect walk back to the car, our listing was done for the day. That was until we got half way back and Ian called "Barn Owl" and there was an enigmatic little ghost quartering the back of the field beside us. Perfect end to the day.

So no 'rare raptor rapture' but Norfolk had provided me with a very respectable 86 species on the first day of 2016. What else will the year have in store? Rare birds I hope. Stonkingly beautiful birds I hope. Enthralling natural spectacles of any kind please.

 But most of all in 2016 I hope for significant strides forward in the campaign to salvage the last of our breeding Hen Harriers from the brink of extinction, by banning the despicably destructive so called 'sport' of Driven Grouse Shooting. Please help if you can. There's a few weeks left to sign this......

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104441

If you're in any doubt at all that this needs doing then you just need to read this.......

2016 could be a pivotal year for our magnificent, yet relentlessly persecuted raptors. Please consider getting involved if you can. It's so easy in these days of social media to just help raise awareness. That's all we need to do.

Happy New Year.

Owl be back.

Another day off work, the sun was shining on and off and there were owls in the Heartwood Forest. I know because I saw them yesterday. I've already told you I did but I wanted to see them again.  Call me monotonous but they're owls. Short Eared Owls. I love owls.

The Shorties kept their distance today, so I spent more time enjoying them through the bins than the camera but enjoy them I did. I know I've mentioned it before but I just love owls. In fact (and I know I've mentioned this before as well) I just love birds of prey, so I was chuffed when my new Kestrel friend turned up too.

Plenty of people were out again for a stroll in the ludicrously clement weather and most seemed mercifully less excitable than yesterday . Some of them stopped to inquire what we were looking at. It was a pleasure to see their joy when we were able to point out an owl. Especially so when their kiddies started wowing and whooping and wanting to stay a bit longer to watch them. Keeps your hopes alive for the future of the planet.

Eventually the sun we've seen so little of lately, dipped below the tree line and it was time to head contentedly back to the car.

I'd watched owls hunting and I'd witnessed first hand young people that appreciated them.

Happy days.

Owl's well that ends well.

Well, after the previous day's non-eventfulness (is that a word? oh well it is now), a glorious sunrise had me grabbing my optics and heading for the local patch. Exciting birds are few and far between in my neck of the woods and there was no exception today but a leisurely circuit of Stockers Lake brought Goldeneye, Red Crested Pochards and whole load of Siskins merrily munching their way through the Alder mast.

Song thrushes were reciting their repertoires in the spring-like conditions and a Cetti's was shouting his head off from deep in the brambles. It was nice to bump into some old faces such as Gordon Cox and Camouflage Geoff.

Next up on the agenda was a rummage around the bank of the River Colne by Broadwater Lake. Quiet here but as always at this spot there were overwintering Chiffchaffs.

I was shouted at by another Cetti's but a festive Robin perched beside me and serenaded me altogether more sweetly.

"Ding dong merrily on high"

Home for a quick bite of lunch and then over to Heartwood Forest to meet Sharpy in the hope of some proper WOW factor birds. And we weren't disappointed.

Despite the many noisy children with their nearly as noisy parents and dogs, enjoying the bank holiday sunshine, the Short Eared Owls put on a show. Four birds in total came and went throughout the late afternoon.

Another bird enjoying the local vole population was a very confiding Kestrel.

So I didn't drive hundreds of miles, I didn't crawl through traffic jams, I didn't get wet and I saw owls.

What a difference a day makes!

'My Mama told me there'll be days like this'.

Got up very early. Drove to North Norfolk for Red Rumped Swallow and Pallid Harrier. Neither were there. Saw sod all of interest. Got wet a couple of times. Traffic was murder on the way home.

The end.

Oh those crumbling cookies Think I'll cheer myself up by going birding tomorrow.