Notes on nature

Monday Moment: a swift half...

Kevin Middleton — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:32:55 GMT

It felt almost like May yesterday.

So in true British style myself and a few friends tried to make the most of a little bit of sun, and headed to a newly opened beer garden in the town we live in. The beer was great, but the star attractions were above our heads.

Swooping, scything and screaming through the sky were swifts. Finally, they have returned!

I've seen dribs and drabs over the last few weeks, but at last there were 10, or even 20 at a time screaming through the skies as I supped my beer. The pub in question is at the heart of the old town, and here swifts squeeze into barely noticable cracks and crevices to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. They even nest in the roof of the pub!

So, today's Monday Moment, is a shot of a swift poking its head up from a roof - not a shot you see very often. So next time you find yourself in a beer garden, why not try looking up too?

This is one of thousands of spectacular wildlfe images on RSPB Images - our online gallery. Take a look and find your prefect print, something for a friend or just browse your favourite critters.

Please help us improve our website

lucinda — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:42:45 GMT

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Monday's Magic Moment: starling, there's something I need to tell you!

lucinda — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:01:53 GMT

I don't know why, but whenever I see a starling I end the encounter with a big grin on my face.

Maybe it's because they remind me of a childhood spent listening to their scrabbling around in the loft above my bedroom, attempting to raise a family.

Or, maybe it's because of their beautiful feathers that iridesce as they catch the summer sunlight.

Whatever the reason, I hope these two put a smile on your face today.

Find an image to put a smile on your face - check out RSPB Images.

Neglected by people, valuable to nature

Maurice Tse-Laurence — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:54:00 GMT

Brownfield land refers to those places that humans have developed but then left to ruin. While they might look far from ideal habitat, many species thrive here in people’s absence.

There are examples everywhere and I’m sure you can think of a derelict building nearby with weeds and fast-growing trees sprouting up around it, providing cover for all kinds of creatures.

Examples can be found in such extreme places as Chernobyl. Despite being the infamous site of a nuclear disaster, nature has reclaimed the site with roe deer, moose and even wolves thriving on the land. But most widely publicised was the introduction of the then critically endangered Przewalski’s horse, who’s numbers have increased, apparently unhindered by the nuclear radiation. The biggest threat they face here is poaching.

Where the Iron Curtain once cut through Europe, a project known in Germany as the Grünes Band (Green Belt), has turned this site of massive political tension into a conservation success story. It provides a haven for many species including nightjar, lynx and European beaver.

A smaller but significant example in the UK can be found on the Thames estuary at Canvey Island (where happen to have a reserve). The Canvey Wick site was intended as an oil refinery, but was abandoned in 1973.

It has since become one of the top three sites in the UK for insect biodiversity and has been dubbed Britain’s Rainforest (Springwatch did a great piece on this site).

Have you seen any wildlife making the most of a brownfield habitat?

Monday's magic moment: springtime underwater

Maurice Tse-Laurence — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:30:00 GMT

I was reminded by a soft splash in my garden pond that the spring is here for our aquatic wildlife too.

Frogs, toads and fish like these minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) are all using our fresh water habitats to breed, although probably not in the same places, frog spawn tends to get eaten when there are fish around.

Graham Eaton has provided us with this great shot from an alternative perspective. See more wildlife images at www.rspb-images.com

This weekend...find a springtime songster

Kevin Middleton — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:28:00 GMT

Perhaps the very epitome of spring birdsong, the humble nightingale has been inspiring poets, writers and anyone who hears its sweet, uplifting song for centuries.

Including me.

Related to the robin, nightingales lack the red breast of its cousin, but makes up for it with lovely rufousy back, head and wings. But its song is what really sets it apart.

Go on, listen in...

I find it hard to describe the song’s qualities – I never feel I can do it justice.

The best thing to do is listen. Check out the nightingale page on our website, turn up your speakers and listen – it’s worth it.

But trust me, it’s much better getting out on a late spring evening, the sun gently warming your back, and listening to the real thing.

And now is a great time to do just that, before the leaves and foliage really start to come out and make seeing these migrants more difficult to see.

Find your own

Paxton Pits, where I was on Sunday, is a great spot.

Nestled alongside the Great Ouse, these former quarry workings are now home to an array of wildlife, from cormorants to otters. But from April to early June, the singing nightingales are the stars of the show.

In the UK, nightingales essentially need an area of scrubby woodland, with some open patches, often near water. There’s a few of our reserves you can try too.

Can you spot one?

I can’t guarantee you’ll see one though. I won’t lie, it’s not easy tracking down a skulking brown bird that spends a lot of its time hiding in dense foliage! Even if it is singing its head off!

But I can spend hours listening to that glorious, uplifting song – it’s heaven. The first burst of notes will always stop me dead in my tracks. So seeing one is just a bonus.

Fancy joining me? Why not try listening out for nightingales this spring? And don’t forget to let me know if you’re successful by leaving a comment below...

Monday's magic moment: cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo...

Kevin Middleton — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:35:00 GMT

They're back!

Yes, that's right, cuckoos are definitely back in the UK - I heard at least three over the weekend. Did you hear any? Why not let me know by leaving a comment below...

So to celebrate the arrival of cuckoos, spring and a whole host of other migrant birds this weekend, here's a cracking shot of a male cuckoo for you. Enjoy!

David Kjaer snapped this image and it's one of thousands of images from RSPB Images - take a look and find your perfect spring time shot.

This weekend...know your trees

lucinda — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:31:00 GMT

I've been on a bit of a woodland mission this week.

So I though I might as well finish the week off as I started it: with trees.

This is my quick guide to five easy to identify trees.

1. Oak

Where you live in the country will depend on whether you see sessile or pedunculate oaks. However, common to both is the shape of the leaves: long and rounded lobes that are glossy green on top.

2. Ash

The oval leaves of an ash aren't in themselves that distinctive, it's the way they grow that is - arranged in pairs along a branch with an odd one at the end.

3. Silver birch

The beautifully gnarled and fissured silver bark of a silver birch is the easiest way to identify this tree.

4. Horse chestnut

Probably better identified in winter when horse chestnuts produce their seeds - conkers. But in spring it produces 'showy' creamy-white flower clusters that stand upright in spikes. It also makes a tree to have a picnic under!

5. Beech

Beech is another tree best identified by its leaves. The large and smooth dark green leaves grow along a 'zig-zag' branch.

What have you seen?

The number of pests and diseases attacking trees in the UK has increased in the last few years. Be part of the OPAL tree health survey and help scientists build up a picture of the health of our trees.

We should all go on a woodland walk!

lucinda — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:53:00 GMT

It seems I should listen to my brain more often!

According to a recent study from researchers at Heriot-Watt University a stroll in a leafy wood or park has a calming effect and lessens stress.

This probably shouldn't really come as such a surprise to me. Working in the grounds of a woodland reserve, I regularly enjoy the solitude of going for a lunchtime walk, weaving my way amongst the trees of the reserve.

I always make it back to my desk feeling refreshed.

Admittedly, it's a small study, but the results are compelling none-the-less about how green spaces are important to our well-being.

And to help you get even more out of your next leafy jaunt, I asked our resident woodland expert - Gareth Fisher - to share his tips on what to look out for!

Pretty plants

As members of the buttercup family, lesser celandine's love bright sunlight and are like small rays of sunshine themselves as they look up to the sky from the woodland floor. They are one of the first plants to flower in spring and as a consequence sometimes get called the 'spring messenger'. William Wordsworth thought they were so great that he was inspired to write three poems about them!

Common dog-violets have a rather delicate-looking purple flower and heart-shaped leaves - which are an important food source for many caterpillars. However, don't bother looking for them if the soil is acidic or very wet!

You'll probably just as easily smell, as see, the next plant on the list: ramsons. These beautiful white flowers carpet woodland floors, and fill the air with a pungent garlic-like scent (as an interesting aside, you can use them in salads). They also frequently grow alongside bluebells - so two flowers for the price of one!

The next flower to keep an eye out for is honeysuckle. It either trails along the ground, or sometimes climbs high into the trees to form a 'bush'. The trumpet-shaped flowers give off a sweet smell at night - to attract pollinating moths.

Wood sorrel is easy to overlook. Until in full bloom, that is, when it reveals its dainty bell-like white flowers (with their pink streaks). I have it on good authority that their leaves taste like cooking apples, or salt and vinegar crisps, depending on your taste buds!

Beautiful butterflies

Brown is definitely not boring. Look out for delicate speckled wood butterflies in sunny clearings.

It's the flashy male who gives the orange tip its name (females actually have grey wing tips!). This butterfly is also seen in gardens, so you might already have met!

It's easy to identify bright yellow male brimstones! Females are easier to identify when resting - with their distinctive wing shape.

Another visitor to gardens you may already be familiar with is the holly blue butterfly. Their violet-blue hue is easy to spot despite their small size.

The purple sheen of a purple hairstreak can be difficult to spot - not only because of its small size, but also because of its reliance solely on oak trees - but it's definitely worth the effort. The best time to spot one is in the early evening of a warm summer's day.

So that's it! Some great picks from Gareth.

Now all this talk of nature is making me want to get outside. Will you join me?

You've come from where?

lucinda — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:37:00 GMT

I think (hope?) I'm safe to say that spring is finally here, and as I alluded to last month one thing is for certain - whatever the weather, birds are building nests and pairing up.

And while some of those birds have weathered winter with us, some are only now just landing on our shore.

And where have you come from?

What started out as a simple exercise to find out what bird travels the furthest to reach the UK, turned out to be somewhat less than straightforward.

And when I say less than straightforward, I mean that I pretty much fell at the first hurdle!

It turns out that we don't really know that much about where 'our' migrants spend winter, so my idea of 'guess the miles travelled by xxx' didn't get very far.

The good news is that projects are underway to build up our knowledge of where birds spend the winter, but not in a timely enough way to help me today!

Top of the migrant pops!

However, not to be deterred, I've still managed a countdown of sorts for which summer woodland bird travels the furthest to get here.

So, here's my run down.

In at number four is the blackcap:

Once these birds were definitely just a summer visitor, but every year we get more and more reports of these birds hanging around all year.

So, at their shortest journey, blackcaps don't actually go anywhere, with many birds preferring to spend their winter in the UK rather than heading off to Spain or Africa.

It's a bit of a tie for third between pied flycatchers:

and lesser whitethroats:

who both end up in Africa, but on opposite shores - flycatchers to west Africa (around Ghana), and whitethroats to east Africa.

And flying straight into number one as one of the migrants flying the furthest to get to the UK, is:

The redstart. These beautiful rusty red and charcoal-coloured birds like to spend their winter in sub-Saharan Africa (around Uganda/Congo) before they turn up to raise a family in our woods.

I find it truly amazing that these birds (often weighing no more than a few smarties) make such incredible journeys.

Hopefully, with a few more years' worth of data we'll know a lot more about where the winter habitats of these birds are - meaning we can protect them not just here, but in their other 'homes' too.

Monday's Magic Moment: what's brown and sticky?

lucinda — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:51:00 GMT

...a stick. Of course!

And at the moment many of the trees around The Lodge look more like big sticks protruding from the ground, than the fresh and vibrant living things they will blossom into in the coming weeks.

I, for one, am looking forward to this explosion of growth that will add a welcome splash of green to my lunchtime walks around the reserve. But until then, this beautiful close-up of a beech tree will have to do!

Our wonderful online picture library has a wealth of other spring images - go on, take a look.

Migrants are on their way!

Katie Fuller — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:12:00 GMT

'Yeah, yeah,' I hear you say, 'this spring will never arrive.' But it's true that our summer migrant birds are on their way - I've seen them with my own eyes!

Just before Easter I was lucky enough to spend a week at the Strait of Gibraltar Bird Observatory, which is run by the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society. As well as monitoring the birds on the Rock of Gibraltar by ringing, we spent a lot of time staring into the sky and across the bay.

Gibraltar's position, near the closest point of Europe to north Africa, makes it a really good place to watch migration as birds try to take the shortest route across the sea. It's about 13 miles as the eagle flies between Africa and Gibraltar.

(You can just about see Morocco in the photo above, about a third of the way from the left, and the Spanish coast right of middle)

An eagle-eyed view

Good Friday was particularly good for birds of prey. From about 9 am, when improvement in the weather meant that migrants began to cross the Strait, we watched constantly and identified and counted the birds that flew over our heads.

Top of the pops were booted eagles, with 586 counted, then black kites (490) and sparrowhawks (188). By 6.30 pm things had stopped and it was definitely time for a celebratory beer!

My favourites were the short-toed eagles which had the misfortune to fly in right over the breeding colony of yellow-legged gulls on top of the Rock. Angry cries from the gulls alerted us to their presence as they harassed the poor eagles. One eagle skimmed just above the roof of the observatory and I was captivated by its yellow eyes as it dodged the irate gulls snapping at its tail.

We're unlikely to see any of those birds making it as far north as the UK (although we have sparrowhawks here, they probably don't move as far as north Africa or southern Europe). But the good news is that there were some of the species that we're expecting here any day now.

They're coming!

A steady trickle of swallows flitted north, as did house martins. You might not expect it, but there were also large number of goldfinches heading back to their breeding grounds, plus linnets, greenfinches and chaffinches. In the trees and bushes on the Rock lurked willow warblers and chiffchaffs, with a sprinkling of redstarts - all birds that could be headed our way.

One of the last birds of the day was an osprey that approached low over the bay, also pestered by gulls, as it flew over the tankers and bulk carriers lying at anchor, past the lights of the docks and jetties at Algeciras. Where was it heading? There's no way of knowing, but we know from satellite-tagging that British-breeding ospreys often make their sea crossing here.

I know that birds are capable of all kinds of amazing feats, but there's nothing quite like seeing it for yourself. So keep your eyes peeled - the first swallow of spring is on its way.

Monday's Magic Moment: is this really it?

Katie Fuller — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:54:45 GMT

It's taken a while this year, but I've finally seen my first butterfly of the year - a smashing brimstone which hurtled past on Saturday afternoon. With a chiffchaff singing nearby, it's finally started to feel like spring may be here (but don't hold your breath...).

This lovely photo was taken by Richard Revels and is part of RSPB Images, our library.

The best view for miles around

Maurice Tse-Laurence — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:39:00 GMT

Over the Easter weekend I got a chance to talk to the people who man the brand new watch tower - Rossall Point - on Fleetwood promenade.

The whole of my life this site has been taken up by an uninspired lump of concrete going through bouts of dereliction, so it was really fantastic to see it knocked down and this interesting multi-purpose tower go up on the site.

The man in the know at Rossall Point was Len, a ranger from Wyre Borough Council. He stood surrounded by information leaflets and was dutifully adorned with hat, gloves and binoculars.

He informed me that it's part of an arts project, the Mythic Coast, providing some much needed regeneration to this coastal strip.

Other aspects of this include a beautifully illustrated novel set on the Fylde coast, and sculptures inspired by it which are to appear on the promenade; a sea monster and a giant golden shell.

Inside the building are abstract sculptures carved like stylized maritime stones, each one has deeper meaning (one of them apparently represents bird migration).

In terms of technology, there is a big screen inside displaying views from a visitor controlled camera on the roof. It had a pretty good zoom on it, but all I got was the off-shore wind farm in close-up.

Len’s knowledge of the local wildlife was impressive, as a small example, at one point he caught a flicker in the distance with his bare eyes and informed me it was a flock of eider. I scanned with my binoculars to see only tiny black and white blurs.

The tower has provided opportunities to see seals, migrating birds and even a grey whale. When the tide goes out there is miles of exposed sand drawing in sanderling, redshank, oystercatchers, greenshank, turnstone and ringed plover along with various gulls.

Rossall Point hosts volunteers from the coastguard and the council and Len hopes to encourage local wildlife charities to use the venue too.

Staff from the RSPB and Lancashire Wildlife Trust are already booked in. He realises we're all working towards the same goals, his words about the venue were; ‘we’re not being precious about it’. What a team player!

Monday's Magic Moment: weather takes a tern for the better?

Maurice Tse-Laurence — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:40:00 GMT

I've seen two of these summer migrants recently, one near Brighton, looking very sorry to have made the trip. It was perched next to a brackish pond on a freezing blustery day. The other, was near Blackpool in a bit of sunshine a week later. What are the chances it's the same one?

These sandwich terns are a vision of domestic harmony and Chris Gomersall has done a great job capturing them. See more at www.rspb-images.com.