Trip reports
Fieldtrip - Grune Point
Saturday, 17 January 2009
In fact we did not have to worry. We had a bright breezy day, not too cold, and it was not until we were climbing back onto the coach at Gretna that the rain started to fall.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable fieldtrip although perhaps not as rich in terms of bird sightings as we had hoped. We arrived at Grune Point just after low tide, and expected to be able to enjoy a variety of waders brought increasingly close by the advancing tide. A total birdlist count of 43 shows that the visit was not unproductive, but many of the sightings were distant ones. Telescopes were put to good use.
Scaup were seen on the salt-marsh channels, while among sightings on the estuary were Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Widgeon and Pintail. Perhaps the highlight of the view from the Point was the flock of Knot which periodically rose and wheeled, flashing white in the bright sunlight. One member saw a flock of Bar-tailed Godwits, one of which, rather surprisingly, was in summer plumage.
Some of the group had arranged to take the coach into Silloth to enjoy fish and chips for lunch, while others sought a sheltered spot on the Point to eat their sandwiches. This was provided by the pill-box at the head of the Point: the "Cumberland Machine-Gun and Anti-Tank Rifle Emplacement" a design of pill-box unique to the old county of Cumberland.
After lunch we walked back along the edge of the salt-marsh. A local birdwatcher told us that Long-tailed Duck were to be seen among the Scaup, but only one or two of us were fortunate enough to make that sighting.
Around 2.15 we set off towards Gretna, eagerly awaiting the sight of the Starling roost. While waiting for the Starlings we saw Buzzard, and later while watching the Starlings we saw Peregrine Falcon. The Starlings were certainly there in huge numbers but perhaps a little too far away to offer the dramatic sighting that we had hoped for. The choice of viewing point is something of a lottery - on that day the huge flocks were perhaps a mile to the west. Their flight path is doubtless determined (in ways understood only by Starlings) by variations in the wind and weather, and today the wind was blowing strongly from the west. But the birds could be seen making their characteristic patterns in the sky as they rose and wheeled in close formation. At one point it appeared that the flock had been split by a Peregrine.
How many birds? Some say that Gretna can be visited by tens of thousands of Starlings, some say hundreds of thousands, some say over a million. Unfortunately on this occasion they were too far away to count! The small flocks that flew over our viewing point on their way to assemble with the rest probably numbered a few hundred.
There was little sense of disappointment in the group. Although we had not seen the massive spectacle we might have hoped for, we had learned that nature does not deliver to order. For many of us our appetite was whetted, and we will certainly return to Gretna to try again.
Clive Morphet
ps - on Starling roosts
During planning of the fieldtrip to Grune point and Gretna, Graham and I visited the area and experienced one of those rare, but very dramatic bird watching experiences when the Starlings performed extremely well. I left for home with one or two questions in my mind and I thought some of our members would appreciate some information about the roost.
Both Graham and I had wondered how far the birds fly each evening to come to the roost. The information I have found is that the birds fly from up to a radius of approximately twenty miles away. Starlings are of course sociable birds, and I imagine that you will all realise that being in such numbers offers protection from predators. Anyone who has watched a Peregrine Falcon within the flock, as I did, will realise that the Peregrine is both confused and at risk of serious injury. I have watched Peregrines in the flocks of waders in Northumberland and certainly their success rate at catching prey is not high.
Roosting in the numbers that these Starlings do, also of course offers warmth and a means of communication. I found it interesting to read that the dominant male adult take the safest and warmest areas within the centre of the roost whilst the young females take the periphery areas of the roost. In the morning it is the adult males who will leave first to find the best feeding areas. Younger birds will leave later and will join the adults on the good feeding areas if space remains, otherwise they will have to fly further and find alternative areas.
Recent studies have shown that these Starlings in tight and quickly manoeuvring flocks are able to fly like this and avoid collision, as each Starling watches seven of its flying companions. Whilst watching birds in such number it is easy to forget that Starling numbers in the UK have dropped by almost seventy percent since the early 1970s. Much of this decline is thought to be connected to changes in agricultural practice.
Radar ring angel phenomenon is produced by the dispersal of Starlings from their roost at sunrise. Analysis of such records has allowed examination of Starling behaviour.
Having watched and listened as a teenage office boy, to the roosting Starlings in Newcastle city centre in the 1960s, I was also left pondering on the noise levels and smell within the centre of the roost at Gretna!
Brian Moorhead
Bird List for Grune Point/Gretna 17th Jan 2009.
Weather = Sunny/Dry/Breezy
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Pink Footed Geese
Barnacle Geese
Shelduck
Mallard
Pintail
Wigeon
Scaup
Long Tailed Duck
Red Breasted Merganser
Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon (3)
Common Buzzard
Pheasant
Oystercatcher
Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Lapwing
Knot
Redshank
Curlew
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black Headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black Backed Gull
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Skylark
Robin
Blackbird
Wren
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Magpie
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Rook
Starling (100,000s)
House Sparrow
Chaffinch Total species = 43
A single Roe Deer also seen on journey.