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Evening in the 'burbs

Posted by on May 7, 2008 8:43 PM | 

bbird0705.jpg

The penalty for whizzing off to Israel, then birding as often as possible in the spring is a garden that looks more like the bowels of the Amazonian basin than a nice tidy bit of suburbia, so for the last few days I've been chopping, cutting and generally earning Brownie points.
It has its benefits - a circling Buzzard over Dempsey Towers last night (presumably a bird drifting over from the mosses), singing Blackcap and Goldcrest and all the usual garden stuff.

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Lazy Pete, our resident Hedgehog kept me company, and continues to show complete disdain for venturing out in the evening - Pete feeds in the day, sunbathes and chills out with Mrs D and I, like a pet cat.
Pete is the man.
Still only 7 Swifts back around the house, and no Willow Warblers singing - I noticed there didn't seem to be that many around Marshside and the Golf Course when I was last down - or is it just me?
Now everything is cut back and weeded, I'll get out tomorrow afternoon - was going to have a look at the two Spoonbills at Seaforth (through the fence of course - just like birding at Sangatte), but Phil Smith's Snow Bunting (see comment on previous entry) sounds mighty tempting....as do Bazzo and Neill's SIX Garganey at Marshside.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...

Comments (5)

Fred Levy wrote...

Cuckoo calling for five minutes on Windle Moss, St Helens, near Moss Lane Farm earlier this week.

Posted by: Fred Levy  | May 8, 2008 12:52 PM

Sandra Sparkes BTO wrote...

In the true spirit of World Migratory Bird Day over the weekend 10-11 May,
scientists from the British Trust for Ornithology will be 'migrating' to
Delaware Bay on the west coast of North America, to take part in an
international study monitoring the migration of the Knot, one of the world's truly global migrants.
World Migratory Bird Day takes place every year to highlight bird migration
across the world. In the UK most birdwatchers will have already seen Swifts and Swallows arrive. However, this is only part of the story. Every spring, an estimated five billion birds move from Africa to Europe, to take
advantage of the northern summer, and, far from being a European phenomenon,
this migration will be repeated around the globe, with an estimated 50
billion birds on the move. This huge movement will not go unnoticed, as
ornithologists, both amateur and professional, will be monitoring their
departures and arrivals.
As part of this global network, the BTO scientists and volunteers will join
others from Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand in Delaware Bay to study one of the world's ultimate migrants, the Knot. This small wading bird, at only 23cm long and weighing in at 150g,
undertakes one of the longest journeys of any of the world's birds. Each
year it flies from its winter home in Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip
of South America, to the high arctic to breed. Over its twenty-year lifespan
this is the equivalent of flying to the moon and back!
Its last stop before the high arctic will be Delaware Bay. Once here it will
gorge itself on the eggs of the horseshoe crab, doubling its weight before continuing its journey north. However, overfishing of this living fossil in recent years has made it difficult for these birds to consume enough eggs to build the reserves for the last leg of their journey, and it would seem that more and more of them just don't make it.
Nigel Clark, of the British Trust
for Ornithology, commented, "This illustrates perfectly the global nature of bird migration, the issues they face and the global nature of conservation
in action. These birds know no borders and it is only fitting that the
people that are studying them do likewise. Ten years ago approximately
60,000 Knot spent the winter in Tierra del Fuego. This has now dropped to
around 15,000 birds."
You might not be able to get to Delaware Bay this spring, but you can help by monitoring spring migration in this country. By recording the birds that you see this spring on BirdTrack, you will be helping the British Trust for Ornithology chart the arrival and movements of our summer visitors. Please see www.birdtrack.net
For more information on World Migratory Bird Day visit,
www.worldmigratorybirdday.org

Posted by: Sandra Sparkes BTO  | May 8, 2008 2:15 PM

Molly Glinn wrote...

I'm in year 3 at Norwood School.
At school today at lunchtime we were on the field and we saw three woodpeckers all on the same tree!
They had red heads and my Dad says they were babies. We all stopped and looked and we all thought they were cute!

Posted by: Molly Glinn  | May 8, 2008 4:13 PM

derek forshaw wrote...

Marshside this evening very quiet, and water levels well down.
Nothing of note apart from an excellent Ruff lek in front of Nels involving 5 males and 3 females, two more males ignoring proceedings and feeding nearby.
No sign of even one Garganey, never mind six.
A Reed Warbler showed for about a nanosecond by Nels before disappearing.
47 Dunlin and a Little Stint on Pollys, but only a few BTGs, and no Wheatears or wagtails seen.

Posted by: derek forshaw  | May 8, 2008 8:26 PM

Phil Smith wrote...

Snow Bunting and Yellow Wagtail still on the Green Beach (south) this afternoon.
I've decided the bunting is an ad. female not a male - sorry!
Much rarer, however, are the Northern Dune Tiger Beetles in the embryo dunes there.
Lots of these spectacular critters for which there are only two British localities! (Sefton Coast and Drigg, Cumbria)

Posted by: Phil Smith  | May 8, 2008 8:54 PM

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