inspire w - the rspb · 2018-09-19 · inspire us to run another calendar competition in the...
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Next trips: Hampshire and closer to home
Inspire RSPB Oxford Local Group Newsletter
Volume 12, Issue 3 September 2018
W elcome back to another season.
Doesn’t time fly! It hardly seems
any time at all that I was wishing
everyone a good summer and
here we are again ready to enjoy another year – our 41st
as a group. And we’re not the oldest, 2019 sees the 50th
anniversary of RSPB local groups – look out for the
special golden robin pin badge to celebrate the year.
Did everyone enjoy the sun? It was too hot for me and I
didn’t go far, relying on my garden for birding in most
cases – apart from one osprey in Scotland! Being able to
get close to certain birds helps me to get to know them
better. Certainly the 30+ sparrows in “my” flock are
fascinating, watching the way some birds dominate. They
consistently empty a large feeder of food each day – so
much for easing down over the summer months!
As always we have a varied programme of talks to come.
We’ve something a little different to start off the season –
“Improving your Wildlife Photography”; maybe this could
inspire us to run another calendar competition in the
future.
Don’t forget that our birdwatching trips will this year
include more car trips (details of the first four are below).
If you are willing to act as driver, please let us know.
And an early request; please let us know if you would be
prepared to give a brief talk at our Winter Warmer in
December.
Best wishes and happy birding
Roy (RSPB Oxford Local Group Leader)
Please note that travel on these trips is on a car-sharing
basis. If you are willing to drive, please let us know when
you book.
Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve (Sunday 16
September) was created by a failed attempt
in the 16th century to keep Titchfield as a
viable port on the Solent by damming the
river and building a canal. But as the sea
trade moved to Southampton, Titchfield
became a wetland, with woods, scrub and
willow, making ideal bird habitat. At this time
of year it attracts southbound migrants and,
being on the Solent, there are often a few
waders around. The reserve has seven
hides, a visitor centre and tearoom. There is
an entry charge of around £4.
Farlington Marshes (Sunday 14 October) is one of the
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s oldest nature
reserves. It consists of grazing marsh and saline lagoons
on the northern shore of Langstone Harbour and is
internationally important for the migratory wildfowl and
wading birds. You can view the marshes from a circular
walk, mostly on the sea wall, of approximately 4km.
Regular sightings at this time of year include godwits,
grey and golden plovers, Brent geese and peregrines.
Spend the morning of Sunday 11 November
with us looking around the hedgerows and
local lakes of the Lower Windrush Valley
at Rushy Common and Standlake Common
Nature Reserves. Rushy Common is a
haven for over-wintering wildfowl such as
wigeon, geese and the more unusual red
crested pochard and goldeneye. In autumn
Standlake Common attracts migrants such
as fieldfares and redwings. There are hides
on both sites but no other facilities.
On a bracing morning trip on Sunday 9 December to
Bury Down on the Ridgeway we will look for corn
buntings, stonechats, winter thrushes and, possibly, over-
wintering short-eared owls.
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‘Our Place’ - Book review by Richard Ebbs
“The goal of environmentalism is to renew the living
fabric of the land so that it also replenishes the spirits
of its human inhabitants.” This quote from Richard
Mabey is fundamental to Mark Cocker’s latest and
very important book, “Our Place”.
Cocker visits a churchyard: he finds a
trimmed rye-grass monoculture,
devoid of daisies; yews have been
replaced by leylandii, devoid of
insects; ivy is brown and withered cut
off at the base, devoid of birds;
graves covered in chippings, devoid
of weeds. A board outside the church
welcomes you to “The Unkempt
Churchyard”, pamphlets praise the
wildlife. Another place: daffodils in
serried ranks waiting to bring spring in
to someone’s living room, no longer
Wordsworth’s, fluttering and dancing
in the breeze. Cocker thinks our
priorities have changed. And yet he
suggests we are a land of nature
lovers; the RSPB has 1.2 million members, the
National Trust over 5 million, far more than all the
political parties put together.
This book is in the tradition of the best environmental
writing. Deeply searching for the causes of our loss it
echoes “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson; it looks for
solutions as does George Monbiot’s “Feral”. It has the
feel of the land like J A Baker’s “The
Peregrine”. He emphasises his points
with quotations from poets: Thomas
Hardy’s “Darkling Thrush” and
Seamus Heaney’s bog poems. He
takes us on a fascinating journey in
the genre of Cobbett’s “Rural Rides”
and Orwell’s “Road to Wigan Pier”.
He looks for involvement: he urges
conservation charities to directly
challenge authorities and landowners;
for us to become latter day mass
trespassers like the Kinder Scout
ramblers and achieve a right to roam
for everyone, to visit the uplands, to
protect the hen harrier.
You should read it and so should
Michael Gove!
Our Place: Can We Save Britain’s Wildlife Before It Is
Too Late? Mark Cocker (Jonathan Cape 2018)
Going to Rutland Water’s Birdfair at
the end of August has become an
annual event for many of us but it has
evolved since I’ve been going – and
that’s only for about a third of its life.
As our local group knows, any birthday with a 0 at the
end gives rise to a lot of introspection, and so has
Birdfair’s 30th: how much has Birdfair changed; are
the changes for the better; should it make even bolder
changes and in what particular direction?
Mark Avery’s blog “Standing up for Nature” hosted
much of this discussion and even a questionnaire on
how visitors would like to see the event develop. There
was a lot of comment about the relative scarcity of
women presenters and some interesting names were
suggested as the female “celebrity” that most people
would like to see.
Some of the discussion revolved around whether men
and women see Birdfair from a different perspective.
Both sexes said that the main reason they go is to
meet people, which is good to know as it’s always felt
like a friendly event. It seems to me that the main
auditorium – the Events Marquee – hosts talks and
discussions with a more campaigning slant now rather
than just an entertainment focus. A debate on plastics
was in women’s top three attractions – because of the
all-female panel or because women care more about
environmental damage? I couldn’t possibly comment!
For me, this year could be summed up as a tale of two
pairs of binoculars. One pair was repaired, free of
charge, by the makers in the Optics Marquee. The
other pair was lost but found and reunited with their
owner with minimum fuss but with friendly efficiency.
Blog: Mark Avery - Standing up for Nature
Birdfair
at 30
Meeting Chris Packham © Lyn Ebbs
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
First arrived
Active nests
Chicks fledged
Last departed
Productive year for Oxford’s swifts
A lot of us were worried this year about the late arrival
here of long distance migrants like swallows and swifts
and the impact that the cold spring would have on them.
In the case of swifts at least, it appears that the hot
summer more than made up for the poor start to the
breeding season.
Our well-monitored colony of swifts in the Oxford
University Museum of Natural History tower fledged 72
chicks from 34 nests at an average success rate of more
than two chicks per nest. And, job done, their departure
date from the tower was also the earliest in the past 14
years; they had all gone by 13 August. Hopefully this will
allow the colony to rebuild to the levels where they
regularly fledge 100+ chicks each year.
You can find out more on the museum website:
https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/swifts-in-the-tower-0
Many thanks to Keith Nieland for sharing some
images from his travels this summer. The Canada
geese were actually seen in Canada - in Orangeville,
Southern Ontario - 15 goslings, how do they
remember their names?
The hooded crow in Belgrade demonstrates corvid
cleverness in managing to get a drink from a very
shallow puddle.
Barnacle geese are a common site in the parks in
Helsinki. Can we have some here?
(Arrival and departure
are shown as week
numbers)
RSPB Oxford
Local Group
Committee
Group Leader
Roy Grant
Treasurer
Roy Jackson
Secretary
Anne Clark
Other committee
members and
volunteers
Petula Banyard
Reg Cox
Lyn Ebbs
Paddy Gallagher
Charles Merry
Cecelia Merry
David Rolfe
Alan Sherman
Please visit our
Group Website
www.rspb.org.uk/
groups/oxford/
You can also find us on
www.facebook.com/
oxfordrspb
If you have comments
about Inspire or would
like to contribute,
please contact the
Editor, Lyn Ebbs Email:
Front page pictures:
Otmoor reeds at sunset;
Blenheim toadstools; Bridge
219, Oxford Canal © Lyn
Ebbs
The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.
www.rspb.org.uk
Andrew Coles’ Tiggywinkle experience As a wildlife enthusiast and nature volunteer I’ve long been aware of the St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, just over the border in Bucks, but only recently realised how hard they work and the difference they make to British wildlife. Many just think of it as the hedgehog hospital but most of their patients are actually wild British birds.
I was given a Wildlife Keeper Experience as a present and it was a real eye-opener – as keeper for the day, I got to see areas not open to the public. After a very friendly welcome we went through the main hospital reception and into areas not unlike a human hospital – in addition to the wards, there were triage, assessment area, an x-ray unit, high dependency unit and rehabilitation areas. Among the 1400 patients were some baby squirrels, blind and furless, which were brought in when a tree containing a drey was cut down; a badger, with horrendous injuries, that had been caught in a legal snare; a beautiful long-eared bat and numerous pigeons and doves. One kind-hearted lady was convinced that the ugly yellow-downed chick with an odd shaped beak was the find of the century, a long-thought extinct dodo! Staff had to break it to her gently that the causality she had brought in was in fact a wood pigeon chick. Apparently most wildlife rescue centres refuse to accept wood pigeon casualties but not at Tiggywinkles.
Most fascinating for me were the different chicks – all being fed every 15 minutes by dedicated staff – house martins, swallows, swifts, house sparrows, a goldfinch and some very bold blackbird chicks. Owls are the commonest birds brought in, with numerous tawny and barn owls currently being treated. There were quite a few red kites too. They actually make the best patients as they play dead when they feel threatened. Not so for their distant cousin, the buzzards, who were quite feisty. One appeared to scowl at me fiercely when I approached.
Probably the most memorable activity I was allowed to help with was exercising a red kite’s broken wing. I’ve never handled this
magnificent bird before and I was left truly in awe as I gently held the injured part while stretching the rest of the wing. The kite had come in five days earlier following a road traffic collision. Scavenging on road kill makes them especially vulnerable.
We also took part in the maintenance and cleaning of the hedgehog enclosures, food preparation, enrichment activities, providing exercise and, finally, feeding.
One not-so-friendly permanent resident was the 98-year old male tortoise who, despite its slow pace, is able to sneak up on people and bite. The gardeners insist that he is moved out of his enclosure before they go in due to his tendency to bite them on the bum when they crouch down to tend plants. I’d love to know what they’d written on the risk assessment forms.
The work at Tiggywinkles continues 365 days of the year and is in high demand. As a registered charity it is dependent on the kindness and generosity of individuals. I would hate to take a guess at their weekly food bill although I was impressed at the new ambulance which had kindly been donated by Toyota. Every wildlife lover can truly appreciate the importance of the work and the skill, professionalism and dedication of the staff – a mixture of paid employees, volunteers and graduate trainees. If you’ve never been I would definitely recommend a visit, especially as its only 30 minutes from Oxford. The Wildlife Keeper experience is a fantastic opportunity to see firsthand the wonderful work done by St Tiggywinkles and get up close to and help some of Britain’s spectacular wildlife.
Find out more at: Tiggywinkles website