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Committee

Group Leader Martin Johnson

Treasurer Malcolm Ingram

Membership Secretary Penny Chatfield

Indoor Meetings Laura McLellan

Raffle Janet Southwood

Campaigns Colin Hawkins

Newsletter Editor Val Thompson

Member Jean Crystal

Publicity Helen Lumley

Group Leader Welcome

Welcome to another issue of the newsletter. Our

very first newsletter was published in January 2007,

was just four pages long and contained two black

and white images. Nowadays, under the excellent

editorial control of Val Thompson, we have a

significantly larger, feature-packed issue, with colour

images for you to enjoy. Many of the articles

contained herein were written by our members.

Don’t forget that if you think that you can contribute

a story, a quiz or a favourite image for the next

edition, Val will be more than happy to take a look.

We intend this newsletter to be ready for distribution

at our AGM on 1 May, when we also plan to have

copies of the 2015-16 programme to hand out to

current members. If you do not have next season’s

programme as you are reading this you can

download a copy from our web site:

www.rspb.org.uk/groups/hitchinandletchworth.

Martin

Male Marsh Harrier, Tollesbury, March 2015 (Martin Johnson)

Editorial

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this edition, you really have excelled yourselves this time. Apart from the reserves round-up, every article is by a group member. There is only one problem with this: can you keep it up? Find out what Colin Hawkins does in his spare time, (I think he needs some more roles), when not selling us pin badges. Peter Chapman tells us about a trip he and Robert made to Cyprus last autumn during the migration and Jan Murphy witnessed migration in a very unusual way. Margaret Bailey reminds us of what the Big Garden Birdwatch’s number two bird does when not feeding in our gardens, with an evocative poem. And finally, I felt like I had stepped back in time during a visit to the Natural History Museum at Tring. If you have something you would like to share with us, whether from your garden, local patch or further afield, please let me know. Don’t forget that it can be about all nature, not just birds. This edition’s quiz has been submitted by Jan Murphy and is a timely one for the summer. Martin says he knows what the mystery bird is this time, do you? Val

News

An amazing 585,000 people participated in this

year’s “Big Garden Birdwatch”. With the weather

being somewhat colder for the birdwatch weekend,

compared with last year, numbers of most of the

“top 20” species were higher. Blackbirds, robins and

wrens did particularly well, whilst the house sparrow

RSPB HITCHIN AND LETCHWORTH

LOCAL GROUP NEWSLETTER

Editor: Val Thompson May 2015: No 16

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retained top spot, with starling in second place.

Whilst numbers of both these species continue to

decline there are hopeful signs that the decline is, at

least, slowing down. Numbers of common finches

(greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch) were down on last

year, but this is likely to be due to the continued

availability of seeds in the countryside following an

excellent crop in 2014. Charismatic winter visitors,

such as redwings and waxwings, appeared in our

gardens in very low numbers in January as these

species preferred to stay in Europe.

Male and Female Greenfinches in Martin Johnson’s Garden,

February 2015

As you probably know, Bob the RSPB red squirrel

has been touring the country, trying to put nature

back on the political agenda prior to the General

Election on 7 May. With issues that directly affect

ourselves, such as employment, education and the

NHS taking centre stage in media discussion and

debates, it is easy to forget about nature and the

environment. After all, nature hasn’t a vote and

promising to look after it isn’t necessarily going to be

a vote winner either. However, whichever party

takes power after 7 May will have to tackle major

issues such as climate change, the loss of

woodland, changes in the common agricultural

policy (assuming we remain in the EU!) and the

pollution in our oceans. The RSPB, our

organization, is here not just to give nature a home

but also to raise the profile of the environment.

Without us, and other like-minded organisations, it

would be all too easy to sweep nature under the

carpet.

Fundraising

Membership subscriptions are used to pay for the

cost of hiring the hall for our indoor meetings and to

reimburse the speakers who delight us at these

meetings. Our coach trips “pay for themselves”, so

pretty much all the money that we donate to the

RSPB comes from fundraising activities.

Some Local Groups benefit the RSPB by

encouraging new members to join, but we are

essentially a “Fundraising Group”, relying on the

generosity of our members and the general public to

raise money for the RSPB. All bar the newest of

members will be aware of the activities that we

engage in to raise money. These include the “100

Club”, the raffle (held at our indoor meetings), the

sale of Jan Pashley’s hand-made greetings cards,

second-hand books and Colin Hawkins’ pin badges.

In addition, Martin Johnson gives talks to other

groups on a range of topics, his most recent one

being on the wildlife of Costa Rica. We hope that

you will continue to support these activities in the

coming seasons and possibly even propose new

ideas for fundraising. Most of all, however, we hope

that you will continue to support the Local Group by

re-joining next season!

New Competition

Some of our older members will remember Arthur

Horder. Arthur was one of the founder members of

the Local Group and a superb naturalist, who held

many positions on the committee. Arthur was still

going on our coach trips (and playing sport!) into his

80s. Sadly, Arthur died a few years ago, but not

before he had passed on his written notes, relating

to all the rare bird species seen on our early field

trips, to Martin Johnson. Martin has, for the best part

of 20 years, produced trip lists for all our coach and

own transport trips, as well as producing an annual

year list of our sightings (last year 169 bird species

were seen by us). During the summer he intends to

engage in the herculean task of combining these

and Arthur’s lists to produce an exact figure of how

many bird species we as a Group have seen on our

outings in the 40+ years of our existence! The figure

is likely to be well over 200….

All you will have to do is pay £2 to guess the figure.

The nearest to the exact number will win a prize

(TBD). Entry forms will be available at the

September, October and November meetings and

on some of our coach trips. Please enter: all the

money donated will go to the RSPB.

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Indoor Meetings

We hope that you have enjoyed the indoor meetings

this season - we have had some excellent speakers.

Unfortunately Alan Davies and Ruth Miller had to

postpone their talk, “The Biggest Twitch”, from

November 2014 but they promise to be with us in

January 2016 to regale us with their warts-and-all

tale of bird watching in 27 countries. We have some

other great speakers lined up for next season - take

a look at the new programme for more details.

Outdoor Meetings

Once again, we have had an excellent season of

coach trips. By and large the weather has been kind

to us and there is still much more to come, with

coach trips to RSPB Minsmere (17 May) and

Stodmarsh NNR (21 June) arranged. Five spring

walks have also been planned. Their details are as

follows;

Spring Walks

Saturday 2 May (8.00am) Paxton Pits

Tuesday 12 May (7.15pm) Broom Gravel Pits

Wednesday 20 May (7.15pm) Therfield Heath

Thursday 3 June (7.15pm) Oughtonhead Common

Monday 15 June (4.15pm) RSPB Lakenheath Fen

and Thetford Forest

All these trips are “own transport” - for full details

see our web site or pick up a programme (available

at the AGM or on our May coach trip).

Whooper Swans at WWT Welney January 2015 (Martin Johnson)

Caravan for rent Camber Sands, East

Sussex

Privately owned five berth static caravan

with veranda and two bathrooms on park

resort site.

Small dogs allowed. Four miles from

Rye, five minute walk to sandy beach

and near RSPB reserve.

Very reasonable rates.

Tel 01525 237481 or 07780 765081

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A Workaholic? – Colin Hawkins: Group

Campaign Lead, Sales Organiser and

Fundraiser

(By Colin Hawkins)

Although originally from Portsmouth (born within a

mile of the football ground!) I was brought up in

Dunfermline, Fife, after my father transferred

between dockyards to continue his civil service

career in Rosyth.

Dunfermline is just a few miles south of the RSPB

Loch Leven nature reserve and in fact it was there

that I first encountered ‘Nature’ and the great

outdoors. My first memory is sitting upstairs in the

visitor centre watching through a huge scope three

rabbits happily playing by the edge of the loch on a

freezing cold day – I must have been only eight or

nine at the time. In those days the viewing area

was set up like a hide and very dark – no café! - and

pinned up on the walls were many, many hand-

painted illustrations of whooper swan beaks. Did

you know that the large triangular patch of yellow on

their bills is slightly different on every bird and

apparently the staff used to record this as one form

of identification to spot returning birds each year –

easier than trying to ring all of them!?!

(Colin Hawkins)

So I have a full Scottish education and although I

left school with nine ‘O’ levels and four Highers

(Scottish equivalent to ‘A’ levels) my schooldays

were all very average and not greatly memorable,

even though I somehow managed to very briefly

represent my High School at both football and

rugby. I think it was a case of mistaken identity with

another pupil who had the same surname and much

more ability than me!

Mind you, it didn’t really help having a Saturday job

in Woolworths at the age of 15 and then taking on a

second part-time job just a year later - I was an

actual petrol pump attendant serving petrol on the

forecourt before all of today’s do-it-yourself

malarkey.

My first few years after leaving school were spent

initially working in retail, then hotels, culminating as

‘front of house’ manager in a family owned hotel

with responsibility for four bars, a 60 cover

restaurant, and a 150 capacity function room.

When the owner decided to sell up, it was time for

me to move on as well, so in a complete career

change I finally left home and moved south to join a

large IT company called EDS, which has since been

taken over by Hewlett Packard (HP).

I’m a project manager implementing IT solutions for

major clients and since my first role on the Vauxhall

account in Luton, I’ve travelled round most of the

country (and occasionally over to Belgium) working

on different accounts such as BP, Royal Bank of

Scotland, Rolls-Royce (engineering!), and General

Motors. However, in the 25 years that I’ve been

with EDS/HP, my base has always the house that I

bought in Letchworth when I first came to this area

all those years ago.

Due to all the travelling and work commitments, I

didn’t really have any major hobbies or outside

interests until just a few years ago, but I think I’ve

made up for it since then! Thanks to my early

childhood experiences the love of wildlife, and birds

especially, has always been with me, so back in

2004 I started helping out at the Raptor Foundation,

a Bird of Prey rescue centre and sanctuary in

Cambridgeshire, and more recently I joined

Letchworth Natural History Society.

(Colin Hawkins)

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I then re-discovered the RSPB and one Christmas

volunteered in the offices at HQ in Sandy. It started

out as a supposed ‘one-off’ task re-cycling their old

pin badges, but I was soon offered a number of

other volunteering roles, including running their

Donated Binocular Scheme (look out for an article

coming up in ‘Nature’s Home’ magazine later this

year), looking after the pin badge stock held at HQ,

and helping out on The Lodge nature reserve itself,

both at events and on their Saturday working party.

I now also help out at major RSPB events held

round the country, such as Members’ Weekend, the

AGM and Scottish Birdfair, usually representing

Community Fundraising and selling pin badges.

In fact I threw myself into volunteering with such

gusto that back in 2012 the RSPB presented me

with their President’s Award for my overall

volunteering contribution to the Society. Only six

volunteers are recognised in this way each year out

of an army of almost 18,000, so that came as a bit

of a shock and for which I feel very privileged.

Receiving the President’s Award (Colin Hawkins)

Finally, for a change of scene, my summer holiday

each year is spending a week in Rutland helping to

set up and run the Auction stand at British

Birdwatching Fair (Birdfair). It is more of a social

occasion for me these days rather than hard work

as the same people - exhibitors, volunteers, and

celebrities – keep turning up year after year. The

only down side can be the mud if it rains, especially

as I camp and the amenities are a little on the

scarce side!

Do I do too much – probably, but do I love doing it

all - yes.

Cape Greco, Eastern Cyprus - 6 September 2014

(By Peter Chapman)

I have decided to write this article for a couple of reasons, firstly to share with you the most amazing day’s birding I recently had with my son Robert (Robert will be at the University of Surrey by the time you read this, studying Maths). Secondly, I would like to increase awareness of the bird hunting and mindless illegal killing of 1.9 million birds during migration in Cyprus each year.

Early September in Cyprus is the start of autumn migration. Millions of birds migrate through Cyprus at this time of year. It was a great time to combine a family holiday with some bird watching.

Robert and I had arranged to meet up with the BirdLife Cyprus group for one of their field trips. We were staying in Peyia on the western side of the island so an early start was needed. We were up at 6.15 am, on the road by 6.45 am and arrived at Cape Greco at 9.15 am. Would it be worth a 250 mile round trip for a day’s birding?

The group leader for this trip was Martin Hellicar. Martin is the Research Co-ordinator for BirdLife Cyprus and also a member of their rarities committee.

Five cars and 14 people turned up for the field trip. Martin was with a volunteer from the UK called Roger. Roger was in Cyprus for five weeks helping BirdLife Cyprus monitor the hunting and trapping activity in Cyprus. We had many interesting but upsetting conversations with Martin and Roger during the day about the illegal hunting, trapping and shooting of birds in Cyprus and Malta.

We set off just after 9.30 am to the first stopping point site just 10 minutes away. I was in a hire car with Robert, following Martin, Roger and two other BirdLife Cyprus members. We turned a corner and entered a single track road and after 50 metres could see our first bird on the overhead wire. Having pulled up no more than 10 metres in front of the bird Robert started taking pictures. With my sharp ID skills (ha ha) I looked through the binoculars and said it might be a crested lark. How wrong I was! Robert looked at his pictures and said, "It’s a wryneck". What a start. The bird flew off, we got out of the car and Martin confirmed it was a wryneck (which apparently is not normally seen on telephone wires). This was a first for both Robert and I, so the long drive had already been worth it.

We drove another 500 metres onto a smaller track (we were now clearly "off road") and pulled over. At this stop we had great views of a red-backed shrike

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and whinchat and could hear but not see many bee-eaters flying over.

Moving up the hill another 200 metres we pulled over again, as we could see a raptor soaring about the rocky hill to our left. Martin immediately identified the bird as a female Montagu's harrier. This was another first for us, and what a magnificent and graceful bird it was. We went on to see at least another ten more Montagu’s harriers during the next three hours including a male (very pale with large black wing tips), several ring-tails and even more juveniles which were quite dark in appearance.

Moving forward another 100 metres we saw two kestrels; one was attempting to chase off the Montagu's harrier. We saw willow warblers and spotted flycatchers in the bushes and about 25 little grebes on the reservoir to our right.

We moved forward another 100 metres in the cars and then set off on foot. We saw a group of about 15 bee-eaters fly over. At the furthest point we had great views of two ortolan buntings. We were advised that these are considered to be a food delicacy in parts of France. Since returning home I found a Guardian article about this very subject. If you would like to know more I will have a few copies at the next meeting.

Ortolan bunting (Robert Chapman)

Several more harriers flew over, one of which we were told could have been a pallid harrier. At this point there were several trees that looked great and clearly attracted the birds. This all seemed great until we were told the trees were planted by the hunters for that exact reason. The hunters also used a Syrian yellow coloured berry that when opened contained a very sticky substance. This sticky substance was put on sticks to catch the birds.

We then drove back down the hill and onto another site about a mile away. We were off road again, high up the hill looking out over magnificent landscape back towards Ayia Napa and the turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea to our left. This incredible view will stay with me for a very long time. At this site we saw two more ortolan buntings and

also two Cretzschmar's buntings. A stunning view of a Cyprus wheatear was a real treat. This site was concluded with a blackcap and more spotted flycatchers.

Cyprus wheatear (Robert Chapman)

In the distance we could see the British base near Ayia Napa. Much to my amazement and disgust we were told that most of the hunting actually occurs on British Army occupied/owned land. Apparently, we (the bird loving British) turn a blind eye for fear of upsetting the locals.

In Cyprus there is a 16 songbird platter that is eaten illegally as a delicacy costing around 80 Euros. This is not freely available in restaurants as it is illegal. It is however clearly eaten in great quantities because this is big business. It’s that big that the professional criminals are now involved. The birds caught in one night can be worth 2000 Euros. The 16 songbirds are not specifically targeted; the hunters catch anything. It is completely indiscriminate hunting. We were also told that all birds caught are killed as it is considered unlucky to release a bird alive.

Driving another half mile toward the end of Cape Greco we stopped again and walked no more than 25 metres from our cars. Various raptors soared above us on their migration over Cyprus. New raptors for the day included a sparrowhawk and a possible Steppe buzzard. The Steppe buzzard was not positively identified but by eliminating common buzzard, long-legged buzzard and honey buzzard it was felt that this was all it could be. We then had two juvenile rollers flying over our heads. Two years ago we had our first holiday in Cyprus and had great views of adult rollers on several occasions. We had been disappointed during the first week of our holiday at not seeing any rollers in the places seen two years previously. We were disappointed no more.

Our final stop with the full group was at the picnic site at Cape Greco. A picnic lunch and fresh water from the tap at the site was very pleasant whilst looking out to the sea watching birds arrive on

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migration. Most of the birds arriving were swallows. A red-rumped swallow was seen but missed by Robert and me. The real treat however, was when a honey buzzard flew low over the picnic site - this was our eighth ‘lifer’ of the morning.

The group field trip had come to an end, but Martin and Roger were going to pop into Oroklini Marsh on their way back to Nicosia and were happy for us to follow.

Oroklini Marsh has been a great birding site in Cyprus for many years, but a hide has recently been built with funding from BirdLife Cyprus and the EU, the site has been fenced off to discourage people walking across it and the local community has engaged with the project.

The four of us entered the hide; the only other occupant was a young lad eating his lunch.

Wow, directly in front of the hide were 20-30 flamingos, around 15 little stints, a couple of Temminck's stints, 25 spur-winged lapwings (now one of my favourite birds), yellow wagtail, hooded crows and several of our more common species. At the back of the marsh we could see black-winged stilt, grey heron, spotted redshank and ringed plover.

Spur-winged lapwing and collared pratincole (Robert Chapman)

During the next 30 - 40 minutes the following also turned up - glossy ibis, marsh harrier and a bird I have always wanted to see, a cattle egret. This incredible site produced five more ‘lifers’ for Robert and me - now 13 in the day so far.

The lad in the hide asked us in an Eastern European accent if we were scientists. We replied we were just bird watchers. Martin allowed the lad to use his scope. The lad was transfixed and amazed at seeing the birds so close through the scope. When we all decided to leave the lad’s final comment was, "That was better than any film I could watch". How great it is to see a teenager engage with birds for the first time.

We said our goodbyes and thanked Martin and Roger who had been a great help and very interesting to talk with. Their final recommendation was for us to go to another hide hear Limassol Port. The hide was at Zakaki Pool. Our amazing day just got better at this site. We pulled into the car park next to the hide and could see a lesser grey shrike on the overhead wires above us. This shrike was still there when we left 90 minutes later. Before going into the hide we walked back along the road looking into the pools. We saw four more glossy ibis, a kingfisher and another ‘wow’ moment; a squacco heron flew away from us before flying back past us to the pool in front of the hide.

Glossy ibis (Robert Chapman)

We ran back to the hide, collecting the scope from the car, trying to ensure we did not disturb anything when climbing the steps to the hide. The back of the pool was no more than 30 metres from the hide so we had great views. Over the next 90 minutes we saw two squacco herons (one was only 10 metres in front of the hide, out in the open), around 10 glossy ibis, another flamingo, two juvenile collared pratincoles, a white-winged black tern, redshank, four kingfishers and a possible broad-billed sandpiper. We left this site a little in shock, but with one final place to visit. Ladies Mile Beach is guaranteed for Kentish plover. We also saw a crested lark.

Our final count: 52 species for the day, of which 16 were new species for the two of us. This was probably our best day ever birding!

Finally, the information I learnt during this incredible day about how migrating birds are treated in Cyprus has made me want to try and help stop this cruel and illegal activity. I may now have a bit more time on my hands now that both my children are at university. I will also have to see how work goes during the next couple of months but hope to find the time to support the work of Birdlife Cyprus.

Watch this space!

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Starling Gazers (By Margaret Bailey)

Through the gloomy woodland, down the muddy river Kingfisher silently perches, clothed in Mary's blue Woodpecker flying low over the mossy field Bedecked in scarlet and green, clings to a post. Icy winds skim across the lake, ruffling the dark water Duck valiantly bob on choppy waves keeping close Crests flattened, colours muted. Above the trees Little egret flies straight to its pure white mate. Jackdaws on the distant field rise, settle and squabble Lapwings fly in flocks of black and white Swirling and spreading over the green swathe A drift of starlings descend to feed in the mud. In the misty pearl sky dark specks amass in great clouds Melting away on the horizon, disappearing Then glimpsed over the trees small clusters Chasing, twisting and ever further away. The starlings are teasing us, as we stand and turn Gazing upwards and around, waiting The sun dips and the colours fade Colder air creeps around and through. Then out of nowhere a mass of speck ln front, swirling twisting, floating as one Then whisked away and over the tree line We again gaze into an empty sky. Out of the misting gloom a shoal, ever moving Clustered then expanding, increasing lmmersing smaller shoals, drawn in It morphs into a whale, bull-headed.

Starling murmuration (RSPB Images)

Nearer and nearer till they fill the sky Overhead, rustling, chattering spaced out They fill our senses, all at once elated Like a wave they roll back, reforming. We are mesmerised, dumbfounded, amazed Then caught unawares from the east A squadron streaks past whipping our ears Fast and fearless: black arrows on a mission. They chase the mass curling upwards As others infiltrate from all sides The murmurations expand and swirl Then curl into a tight dark bubble. Now they pour into the reed bed Others reform playing shapes within shapes More plummet, others rise The final few drop and the reeds are alive.

Starlings at dusk (RSPB Images)

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Hitching a Ride

(By Jan Murphy)

It was 6.45 am on Sunday 28 September and I was sitting out on the quiet and peaceful veranda deck with my early cuppa. The sun was rising over a calm sea in the Bay of Biscay. A few birds were fluttering around the deck. Then one flew within a few feet of me and sat on the door to the dining room. I thought it was a goldcrest but it actually turned out to be a firecrest, as a keen birding passenger had taken a photo. Then I noticed a warbler and yellow wagtail flicking its tail. Later in the morning these birds were still flying around the ship together with a turtle dove!

Early the following morning a small family of robins -two adults and a juvenile - appeared. I filled a bowl with fresh water and placed it in a sheltered position, with a few crumbs in the hope that they would find it.

On 15 October we were at sea between Sinop, Turkey and Varna, Bulgaria, the weather was cloudy but warm. On deck at 6.45 am, I missed the probable Scops owl which has been roosting on a deck rail. This same morning fellow passengers told me that a robin had come in through their open balcony door and perched on the telephone. The dining area had been set and already five chaffinches had found the entrance from the deck. Fortunately a couple of the waiters were able to gently catch them in their hands before releasing them back out on deck. I actually watched one waiter catch one in flight without distressing the bird.

Early afternoon birds were flying around the ship including chaffinches, lots of white wagtails, robins, a chiffchaff and a female black redstart, which came so close that I managed a photo opportunity. The insect eating birds were searching for food in between the decking and nooks and crannies on the ship.

Female black redstart (Jan Murphy)

The following day at 07.00 am I found a goldcrest roosting out on the deck, its head tucked into its body. It woke, hopped about then went back to sleep – just amazing! I continued to put out a bowl of fresh water and digestive biscuit crumbs, especially having watched a yellow wagtail flying over the small swimming pool searching for water.

Trafalgar Day, the 21 October, was spent at sea near Herkalion, Crete. Mid morning, a couple, whom I had previously met, had been looking out for me, as they had found on their outside balcony a huge moth. I took a photo through the glass but it was not clear so I carefully opened door and took a couple more shots but it was in shadow. Third time lucky as the sun entered the area that had been in shadow and I captured the shot. Later that morning the couple told me that fortunately they had been in their cabin, as an engineer was walking along and nearly put his foot right on it, only missing by a few inches! The moth turned out to be a lime hawkmoth.

Lime hawkmoth (Jan Murphy)

The next day as we passed Stromboli volcano and Sicily, the Captain announced that the weather was changing to force 7/8 winds and very high seas. Birds no doubt would take shelter and sadly the following morning, a robin and a yellow wagtail had died – possibly due to the strength of the winds bashing them into the ship’s structures.

A few days later between Almeria, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal, three skylarks were flying around the ship in the afternoon sun – I really could not associate these birds here out at sea as being the same species I see on the local farmland. Some warblers were darting off and onto the rails.

Such an interesting experience to see these birds using the cruise ships for food and water, warmth, safety and saving energy on their migration passage without paying a penny!

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News from local RSPB reserves

Fowlmere

(By Doug Radford – Warden)

The breeding season wasn’t quite over at the start

of September, with two broods of turtle doves

fledging in the first week. However, autumn

migration was well under way. A flock of c100

yellow wagtails on 1 September was an unusually

high number. Various waders such as ringed

plover, dunlin and redshank dropped in to our tiny

scrape.

The first winter visitors started to arrive in mid-

October, with hundreds of redwings moving through

on the 16th.

A small starling roost built up to c500 by

the end of the month and our first woodcock was

seen on the 30th

.

Woodcock (RSPB Images)

Winter birds seemed rather scarce during November

but we did have an impressive influx of redwings

and fieldfares in mid-December. The starling roost

built up to about 1500. They attracted three

sparrowhawks, a peregrine and two merlins.

A bittern was present from early November and a

chiffchaff overwintered in the car park, probably the

first record of this species overwintering here.

The Lodge Reserve

(By Peter Bradley – Site Manager)

The wildlife crops on our farm tenancy area on

Sandy Heath have been brilliant. On 23 December

over 1000 birds were recorded using the crops

including linnets, reed buntings, chaffinches,

yellowhammers, meadow pipits, tree sparrows and

corn buntings.

Male Yellowhammer (Martin Johnson)

Lafarge Tarmac has completed the next phase of

re-landscaping. This includes new opportunities for

sand martins and creating a new south-facing slope

for heather and invertebrates.

The new ponds at the bottom of Galley Hill have

been completed with a sand trap installed to collect

rainwater from the adjacent valley to be the source

of the ponds.

A fungus expert found 160 species on the reserve

during the fungi foray day.

Fly Agaric (RSPB Images)

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Books, beetles and budgies

By Val Thompson

It was a dark and stormy morning as we entered the

large Victorian building and were led down a gloomy

passageway into a sparsely furnished room. A

bespectacled bearded man eyed us as we filed by

and quickly found a seat.

“Welcome to the Natural History Museum at Tring”

said Dr Robert Prys-Jones, Head of Bird Group. We

were then introduced to the curators who were to be

our guides on the behind the scenes visit.

The party was divided into two smaller groups and

we headed off in opposite directions. Our group’s

first stop was the Rothschild library, which was

added to the museum between 1908 and 1912.

Augmented by the Natural History Museum’s

ornithological collection, the library now houses

some 750,000 books and is considered one of the

finest ornithological libraries in the world. A

selection of books had been taken from the shelves,

which cover the walls from floor to ceiling, for us to

browse.

Lionel Walter Rothschild was born in 1868 into an

international financial dynasty, but was destined to

be famed as a zoologist and collector rather than as

a banker. By the time he was ten, Walter had

enough natural history objects to start his first

museum, in a garden shed. In 1889, his father gave

him some land on the outskirts of Tring Park as a

21st birthday present. Two small cottages were

built, one to house his books and insect collection,

the other for a caretaker. Behind these was a much

larger building, which would contain Lord

Rothschild's collection of mounted specimens. This

was the beginning of the Zoological Museum, which

opened to the public in 1892.

Our next stop was at the egg collection. The

museum has around 400,000 sets of eggs and is

still offered more today as people try to dispose of

private collections made by older generations.

From there we moved on to the skin preparation

rooms. We were shown the beetles that are used to

clean skeletons (not for those with a keen sense of

smell) and the taxidermy room. Some of the skins

are mounted for display but most are stored in a

huge temperature-controlled room in another newer

building.

The room is filled with cabinets, where the 700,000

specimens are labelled and arranged in rows within

the drawers. This is where researchers come to

study and a glance at the visitor book, which

showed entries from around the world. A modern

library is also housed in the new building.

Within this same building are the anatomical

collections representing around 35% of the world’s

bird species. They include skeleton and spirit

collections, together totalling around 33,600

specimens. The skeleton collection includes some

of the oldest and most famous specimens in the

Museum's collections, including a number of

domestic birds from the collections of Charles

Darwin.

The majority of Walter Rothchild’s bird skin

collection was sold to the American Museum of

Natural History in the early 1930s and is now in New

York. All his research collections other than the

remaining bird material were moved to the Natural

History Museum at South Kensington over an

extended period following World War II. The Natural

History Museum's own bird collections were then

moved out to a new purpose-built building at Tring

in the early 1970s, where they attract researchers

from around the world.

The spirit collection is one of the five largest of its

kind in the world. Specimens range from whole

adult birds and chicks to embryos, eggs and

dissected body parts and also associated material,

such as stomach contents. The most surreal thing I

saw during this fascinating visit was a jar full of

budgerigars, truly the stuff of a Gothic novel.

Part of the spirit collection (Google Images)

The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654

12

Bird Brain Corner

Can you identify the bird in the picture below? No

prizes, but you could get your name in the next edition

of the newsletter.

A quiz to keep you buzzing: all the answers are about

bees and honey. The number of spaces in the

sentence indicates the number of letters or numbers

in the answer.

1. A honey bee collects - - - - - - from flowers to make honey

2. Water is collected by the bees through their - - - - - - - - -

3. If their food supply is short honey bees will travel - - km to find food

4. Young bees feed on - - - - - - 5. - - - is produced from the glands of young bees 6. The British native bee is known as the British

- - - - - - bee by beekeepers 7. A colony of bees in Britain produces an average

of - - lb of surplus honey a year 8. Karl von Frisch studied bee - - - - - - 9. The first job of a newly hatched bee is to - - - - -

the cells 10. The shape of cells in a hive is - - - - - - - - -

The answers to the previous edition’s quiz are as follows;

1. Why are flamingoes pink? Because their staple

food, brine shrimp, are rich in carotene.

2. Which bird is the logo of the RSPB? Avocet

3. Which species of British bird lives the longest?

Manx shearwater

4. Which climbing bird can move downwards head-

first as well as up? Nuthatch

5. What is the collective noun for ravens? An

unkindness

6. What is the record number of wrens found nesting

together? 63

7. Which is the world's fastest bird? Peregrine falcon

8. Which is the only bird known to hibernate?

Common poorwill

9. What was the name of the pigeon that was

awarded a bravery medal in WWII? Commando

10. How many birds are in The ‘Twelve Days of

Christmas’ carol? 184

My favourite things

(Chosen by Ray Prutton) Favourite bird: Pintail

Birding spot: Landguard Point

Special place: The Isle of Mull

Music: Any jazz but especially Sidney Bechet

Pastime: Fishing and birdwatching together

Male Pintail (Martin Johnson)