2009 marks the

30th
anniversary of

The RSPB's

Big
Garden

Birdwatch.

The 2009 Big Garden Birdwatch takes place at the end of January and all you need to do to take part is watch the local birds in your garden or park for an hour.
Last January, more than six and a half million birds were counted in 236,000 gardens!, were you one of the watchful diligently counting in your garden or local park.This years Big Garden Birdwatch runs on 24-25 January 2009 and we'd love you to take part!

What happened last year?



In last year' s January weekend count the Goldfinch claimed 'Top spot' in Merseyside with an average of 1.64 seen per garden. Nationally with an average of 3.60 seen per garden, the House Sparrow retained its top spot with Starlings coming in second and Blackbirds completing the top three.

Why not Join us at our events at Sefton Park Palm House Sunday 25 January 2009
Our event starts at noon and finish at 4pm.

Closely observe the birds at our feeding stations through telescopes. People will be on hand for identification and general information on Garden Birdwatching and the RSPB. Kids colouring activities. Make your own pine code birdfeeder to take home.

Our friends at Sefton Park have asked wonderful story teller Taffy Thomas back to the Palm House, he'll be telling stories about our feathered friends to all our visiting children.

Meet our new Wildlife explorer team (RSPB WEX) and find out about their great Ticklish Allsorts Roadshow for kids, to be held on the evening of :27th January.

The British Trust for Ornithology BTO will be with us this year, promoting their all year round Garden Birdwatch recording scheme.

If you build it they will come

Who remembers the film 'Field of dreams'? My garden is my field of dreams and this winter I'm going for broke to bring in some winter thrushes. Lots of cheap apples and homemade cheap fruitcake litter the lawn. Today I was 'made up' as we say in scouseland, my plan had worked, after wandering the fields of Billinge to look for one, it came to me ... a beautiful Fieldfare, a belligerent fellow chasing away any Blackbird who came close to 'his' apple. l was late for work ,I wanted to stay.. it was toooo dark for the camera, I was willing the sun to hurry up, alas I had to go...but will he/she be back tomorrow? I'm baking more cake.

Laura

Cold Weather its not great for birds!

FREEZING CONDITIONS HEIGHTEN DISTURBANCE THREAT TO WETLAND BIRDS
For the first time in over a decade, nature conservation bodies are today [Tuesday 6 January 2009] calling on birdwatchers, walkers, anglers and water sports enthusiasts across Britain to minimise disturbance to groups of ducks, geese, swans and wading birds. On lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal areas the birds will be struggling to survive after enduring seven consecutive days of freezing temperatures.

The group making today’s call include the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and Natural England.
Following a run of mild winters, this is the first time in a decade that this call has been made in England. Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s conservation director, said: “During freezing conditions disturbance forces the birds to squander their precious energy reserves by taking flight when they need to spend as much time as possible feeding.
“Although we haven’t made this appeal since 1997, we hope everyone who uses the countryside will heed our advice, allowing the millions of birds which visit the UK’s coasts and wetlands during the winter to stand a better chance of survival.”
If the severe weather continues for 14 days in succession, the shooting of some species of duck, geese, and wading bird can be suspended for a fortnight to help the birds recover. The last time such a ban was imposed was in 1997.
The birds affected include ducks – including wigeon and pintail – and wading birds, such as godwits, dunlin and knot. These birds either nest in the Arctic, or further north or east in Europe. During the winter the birds visit the UK to escape harsher conditions further north.
Andrew Gouldstone, the RSPB’s Area Conservation Manager for the North West, said: “Even at a time when our climate is warming, we can still expect freezing conditions, but less frequently. Wildfowl and wading birds respond to these icy blasts by moving further south and west. Mild winters have allowed some of these international travellers to cut short their journeys, with more remaining within the eastern half of Britain.

“As the natural world responds to the freeze, we can expect the UK's vital coastal wetlands to play a role in helping these hardy birds survive the winter. If the freeze continues, we can expect the warmer estuaries on our west coast – such as the Dee, Mersey, Ribble, Morecambe Bay and the Solway - to be especially important as birds escape the weather. These are amongst our most important wildlife sites. The winter of 2009 is likely to show just how vital they are to the survival of thousands of water birds.”

As someone out doing a bird survey today, I can tell you that the Ribble coast has very low numbers of waders at the moment and RSPB Marshside very few waterfowl.

Chris

Sunday's walk around Marshside

Sorry for the delay in putting this on the blog. The groups last walk of the year is always to RSPB Marshside and we meet at 10.30 on Sunday 7th. We started looking at the outer salt marsh and was greeted with a merlin, then kestrel, I picked out a long distance peregrine and then we added a superb grey male hen harrier!

There had been reports of 2 short eared owls on the marsh but talking to other birders they hadn't seen them although some said that 3pm was their favourite time! It had been a very cold, frosty night and that normally means that birds have to feed quickly and earlier and so we quickly added the short eared owl to are day list.

I used to say that December on the coast can be very Mediterranean and so it turned out as little egrets and then the long stay and wandering glossy ibis flew in. This bird has been around the North West for close to 2years. It reminds me a cormorant with a long stick in its beak!

The wigeon, pintail, teal, mallard, pink feet, canada's, greylags, shoveler, pochard, tufted and ruddy duck made up the waterfowl. It was another good day out at a reserve that needs more hides and heaters!

Chris

The Secrets Out!!

NEW REPORT CONFIRMS NORTH WEST IMPORTANCE FOR UK’S WATERBIRDS

The concentrations of millions of ducks, geese, swans and wading birds, which spend the winter in the UK, are among our greatest wildlife spectacles, and the latest report into the numbers of these birds proves the importance of the North West region.

But the report also reveals that some dramatic changes are taking place with our birdlife across the UK. Some species are increasing, while others are decreasing alarmingly.

Many of the most important sites for waterbirds in winter are in the North West.
The Ribble Estuary is internationally important for 16 species of birds; along with the Wash this site has the highest number of species of international importance. The Ribble is also the most important site in the UK for the wigeon, a type of duck whose population has fallen by one-fifth nationally.

The Dee Estuary holds the largest UK concentrations of pintail - a type of duck - and the redshank, a wading bird which across the UK reached its lowest population level for 20 years.

The Mersey Estuary holds the largest concentrations for shelduck, and the dunlin – a type of wading bird whose population has reached the lowest level across the UK since 1970.

Morecambe Bay is the most important UK site for curlew, the UK’s largest wading bird. The curlew is also one of the UK’s most threatened birds as it is edging towards global extinction.

Dr Peter Robertson, Head of Conservation, RSPB Northern England, said: “This report shows that our estuaries and wetlands are wonderful places for wildlife and they deserve to remain so.

The estuaries in the North West are vital staging posts for international travellers. Climate Change and industrial development threaten these wonderful places and the RSPB will continue to do everything in its power to protect them.”

“We are blessed with years of information, chronicling the ups and downs of these international travellers. This information must present a wake-up call to protect these sites, rather than provide a record of how important they once were.”

The key findings from this year’s report, from across the UK, include:

· The numbers of Bewick’s swan fell by around one third.
· The numbers of European and Greenland white-fronted geese suffered further declines.
· The number of dunlin, one of the UK’s most abundant waders, was the lowest since 1970.
· The numbers of wigeon, teal and shoveler - types of duck - all fell, with wigeon suffering a decline of one fifth.
· The number of redshank – a type of wader – declined for the third year running, reaching its lowest level for 20 years.
· The UK’s two species of godwit – types of wading bird – showed differing trends. The graph for black-tailed godwit – a bird of global conservation concern – reached its highest level; although the closely-related bar-tailed godwit, reached its lowest level to date, after a five-year decline.
· Avocets increased, reaching record numbers.

Research is needed to determine whether declines are due to birds short-stopping (that is, birds wintering closer to their breeding grounds, and hence occurring in the UK in smaller numbers) or whether they are ‘real’ global population declines.

This year’s report reveals that five sites in the UK are internationally-important for 12 species of bird, or more, these are: the Ribble (16 species); The Wash (16 species); the Humber (12 species); Morecambe Bay (12 species) and the Thames (12 species).

Picture included!!

I have to say as the Liverpool group leader I get lots of emails or phone calls about birds. Most are just a description of a British bird or some are of caged birds that have escaped. So it was great to come home and receive an email from Mike Cain, of a bird photographed in a friends garden in Bowering park. A woodcock is a great garden bird to have on your list. its rare to get a photo of a sitting birds as they usually fly when flushed.

Thanks Mike.

Chris

Always keep watching...cos you end up smiling!

Yesterday it was dry and sunny, and having spent over an hour in the dentists chair and he still hasnt sorted out the problem he created, I was not a happy birder. Infact I was very miserable driving back to work but the M57 is a wildlife haven if you can drive and watch at the same time. Slow and thermalling buzzards with magpies hassling them is a good sight but then the cast of jays, great spotted woodpeckers, canada geese wasnt bad, but I was still not happy. As I drove toward switch island I noticed an owl being mobbed by magpies. As the end of the motorway loomed the bird drifted closer and a smile came over my face looking at this wonderful short eared owl. No more pain!

Chris

Picture courtesy of RSPB images.