RSPB Liverpool on Nature Watch, BBC Radio Merseyside, 23rd May 2020

Although things are quiet on the RSPB Liverpool events front due to the coronavirus, Chris has still been contributing to BBC Radio Merseyside in his role of nature watcher. Most recently, as well as answering listeners’ questions, he discussed a number of nature-related topics with Helen Jones, including:

·         Screaming swifts and how to help map them (https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/). 

Common swift – photo from Wikimedia: AlexeySokolov1971/CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

·         The RSPB’s Big Wild Sleepout Lockdown Edition, which took place on Saturday, 23^rd May.

·       #NoMowMay, which some councils have participated in this year, leaving grassy areas uncut so that wildflowers can emerge, supporting pollinating insects such as bees and hoverflies. Bees are one of our most important pollinators, and we rely on their hard work for much of what we eat. They pollinate the flowers that produce some of our vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and help to spread colour through our landscape. Bees are vital in keeping up the health of our ecosystems, so we need to give them the biggest chance possible to thrive.

Protected verge, Northants – photo from Wikimedia: Michael Trolove, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13472961

·         What to do if you find a baby bird on the ground:

If it looks healthy and well, like the young linnet in the photo below, leave it alone.

Fledgling linnet on the ground at Garston Coastal Reserve – photo by @birderjack

If it’s being fed by a parent bird, like the young stonechat in the photo below, leave it alone.

Fledgling stonechat being fed by parent bird, Garston Coastal Reserve – photo by @birderjack

If it’s in the nest being fed or looking healthy and well, like the baby song thrushes in the photo below, leave it alone.

Song thrush feeding young in the nest – photo from RSPB Images

However, if it is definitely injured, seek advice from the RSPCA or a local wildlife charity.

·         Looking ahead, we should shortly be seeing some of our beautiful native orchids in flower – species such as the pyramidal orchid and the bee orchid.

Pyramidal orchid, Formby – photo by Chris Tynan

Bee orchid – photo from Wikimedia: Henry Hemming/CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

All of the above can be found in our local area, without having to make a long trip to see them, and one of the few good things to come out of the coronavirus situation has been the increase in sightings – and thus knowledge about – of what we think of as ‘uncommon’ species around Merseyside. For example, eider ducks have been spotted flying along the Mersey and then roosting on a sandbank, then bobbing on the river; a cuckoo was seen flying along the river – no doubt using it as a navigational aid; local fields have provided a brief stopover for other birds on their way to their breeding grounds, etc. Without the eyes and ears of keen local naturalists who are currently unable to wander further afield, the presence of some of these species might have passed unnoticed.

If you would like to record your sightings, Merseyside BioBank has a link to an excellent resource, iRecord (https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/). Submitted, verified records are available to national recording schemes and societies, Local Environmental Records Centres, and other individual records and organisations, thus building up a crucial map of areas of importance for the wildlife that calls this island home, or which visits for a brief period.

Gull observation Q & A

 

We had an interesting question from one of our members recently, and thought we would share our answer on the blog.

QUESTION

Hi, I hope you are keeping well and safe in these awful days of coronavirus.

With this enforced isolation at home I have been looking out of our waterfront window over Brunswick Dock a lot more taking pleasure in observing birds and their behaviour. I have noticed in the early to late evening there is a steady stream of many herring gulls flying back along the waterfront from the direction of the estuary.

I’m presuming they are flying back inland from feeding in the estuary but I wonder where are they going and for what reason. I also wonder why these gulls would maybe go fishing as I perhaps see them in the city as urban gulls scavenging and eating the leftovers from the public; much easier pickings but maybe not since the coronavirus with few people on the streets and the fast food outlets and restaurants closed. However, I have observed this migration behaviour since I came to live here two years ago.

Could you or anyone at RSPB Liverpool throw any light on this? I must admit I am getting very interested in watching gulls and their behaviour recently. 

Finally can you or anyone recommend a good book on European gulls?

Thanks and regards

Jerry

ANSWER

Hi Jerry,

Gulls are a very interesting subject. For starters, the big gulls we see around town and the estuary are mostly herring gull and lesser black-backed gulls. Lots of our black-headed gulls have moved to breeding sites, and common gulls have moved back to northern Scotland and northern Europe.

These large gulls used to breed on the Ribble marsh or further north on Walney Island, but in the last two decades these clever birds have realised that we humans waste so much food, throw it on the floor, etc., and of course there's the rise of the large landfill sites. Gulls aren't really fishers; they are more looking for worms in fields, especially when it rains, small mammals, and anything we throw away.

At the present moment in time, the gulls will be surprised by us humans' change of behaviour, where town centres have become ghost towns and free handouts have disappeared. Both herring and LBB gulls take four years to go from being born to be classed as adults, and they can live till they are 30 years old!

The reason for the movement back up the estuary is dependent on two things. Where the tide is has a great effect on the birds as they will be happy to roost on the sand bars on low tide. Secondly, the Mersey marshes by the Manchester Ship Canal allow the birds to access the last landfill site we have, at Gowy near Ellesmere Port, and if you drive down the M56 in the winter you can sometimes see 10 to 30,000 gulls in the area.

As for a good book, then Gulls of the World, a photographic guide, is good. In the UK we get a number of different gulls but our five common species are great black-backed, lesser black-backed, herring, common and black-headed. Mediterranean gulls appear at Otterspool; there was an Iceland gull at Sefton Park last year; glaucous gulls, the world's biggest gull, are occasionally seen in the area; Kittiwakes can be spotted on the Mersey; and, recently yellow-legged gulls. Some American gulls have made it to the North West as well.

I hope this helps

Chris Tynan

Leader

RSPB Liverpool Local group

https://www.nhbs.com/title?slug=gulls-of-the-world-book

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Gulls_of_Europe_Asia_and_North_America.html?id=Z8_Fe_ojFSAC

REPLY

Hi Chris

Thanks very much for that very interesting information and take on the gulls of Merseyside. I am finding that gulls in general are such interesting birds but herring gulls are very successful in our area, and they and their behaviour particularly fascinate me.

Even when shopping in Liverpool city centre, I watch them patrolling the main shopping thoroughfares such as  Church Street, turning their heads towards every side street, right and left, seeking our fast-food leftovers as they pick strategic high spots to watch us closely. Easy pickings for a highly adaptive bird. My mum in Crosby marvels at how there are none in sight but as soon as she throws bacon rind in the garden a couple almost immediately come down from goodness knows where. Is that phenomenal sight or smell or both? Incredible.

I hate it when the newspapers give these birds a bad press. It’s the public who should be admonished! I understand that herring gulls are disappearing around our coasts, so I consider myself very lucky to have so many of them and lesser black-backed gulls here around my home. Looking out over Brunswick Dock today whilst on the phone, I spotted a great black-backed gull flying majestically by. What a huge bird!

Thanks also for the book recommendations.