Great Bittern!

Woo yeah here are some unamazing pics of my amazing encounter with a Bittern at RSPB Minsmere last Monday:

Reed all about it...there's a Bittern there somewhere

Honest...

Getting closer...

Bingo! Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) from the appropriately named Bittern Hide

It’s funny how things work out. We weren’t supposed to end up at Minsmere on Monday. If the car hadn’t broken down first thing, we would’ve headed off to Lakenheath and probably not seen a Bittern. But as it was, Minsmere provided the perfect ending to a lovely weekend moching around the Suffolk countryside.  

We visited some great places on our rambles. The Alde Estuary held small numbers of Dunlin, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit as well as wintering Wigeon and Teal. The surrounding fields and paddocks were interesting too with a large, mobile finch flock foraging in the tightly cropped grass. There must've been 300+ birds including Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet and at least one (and likley more) Brambling. That latter bird has been a hard one to track down of late, the mild winter no doubt holding up arrivals from the east. The epic reedbeds of Dingle Marsh up the coast near Dunwich were truly a wild experience. But Minsmere stole the show. Watching the Bittern cautiously stalk through the reeds, occasionally lunging for fish that had strayed into the shallows while Marsh Harriers wheeled overhead, coming in to roost for the evening, is up there with some of my favourite birding moments.

Suffolk list (65):

Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Wigeon, Teal, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Black-headed gull, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Brambling, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Woodpigeon, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Lapwing, Starling, Shoveler, Tufted duck, Moorhen, Sparrowhawk, Mallard, Great Tit, Robin, Skylark, Cormorant, Herring gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mute Swan, Jackdaw, Jay, Ringed Plover, Little Egret, Meadow Pipit, Great Black-backed gull, Reed Bunting, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Smew(1m&f), Coot, Bewick’s Swan, Goldeneye (2f), Cetti’s Warbler (heard), Snipe, Water Rail, Bittern, Bearded Tit (heard), Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Song Thrush

Not bad I think.

Gorgeous. Minsmere sunset 23/1/12

Last night a Venture Capitalist saved my life

After an exciting but fretful day yesterday, I enjoyed the evening’s NewsNight programme on BBC2. They ran an article on the proposed Estuary Airport, ‘Boris Island’ (sorry ‘Boris Peninsula’ has he now prefers it known) which bought out an amusing sneer from Paxman – “surely a bunch of birds aren’t going to stop this?” I expected a standard 50/50 debate from the two panellists - a Lib Dem councillor, I forget who, and a Venture Capitalist, one John Moulton I think. But no, the verdict was unanimous – as far as they were concerned, it’s not happening.

The Liberal Democrats have made their position fairly clear on the matter, no new airport in the South East, so here’s hoping we see some leadership from them on the issue. Moulton on the other hand seemed to enjoy tearing the project to pieces. From his experience he suspected the cost of the airport could rise to as much as £80 billion, a huge leap from the sum touted by supporters and an even bigger hike from the £8 billion that the chancellor has advocated for the UK’s annual transport infrastructure budget. Can that kind of funding, even from risk experts, really be possible? Moulton thought not. Why he claimed, invest in a project like this that could take upwards of 20 years to become reality? (Today, wise old Boris reckons 6 years is realistic) He also went on to point out that an airport in the South East would do very little for the regional divide in this country. It’s a topic that seems to pop up regularly and may yet have some value in this argument. Good point I thought.

The article then inevitably shifted focus to Johnson’s mayoral campaign. It was interesting that from the latest government by-election poll in Feltham ward (West London) Labour had a good lead, but in the mayoral election Boris had a 1 point lead in the same area. I guess you can’t read too much into that, if I lived near Heathrow last thing I’d want is another run way but then of course I’d never have moved there in the first fucking place. The election spin continued today and I was glad to see this news putting Ken Livingstone ahead by a whisker. The people of Kent and Essex don’t vote for a mayor of London so here’s hoping those that do make the right choice in May.

Ours was the marsh country

"Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard and the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea."

From 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. Excerpt on display in St James' Church, Cooling on the Hoo Peninsula.

It's been a strange day here. Like everyone else, I woke up to news that the government will hold a formal consultation for the proposed Thames Estuary airport. It wasn't a bombshell, I think we all expected it. They pretty much said as much last year. So I was ready, I couldn't wait for people to come in and start talking about it! I was encouraged by what I heard. There were no answers, other than to the question - will we fight? YES. It was enough to feel the passion crackling around the room. To know that wheels are turning. I love this area with every ounce of my being and so do lots of other people. Some of them live down the road, some of them live miles away. People that might never have been here still understand what is at stake. It's a story that's happening everywhere. But conservation has no borders and small flowers can still crack concrete.

This room is filled with books and files. They contain data relating to bird numbers in this area going back decades. I bet if I looked carefully enough I'd find a pattern emerging. In the majority of cases I think we'd find that fewer numbers of fewer species are recorded each year. So that suggests we have a problem, a complex one at that. I believe we have a moral imperative to arrest this or to do our damnedest trying. In no way will building an airport on the Hoo Peninsula have a positive impact on this.

I guess in the grand scheme of things though, it's not really about birds. They are of course hugely important, along with all the other wonderful wildlife here, but like that Dicken's quote - it's just as much about the wider area, that "dark flat wilderness". Generally I think people live here for a reason - it's a way of life that they have chosen. Rural areas are still very much defined by communities, we lose them and we lose our rural identity. If that goes then so does our connection to vast swathes of the natural world. With each passing generation it becomes harder to remember. The baseline changes and we begin to expect less and less. To my eyes, an area like Grain (and Hoo and the Medway and Essex etc) has been founded on community ideals. It might not be perfect and I'm sure some people would welcome investment/jobs in these areas but a "global airport hub" is not the answer.

This has been rumbling on for a long time, at least this news is some news. So what is this consultation? Officially, at least, it means no decision has been made yet regarding the airport. We know Heathrow has been dismissed but we'll have to wait a while longer, until Spring at least, to see what exactly the government means by its "sustainable framework for UK aviation". I'm guessing that'll be a very loose translation of 'sustainable' but we'll see. In the meantime I guess we keep on doing what we do and step up for nature.

Grain Marsh, 27/12/11

#noestuaryairport

A Rough morning...

Raptor watching at Northward Hill


Sometimes I love the quiet, homey days when nothing ever happens. 

So not like yesterday, when a colleague and I spent several hours enjoying an impromptu raptor fest off Northward Hill.

Pick of the bunch was a undoubtedly a Rough-legged Buzzard - a largely annual but still rare visitor to Northward Hill. I've only ever seen one once before, briefly and at distance; this individual however posed obligingly on a fence post for a good half hour, enabling me to get some decent ID pointers. The most obvious thing at first was its pale head and streaked breast. Crucially though, during short, occasional flights, its pale upper/lower tail was clearly visible - with a single broad, but partially worn end-band. This confirmed its identity (generally an easier characteristic to spot than the ‘rough legs’ of its name) and suggested it was a juvenile bird at that. In flight it showed the slightly bulkier appearance and longer wings that set Rough-legged Buzzard apart from Common Buzzard.

We enjoyed views of the bird, swooping to the ground, apparently eating something unidentifiable (earthworms?) This was before it surprised us by taking off after what at first appeared to be a rabbit, but turned out to be a Brown Hare. The hare itself was a notable sighting (a shy animal usually more active around dusk) but watching the bizarre stand off between the two was fascinating. It was surely something that can't have been seen too often. For a moment they sat no more than a meter apart before the bird moved off, no doubt realising it had met a formidable match. Fantastic!

It didn't end there though - a short while later, we picked up another raptor on a very distant tree. This bird had even more obvious contrasting pale/dark plumage. Given that there is a great deal of variation in buzzards’ plumage, it needed to be seen in flight to be sure. Eventually a passing Rook obliged, mobbing the bird and causing it to take off. At this point the vivid, dark belly markings and carpal patches (the 'wrist' of the bird) were strikingly clear, meaning we had another Rough-legged Buzzard! The sharp contrast in plumage, in comparison to the first bird, and pale upper tail suggested this bird was mature - an adult female. Eventually the bird came in closer to our position when a female Marsh Harrier moved in and flushed it off. 

Rough-legged Buzzards, autumn migrants to Britain from far northern Europe, are a rare but not unusual site on marshes and low-lying arable land in winter, but two in close proximity is a great result. Over the course of the morning, we also picked up 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, two marsh harriers (both female) and a kestrel. Enjoying the birds, I forgot I was numb with cold and after a while headed back for a cuppa. A little while later I saw my colleague again; he grinned and chuckled...shortly after I left an unlikley Red-tailed Hawk had appeared from somewhere and alighted a short distance from one of the Rough-legs! This bird (normally found in North America) was undoubtedly a falconry escapee but incredibly not the only one in the area – that morning a Saker Falcon was spotted at Cliffe Pools  What are the chances?!

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) in profile (Photo from google images)
Note streaked/pale head, 'rough legs' and pale rectrices with dark band.

A juvenile Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) passes above a reedbed at Northward Hill