Patch notes and Nightingales

Yesterday morning I visited my local patch for the first Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) of the year. This is the 20th year of the British Trust for Ornithology’s BBS survey which is an admirable landmark in UK conservation. Every year a large number of volunteers conduct at least 2 visits to their given 1km square, recording all the birds (and mammals) they see and hear in the vicinity. The result is an important snap shot of local and national bird populations at a key time in the year. Tied in with this data are useful notes on land use, habitats and significantly, changes in habitat.

This is the 3rd year I’ve surveyed this site in North Kent between early May and June and it’s something that I always look forward to. My square has remained largely unchanged in 20 years; open, tilled fields interspersed with a few bushes form the primary landscape, with houses, gardens and a woodland edge filling in one corner. There have been a few subtle changes including a new hedgerow that is now gloriously deep and shrubby as well as two small copses, planted as a result of agri-environment stewardship funds for the farmer. It is remarkable what a difference this small change makes.

It’s been interesting to see what changes have taken place in the last 20 years, since 1994 - the last year a Spotted Flycatcher and Yellowhammer was recorded here in Spring. Numbers of skylarks and corn buntings, the stars of my patch, have remained fairly stable, while starlings have dropped considerably. My great hope is that the pair of Turtle Dove which were recorded for 3 consecutive years from 2002, but not since, will one day return. To my eyes, this landscape could support them, I guess I’ll just wait and hope. A quick scan through the summary of 20 years of data also shows that this unremarkable piece of farmland has recorded 65 species on the BBS survey, not all breeding of course, but it shows how important even a seemingly featureless part of the countryside can be and how important it is we look after it.

 Here is the latest chapter in the survey, as of yesterday between 05:52 and 07:10am. Conditions were good - overcast with some brief drizzle giving to cool, calm morning. The highlight was probably 4 wheatears together in one field, but this was the part where I walk between the transect lines that split my square, so not valid in this instance. It was good to see my first local Swift too and equally heartening to encounter 4 singing Corn buntings and numerous skylarks. It also looks like a good year for whitethroats - calling and displaying from the very areas planted to improve the area for wildlife. And that is rewarding indeed.

BBS visit (1) 2014:

Red-legged Partridge 5
Grey Heron 1
Woodpigeon 22
Collared Dove 3
Swift 1
Green Woodpecker 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Magpie 1
Jackdaw 1
Carrion Crow 3
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 2
Great Tit 1
Skylark 16
Swallow 2
Blackcap 5
Whitethroat 5
Wren 3
Starling 9
Blackbird 5
Song Thrush 2
Robin 8
Dunnock 4
House Sparrow 2
Chaffinch 6
Linnet 1
Corn Bunting 4

I wonder what changes we’ll see to this list in the next 20 years?

Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) singing from the same perch as it did in 2013

One bird that is found locally but it is unlikely to make it to my patch is the Nightingale. Writing in the Independent this week, Michael McCarthy recounts an interesting encounter with a Nightingale in Chiswick of all places - but it’s an encounter which we could all be sharing soon:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/nature-studies-isnt-it-time-the-bbc-broadcastthe-song-of-the-nightingale-again-9324038.html

He is urging the BBC to broadcast the song of the Nightingale on Sunday 18th May - 90 years after they first broadcast it to huge acclaim. I hope they do. With the fate of this declining bird’s single most important UK breeding site (in North Kent) in the balance due to development, it is a song that deserves to be heard.