Having spent most of April in Spain, I was looking forward to doing my first BBS visit to one of my two BBS squares – I really was. So much so that having arrived back home at about 0400 on Saturday morning I even considered going straight out to see if I could see any Whitethroats. But it was Sunday morning when I actually drove a few miles down the road at 0530.
My first square is a patch of arable farmland on the Northants/Cambs border and it is a bit birdless – but nowhere is completely birdless, and the point of the survey, I well understand, is to monitor changes in population levels across a random selection of squares across the UK. So I was doing my little bit for the bigger whole. This is my 13th visit to this patch of ordinary farmland. What would I find?
The highlights were a Lesser Whitethroat, a Cuckoo and a couple of Yellowhammers, although there were quite a few Linnets too.
There was a Lesser Whitethroat singing near where I parked the car – my first of the year – but that wasn’t on the actual survey square and so it was about an hour later when I recorded my ‘countable’ Lesser Whitethroat. There were a few Whitethroats too – again, my first of the year. A pair of Yellowhammers were nice to see – I usually record more of them on the second visit which will be in early June.
A Cuckoo towards the end of the survey felt like a reward for my diligence. It’s only the 4th year out of 13 that I have recorded Cuckoo on this BBS square. How sad is that?
I shall attempt to do the first visit to my other BBS square next weekend and then there will be second visits to do in about a month’s time. When I come back to this square I’ll be hoping to see Yellow Wagtails as they are a regular but declining species on this square.
So my first visit to this square was in 2005 – before the last Labour government introduced a Climate Change Act or a Marine Act. Then, Brexit was pretty much unthinkable and now it is a real likelihood. And we’ve had seven years of Tory or coalition government which have been the most uncaring for decades for wildlife. By the time I carry out my second visit it will be around the time of the general election. Wildlife doesn’t have a vote but you do – please use it wisely.
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Linnet; Yellowhammer; Lesser and Common Whitethroat – all long gone from this 70 acre patch of wooded heath and sand quarry. Some Cuckoo song can still be heard but the female’s strange bubbling call has become perplexingly absent in the soundscape.
Also silent are far too many disaffected, young potential voters. They need to bubble up and challenge that grey hegemony that encloses and carves up the current political landscape.
“Our” Potted Flyscrapers have arrived and have been spotted sussing out the exact same node of the grapevine where their parents, grandparents and great grandparents have been nesting since 1975. I look forward to this every year as I am now excused from the duty of grass cutting in their vicinity until they leave.
Whereas 2016 was the Year of the Long-Tailed Tit 2017 is the year of the Goldfinch – entire squadrons of them. They swarm over the roof and the dried sphagnum that passes for grass – presumably searching for insects as we have no Guizotia plants around the gaff. I was entertained for a couple of evening minutes by a Goldfinch successfully keeping one hop away from a rat that was trying to catch it on the grass. And the gaudy sight of a Goldfinch proudly flying around with a Brimstone in its beak.
We also have more Greater Spotted Woodpokers than usual – I am hoping they will be permanent now in our copse after their rotten tall beech fell down in December. Then there are the Buzzards, a Mrs Kestrel, the 5 o’clock Kite, and all the other usual garden suspects. And I don’t have to burn a drop of evil fossil hydrocarbons to see them.
It would be wonderful if we could hear some wheezy Wol chicks on May 22nd.
Filbert – how I envy you your Spotted Flycatchers. You’re very lucky (and perhaps skillful) to have them still.
Yes, i’ve the same feeling of envy: they are still about in places but when they do occur it’s either tucked away in some ancient, private woodland or chez some very posh garden.
Have ever heard them sing during your 42 years of looking after them, Filbert?
The grapevine could not have been planted before 1974, when the East Wing of Cobb Towers was built. I like to imagine that they have been catching flies here since Thomas Becket parked his horse. I have lived here for 10 years, and they have only missed one year of those, when a tennis-ball sized wasp nest was hanging under the thatch above the nest site. I bought an apple-picking tool for removing any subsequent nests but so far it has not been needed for that.
The characteristic clicking of beaks as they feed gives them away, and the nearest to song is a repeated “Tsee-chuk-chuk” as they perch away from the nest, calling to the young.
A friend tells me there are catchers of Spotted Flies to be seen every year in a churchyard at Wedmore.
Thanks. Your hearing is very sharp: I don’t recall ever hearing their clicking beaks when they catch flies. However, your ‘tsee-chuk-chuk’ call is well described and very familiar.
There is a song, it’s quite loud, it must be – even I can hear it at some distance. But I’ve only heard it in two out of the last fifty years or so (~2004 and 2015). Some authorities say the song is frequent, others say it’s rare. Some books refer to it as sub-song thereby implying this is the reason for people not noticing any ‘musical’ ability. (Apparently the bird can do mimicry.) It might be a time of day thing; there’s a suspicion that they like to sing mostly at dawn and, possibly, dusk. There’s a lot more to be discovered if only we can hold on to them like you do.
http://sounds.bl.uk/environment/british-wildlife-recordings/022m-w1cdr0001391-1400v0
Thanks for posting that recording Murray – I’ll listen out for that. Do you happen to know the most likely suspect that can never be seen but perfectly imitates our telephone ringtone? It usually calls a double ring – just enough to get me up off the bench and heading back indoors …
Filbert – Starling?
I havn’t seen a Starling here in 10 years – but neither have I seen the Ringtone Bird. I prefer never seeing the Ringtone Bird, because gram for gram the Starling produces more poop than any other living creature.
On what planet is a post on doing a BBS survey – a wholly commendable and creditable exercise – worthy of a single “dislike”, let alone three? Just once it would be good to hear from one of what seems to be a tiny core knee jerk of naysayers to explain what’s so dreadful about utterly non-controversial posts like this. As it is, I shall just mentally deduct up to 3 ‘dislikes’ from every post that has a negative response on the grounds that those responsible have a) not actually read it or, and there no polite way of saying this, b) they’re just plain stupid.
John – relax! Don’t let it get to you.