Category Archives: Conservation and Environment

Glaslyn Ospreys on TV!

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The third episode of Iolo Williams’ Wild Wales was shown on BBC4 on Saturday night and included a few clips of (I think) the Glaslyn male osprey in the waters around Porthmadog.  The programme also had piece on whooper swans in the Glaslyn Valley and the location could easily have been just next to the viewing site for the Osprey Project.

It was a good programme anyway but made even better by seeing the ospreys and the Glaslyn valley.

For the time being, you can catch the programme on BBC iPlayer.

 

Cyclist trouble in the Glaslyn Valley…

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Back down the winding track through the old woodland, the rainfall rivers across the way have now dried, as has the protection site. While last week, the river was threatening to break its banks, this week it has a mellow calmness about its movement and it has dropped well below the field level. High up in the tree now sits a complete clutch of three precious speckled eggs.  It’s not all peace and quiet though – there’s a fair bit if mutual antagonism between the ospreys and their carrion crow neighbours with the ospreys giving chase or being mobbed over the course of each day.

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On Saturday I retuned to the Glaslyn osprey protection site near Porthmadog in North Wales for another eight hour shift. This time I had company in the form of Jack, one of my fellow volunteers from my local conservation volunteering group. To break up the shift, Jack and I took it in turns to go for a walk in the woodland near to the site. It’s a lovely spot in amongst the old moss-covered oaks and the small craggy hills. Spring bird song was all around and no road noise to disturb the peace; in fact it was almost silent when we arrived at the site. The bluebells are starting to come through, a little later than at home, and the trees are just starting to burst their leaf buds.

It’s not just the ospreys that keep our interest while on shift; the valley is full of life. The birds are the most obvious with 38 different species seen or heard by me on my three visits so far this year but there are mammals too.  The bank voles scuttle on the drystone wall beside the caravan and often a weasel isn’t far behind. There are badgers in the vicinity of the protection site and a lucky few get a glimpse of otters in the river – but not me so far!

In my 30-odd shifts over this and the previous two springs, I have never had an incident to deal with but this changed on Saturday.  Part way into the shift, a cyclist came through the gate by the caravan and proceeded past and towards the bridge over the river.  I spoke to him and made him aware that while the footpath wasn’t closed,  there were nesting ospreys in the area and that if he continued across the bridge and into the field he risked disturbing them.  I told him that if he did indeed disturb them, he would be breaking the law (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981) and if this was a serious disturbance I would call the Police.  This didn’t seem to bother him and he dismissed my warning with some mutterings about cycling on footpaths and off he went.  He said he would push his bike around the edge of the field but got back on to his bike and rode straight across once over the river.  When he approached the vicinity of the nest tree, the female flew off, circled above and then appeared to dive towards him before they both disappeared from sight.  However, the male stayed firmly on the nest, keeping the eggs warm and the female soon returned.

No harm was done in the end but it just shows how little care some people have for wildlife when their presence risks inconveniencing them.

 

A Day with the Ospreys

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Trundling down a woodland track, past the stone cottage and old barn, I splash through rainfall streams crossing the path. Winding round the rocky hillside, a wren flits across the way in the darkness under the enclosing trees. Emerging from cover, the landscape opens up from the old moss-covered oaks into wide damp pastureland bounded by water channels and stone walls. Across the river and the sheep fields, sits a tumbledown building, long past its best and beyond use. In the quietness of its surroundings, silence broken only by the low bleating of sheep and the occasional steam train whistle, it stands alone. Within a neighbouring copse, high up in a fir tree, watched over by Snowdon, is a large, jumbled collection of branches, twigs and turf – a cradle for a precious clutch of Welsh osprey eggs.

ImageThe nest isn’t only watched over by the mountain; it also stays observed by a dedicated group of volunteers putting in hours and days to ensure that no one disturbs the birds or steals their eggs. The rarity of these eggs is what makes them so valuable to collectors. A display of Welsh osprey eggs would enhance any collection, but this would not require the theft of one clutch but two. For whatever reason, egg thieves must have five eggs to display, and at up to three eggs a clutch, it takes two nests to fulfil this requirement. However, the value of these eggs is even greater to those who give their time to protect them and there is a growing band of people willing to put up with rain, cold and discomfort to prevent any attempts to take the clutch.

On Saturday morning I got up at 6:30am to travel to the Glaslyn Osprey protection site near Porthmadog, north Wales. It takes just over two hours to get there from home driving via a choice of scenic roads across the hills and moors or via the fast coast route. My first shift of the year started at 10:00am and as I settled down for a long eight-hour guard duty, tinkering with the new camera equipment, the female started to shuffle on the nest. As she stood up and stepped to one side, there beneath her was the first white and speckled egg of the year, her thirtieth and hopefully one of three to come. As the first to see the egg, I let Elfyn, the organiser of volunteers, know what I had seen, and within a few minutes the news was out. Quite a start to the shift!

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With the rain coming down from the start, the caravan with the monitoring equipment (Osprey Protection Spy Cave) seemed the best place to stay but eventually I went out to the forward hide, where the volunteers get closer to the nest and have a chance of better views. The hide gives a clear sight of the nest and tree and any one approaching them would be seen easily, even at night.

The quietness and natural beauty of the valley is one of the bonuses of volunteering there. While the rain, wind and cold can make it an uncomfortable existence for a few hours, we are rewarded with views across Snowdonia and the sights and sounds of wildlife, both birds and mammals.

After my shift I checked-in at a local hotel and then decided to really get into the Osprey way of living and try some water from the Glaslyn Valley and Porthmadog fish for my tea (pictured below!)

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Summer is here!

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…well almost.

The change to British Summer Time signals the real start of my cycling year.  While I do cycle during the late Autumn and Winter, the light nights after the clocks go forward mean I can make the most of the evenings and cycle out into the countryside. The state of the roads in South Cheshire and the lack of care taken by some drivers, means that I don’t feel safe cycling in the pitch darkness, so I keep most of my cycling to the Spring, Summer and early Autumn months.

I’m a moderately keen road cyclist with a occasional return to my former mountain-biking ways.  I try to cycle as often as I can and since last Summer I’ve started cycling and running, one immediately after the other, with the hope of getting to a good level of all-round fitness.  This approach has started to pay off but I need to get back into the cycling element after this took a back seat over the winter (and following my bike being pinched).

Yesterday was the first really nice evening when I could cycle after work.  With light winds and a strengthening Sun, the Summer seemed just around the corner and I was quite pleased with my time over my usual 15mile route around some villages close to Nantwich.

My improving ear for picking up bird sounds seems to have spilled over into my cycling and I noted many more birds than I have done on any previous ride.  The highlight was a skylark singing high up in the warm Spring air as I passed along a quiet country lane – I almost paused to listen but once I get pedalling, I find it hard to stop. I also noted mute swan, canada goose, mallard, carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, starling, blue tit, great tit, chiffchaff, greenfinch, goldfinch, chaffinch, dunnock, house sparrow, robin, wren and woodpigeon.

No swallows, martins or swifts yet, but they’ll soon be swooping past while I’m on my evening pedals around the Cheshire countryside.

Don’t complain about road noise…

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After a late Saturday afternoon trip to the pub, I listened to the dusk chorus of robins, wrens and blackbirds while slowly making my way back to the warmth of my house. The accompaniment to these wanderings got me thinking, quite deeply. As I strolled along suburban lanes and across a busy main road, my concentration on those songs, bringing the day to a close, was interrupted by the passing of cars, vans and lorries.

Whether it is the soft but ever-present rumble of the far off A-road or the neck-less, under-developed one burbling past in his Subaru, road noise has an impact on all our lives. Even in the depths of the far off wilds of this nation, you are often never quite free of the background hiss thrown out by our metal dreams.

Many people in this modern world complain of the seeping, penetrating, all-pervasive presence of road noise in their lives; that it disturbs their peace; that it prevents silence. Yet, there is little silence in this world, and if there is silence, there is something missing, and something very wrong. As, if silence exists, other sounds are absent.

Wishing for silence is like wiping the paint from the canvas of a masterpiece. Wishing for silence means denying the chorus at dawn and dusk. Wishing for silence means hoping for a world empty of birds. Instead of complaining about road noise, we should be more positive, more aspirational, more in touch with the non-human world around us; we should be standing up for bird song.

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BTO Breeding Bird Survey – Bickerton Poacher

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This week I was given a Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) grid square by the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) and this morning I went out to complete the habitat survey for the two transects (survey routes).

The survey site is out near the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge, close to Bulkeley and just by the Bickerton Poacher pub on the road between Nantwich and Wrexham.  The BBS will require two visits, one at either end of Spring, but I’ll go into more detail about what the surveys entail in a future post.

ImageThe two survey transects are very typical of that part of Cheshire, with large pastures, bounded by hedges, with the backdrop of the low wooded hills.  Unlike much of the county, the land is quite rolling but the Cheshire Plain starts only a short distance away.

Spring really is in full swing now, with the daffodils out in full bloom, leaf buds starting to burst and the birds singing for all their worth.  This survey and the similar surveys I’ve been doing for Cheshire Wildlife Trust have given me a better ‘ear’ for bird song and picking out individual species.  I don’t think I have ever appreciated so much the sheer volume and strength of the combined weight of bird song at Springtime.  Just standing by my car at the starting point of the first transect, by the woodland at the bottom of the hills, the sound was so intense and vibrant – the countryside bursting with life!

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The power of volunteers

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I have a few large posts in the offing but I just wanted to highlight two great examples of volunteering and what can be achieved by many people putting contributing a little (and in some cases not so little) of their time.

Late last year, the British Trust for Ornithology, Birdwatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologist Club released the 2007-2011 Bird Atlas.  This is an amazing book that details the breeding and wintering ranges of all bird species in the British Isles and not only is it a scientific marvel, it is a lovely ‘coffee table book’ too (if fact it’s almost as big as a coffee table!).  The book importantly also highlights how bird populations have changed over the past few decades and, in many cases, is quite a depressing read.  However, it’s an extremely helpful aid to the work of conservation organisations and fascinating for those of us who like wildlife, statistics and maps!

The most startling thing about it, is that 40,000 people helped to create it by collecting bird survey data and they’re all named in the back – it’s just a pity my name’s not in there and it will be many years until the next one comes out.

ImageThe other great example of volunteering is one that is much better known – the Big Garden Birdwatch. The results of the 2014 survey came out today and again it makes for interesting reading.  Nearly half a million people took part in the survey (sadly down from last year) and 7.27million birds were counted.  The annual survey has now been going for 36 years and data collected over that period can provide very good insights into the state of Britain’s birds.

You can find out more on the Bird Atlas and the Bid Garden Birdwatch at the following locations:

http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/birdatlas

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/previous-results.aspx

Pylons

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With all the debate around the visual (and other) impacts of wind turbines, I really have to say that they are certainly no worse that pylons.

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I visited Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s Gowy Meadows reserve yesterday and the pylons shown in the photo above (obviously tinkered with for effect!) really do scar the landscape

I should mention here that the reserve is right next to a large chemical works, which doesn’t exactly provide a nice backdrop either. However, I enjoyed my quick visit and will return.

The ospreys return for another year!

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After spending the winter in sub-saharan Africa, the Glaslyn osprey pair have returned to their nest site.  For the last two years I have helped the RSPB to protect the nest during breeding season, reducing the chance of disturbance from walkers and stopping collectors getting their pathetic mitts on the eggs.

Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife, a Community Interest Company run by volunteers, has taken over the operation of both the protection and visitor sites and I have put my name down to do some more shifts over a few weekends, once the eggs have been laid.

http://www.glaslynwildlife.co.uk

I can’t wait to get back to the osprey protection spy cave!

Breeding Bird Survey

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I’ve just got back from finishing my first Breeding Bird Survey for Cheshire Wildlife Trust – a really nice way to spend an early Saturday morning, although the weather could have been a bit warmer!

I think it was the first survey of breeding birds to be done at the Trust’s Bagmere reserve.  This is the site of a formerly larger mere that is now filled with peat and while it has a small remaining area of open water, the reserve also has fen, marshy grassland and carr woodland.  Bagmere is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Click on the link below for more information on the reserve:

http://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/bagmere

I had to get up early to travel to the site and finish the survey before 10 o’clock and while it was a bit breezy this morning it didn’t really hamper the task. It total, I recorded 28 species during hour-long survey, and that’s quite a few more than I recorded for the winter bird surveys I did at the site in January and February.

While not all of those species will be breeding there, some were flying over rather than recorded within the site itself, I did identify some notable species for the site.  Of particular interest to the Trust will be the presence of willow tits (pictured below), which are a local rarity and have declined nationally by 79% between 1995 and 2010.   It’s very difficult to differentiate these birds from marsh tits, as they look identical to most people, including me.  However, the call of the willow tit is very distinctive and is a sound that evokes images of northern forested wilderness.  I recorded two of these birds, so hopefully they will be breeding. They were recorded in an area away from where I’ve seen them at the site before, so hopefully there will be more.

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The other notable species I recorded was water rail.  This is a water bird (obviously, I suppose), related to the coot and moorhen, and generally very difficult to see as it tends to hide itself away and skulk in the undergrowth around freshwater. Like the willow tits, rails have very distinctive calls, sounding like squealing pigs. This is a locally declining species but has had varying levels of increase and decrease across the rest of the country.  There were at least three rails squealing for a very short time and they stopped as abruptly as they started before I could see them or tell if there were more.

This was the first of four monthly surveys I’ll do at the reserve and the later surveys will hopefully enable a significant number of these species to be confirmed as at least probable breeders on the site.