Forestry England is calling out for rare and elusive long eared owls

7th July

By Becky Payne

New surveys are underway in the South West of England to study long eared owl populations.

It's been a decade since the UK’s rarest breeding owl species were last studied in this area and their numbers are thought to have declined significantly in the past century. Now, Forestry England and the Hawk and Owl Trust are carrying out a major survey of the birds across Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall thanks to Forest Holidays' Conservation Fund.

In a repeat of a 2009 survey, the project aims to give land managers a better understanding of the long eared owl’s distribution, as well as allowing experts to monitor other nocturnal birds. This improved knowledge will inform future site management and provide an opportunity to engage and educate the public.

Long eared owls are the UK’s rarest breeding owl and are very under-studied and under-recorded. The survey technique involves identifying potential nesting areas in each location, playing out long eared owl calls - both male and female - over loud speakers for a minute, then listening in silence for a further minute for their call backs.

So far, the survey has recorded winter calling at three sites, but suitable habitat was recorded at many more. All locations will be revisited during the summer to search for signs of breeding success. Long-eared owlets are noisy and far easier to find than adults.

Continued

After 42 years of charting the health of our seas, scientist’s studies now face the axe

Guillemot survey has provided wealth of data on climate – but funding could be cut

Robin McKie

The Observer, Sunday 26 October 2014

Tim Birkhead has been monitoring guillemots for 42 years – with intriguing results. His surveys, carried out on Skomer island in Wales, have provided key information about the wellbeing of the sea birds’ population around the British Isles and has also produced important insights into the health of our seas.

However, the zoologist’s four-decade-long project is now threatened with closure. The newly formed quango Natural Resources Wales has said it will not continue to fund the £12,000-a-year survey, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Unless cash can be raised as a matter of urgency, this year’s survey will be the last.

The news has dismayed the 64-year-old professor of zoology at Sheffield University. “This is an incredibly short-sighted decision,” Birkhead said. “We have built an extremely important database of guillemot population parameters and breeding rates, which tells a great deal about variations in numbers of these birds, about the health of their populations and about the health of our seas in general. But that entire database is now under threat merely to save a modest amount of money.”

Continued ...

Walkers urged to spot hen harriers

Bird watchers and hillwalkers are being asked to keep an eye out for hen harriers in an attempt to conserve their numbers.

The birds of prey are struggling to breed in some areas, partly due to persecution and disappearing moorland.

In 2010 there were 500 pairs in Scotland, the bulk of the UK population.

The sighting initiative is being launched by the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (Paw) Scotland.

Hen harrier fact file

The male is grey above, white below, with black wing tips.

The female is much larger, and brown, with white streaks below.

The male performs the sky-dancing display to entice a female to mate with him.

Scotland has the bulk of the hen harrier population across the UK.

Members of the public have been encouraged to record where they spot any hen harriers, along with details including behaviour and gender.

The male hen harrier is famous for its spectacular looping "sky-dance", part of an elaborate mating ritual.

The aim is to help Paw Scotland build up a valuable bank of information to help conserve the species for future generations.

Factors in their decline include the loss of moorland nesting habitat and feeding range, eggs and young being eaten by foxes, crows and other predators, and illegal persecution.

The spotting scheme was launched by environment minister and Paw Scotland chairman Paul Wheelhouse.

He said: "The hen harrier is one of Scotland's most fascinating birds of prey - with the male's sky-dancing display one of nature's great sights."

He added: "Unfortunately these birds are not thriving in some parts of Scotland where we know they would find a suitable habitat and we are determined to take action to conserve them.

"This initiative will raise the profile of the hen harrier to provide us with important information about their activity and location, and I hope people across Scotland will join the efforts to conserve this alluring bird for future generations."

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22232095

Out of the woods

Good news on the bird population—but not for everyone

Mar 9th 2013 

BRITISH birdwatchers are used to bad news. House sparrow numbers have fallen from an estimated 30m to 10m since 1966. Curlews have become a rare sight, their numbers plummeting by 50% in 15 years. Cuckoos, once-frequent visitors from Africa, have declined by 63% in the south-east in the past two decades. Earlier springs that confuse migratory birds, more efficient farming and the conversion of dilapidated buildings (good for nesting) into modern homes have all contributed to these woes.

But data released by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), a research charity, suggest some are soaring. Tracking bird populations by means of regular surveys, the figures give the clearest picture yet of 49 species across Britain.

Blackcaps, small woodland birds native to Germany and eastern Europe, are lingering after their summer sojourns: since 1967 numbers have increased by 177%. The little egret, a white heron-like bird, arrived from continental Europe in 1989 and now numbers over 5,000. Wood pigeons, once found shyly cooing in forests, have boldly moved into cities and suburbs.

Environmental and agricultural changes have helped as well as disoriented birds. Modern farming techniques allow grain to be sown in the autumn rather than the spring; that helps wood pigeons feed in winter. Warmer winters mean rivers and ponds are less likely to freeze, providing the little egrets with food. James Pearce-Higgins of the BTO says that blackcaps benefit particularly from the increasing popularity of berry bushes (such as rowan and yew) in people’s gardens.

These species and others benefit from the British love of bird feeders. “I would be amazed if anyone feeds garden birds in Europe as much as we do,” says Stephen Moss, a nature writer. First sold in 1964 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a charity with over 1m members, bird feeders took off in the 1990s when food such as sunflower hearts and nyjer seeds became widely available and the RSPB began to encourage people to feed birds throughout the year. (The bird tables found in other northern European countries, such as Finland and Germany, tend to be stocked only during the winter.) In 1987 only 17 species availed themselves of British feeders; these days 86 do.

Birders grouse nonetheless. Some of the species prospering, such as carrion crows and buzzards, are disliked. And migratory birds that extend their visits may provide competition for some avian natives. They are “muscling in and getting the first claim on breeding sites”, says Richard Cowser of the Sussex Ornithological Society. Like their human counterparts, residents of a small island buffeted by global winds, British birds will have to learn to compete.

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21573142-good-news-bird-populationbut-not-everyone-out-woods

Killer Kitties: United Kingdom House Cats Threaten Local Bird Populations

In a recent survey from across the pond that may dampen the Internet’s unwavering devotion for funny felines, scientists have concluded that domestic cats in the United Kingdom are posing a serious threat to local bird populations, which has steadily declined over the years. Conservationists have since been trying to convince obstinate cat owners to be more mindful of their pet’s hunting behavior and look into options that would prevent any more birds winding up dead on their doorsteps. If action to protect native bird species isn’t taken soon, the U.K. is going to be known as the crazy cat lady of the world.

The University of Reading’s Dr. Rebecca Thomas had initiated the survey in response to the scientific community’s longtime sneaking suspicion that house cats and their high densities in urban areas were responsible for the decrease in the population of birds that resided in towns and cities. Thomas surveyed various owners, questioning them on the number of small creatures they brought home, their opinion on this behavior, and whether or not they were inclined to remedy this situation.

The results of the survey showed that nearly 20% of domestic cats had returned with four or more dead animals a year, with only 22% of owners having been gifted with these critter cadavers. Factoring in the knowledge that cats tend to take one out of the three animals they preyed upon back home, on average, scientists estimated that each individual cat in the study makes 18.3 kills a year. It may not seem like much, but according to Thomas it is a cause for alarm:

Continued: http://www.geekosystem.com/house-cats-threaten-birds/

The Computerized Birder: Can Software Stop Bird Strikes on Wind Farms?

There's a common association in many people's minds between wind turbines and dead birds. Opposition to new wind farms often centers on their hazards to raptors and other winged creatures, and yet for as advanced as wind energy technology itself has become, methods for tracking birds are astonishingly analog. 

"Currently the way you do these bird surveys is by putting a guy in a lawn chair," says Russell Conard, a young computer scientist who is pursuing a better way to complete this task. He is talking to us while seated at a picnic bench next to the water at the Lake Erie MetroPark, about 35 minutes south of Detroit. About ten feet away sits a man in a lawn chair doing just what Conard describes--counting the birds that fly through this high-traffic migratory pathway. He is the official counter for this site, which means it is his job to spend eight to ten hours per day, seven days a week, staring up at the sky and recording what he sees. 

Read on:  http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/the-computerized-birder-can-software-stop-bird-strikes-on-wind-farms/262725/