Green Holidays

Let’s get down to the serious birds.

As promised here are some great tips for identifying some of the UK’s most common and widespread birds of prey.

These don’t include the owls who will have their own post later in the series, but cover some of our most well known raptors; some hunt live prey (mainly other birds) while others are mainly scavengers, searching along roadsides for their next meal.

It is always a pleasure to see a raptor soaring overhead as they have a certain menace and beauty to them at the same time. And their silhoutettes let you know that they don’t mind being seen – they don’t hide away like most garden birds…..

So let’s get started with the only hovering bird in the UK.

Kestrel:
These smaller birds of prey are often seen at roadsides and along field edges – magically floating in the air. They are the most likely of the 5 birds in this article to be seen on your commute to work!

photo credit: jim kelly3

They are reddish in colour on their back with black tips to their almost pointed wings. They fly with a long, straight tail – also with a black tip – however when hovering over it’s prey – usually small mammals – the tail feathers will be spread open in a fan.

Merlin:
Smaller than the kestrel and not so easy to see unless you are in the thick of the countryside. Rather than roadsides and fields, these birds are more likely to be over woodlands, coasts and heathland chasing their avian prey!

They have sharply pointed wings and a long barred tail – perfect for fast pursuits through the air chasing birds. However they are dull browns and greys with no really distinct features, so you have to identify them on their behaviour (fast swooping flight) and where you see them – or get a good look and rule out Hobbies and Perigrines which both have a white chin and throat.

Sparrowhawk:
As its name suggests, this bird is also a bird-eater – but does so in urban areas too – so you have a good chance of seeing one in your garden or walking through town. However, they fly so fast that you might not actually see them very clearly at all, but this behaviour alone is enough to identify them. I have witnessed many a garden bird attack without having even seen the bird approaching as they tend to fly low as they get closer and then surprise their prey (and me).

photo credit: Chester Zoo

ID wise, their pale breasts sport a concentrated pattern of horizontal stipes and their backs are very plain grey in colour if seen perched – if in flight you may spot the very long banded tail and the stripy underside with relatively blunt wings held slightly bent.

Common Buzzard:
These birds are becoming more and more numerous in the countryside and just on the outskirts of towns too. They are large birds in flight and tend to fly with their broad long wings held outstretched – you may only ever see them gliding.

photo credit: Lip Kee

Usually seen in pairs, they scout the landscape from on high looking for carrion – and as a result are commonly seen being harrassed by crows – who they loosely compete with for this food source. If you get a closer look, you will notice the single primary feathers sticking out of the wingtip (the fingers) as well as a noticable change in patterning between the main body and ‘forearms’ and the longer primary and secondary feathers.

There are plenty of other large birds in the UK with these 2 key features, but without binoculars you can never tell and so always assume it was the most likely suspect rather than a Golden Eagle! With binoculars look out for the black outline to the wings and the paler band across the coverts!

Red Kite:
One of the most majestic of ‘common’ birds of prey in the UK – and so large and brightly coloured that you won’t mistake it once you have seen it.

Even if it is high in the sky and you have only the naked eye – once it has fanned its tail and you have seen that unmistakable deep fork – there is nothing else it could be.

photo credit: Noel Reynolds

With a wingspan of over 1 and a half metres and with a reddish appearance this bird a real joy to find – and that isn’t always so difficult these days with red kites being spotted over most of the UK – I even saw one in an industrial estate car park on the ground. However they aren’t so common in the south-east yet – but they do make the odd appearance!

So, how many of these have you already seen and can now identify almost everytime? There are of course 11 other raptors in the UK which share some of their features and can look very similar to the novice bird watcher – like the rare Hobby and the elusive Goshawk – but it is very unlikely that you will see one in the first place. But even if you did – experts probably wouldn’t believe you anyway; I mean do you know what a carpel or a supercilium is? How about an alula or a tertial tip?

How about Seagulls next time? Surely they are a lot easier…..

See you soon…..

When you see those cute baby lambs running around the fields – what do you think?

Cute? Fluffy? Adorable little clouds? What about biodiversity lynchpin? Wildflower saviour?

These last 2 might not immediately spring to mind – but this is what sheep do, and have been doing for hundred of years. And these cute lambs are the next generation of grassland guardians. It’s all part of the countryside cycle.

Even if the lambs won’t live long enough to see next Spring – they are an essential part of the lifecycle of the farm and the surrounding grasslands. Without the lambs, there would be no grasslands – and maybe no farm either!

How Come They Are So Important?
Well, it’s important to first realise that grasslands are a man-made environment – or sheep-made as it happens! Without mans intervention there wouldn’t be grassland habitats.

And it is because of the sheep that the grasslands exist today.

photo credit: anemoneprojectors

They mow their way across hillside areas that can’t effectively or economically be farmed by other means – and they eat almost everything low to the ground in their paths. This includes the shoots of trees, scrub plants and bushes – and as a result the grass stays as grass.

If you take sheep off of a meadow for a few years, it will be covered in prickly bramble, spiky gorse and possibly some small trees.

And wildflowers don’t grow underneath brambles.

It’s Not Just About Flowers!
Without the flowers, there wouldn’t be any food for butterflies and other insects – which in turn are food for birds and mammals – which in turn are food for larger birds and mammals. So basically the whole food web of a grassland habitat would be lost. Possibly forever.

As grasslands shrink due to the low cost of meat and the rising costs of running a farm – these habitats are split up and become a fragmented mosaic of restricted areas – useless for breeding wildlife and wind pollinated plants. So one by one the plants and animals start to dissappear from the fields until they are all gone.

Imagine your local open access lands covered in bramble up to your knees? Don’t you want to be welcomed into a picnic-inducing field of pink and yellow wildflowers in rich deep grass? Well there is an easy way to make sure that you can – go see some spring lambs!

By supporting your local farmers – you are supporting your local landscape – and ultimately protecting the habitats that attracted you to the countryside in the first place.

I couldn’t bear to think of the South Downs, Exmoor or the Lake District without its rolling fields of grass and sheep!

All it takes is for you to coo over the cute baby lambs!

photo credit: jpockele

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Did you know that it is illegal in the UK for you to take a close-up photo of a baby barn owl?

This little known law is part of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) where there is a list of species that receive full protection of the law – and this protection includes reducing the disturbance of the nesting young or recently fledged young of all the species on it – and this includes Barn Owls.

It also includes other seemingly random species such as Brambling, Fieldfare, Firecrest, Kingfisher, Bewick’s Swan and even the little Crested Tit!

All these species are among the 80+ protected wild bird species that frequent the UK, which can be native or just passing through.

There is, of course, already a law to protect all wildbirds from being intentionally injured, killed or taken from the wild – and the same goes for their eggs – but there are some exceptions.

In the case of the Barn Owl and the Kingfisher – they are for greater protection; whereas in the case of the Mallard or Woodcock – it means lesser protection at certain times!

photo credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region

These schedules also cater for captive-bred ‘wild bird’ species such as birds of prey and other more common species such as Magpies, Blackbirds and Goldfinches. And also the sale of wildbirds that have been killed legally and the rehabilitation of injured birds.

Game birds are not covered by these particualar laws however, but are covered under the separate Game Bird Act, which fully protects them outside of the Open Season.

The Bird Schedules:
There are 4 such catagories (which may have several parts) which cover those endangered birds to be protected as well as those species which can be killed or sold, and they lay out as follows:

Schedule 1: Full protection at all times (or during the close season for a specific 4 species). To get close to young, nesting or breeding birds in this list – you will need a licence (or you can visit them in specific reserves).

Schedule 2: Birds which may be killed or taken outside of the close season only – but not sold – basically to be killed to protect crops or other interests or to be killed for food or for sale as per Schedule 3.

Schedule 3: Birds which may be sold; either dead at specific times, or alive if captive bred and legally ringed. These include certain ducks and wood pidgeons to be sold dead; and siskins, song thrushes and other ‘garden’ birds that can be kept as ‘pets’ and displayed at bird shows.

Schedule 4: Captive Bred birds which must be registered and ringed if in captivity (mainly raptors). These birds need to be registered and you must have genuine proof of breeding and hatching. If you find an injured bird that happens to be listed on Schedule 4 – even if you intend to re-release it shortly – you should inform the appropriate authority as they may need to be registered.

photo credit: luc.viatour

Your Actions:
So next time you see the opportunity to photograph any nesting bird – think about what that means.

If they have made a law that specifically prevents human from getting close enough to a Schedule 1 species – as it would disturb them – think again for all birds and other wildlife!

If they think that getting that close could prevent birds from nesting at all or may make them to abandon existing young – then what harm are you doing being that close to any species?

Even with the fantastic zooms on cameras these days – you still have to be quite close to get a great shot – so what if you got a great shot of a nest, but after you left all the young starved to death after you had scared the parents off!

When trying to film or photograph nesting birds – or any birds really – it is best to set up a hide (or use one at a reserve). Birds get used to them and so aren’t so affected by all the keen photographers snapping away at them. And some reserves set up hides to be really close to the action just for this reason.

So, if you are going to enter a photgraphic competition with your nest shot – make sure it’s not a Schedule 1 species – otherwise they may ask to see your licence………. and I’m sure you don’t want the associated £5000 fine and accompanying prison sentence instead of first prize!

Found something strange – or beautiful – but have no idea what it is?

As long as you have a picture of it, then there is a new way to find out what on earth you have just seen.

It could be something common that you just haven’t seen before where you are visiting – or it could be a species that is new to your area (through land use changes or seasonal migration) and you have been one of the first to spot it.

Basically, the Open University in the UK has set up a database of images of everything in the natural world – as well as people who can tell you what it is.

Rather than just asking a few friends, searching through your field guides or just admiring it for what it is – you can now find out for good.

iSpot:
Not another iPhone application as its name insinuates – but a whole nature database online that can sort out the clustered bonnets from the milky bonnets, the brown bear from the black bear and the large white from the marbled white.

Basically, you can upload your pictures and some basic information about it and leave it to others to identify. You can have a guess yourself, and others will either confirm or deny this – basically like a forum.

You can also help identify other wildlife for photographers as well. It may be that you have experience in fungi – but have taken a picture of a strange insect on that fungi. You can find out what the insect is in exchange for identifying some garden waxcaps or woodland earth star!

photo credit: Marek Komorowski

It is divided up into categories including: mammals, birds, fungi, fish, etc and you can just look at some great shots, see different colour variants of common species (like white deer and black squirrels) or just use the labels to find out where these animals were seen so you can go and look for them yourself.

In Addition:
There are also links on the sites for further reading, related surveys, tips on identification and links to other useful id and specialist websites.

The OU have also recently launched a short course to run alongside iSpot and for all those people who haven’t taken a degree or had experience in the field before.

It’s called Neighbourhood Nature and can take you as little as 5 weeks or as long as 5 months depending on your other commitments. It allows you the support to run your own local field study relating to any area that you have ready access to and a keen interest in like a local woodland behind the houses, a nearby nature reserve or even a disused railway.

Nature is everywhere – and by working alongside your tutors and the experts on iSpot, you can find out what is living there and why – and anything you can do to keep it there or improve the number and diversity of plants and animals there.

So, if you have been meaning to get qualified in something ‘outdoors’ or to help brush up on your basic skills before embarking on a longer or higher level course – then maybe this course could help you out.

Also You Might Like To:
Obviously, signing up to volunteer with nature-related charities in your area will also enable you to experience nature first hand, access some great habitats, learn from experts and it could always lead to a larger project or a permanent job somewhere down the line.

And if anything, get a camera with a good zoom and an even better macro – and practice observing things – or take a basic photography course. Trying out the different settings is one thing – but knowing what to look out for is another.

You might take a great picture of a striking plant – but then get home to find out that you needed to find the berry, scratch the bark or see what other plants were around it to get a 100% ID. But until you make those mistakes and get annoyed with yourself – you won’t get any better at identifications.

It’s alright relying on others for rare species and all those ‘barely indistinguishable’ lichens – but you should really start to build up your basic id skills in the field if you are planning any sort of career based on nature.

So grab your camera, field guide and waterproofs – and get outside!