monthWhen, where and how to see more birds

Your birding

1 Dipperary

2 Leprecorn Bunting

3 Welsh Rarebittern

4 Gullway

5 Gwent Goose

6 Merthyr Titfil

7 Shamrock Pipit

8 Irish Smew

9 Llanduckno

10 County Killdeer

classic bookHandbook of Bird Identifiction

top ten birdingWelsh & Irish

6 Bird Watching 2012

Mark Beaman and

Steve Madge

The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, first published in 1998, attempted to give a thorough look at the identification of the whole avifauna of the Western Palearctic in one volume. The result is more in-depth text and more detailed maps than are possible in pocket ‘field’ guides, with illustrations (by a range of top artists), showing as many plumages as they can squeeze onto a page. It remains a great ‘hybrid’ reference work, adding heft to any bird book shelf.

Thanks to Margaret Heaton, Andy Sherriff, Paul Casey, Steve Boyce, Terry Hillsden... Next month we’re doing TV shows, part two! The original 10, as well as more classic Top Tens are are available at birdwatching.co.uk/topten. Send your TV shows, such as Desperate House Sparrows or The Apprentits, to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk

birds moving this month

Rock PipitThis month sees a significant passage of mainly Scandinavian (littoralis race) Rock Pipits through the country, including inland gravel pits, lakes and reservoirs with rocky or gravelly edges. They are larger and more robust than Meadow Pipits, with longer bills, darker legs, relatively unstreaked, darker backs and smudged streaks on the underparts – plus a preference for rocky shores. Listen for the ‘feest’ call.

Tawny Owl Tawny Owls are early breeders, and will have been singing their unmistakeable mournful wailing hoot for months now. March, though is a good month for listening for them and searching trees for a glimpse as they start to hoot soon after dark.

Mealy RedpollThe big, pale redpoll of the north is a much more scarce visitor to the UK than our small, brown and buff breeders (Lesser Redpolls). Now is the time to catch up with them before they head out of the country once more. They may look quite cold and frosty, with a more chunky bill and usually white wingbars.

Golden PloverGolden Plovers are also on the move this month. Look for flocks of birds attaining their breeding black (on belly or face and belly for more northern breeders). They are highly social plovers, forming dense flocks in flight and at rest, but spreading out like winter thrushes to feed in open fields or muddy areas (often inland, unlike their large shore-loving relative the Grey Plover).

Oliver S

mart

Mike W

eedo

n

Mik

e La

ne

(Ala

my)

over the pageListen for nuthatch, Bittern and redwing

mediterranean gull Scan your local mixed gull flocks this March

for this dapper red-billed white-winger

this winter has seen an amazing influx of white-winged gulls from

the north. There have been relatively huge numbers of Iceland Gulls and several Glaucous Gulls. We have a third ‘white-winger’, though, which can be seen in any month, and which even breeds in the UK in quite small (though increasing) numbers (some 110 pairs at present, mainly on the south coast and East Anglia).

In winter and during the non-breeding season they wander widely

and can turn up just about anywhere, so keep an eye on your local rubbish tip, reservoir or lake where gulls gather. Even check grassy areas such as playing fields; wherever Black-headed or Common Gulls gather to feed or rest.

Mediterrean Gulls are among our most beautiful gull species, partly owing to the clean white wings of the adults but also to the gracefully rounded structure, pure black hood (unlike the brown hood of the poorly

named Black-headed Gull) and the bright red bill and legs. They often appear a bit separate from other gulls and seem somewhat aloof.

They are slightly larger (nearly Common Gull sized) and paler and less ‘angular’ than Black-headed gulls, with an altogether more neat and curvy look. Only full adults have pure white primaries. Second-winters have varying amounts of small black dots near the wingtip; first-winters have rather striking upper wing pattern (a bit like a contrasty Common Gull) and, unlike Common Gull, unmarked white underwings and a bit of dark mask.

Search for them on beaches or inland sites for an excellent March

addition to your year list.

Mik

e L

ane

(Ala

my)

Bright red bill

Larger and chunkier than Black-headed Gull, closer to Common Gull in size

Clean white wing on adult

Develops a full, genuinely black hood in

breeding plumage

00 Bird Watching 2011

All pictures by Craig Jones

www.birdwatching.co.uk 21

birding spectacle

feast for the

eyesstruggling

to see owls and raptors?

Maybe you need to

discover one of the UK’s

best-kept wildlife secrets

34 Bird Watching 2012

We all know that Buzzards eat Rabbits, but have you ever seen them eating worms? Dominic Couzens examines their varied diet

Fascinating LiFe oF

Buzzards

I can remember the astonishment well. It was a chilly day in March quite a few years ago,

and it looked as though a sponge had been squeezed over the north Hampshire countryside. Puddles lay everywhere, each bespattered by the drops from yet another new shower keen to make its mark. The wind was blowing hard, too, making it a pretty grim day for birding. But curiosity is immune to the weather, and down at the far end of a shallow lake Ð oh no, actually a field Ð we were enraptured by the sight of something distinctly odd.

The bird in question was big and brown and it was on the ground Ð a pheasant, maybe, or an immature large gull? No, it was a Buzzard, clearly, for it had a short tail, rather short legs and the broad neck of a bird of prey. In which case what was this bird doing running around Ð literally running, with the doubtful agility of a middle aged dad competing at a school sports day? In its

private corner, close to a hedge, this raptor was making short sallies across the mud as if it were dashing between bases in a rounders match. Having sprinted a few metres it would stop briefly and then appear to look self-consciously around.

Unless you are actually that past-your-best dad at the sports day, you will probably realise that figure-inappropriate running is actually perfectly hilarious, and the outbreak of raptorial exercise before us wasn’t just absorbing, but tickled us pink. Through the telescope, the running didn’t seem to have any point at all Ð the Buzzard made no grab at prey, for instance Ð so what was this large, multi-talented hunter actually doing? I can remember the question ringing in my ears long after the trip had finished and even after the land eventually dried out.

Although there was no proof on the day, it is pretty obvious looking back, having read the testimonies of the legions of Buzzard

enthusiasts who have made our species one of the best-studied birds of prey in the world, that the individual we saw was trying to catch earthworms. In the time we watched, it didn’t once stoop down to pick anything up, so perhaps it was a young bird not yet versed in the art? Perhaps north Hampshire earthworms represent an exceptional challenge? Neither argument seems entirely plausible, though. There cannot be too much skill involved, because Buzzards are pretty big, and unless they can catch plenty of these invertebrates, it would scarcely be worth their while to try.

Whatever the precise explanation for our bird’s scurrying manoeuvres might be, the fact is that Buzzards do feed on the ground pretty often. For those that adore birds of prey for their exceptional powers of flight and all-or-nothing hunting style, the first time they encounter terrestrial feeding, where the quarry might only be able to wriggle half a

Apologies if you’ve

just eaten spaghetti

Pat B

en

ne

tt (Alam

y) INS

ET

: David

Kjae

r (Natu

re P

icture

Library)

buzzards

www.birdwatching.co.uk 35

metre an hour, can be quite a jolt to the system. After all, we are accustomed to see Buzzards soaring into the sky, riding the breeze effortlessly, wings held up at a slight angle, perhaps giving their thrillingly wild-sounding mewing call. The impression is of mastery of the sky. To see a Buzzard not using these skills can seem almost degrading, like a person with a PhD in astrophysics taking a job at a fast-food restaurant. Good and productive the job might be, but it’s not really making best use of the worker’s undoubted skills.

However, those who are surprised or even affronted by Buzzards resembling giant blackbirds on lawns are actually underestimating the hunter.

After all, the aim of a raptor is the same as for any bird – survival. If a bird can use a prosaic method of hunting, it will not care if it gets results. Indeed, the very flexibility of the common Buzzard in its hunting is

If it moves, and it’s small

enough, a Buzzard will

probably go for it

Buzzards are surprisingly

mobile hunters on the ground

Mike

Lane

(NH

PA

)