NEWSBIRD

Special 25th Anniversary IssueCheshireandWirralOrnithologicalSociety

Reg.CharityNo.702484

www.cawos.org

Number 93 October 2013

Front CoverNo. 1, Jan 1989: Long-tailedSkuas by Tony BroomeNo. 6, Apr 1990: Snow Buntings by Bill MortonNo. 29, Jan 1996: Waxwing by Tony BroomeNo. 34, Apr 1997: Redstart by Tony BroomeNo. 42, Apr 1999: Wheatear by Dave QuinnNo. 54, Apr 2002: Grey Plovers by Thelma SykesNo. 57, Jan 2003: Pied Wagtail by Thelma SykesNo. 60, Oct 2003: Skuas by Chris ShieldsNo. 61, Jan 2004: Firecrest by Ray ScallyNo. 77, Jul 2008: Black-winged Stilts by Dave QuinnNo. 82, Mar 2010: Short-eared Owl by Ray ScallyNo. 92, Jul 2013: Avocets by Ray Scally

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETYChairman : Clive Richards

Email: chairman@cawos.org Tel: 01625 524527Vice-Chairman : Vacant

Secretary : Ted Lock2 Bourne Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5HD. Tel: 01625 540466

Email address : secretary@cawos.orgTreasurer : John PattersonRecorder : Hugh Pulsford

6 Buttermere Drive,Great Warford, Cheshire, SK9 7WA. Tel: 01565880171Email address : countyrec@cawos.org

Membership Secretary : Susan Canovan7 Pownall Road, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Cheshire, SK8 5AZ

Email address : memsec@cawos.org

Newsletter Editor : Sheila BlamireWoodruff Cottage,ClamhungerLane,Mere,Cheshire,WA16 6QG.Tel: 01565 830168

Email address : sheilablamire@cawos.org

Bird News welcomes articles, letters and comments relevant to birdwatching in Cheshire andWirral. Please either email or post your contributions to the Editor at the address shown above.

The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Society, the Council ofthe Society, or the Editor. Appearance of advertisements in this publication does not infer anyrecommendation or approval by the Society for the products and services being promoted.

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EditorialWelcome to this special issue of Bird News marking the 25th Anniversary of CAWOS!Its main purpose is to celebrate the 25 years of Bird News by highlighting articles from previousnewsletters. There is a bias towards earlier issues, on the basis that these are likely to include itemsforgotten, or not known to newer members. We’ve not worked to any strict criteria, but in generalhave tried to include examples from regular features and articles that show changes over the years.Of course, there have been many changes within Bird News, which was introduced as “...anewsletter and forum for exchange of information for CAWOS members”. The first edition (January1989) had 12 pages and was compiled by hand, literally; on page 11 it stated “The ONLY way wecan produce bigger and better newsletters is through raising funds”. One thing that hasn’tchanged then! From July 1991 (No. 11) we used a desktop publishing programme, which madeeverything (or almost!) easier. From then on, the number of pages grew to the present day, butkeeping the ethos the same. Some new sections have been introduced over the years, but manyhave been there from the start.Since the first issue of Bird News, there have been many species highlighted via ‘Species Spotlight’.We have chosen a few examples which either illustrate species which have shown changingstatus over the years (Buzzard and Little Egret), or illustrate species which have close ties toCAWOS (logo - Leach’s Petrel). Included are extracts from ‘Ron Harrison’s Story’, episodes ofthe long-running series ‘View from the Farmyard’, and the current series ‘One Man’s Birding’.Also, there is an example of ‘Ringing News’ and another from ‘Sites to Watch’ - both taken from thevery first Bird News (January 1989). ‘Conservation News’ tends to be time-specific, but somecontributions seem as if they were written in 2013, particularly where Wildlife Crime is concerned.There aren’t any examples from the regular sections ‘County Round-Up’ for obvious reasons, or‘County Rarities’, or any information on ‘Projects and Surveys’. We couldn’t include everything!We’ve also looked at changes within CAWOS, the two main ones we’ve highlighted are thepublication of CAWOS’s first atlas The Breeding Bird Atlas of Cheshire and Wirral compared to thesecond atlas Birds in Cheshire and Wirral A breeding and wintering atlas, and how we receive andstore county records - before and after 2001. Another publication which CAWOS should bejustifiably proud of is the annual Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report, where computerisation had aprofound effect on its production.To test your memory, we’ve included a timeline of significant dates and/or notable events both forthe society and the county, since the formation of CAWOS.I would like to draw your attention to the collage on the front cover - I’ve tried to include all theartists and the different styles used over the years. It’s quite a collection!Finally, a big thank you to all the people who have helped to get this special issue together, it’staken a lot of time and effort, but it has been enjoyable to re-read some of the earlier editions. AsBob Anderson said “It wasn’t easy – there is a lot of really good material to choose from (I oftengot distracted, which slowed the process down).” Of course, Bird News has a reputation of beingone of the best newsletters in the country, long may it continue…..

Sheila Blamire

Word from Clive Richards, CAWOS Chairman:CAWOS brought a level of order to a mixed picture of Cheshire Birding in the late ‘80s and has soughtto continue and serve members as best as possible, since. No small part of that achievement hasbeen the Society’s newsletter which has come through the letterbox four or, in later years, threetimes annually, without fail. I have found the various editions, at once thought-provoking, informativeand interesting; light-hearted, honest and inclusive. There is an aim to be helpful - identificationarticles for instance, but alongside that contributors expose their own frailties or luck, failings withmistaken ID, and plain old love of their ‘patch’, be that geographical or of a particular species orstudies. May the contributors continue to put forward articles of interest, and we all read on withpleasure for many years to come. The current Bird News is No. 93 and that number alone says a lot.

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Species SpotlightSince the first issue of Bird News, there have been many species highlighted via thissection. We have chosen a few examples which either illustrate species which haveshown changes over the years or illustrate species which have close ties to CAWOS.The first of these is an account of Leach’s Petrel published in October 2001 (No. 52).

LEACH’S PETRELYou can tel l that the Leach’s Storm-Petrel(Oceanodroma leucorhoa) means something specialto this area as a sketch of the bird is the logo forCAWOS (Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society);adorns page one of the Hilbre Bird Reports; figuresprominently on the cover of the last two North WestRegion Bird Reports; and is the only bird shown on thecover of the Hilbre ‘Bible’ - Hilbre, The Cheshire Islandby Professor J.D. Craggs. A special bird it certainly is.Leach’s Petrels breed on remote islands to the north-west of Scotland, Faeroe Islands and Iceland(1). InSeptember the adults leave the young to fend forthemselves and head south. They spend the winter inthe Atlantic tropical seas and beyond, some reachingas far as the Cape of Good Hope. They are verymuch oceanic birds and their normal route southwould take them well out into the Atlantic, west ofIreland. Although significantly bigger than the StormPetrel they are sti l l very small for a sea bird -weighing a mere 45 grams(1). Compare this to the800 grams of a Fulmar! Despite this they coperemarkably well with storms, flying within a fewcentimetres of the surface where, perhaps, the waves give some protection from the gales.But, given a strong and consistent north-west wind as they leave Scotland, many get carried bythe wind through the North Channel of the Irish Sea. They then get blown unerringly straightto the mouth of the River Mersey.

From here they are forced to fly parallel to the windalong the north Wirral coast, past Hilbre Island andthe Point of Ayr (POA), then along the North Walescoast. The same wind that blows them to the Merseyin the first place holds them close to shore, sometimesat high tide only a few feet away, affording fantasticviews for the waiting birdwatchers. It is amazing justto watch these dainty little birds, with their slow flutteringflight, dancing over the waves, knowing their true habitatis way out in the ocean.But this spectacle doesn’t happen every year. Itrequires a strong north-west wind (force 5 andabove) blowing for at least two days during themain migration time (September 4th to 22nd) to blowthem in from the Atlantic to the eastern side of theIr ish Sea. Given those condit ions we can seehundreds a day, with the North Wirral coast, Hilbreand Point of Ayr being the best places in the countryto see Leach’s Petrel.

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This year has certainly been a good one; the table below shows the maximum daily countfor various locations going back six years (2 3 4 5). As you can see the last good Leach’sPetrel passage before this year was in 1997:

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001Leasowe 3 300 15 2 0 120Hoylake 0 4 2 0 5 135Hilbre 18 252 72 10 0 100+Point of Ayr 5 258 24 20 0 305

References:1. Stanley Cramp (Ed.), The Birds of the Western Palearctic, OxfordUniversity Press, 1977.

2. Birdline North West, North West Region Bird Reports, 1996, 1997 and 1998.3. Clwyd Bird Report 1999.4. Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report 1999.5. E-mail communications from ‘Hoylake Bird Observatory’.

The second is an account of breeding Little Egrets by Tony Broome, published in July2001 (No. 51). Just eleven years later there are 70 pairs breeding on Wirral!

LITTLE EGRETSAs I write this on August 14th there is a Little Egret sitting next to the main A523 road from HazelGrove to Macclesfield, on an island in what is not much more than a farm duck pond. Unthinkablejust a few years ago, this kind sighting is of course becoming more and more common as theinvasion of this beautiful white heron reaches further and further northwards. Flocks of over ahundred are now a common sight in winter in some places on the south coast of Britain and birdshave over-wintered in Cheshire on the Dee estuary. Summering birds in the county occur invarying numbers and it was only a matter of time before Little Egrets took a little more seriousinterest in suitable habitat.In 1995 a pair engaged in courtship and tentative nest building on No6 tank at Frodsham Marsh butdecided that they would move on, possibly due to disturbance. A year later or so, a pair once againattempted to breed at another site but were unsuccessful. Perhaps they were inexperienced birds?And then along came foot-and-mouth, a disaster for farmers and the countryside - or was it?True, in human terms there has been much suffering and loss as farmers have seen their entireherds and flocks decimated, but as far as the countryside is concerned, it appears to have beenthe silver lining around a very black cloud. Meadows of wild flowers have appeared where onceonly short, cropped grass could be found and birds have bred where it would normally have beentoo disturbed for them to do so. The lack of birders, shooters and dog walkers meant thatFrodsham Marsh effectively became a true reserve. When at last access was once again opento all, amongst the Grey Herons nesting on No6 tank was a small white heron, crouching low onwhat looked to be a nest.But was it? A concerted effort over many days eventually seemed to confirm that a Little Egretwas indeed on a nest. It hardly ever moved and but for brief stretches, could not be seen properlyat all. Then one day a chick could be seen and both parents were feeding it. Success at last! Itwas decided not to put the news out and pager companies were asked to withhold the information, togive the most northerly breeding attempt of Little Egrets in Europe every chance of success. Thechick grew rapidly, accompanied by the female for much of the time, the male returning with foodevery so often. Eventually the chick was left on its own for long periods and eventually fledged inJuly, all three birds being present on No6 from then on. Even with the expectation of such anevent, it was a remarkable occurrence and a real thrill to witness. Hopefully it will be repeated.Now if the place was a real reserve! The list of European species that have attempted to breedon Frodsham Marsh already includes Black-winged Stilt, Spoonbill and Mediterranean Gull. Whatan excellent place it is.

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Lastly, there is an account of Buzzards, published in Bird News January 1994 (No. 21).Buzzards are the most common bird of prey in Cheshire now!

TATTON BUZZARDSRegular Bird News readers know that the “Tatton Three” normally bird with a laugh. However,some things we take more seriously. One such event has been the remarkable influx of CommonBuzzards into Cheshire this autumn.Having recently returned from abroad, I was not aware that during late August and early September,higher than usual numbers had been seen in the county, although I did know that Gary Healeyhad noted three over Tatton’s deer park.The morning of September 25th left me wondering, if I was really back in England - Gibraltarmaybe, perhaps Istanbul? Not only did three Common Buzzards rise up on the 11.00 amthermals but they were soon joined by another two ... then another three. This was not to mentionthree Kestrels and two Sparrowhawks, giving a grand total of 13 raptors in the air together overTatton Park.Gary and myself saw eight Buzzards together again three days later, and slightly smaller numberswere seen by various people over the next month. At the end of November, individual birds arestill being seen.The Cheshire Bird Reports regularly show a small but distinct post-breeding dispersal in lateAugust and early September, but not in such numbers. The highest count I have come across issix on Oct 15th 1972 at Ashley, and six near Booley in the mid-70’s.Arrangements are being made to follow up this influx by again looking for breeding evidence innorth-east Cheshire next spring. We have done this specifically for Tatton over the last twoseasons but in truth none has been seen.Hopefully, if any new breeding attempt is made, it will not be sabotaged by such a disgrace as theinfamous poisoning of two Common Buzzards in Tatton Park in 1976.

Bryan Roberts

18 YEARSAGO...“Birds poisoned” - The Daily Mail“Two rare birds die in poison riddle” - Manchester Evening News“Poison check on dead buzzards” - The Knutsford Guardian“Buzzards poisoned at Tatton Park” - The Wilmslow Advertiser

These were some of the headlines to be seen in March 1976. Two Common Buzzards along witha Carrion Crow were found dead near a specially baited rabbit in Tatton Park’s deer enclosure.Whether the poisoned rabbit was put down as bait to kill crows or, as was thought at the time,deliberately intended for Buzzards, was incidental, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculturesaid no baiting licences had been issued in Cheshire, and without one any poisoning was illegal.Could this shameful episode ever be repeated? The report of up to eight Common Buzzards seentogether over Tatton this summer makes us optimistic that buzzards will again attempt to breedin Tatton, after a long absence. Also, the addition of the recent Welsh Red Kite has added evenmore spice to raptor watching in Tatton.Of course, wildlife poisoning is not a new problem, as highlighted in the MAFF article, and is athreat to all wildlife, whether the intended predator or ‘innocent’ victim. MAFF states that they willseek to prosecute anyone who uses poisons for illegal purposes and they ask for everyone’ssupport by reporting any suspicions of poisoning via their freephone telephone number (0800321600). But can I stress the point that they make that you should never touch a suspect bait orvictim with bare hands.So, fingers crossed that successful breeding will be one of the highlights of 1994, buteveryone must be on the alert to ensure that the above headlines of 1976 are never repeatedin future years.

Sheila Blamire

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Between April 1992 (No. 14) and July 1994 (No. 23) the late Ron Harrison contributeda series of six articles to Bird News, describing his birding career from boyhood eggcollector, before the war, to County Recorder. These edited and abridged extractsconcentrate on Ron’s early years, his work at Rostherne, and his involvement inCheshire bird recording – and offer reminders of the fact that he did so much despitelong-term disability.When did you start birdwatching? A question I have often beenasked and one that I find difficult to answer. As a lad broughtup on ‘the wrong side of the tracks’, there were no hard andfast rules to becoming anything or anybody; it was survival.What were binoculars? Telescopes were for looking at thestars, bird books never heard of. So all I can say is that Iwas born with curiosity and an enquiring mind – especiallyabout nature. So it was that I found myself playing around brooks and woods, looking intohedgerows and fascinated by my father’s racing pigeons, wondering how they managed tofind their way home. Like others with the same fascination, I collected birds’ eggs whichwere religiously guarded and kept in cotton wool. There was a certain code of ethics: nevertaking more than one egg and then only when the clutch was incomplete. I would take a lotof trouble pricking the eggs and blowing out the contents – no mean task. I mention this forat a later date I was to find out how the expert oologists went about the task.

Ron began “wandering about Altrincham Sewage Farm”, and a chance meeting thereled to him being invited to show his egg collection to a meeting of Altrincham NaturalHistory Society, “the one and only society for many a mile” to show off his egg collection.As a result of the meeting, I met an eminent oologist named Spilsbury who invited me to his hometo see his collection. It is hard to describe the impression that this visit made on me, as he openeddrawer after drawer of the huge sideboard sized compartments, which displayed hundreds of fullclutches of birds’ eggs ranging from the smallest Goldcrest eggs to the largest Golden Eagle andeven Ostrich eggs – not one clutch of each species but in some case dozens of the same, butvariable in some way or another. There were eggs of species I had only heard about - Redshank,Greenshank, Snipe, Nightjar, Owls: you name them, he had them. He showed me the specialdrills, only drilling one hole, and the glass blowpipe for extracting the contents. I was impressed;no, I was flabbergasted, and when he gave me one or two eggs of Redshank, Oystercatcher,Guillemot, etc to take home I was like a dog with two tails. The sheer enormity of the occasionwas possibly the reason for my fading interest in the hobby. One outcome was the purchase fromhim of Kearton’s British Birds and their Eggs, a richly engraved book with coloured plates of eggsand details of where and when to find them, a book which I retained until recent times and was myfirst bird book. On reflection I wonder what would have happened if I had joined the society, forat that time, within a couple of miles of where I was born, lived one of the world’s, to my mind,greatest ornithologists of his time, the late T A Coward. If I had met him instead of Spilsbury, wouldI have been a convert to respectable ornithology?

Instead Ron converted to angling. After “a rupture in my life lasting many years duringwhich I was incapacitated for three years and we had a war” he returned to fishing again.It was while waiting for the expectant bite in a quiet backwater of the River Dane at Swettenhamthat I heard the repetitive song “chick-a-bee-bee-bee”, so insistent that I finally left off my piscatorialendeavours to look for the songster. It was a bird I didn’t know and I was so intrigued that I boughta bird book. By this time Richardson and Fitter had just published the first real pocket identificationguide, if you discount Coward’s two volume Birds of the British Isles, later to be extended to threevolumes. Full of excitement I identified the songster as a Marsh Tit, but reading on I found that ifI had not heard the song identification would have been much harder. What revelations! I found

Ron Harrison's Story

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that it was not until recent times that it had been discovered that the Willow Tit was recognised asa totally different species – and who had been the first to identify it in Cheshire but T A Cowardhimself and at Rostherne of all places, again ‘on my doorstep’. From that time the book was neverout of my sight and it became impossible to fish and watch birds so I was re-converted, especiallyas I was given a pair of German binoculars…

Altrincham Sewage Farm was an early stamping ground, but it “faded into obscurityand died a slow death” after modernisation. Ron described finding alternatives atAstley Colliery and Pennington Flashes, and visits to the Weaver Bend and Hilbre(noting that “Years later, when I could no longer walk to the island I endeavoured to getover to the island by van, and nearly became marooned… I finally made it after guidancefrom my good friend John Gittins”), as well as trips further afield – to Anglesey,Lindisfarne, Norfolk and Scotland and overseas to Scandinavia, the Camargue, Austriaand Switzerland. He apparently went back to fishing for a while, noting that in the late1960s “After a few brief years my angling instincts faded and I once again found myselfback birding ‘full time’, this time focussing my efforts on Rostherne Mere.” At Rostherne,he became an Honorary Warden.When I say I was enthralled at the prospect of treading on such hallowed ground I am understatingthe case, especially when I discovered that no less than two of Cheshire’s most eminentornithologists had already made attempts to classify the avifauna of the area before the reservewas created. These were T A Coward with his Faunal Survey of Rostherne Mere in 1914, whichonly took into account the birds affected ecologically by the presence of the mere itself, andincluded the fish therein, and A W Boyd’s Revised Account of the Birds produced in 1955 whichglosses over most of the common and migratory birds. So, with their work as a foundation, Idecided that one day I would endeavour to write a more detailed account. With this in mind andwith the undoubted encouragement of Jack [Osbourne – NCC warden] I listed the birds on amonthly basis using the log book as a beginning.My first annual report in 1970 must have been what was required, for Jack received a congratulatorynote from Head Office asking for more. To his eternal credit, he didn’t claim the responsibility.Between us we began making a weekly nest census of the Grebes, Coots, Moorhens and otherwildfowl and the flat-bottomed punt was in use throughout the spring and summer. We soonabandoned counting the Moorhen nests for their habit of building ‘cock nests’; the Coot howeverwere another kettle of fish. The more I studied them, the more questions they posed and Ibecame engrossed with ways of solving their mysteries. I had intended to get the help of ringersto solve some of the problems but circumstances of health curtailed this.I had to undergo more ‘dry-dock’ treatment whichunfortunately meant that I was unable to walk my belovedpatch. After leaving hospital and while spending manymonths recuperating I decided along with David [Rogers –NCC warden] to begin writing The Birds of Rostherne Mere(‘BoRM’). With much help from Tom Wall, who took overfrom David and without whom I doubt the book would everhave got off the ground, we finally published in 1978. WasI finally admitted to the ranks of armchair birdwatchers?After completing ‘BoRM’ I foundmyself at a loose end withouttransport and although Tom very kindly took me back andforth to the Reserve in the Land Rover it was not the same,especially when I had to listen to accounts of other wardenswho had been walking ‘my’ woods. I managed to get a‘Noddy car’, as I referred to my invalid vehicle, and I was upand away. Over a period of five years I did 75,000 miles init wearing out two engines and a frame, much to the disgustof the mechanics – especially when they had to dig out thecow muck and clay, for most of the time was spent onFrodsham Marshes and such out of the way birdy places.

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The AA got to know me, for they were forever fetching me home when I broke down. Two of themfrom Liverpool who brought me out of Frodsham Marsh were not amused when their freshlycleaned vehicles became covered in mud, but we parted best of friends.

It was after a visit to the Weaver Bend, which provoked anger and action over sailingthere, that Ron corresponded with Derek Kelly, Secretary of COA (CheshireOrnithological Association) and was invited to an Association meeting.Considering how little I knew of the COA and the CBR I was taken aback when asked if I wouldconsider taking on the task of County Recorder, especially as I had seen the marked difference,for the better, in its presentation for the previous few years. I agreed to try it out for 12 monthsand lasted 2.5 years during which time I realised why Jonathan Guest (the previous Recorder)had given up the thankless task. The idea of all the small societies involved in Cheshire birdrecording each sending a representative to monthly meetings with, as I took it at the time, the soleidea of producing a County Bird Report seemed sensible. The whole idea began to fall downwhen, firstly, the representatives, if they turned up, could change from month to month and sowere not conversant with what was happening; secondly, I found to my surprise that COA weredoing what I thought was the job of CCT, i.e. conservation, and most of every meeting was takenup with conservation matters; thirdly, and most important, some of the area recorders didn’t knowthe bird life of their own areas. The recording system was based on species sheets which wouldform the basis of the systematic list in CBR and be kept for posterity in Liverpool Museum. WhenI found that sheets for the so-called common species were not filled in I realised that researchersin the future wishing to find, for instance, the status of gulls inland would find no evidence of theirever being there and could assume that they did not occur.The COA’s desire to publish the CBR by October at the latest put us in an impossible position.The COA could not be made to understand that a comprehensive CBR depended on includingrecords from reports published by Hilbre, Woolston and SECOS among others, and that as someof these reports were not available until June there was not enough time to produce the CBR forOctober. Some bright spark suggested that we went to press without this information and includeit in the Report for the following year. It was then that I began to circulate among the most activebirdwatchers in the county asking for comments. To my amazement, I found that some didn’tsend in records, while others didn’t understand the set-up of the COA or didn’t even keeprecords. In my own Society [Hale Ornithologists] at least 90% of members never kept recordsand in many other constituent societies the situation was the same – how could we hope toproduce a comprehensive CBR given such inadequate ‘service’? The consensus of opinionoutside the COA was that a new Society, superseding the COA, should be formed, the core ofwhich would be individual membership.

Despite some improvements in compiling procedures, production of the 1984 CBR wasfraught with difficulties, leading to delay in publication.When it was finally published, in January 1986, it appeared without the year on the cover, adecision with which I did not agree, made by the COA because of the lateness of publication. Ireceived the ‘brick bats’ from the COA over the problems with the 1984 Report, and followingdifficulties in the preparation of the 1985 Report I resigned.

Ron ended this article with a hope that it might help birdwatchers realise how muchhard work goes into writing and producing a County Bird Report, before writing aconcluding paragraph which cast back to his time in the field:On becoming unable to get round the Reserve at Rostherne I became a wanderer of the highwaysand byways of Cheshire and its environs, hoping one day to find another Rostherne, anotherSewage Farm where I could sit and watch birds and recapture some of the exciting moments ofmy ‘birding’ life. Unfortunately, the tide seems to be against me and when irreplaceable habitatssuch as Woolston Eyes [part of which was at that time under threat] are destroyed and more andmore ‘plastic’ reserves are made to replace them, I fear for the future. But there I go! I alwayswas a pessimist where birds and the environment are concerned.

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C&W Bird Report

NEVER MIND THE QUALITY, FEEL THE WIDTHA Compiler’s TaleOne Monday morning in July, someone at work said “What a lovely weekend; did you do anythinginteresting?” “Yes,” I replied, “I spent most of yesterday cutting bits of paper into little strips andthen sticking them onto other bits of paper.” They all looked at me a bit funny-like, and asked whyI did that. When I said that I was compiling records for the County Bird Report they just glazedover and then changed the subject.Let me explain. You send in your records (promptly of course, on New Year’s Day, and in theappropriate order) to Steve Barber. Steve then cuts them up into sections to be sent to thevarious compilers - in my case, larks to wagtails. In due course a bulky plain brown envelopearrives on my door-mat; because I know what it is, and what it entails, I ignore it for several days.Then, with the sort of gritty determination I usually reserve for ringing the dentist, I slit open thepackage and empty its contents on to the desk. Dozens of bits of paper, ranging from narrowstrips to full sheets of A4, cascade out. Inevitably, some fall on the floor and have to be rescuedfrom the dog, who thinks they look eminently chewable.I now begin the process of “pasting up”. This requires a pair of scissors, a pot of paste, a lot ofscrap A4, and several hours of free time. Let us assume (to begin at the easy end) that you haveused a standard CAWOS record form, written clearly, and entered species in the proper order. Ithen cut off your Skylark records and paste them on a sheet headed “Skylark”, then do the samefor Sand Martin, and so on. If you think for a moment, you will see that this task is made mucheasier if you have left a blank line between species: some of us were never very good at cutting-out, even at infant school when we did a lot of it.(It is at this point that I realise that I didn’t leave a space in my own records, and offer a silentapology to my fellow-compilers!)As I said, that’s starting at the easy end. Perhaps, though, you keep your records on a personalcomputer? Very nice, I’m sure. So I get a copy of your World List of birds for the year - or anyway,of all the families I am dealing with. Let me be honest: I am not greatly interested in what you sawin Kazhakstan or Patagonia. Indeed, being only human and never having been to Kazhakstan orPatagonia, I have to resist a savage, jealous urge to put you in your place by binning the lot. Mysense of duty and justice prevails: indeed I take my trusty scissors, snip out the bits aboutCheshire, and junk the rest - wondering the while if it isn’t possible, in this day and age, to teachcomputers to be a bit more selective.Then again, it seems that having spent a lot of money on your p.c. you have to economise onpaper - either that, or there’s some sort of competition going on to see who can produce the tiniestlettering. Here I must confess that at least one record was lost to posterity this year: by the time

CAWOS should be justifiably proud of the Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report. It was in1988 that the first one was published by CAWOS, complete with a dust cover! In 1993two pages of colour photos were added and then the 1994 C&W BR achieved 8th= inthe British Birds Best Annual Bird Report Competition (but came 1st in the mediummembership category). Forwarding to the 2001 C&W BR, when several notable eventstook place: the Bird Report achieved its best showing 3rd= in the BTO Best Annual BirdReport Competition (by improving its score by an impressive 7 points out of a possible53); the first time that a colour photograph was used for the front cover; the first BirdReport produced after computerisation of county records - perhaps the most obviousbenefit was that both ‘cutting’ and ‘pasting’ were eliminated, to the great relief ofeveryone. Read the following account of this laborious task of being a compiler beforecomputerisation in Bird News October 1995 (No. 28):

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I had cut off the single-line record of one species I was left with a wafer-thin sliver of paper which,caught between two sticky fingers, simply folded up and disintegrated. From what I could seewhen I tried to re-constitute it, it wasn’t all that important to science, so it went into the compostheap with the other cut-offs. One day, though, it could be important ..............................................Then there are the Annual Reports, from the various reserves and sites and groups. I dosometimes note that I’m clipping out brief monthly maxima, which may be OK for, say LittleGrebes in winter but won’t help much in building a picture of House Martin passage in April, butmostly they don’t give too much trouble - though I was well into the sticking-down routine with onebefore I realised it was printed on both sides. Very sound, ecologically speaking; but when I’mcompiling I’m not really into ecology. All this assumes, of course, that we’ve actually got the report- no names, no pack-drill, but it is very embarrassing when, every year, it is very old friends ofmine who are delaying the process. Why not let Steve have the raw data, lads?I keep the worst until the last: the Rarities Sub-committee list; a bit of paper, about four inches bythree, printed in faint grey ink and looking rather like a low-quality till receipt. About a dozenprecious records, highlights of the observers’ year, each on a line a few millimetres high (sosmall, that even determined Imperial measure users like me are forced to think metric!). And nospace between them, of course. I wonder if I can pretend they were lost in the post, but decidenot: folks will never miss the odd Skylark, but someone is sure to complain if his Richard’s Pipitrecord never sees the light of day.So the job’s done - or anyway the first bit of it. I sit and look with satisfaction at the heap of crinkly,glue-smudged sheets in front of me. Damned odd, that run of January records for Tree Pipit -then I realise that I have stuck a block of Grey Wagtails on the wrong sheet, and frantically try tounstick them before the glue dries.Now, it may strike you that this is the first time that I’ve really noticed what is in the records. Youhave the impression that I don’t care about the quality? Dead right: at this stage, I couldn’t careless whether those five Swallows were flying round a farmyard at midsummer, or hibernating inyour garden pond when you cleaned it out at Christmas. All that matters to me is that yourSwallow records were easy to slice off from the martins, that I’ve been able to stick them on theright sheet, and that the supply of glue has lasted until the end of the job. Don’t expect me to readthem as well, please: that’s next weekend’s business.OK, so it’s primitive - but it’s the way we do it. In Durham and Tyneside the bird clubs supply index-cards, which observers return, one for each species, monthly. In Devon, they boast that they areso good at computerising their records that they can accept them in any order, any layout, at anytime: I guess they must like inputting data. But in Cheshire we are still talking Blue Peter, notTomorrow’s World. Don’t ask me why; I’m only a compiler. Just think of us all when you send inyour 1995 records, and make them big and clear with plenty of room for the scissors.

Bob Anderson

RUMOURS... RUMOURS...Shock! Outrage! It’s not just Cormorants that need to watch their backs (termed the blackplague by fisherman fearing for their ‘sport’) – a prominent Council Member has called for anextensive cull to be carried out with immediate effect on Mute Swans (white plague?) and CanadaGeese (black and white plague?). Perhaps understandable when you consider that this particularstalwart is currently wading through 1,277 Mute Swan records and 1,303 Canada Geese recordswhilst compiling for the 2004 Bird Report. Enough to give him snow blindness!!!Stop Press news – he’s just added Mallard to his hit list – a mere 1,858 records sent in for 2004!Now that really is beyond the call of duty....[by 2012, the number of records for these three species increased by about 50%! Eds]

There were some sections which appeared just occasionally, ‘Rumours... Rumours...’was one of the more light-hearted ones. This example, taken from Bird News July 2005(No. 67), is rather fitting after reading Bob’s article on cutting and pasting. Of course,computerisation eliminated the scissors and glue, but didn’t reduce the number of records:

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Cheshire andWirral AtlasWe could hardly find anything in Bird News about the CAWOS first atlas The BreedingBird Atlas of Cheshire and Wirral. No article. No review. Noadvertisement. Of course,it covers the seven-year period 1978-84, so the surveys were done under the auspicesof Cheshire Ornithological Association (COA), but it was in 1988, when CAWOS wasformed, that the atlas received a boost to get the publication under way. It was inRichard Gabb’s Editorial in Bird News July 1992 (No. 15) that we hear about the “longawaited” atlas:There can only be one theme for this issue and I make no apologiesfor concentrating upon it. The long awaited Breeding Bird Atlas forCheshire and the Wirral is now published, as I hope the majority ofour members are aware due to its recent arrival through theirletterbox. For anyone who did not subscribe to the pre-publicationoffer I wonder if I could find words appropriate enough to describeits excellence. An Editorial however is not the place to write athorough review and Dr. Jane Turner has kindly agreed to do thisfor the next issue of Bird News.I would rather pay tribute to those who gave up so much of theirtime and whose considerable efforts have been rewarded withsuch a superb publication. (It is also a tremendous bargain!) ...............................................................The four members of the Editorial panel named on the coverwould acknowledge that whilst theirs’ has been the major effort,the book could not have been produced in its final format withoutthe contributions of the lengthy supporting cast detailed on theacknowledgements. However, I feel it is a privilege to be able to thank these four on behalf of allmembers of CAWOS. Dennis Elphick organised the original tetrad breeding survey, marshalledthe work of the 10k square co-ordinators and then processed vast amounts of data manually ata time before the advent of the home computer spread sheet. All of the original mapping and thefinal distribution maps were again created manually by Alan Hunter in what must have been aprodigious effort. These species distribution maps have each been supported by fascinating in-depth text, nearly all written by J.P. Guest whom also completed much of the introductorychapters. He was in turn helped by comment from David Norman, with both of them making afinal concerted effort to pull the whole book together. Finally, Alan Hunter again brought theproject to its successful conclusion through selective and close liaison with the publisher ............

The official launch was held on Saturday 1st August 1992 in Marbury Country Park, as reportedin a short note in Bird News October 1992 (No. 16). Compare this with the publication of thesecond atlas Birds in Cheshire and Wirral A breeding and wintering atlas,which was reportedin Bird News November 2008 (No. 78). Because the article was three pages long we haven’treproduced the whole article - just the introduction and the part of Brian’s presentation wherehe spoke about the first atlas and how the second atlas came about.A reception was held at Ness Gardens on Monday 10 November 2008 to mark the publication ofthe eagerly-awaited Birds in Cheshire and Wirral: a breeding and wintering atlas. Unfortunately,many fieldworkers and other people associated with the Atlas were unable to attend, so the twomain speeches of the evening are reproduced below. A brief introduction was given by AnthonyCond, the Commissioning Editor with Liverpool University Press, who have recently publishedthe Manx Bird Atlas and The Mammals of Cheshire, and are keen to step up their catalogue ofnatural history books. Anthony welcomed Birds in Cheshire and Wirral as probably the biggestbook that LUP had published, with a quality to match. Brian Dyke, as Chairman of CAWOS, thengave some of the background to the formation of the Society and the publication of the firstBreeding Atlas. David Norman, Author and Atlas Project Coordinator, then went on to explain

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exactly what has been achieved and how, followed by what comes next. He did stress, however,that there was not the time to give special mention to all involved, but confirmed that fullacknowledgements were recorded at the beginning of the Atlas, covering an amazing three pages!Brain Dyke’s presentation:The Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society (CAWOS) wasformed in 1988 at a time when the survey work on the previousBreeding Atlas had already been completed, over a seven-yearperiod from 1978 – 1984, under the auspices of the CheshireOrnithological Association (COA). It was partly in recognition ofthe shortcomings of this association of groups within the county,not least in its ability to organise and fund the publication of theAtlas that CAWOS was formed, and so the new countyornithological society was born........It was not until 1992 that CAWOS was in a position to publish theBreeding Atlas, the early years being concerned with organisingthe publication and raising the funds to make it happen.It was in spring 2003 that David Norman approached CAWOSCouncil with a proposition that the Society should embark uponanother atlas, this time covering not only the breeding season butalso encompassing the winter period. From the outset, Councilrecognised that it was a not insignificant task to mobilise the volunteers needed to complete thesurvey, but it was also excited at the prospect of embarking upon an update to the original Atlas,twenty years after the previous fieldwork had been completed.Council immediately approved of the project and it was in July 2003 that a request went out to themembership to give support to the endeavour, in whatever way they were able. The plan outlinedin the note was for fieldwork to start in April 2004 and to cover three breeding seasons and threewinter periods, finishing in February 2007, with the Atlas being published during 2008, so it ispleasing to note that the undertaking has come in right on time. A subcommittee of Council wasset up to steer the project, led by David Norman, and it then set about the task of planning all theactivities needed to bring it to a successful conclusion....

Then in Bird News November 2010 (No. 84), there was a news release from BTO:

CHESHIREANDWIRRAL ORNITHOLOGICALSOCIETY HONOUREDThe Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society (CAWOS) have been

honoured for their contribution to British ornithology at anawards ceremony held at the Royal Society, London.

Clive Richards, Chairman of CAWOS, was handed the Marsh Local Ornithology Award byProfessor Ian Newton, Chair of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Brian Marsh of theMarsh Christian Trust, in recognition of the outstanding contribution the Society made to localornithology with their publication Birds in Cheshire and Wirral: A breeding and wintering atlas.Cheshire and Wirral provides a wide range of habitats for birds, from the internationally importantestuaries of the Dee and Mersey in the west to the high moors of the Peak District National Parkin the east. During 2004 to 2007 more than 350 volunteers spent over 50,000 hours surveyingeach 2×2km square in Cheshire and Wirral, recording every bird species in both the breedingseason and in winter. This work revealed dramatic changes in bird populations since the county’slast census of 1978-84.Professor David Norman, who led the project and wrote the book, commented, “I am delightedthat CAWOS has been given this award. It recognises the voluntary efforts of all those individualsthat made the Birds of Cheshire and Wirral possible, from the observers who put in so much timein the field, to those who helped in its publication. This weighty tome will be the authority on thecounty’s birds for many years to come.”Professor Ian Newton, BTO, said, “It gives me great pleasure to see this outstanding piece ofwork recognised. Wherever one dips into the book, there are gems to be found. It givesunprecedented understanding of the region’s birds.”

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You know the saying “Nobody said it was going to be easy” when everything around you is goingwrong? Well, it has certainly felt like that at times! It seems incredible that it is only a year sincewe put the special announcement about ‘Computerisation of Cheshire and Wirral OrnithologicalRecords’ into Bird News, followed by the special mailing of the Guidelines for the Submission ofComputerised Records and the Cheshire and Wirral Gazetteer. And what a year it has been!We knew there were bound to be problems along the way. We also knew that ideally we shoulddesign and write our own dedicated database, but though we had the expertise in Geoff Blamire,he did not have the spare time to put towards what would have been a major undertaking. Insteadhe put his time and energy into writing an import and validation programme to enable the automaticelectronic input of computerised records into the database kindly given to us by the DerbyshireOrnithological Society. This has worked with some success, though there never was going to bean exact match between the DOS system and our ‘perceived’ requirements. The upshot of it allis that Geoff, borne out of a certain amount of frustration, has now written a new, CAWOS-dedicated system that should prove both easier to use and will do what we want it to do - ratherthan the other way round!Geoff has taken over the job of Database Manager from Dave Walters for the time being and isimporting the 2001 records into this new system in order to test it, smooth out any problems andget it ready for the 2002 submissions! We would like to thank Dave for originally taking on thisrole; a role that proved more time-consuming and complicated than any of us had thought at thetime. Some contributors were great - following our guidelines as best as they could, or seekinghelp if needed. Others? Well….Though we had agonised over the guidelines to try to make them not too complicated, but at thesame time comprehensive, some contributors did not follow them or seek help to try to followthem. So computerised records were sent to us in a far greater range of formats than we hadever envisaged. Also the variety within the fields was incredible. Dates were presented in everyway imaginable. New and little-known sites were used with no back-up information to locate them.Some fields included several pieces of information rather than just one, e.g. the site name, maprefs and site ID all ‘lumped’ together in one column. We also received thousands of individualrecords of ‘common’ species for every day of the year; these would be better submitted asmonthly maxima, particularly if comparisons to previous years are made. Sorting out all of thesetook up a great deal of time in order to re-format the records ready for importing. Howeverenough of my ‘gripes’.

CAWOS DATABASEWhen it was announced in Bird News October 2001 (No. 52) about ‘Computerisationof Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Records’ it started a new era for CAWOS:

As many of you are probably aware, a team of CAWOS members has undertaken a project toprepare for the computerisation of future and eventually past Cheshire and Wirral bird records.The primary objective is to facilitate the future use of these ornithological records for appropriatescientific purposes. As a by-product, it will greatly simplify the process of data preparation for thewriting of the annual Bird Report. Anyone who has spent days cutting, rearranging and finallypasting thousands of paper strips, each with an individual record on it, will immediately see thevalue in this!The Derbyshire Ornithological Society went through this process a few years ago and has beenextremely helpful by giving us the programme and database they designed, which we haveadapted to our requirements. In return we will make available to them the automatic electronicinput programme and updated species lists that we have developed.

One year later, in Bird News October 2002 (No. 56), Sheila Blamire gave an insight intowhy we didn’t continue with the DOS database and the specific problems aboutcomputerising our county records:

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BIRDWATCHING IN THE CLASSROOMIn my last five years of teaching, I had the opportunity to teach Birdwatching to pupils of secondaryschool age. Readers might be interested in how I tackled this, and in some more generalobservations.The school decided to have an activity period at the end of Wednesday afternoon, between 2.55and 4.00. Pupils chose from a wide variety of activities offered by staff. They would choose threefor the year and do a different one each term. To make allocation easier they were asked to stateabout eight activities which they would be prepared to do. I, as the member of staff in charge,made the final allocation and offered ‘Birdwatching’ as my contribution.What range of pupils did I get? A very wide one, both in ability and interest. A group could includepupils who eventually went to university and those who found reading and writing very difficult.There were pupils with keen interest and knowledge and some who were interested but were

Bird News has always been keen to hear from CAWOS members, whether notes ofunusual avian behaviour or amusing anecdotes that you think your fellow birders willbe interested in. This note fromDavid Cogger about teaching birdwatching to secondarypupils, back in Bird News January 93 (No. 17) was both interesting and amusing:

Notes & Letters

We are very grateful to the record number of contributors who submitted such a tremendousamount of data. We will be voicing our thanks and sending out feedback on an individual basis toall contributors, with suggestions to make submission easier for both parties hopefully!Contributors who are current CAWOS members will be sent this letter with their 2001 Cheshireand Wirral Bird Report. We apologise for this feedback going out so late, we had intended tohave sent it out by now, but events have overtaken us.We’ve also had a number of problems with the ‘handling’ of paper records, starting with a delay inforwarding the records ready for distribution to the volunteer inputters. In the end the paperrecords were manually inputted by just one person, a mammoth task, which inevitably led to anunacceptable level of errors being made. We have now thoroughly checked every inputtedrecord with the original paper record, a time-consuming exercise, but we are now ‘quietly confident’that everything is correct. Our thanks go to everyone who helped with this exercise and to ColinSchofield for his patience in finishing off the Systematic List!For the 2002 records (and beyond!) we will definitely be taking up the offers of help we hadreceived to input the paper records into an electronic format. If you offered for this year we willbe in touch! If you would like to offer for next year - please get in touch. We really wouldappreciate help, however small or conditional! You will not need Access (database) on yourcomputer as inputting into Excel (or a similar spreadsheet programme) is proving just as simple.The other job we will continue to need help with is re-formatting the number of reports we receivefrom reserves or groups, which are produced in a Word document format. These reports containvital information that supplements the ‘straight’ data received.We will eventually hold a ‘post-mortem’ on this year’s events, to decide what went well and whatwe could do better (more of the second than the first I feel!) and also make plans for handling the2002 records. However, next year we will definitely need to implement a new system to track theprogress of records from submission, to manual inputting if paper records, through the verificationprogramme, then sorting out errors such as invalid sites or dates, and finally to the successfulimport into the database.Though mistakes have been made we should still feel proud of what we have achieved in such ashort space of time, relatively speaking. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing; if only….. Still,nobody said it was going to be easy!

Sheila Blamire

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absolute beginners. A very few, who put the subject down to make up their allocation, had little orno interest, at any rate to start with. As initially I was in charge of the whole scheme I had somecontrol over numbers, and tried to keep the group to 12, which would fit into the school minibus.Later group sizes had to increase and I had to take a group out in two halves, leaving thosebehind under the eye of another teacher, with work to do.I soon found that if anyone had ever done this before, they had never published their methods.Quickly I abandoned elaborate plans and concentrated on basics such as identification, trying toget pupils to recognise common birds and to see the differences both between families and withinthem. I tried to link field work and classwork, though this was difficult as obviously I could neverguarantee what we should see, or if in fact we should see anything. I bought some cheap new andsecond-hand binoculars. The time of day was not ideal birdwatching time but I tried to get pupilsout as much as possible. Hedgerow and woodland soon proved to be difficult habitats to workwith lively adolescents and we quickly graduated to open spaces and water. Luckily within 10minutes drive there was a large flash, a river, two sandpits and a canal so there was always thechance that something might appear sufficiently far away to be watched but not disturbed!Working with these young people was a constant reminder to me that we birdwatchers take agreat deal for granted. Some had great difficulty in using the binoculars or in finding and seeingbirds at all - this may have been the first time in their lives that they were asked to really look at,or for, something. Many were keen but had a lack of self-discipline so that a sighting was hailedin a voice which scattered the birds for half a mile around! Some found difficulty in describingwhat they were looking at, or where it was - I sometimes disappointed them by failing to identify“that small brown bird over there”.Being accustomed, like all birdwatchers, to use sound and well as sight as a means of identification,I found it difficult to convince many pupils, as I have some adults, that birds could be identified bysound alone in many cases. Getting them to listen was very difficult even if we could see the bird,and almost impossible if we couldn’t. A few could not see that work in class, which often consistedof identification exercises I constructed, had any connection with what they saw in the field. Manyhad problems with the high reading levels of most bird books or articles, which are written for anarticulate and literate audience; while I am not against this I wonder if those birdwatchers whowrite for the general public are aware of the need to keep text simple and sentences short. Howmany of those who read the word “crepuscular” when applied to the nightjar have to look it up -would not “twilight” be better?What did the pupils gain from this? Over the 5 years probably about 120 pupils, overwhelminglyboys, chose this course. Most will have had their awareness raised if nothing else, learning touse their eyes and being conscious that there are different types of bird with differing habitatrequirements. Many had some knowledge of, and belief in, conservation, often a legacy fromprimary education. The next generation is hopefully going to be far more conservation conscious,having been brought up with the idea from early childhood. No mention was made of egg collectingthough illegal shooting is still quite common among more “macho” teenagers.On an individual level, most got something out of birdwatching - even the lad who said that he likedbirdwatching except when we have to go out and use binoculars! A few gained a great deal andcame out with me in much smaller groups at weekends to places such as Seaforth and DelamereForest. I took several weekend trips to Anglesey, the Solway, Norfolk, Spurn Head and Skomerand over the five years we saw between us a total of 166 species. To raise money for the school’snew minibus a group, under my direction, did a sponsored birdwatch in Cheshire and Lancashireand saw 91 different species between 5.00am and 8.00pm one brilliant May day. Perhaps mymost satisfying experiences were the raw beginner who rushed up to me in school one day to saythat he had successfully identified a female blackbird, and the expression on a more experienced15 year-old’s face on seeing his first ever Avocets at Holme in Norfolk.

On a similar vein, as part of the funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards thecosts of financing the CAWOS Atlas - Birds of Cheshire and Wirral A breeding andwintering atlas, included an educational programme using the atlas as an importantlearning tool. This was aimed at primary schoolchildren, as explained in Bird NewsJuly 2010 (No. 83):

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PRIMARYFEATHERS TAKES FLIGHT – PHASE 1A new collaboration project between CAWOS and Cheshire Wildlife Trust.....Cheshire Wildlife Trust has recruited Environmental Educator Jeff Clarke to deliver the PrimaryFeathers project. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the birds found in and aroundschools and to demonstrate the potential for using birds and the Atlas as a teaching resource.The project also aims to carry out improvements within the school grounds that are beneficial tothe bird life of the county. Jeff’s task has been to take the vast amount of information containedwithin the Atlas and make it accessible to schoolchildren at Key Stages 1 & 2.The project is open to 25 primary schools, with all costs of delivery covered by the HeritageLottery Fund. Each participating school receives two visits. The first informs pupils (and teachers)about the birds they can see at home and at school. This starts with an interactive PowerPointshow where Jeff and the pupils imitate themovements, songs and calls of the various speciescovered. The pupils have to remember the factsabout the birds for a game to be played later in theday. This is followed by a session in the schoolgrounds looking at the foods birds eat and hopefullyspotting some of the birds living around the school.So far this has included birds such as Great SpottedWoodpecker and Common Buzzard. This also givesthe school an opportunity to look at whatimprovements they can make in their school groundsto encourage more bird life. The pupils then exploretheir imaginations with poetry and art sessions beforethe day closes with the big finale.Jeff works with at least two classes during each day and the final act is to play ‘Cheep or NoCheep’ with all the pupils and teachers present. The game follows the format of a well-knowntelevision game show. A teacher is nominated to sit in the ‘hot’ seat. However, they are not playingfor money, but bird food for the school. As part of the game, pupils can win extra food byanswering questions correctly that relate to the morning’s presentation. The game is enormousfun and is accompanied by lots of cheers and jeers. The game is very good for teaching mathsand covers aspects like probability, percentages and fractions, as well as weights and measures.Here was one teacher’s comment: “We very much enjoyed the interactive game, even the pressureof being in the hot seat, and deciding when to say ‘Cheep!’.”The feedback from the various school sessions undertaken so far has been universally positive,this being a typical example: “The children thoroughly enjoyed it ..... the bird feeders are all filled upand we are looking forward to your next visit.” Liz Oliver, St Saviour’s Catholic Primary School,Great Sutton.It’s one thing getting positive feedback from teachers but what do the pupils have to say about it?Here are some of the comments on the letters the children have sent to Jeff following his visit:Joseph: “Thank you for coming to our school it was absolutely fabulous. Now I am so in to birds.Silently I creep through the woods, listen and look at the birds.”Daniel: “...you showed the class, including me a picture of a blue tit. You will never guess what?We saw a blue tit on our bird feeder eating your bird food that we won off you.”Dylan: “What you taught us that day was a life time of memories.”The project is proving so popular that demand for places is far outstripping the currently availablefunding. So if there are any Local Education Authorities who would like to collaborate with us andextend this project, please get in touch.

PHASE 2This involves follow-up visits to participating schools to carry out school grounds improvementsthat will help both local bird life and pupils to benefit from the changes. Unlike Phase 1 whereevery school receives the same lesson programme, Phase 2 is very much a bespoke process,with every school requiring something a little bit different....

Great SpottedWoodpeckerby Dave Pullan

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Sites to WatchThis section has been popular over the years, highlighting large well-known reservesto smaller, hardly-known sites. The very first ‘Sites to Watch’, which was published in BirdN ew sJanuary 1989 (No. 1), focused on Rostherne Mere and is reproduced here:

ROSTHERNE MERE – PORTRAIT OF ANATIONAL NATURE RESERVERostherne Mere has long been known as a wildfowl wintering resort of considerable importance.T.A. Coward knew the site well and published a faunal survey of the mere in 1914. Forty years onanother eminent naturalist A.W.Boyd produced a revised account of the birds. Boyd regularlycounted over 1000 Teal and 3000 Mallard in the 1950’s and it was he who persuaded the mere’sowner, Lord Egerton of Tatton, of its national importance both for wildfowl and other less obviouslimnological and faunal features. So it was that on his death in 1958 Lord Egerton left RostherneMere to the Nature Conservancy, who declared it a National Nature Reserve “in order to retainthe Mere as a strict wildfowl refuge and also to provide facilities for research into ornithology andfreshwater biology.”Wildfowl populations have changed considerably since the 1950’s. Mallard and Teal seldomreaching a thousand these days, but where the dabblers have declined the diving ducks haveadequately compensated. Pochard now surpass the level of national importance (600) annually,and in 1987 and 1988 international important concentrations of over 2500 were recorded. Severeweather can see Tufted Duck numbers swell to over 1000, and it is at such times, when lesserwater bodies are ice-bound, that Rostherne comes into its own. Covering 90 acres and averagingover 20 metres deep the mere rarely freezes up, thus affording refuge to hundreds of duckfrozen out of other sites in the region. A Bittern, diver or rarer grebe is apt to turn up in a coldsnap, while Smew can be more reliably forecast.As dusk approaches on winter afternoons birds in their thousands descend on Rostherne,Woodpigeons and corvids to roost in the woodlands, and gulls to the mere, occasionally with aGlaucous or Iceland amongst their ranks. Cormorants also glide into Rostherne’s bowl beforeswooping up to guano-encrusted waterside poplars. The roost, which has recently reachedtreble figures, sometimes contains continental type birds. After dark many duck depart to feed atshallow food-rich waters, returning to Rostherne before dawn where essential freedom fromdisturbance allows them to rest during the day.With spring under way hirundines appear over the water frequently joined for a ‘service-stationmeal’ by Common, Arctic and Black Terns. This is an exciting time as reedbeds and woodlandscome alive with warblers, and Curlew, Oystercatcher and occasionally less common waders areheard piping over the mere. Few species of waterfowl stay to breed for the deep, eutrophic(nutrient rich) water which bloom pea-green with algae in summer, possess few wildfowl foodplantsand present a hostile environment for young birds. Those species that do nest by the mere edge,notably Coot and Great Crested Grebe must nowadays contend with predation of mink, as well

as corvids, pike and foxes. InMay and June the residentCanada Geese are joined byan ever increasing flock of feralGreylags on an annual moultmigration from breedingground in North Wales.It is not uncommon to see allthree woodpecker species inRostherne in a day, and youngGreat Spotteds frequently givethe observatory a closeinspection. Few birdwatchers

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visit Rostherne in the summer months, but with Hobby sightings increasing and the possibility ofother Cheshire rarities such as Garganey turning up, the persistent are often rewarded.Late summer sees Shoveler numbers climb, usually into treble figures, and in the last two autumnsGadwall have also arrived in numbers of national importance reaching a maximum of 90. 15,000or more Starlings my swirl over the reedbeds in spectacular fashion at this time of year, oftenpursued by a Sparrowhawk and occasionally by Peregrine. Hugh flows of Canada Geese on themove between favoured meres provide another impressive autumn spectacle.With the approach of winter the wonderful calls of Wigeon once again greet the ear and immaculatedrake Goldeneye re-appear on the mere. Looking back 1988 brought Long-tailed and FerruginousDuck, Iceland and Glaucous Gull, Osprey and Peregrine, Hawfinch and Waxwing, but the yearwill be remembered as the year of the Cuckoo at Rostherne where at least three females parasitisedthe Reed Warbler colony – a rare event in Cheshire.Behind the scenes research and monitoring work continues as unobtrusively as possible. CommonBirds Census, Winter Wildowl Counts, Butterfly population monitoring, photographic habitatmonitoring, and other surveys supply essential information against which changes can bemeasured. While detailed research projects such as those currently being conducted into heavymetal levels in the phytoplankton; fish populations and feeding behaviour; Reed Warbler breedingbehaviour; and Water Rail winter habitat use; add to the store of knowledge necessary for theconservation of habitats and species.

Mike Bailey, WardenFurther reading:Coward, T.A. 1914. Faunal Survey of Rostherne Mere, Vertebrata, in Mem. & Proc. ManchesterLit. & Phil. Soc. Vol.58 No.9.Boyd, A.W. 1955. Faunal Survey of Rostherne Mere, A revised account of birds in Mem. & Proc.Manchester Lit. Soc. Vol. 96 No.8.Harrison, R & Rogers, D.A. 1976. The Birds of Rostherne Mere. N.C.C.

Also recommended is the follow-up ‘Sites to Watch’ on Rostherne Mere in Bird NewsApril 1999 (No. 42), after CAWOS took over running the AW Boyd Observatory in 1988.Too long to reproduce here, but it includes two articles written by Steve Barber whichdelve more deeply into the history of Rostherne Mere and then take you through eachof the birdwatching seasons.

RUMOURS... RUMOURS...A certain member of the Bird News Editorial team feels that she (bit of a give-away there!) isconstantly having to remind other members of approaching deadlines and printing dates, so thiscartoon seems rather apt, not that she would dream of moaning about it to her husband of course!(with apologies to Peanuts and Schulz):-

I couldn’t resist putting another ‘Rumours... Rumours...’ into this special edition of BirdNews. Taken from October 1998 (No. 40) it is as true today as it was back in 1998!

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ConservationNewsThis long-running section tends to be time-specific, but some contributions seem as ifthey were written in 2013, particularly where ‘A Word from Steve Turner’ (CAWOS’sConservation Officer) is talking about Wildlife Crime. See what we mean in Bird NewsMarch 2008 (No. 76):

CONSERVATION AND CURRENT TRENDS IN WILDLIFE CRIMEAs spring approaches and hopefully this spell of wet weather decides enough is enough, we willall be preparing for the mass exodus of our winter visiting feathered friends, and preparingourselves for the influx of the fresh batch of summer migrants. It has come to light that with theinflux of many people from Eastern Europe many of our protected species of songbird andfinches feature very high on their menu, not to spot as we would, but to EAT. Please keep an eyeopen when you are out and about for seed scattered in locations where you would not expect tofind it and also for areas that have been cultivated, i.e. gaps cut in scrub and overhangingbranches of trees cut back to create a ‘feed ride’ across which a mist net could be hung. It wouldappear that ‘Bird Lime’ is freely available in Europe. Normally marketed to control mice and rats,instances of ‘lime sticks’ have been reported on a more frequent basis over the last twelve toeighteen months. The time-honoured catch alive traps also seem to be making a comeback.These are the traps that contain a decoy bird in the middle cage and have a trap cage either sideto contain any wild birds that are attracted by the decoy. These traps are normally used by theperson trapping to sell on as caged birds rather than to eat. As well as birds we are receivingreports of persons catching and taking coarse fish for the table. Please remember that peopletaking birds and fish for the table do not think they are committing any crime.As the nesting season approaches please be aware of any suspicious persons in the vicinity ofany nesting sites. There are still egg collectors out there, and also people who come under themantle, and I use the term very loosely, of falconers. They are prepared to take eggs or youngbirds to rear on for their ‘sport’. Do remember that 99.9% of all falconers are true to the courseand would not keep a wild-caught bird or have anything to do with eggs taken from the wild.One last item of crime prevention - “Please keep your eyes and ears open”. Quad bikes, IforWilliams Trailers and power tools are high on the list of collectables at the moment, especially ifthey belong to someone else. You are the eyes and ears of the Police Force. If you are not happywith something you see let us know. If you have a problem reporting a suspicious incident pleaselet me have the details and I will sort it out.On the conservation front there seems to be a trend towards wind farms. As you will all be awarethis subject is a political hot potato at present; as information is received I will pass it on. There areobviously good points and bad points over this matter; if you have a problem in your own area letme know and also your own MP.

To further illustrate this point, here are some excerpts from March 2010 (issue no. 82):

The trade in wild caught birds is still as strong as ever, and as the warmer weather, longer daysand the nesting season begins, I am sure that the illegal netters and the persons who areprepared to take young from the nest to hand rear will be out and about in our area. As I havestated before do keep an eye open for areas that have been opened out and food provided asthis is a tactic used prior to placing a mist net, but do be aware that lawful ringing activities usethe same tactics, but I am sure that even our County Ringers will not mind being checked out bythe Police if it means that anyone trying to take birds illegally does not get away with it. Most ofour common and garden finches still command a high price on the cage bird market, but again beaware that not all cage bird fanciers are keeping wild caught stock; 99.9% of bird keepers areabove board and would not dream of keeping or taking wild caught birds.Egg collectors are also still coming to the attention of law enforcement agencies. It would appearthat now the normal activity for these persons is to take full clutches of eggs from the same

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RingingNewsRinging plays an important part in developing our knowledge of birds, and this sectionin Bird News has evolved over the years. Currently, several ringing groups (or individualringers), who are active in Cheshire and Wirral, update the membership with theiractivities. We have chosen the very first ‘Ringing News’ by David Norman publishedin January 1989 (No 1).Several interesting records of ringed birds have been received from the BTO. The only WhooperSwan ever ringed by the Mersey Ringing Group was caught on the River Dee in January 1984: itcould not fly properly, and was looked after by Chester Zoo and then the Wildfowl Trust at MartinMere. It escaped from their captive pen and joined the wild flock of Whoopers there in Februaryand March 1984. It obviously was fully fit to return to the wild, as it has just been reported(unfortunately illegally shot) in Iceland in October 1987. Many records come from ringerscatching birds which are already wearing a ring, and a juvenile Sedge Warbler ringed at Woolstonon 13th August was caught by a French ringer near Bordeaux on 7th September, at the same roostin August 1983. Finally Redpolls seemed to be numerous and widespread last autumn, and someclue to their destination comes from the bird ringed at Woolston on 18th September and caughtagain a month later in East Sussex, probably on its way to the Continent.Dennis Elphick has started a program of ringing MuteSwans in Cheshire, tying in with other co-ordinatedstudies elsewhere in the rest of the country. 35 birdswere ringed in August, and a further 19 in December.Each of these swans has a plastic (Darvic) colour ring,with white letters on a blue background, which can easilybe read in the field, and any sightings should be reportedto Dennis (telephone Holmes Chapel 33906).There has been quite a problem with mink at several ofthe county’s wildfowl sites. Traps were set at Rostherneto try to catch them, and produced unexpected bonusesof Water Rail for ringing. The mild and oftenwindy weather meant that there were few concentrationsof ‘real winter birds’ for ringers to study, although unusually there were several reports of Siskinsaround in November. On 28th December birds turned up for peanuts in gardens in Sutton Weaverand Handforth, Wilmslow, raising hopes for the next few months!

Nocturnal Singing by RobinsThe unusually mild and calm weather around Cheshire seems to have provoked territorialthoughts in many Robins, and I frequently notice birds singing at night. On Christmas nightthere were five birds in song within earshot of my Sutton Weaver garden, each one close tostreet-light. From the way in which song starts up, it seems that one bird utters a few notes,which makes the next territory-holder sing, and so on along the line. I wonder how manyother Cheshire Robins have been singing at night, and how many records of ‘nightingales’have come from members of the public!

species of bird, and keep these all together in their collection for what purpose I cannot fathomout. It is not as if they show them to like fanciers or exhibit the eggs in any way, it seems to be avery solitary ‘hobby’ and I use that word very loosely. If you are aware that all persons who wesee when we are out and about who have glasses and show an interest in what we are lookingat, may not have the birds’ best interests at heart. Again the collectors are not usually seen inclear view but it may be that you notice persons hanging about, and taking just a bit too muchinterest in the nesting habits of a particular pair. It may be that “something does not feel right”.Please trust your first instincts as more often than not you will be right.

Mute Swan byTony Broome

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Looking back over the yearsWe’ve put together significant dates and/or notable events since the formation ofCAWOS. How many can you remember?1988 The inaugural meeting of CAWOS held at Wincham Hall Hotel (October).

1988 Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report - first one published by CAWOS.Black-winged Pratincole - first for C&W.

1989 First edition of Bird News (January).First indoor meeting on ‘Changes in Bird Populations’ by Bob Spencer (September).Peregrine - first recorded breeding for C&W.Dartford Warbler - first for C&W.

1990 Twite and Hawfinch - last known successful breeding for C&W.1991 BTO/CAWOS One Day Conference held at Chester College.

Marsh Warbler - first breeding for C&W.Raven - first breeding for C&W since 1857.

1992 Publication of The Breeding Bird Atlas of Cheshire and Wirral covering 1978-84,with the official launch being held in Marbury Country Park.Glossy Ibis - first for C&W.

1993 The first colour photos appeared in the Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report.House Martin Survey 1992-93.Alpine Swift - first for C&W in present boundaries.Barred Warbler - first for C&W.Black-winged Stilt - first attempt of breeding for C&W (eggs laid).

1994 Buzzard Survey.Preliminary Swift Survey.1994 Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report achieves 8th= in the British Birds Best AnnualBR Competition, but comes 1st in the medium membership category!Yellow-breasted Bunting - first for C&W.Smithsonianus Herring Gull - first for Britain and C&W.

1995 BTO/CAWOS One Day Conference ‘Cheshire Habitats and their Birds’ held atChester Zoo.Great White Egret, Greenish & Dusky Warblers, Arctic Redpoll - all firsts for C&W.Goosander - first confirmed breeding for C&W.Designation of Mersey Estuary as Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site.

1996 The first colour cover of Bird News (January).Swift Survey in Cheshire and Wirral 1995-96.Lesser Scaup and ‘Kumlien’s’ Gull - firsts for C&W.

1997 Cattle Egret and Dark-eyed Junco - firsts for C&W.1998 Exhibition ‘Cheshire – A Wealth of Birds’ to celebrate CAWOS’ 10th Anniversary, held

at Grosvenor Museum, Chester.CAWOS takes over the running of the Rostherne Observatory under an agreementwith English Nature (later Natural England).Hobby - first proven nesting for C&W since 1898.

1999 CAWOS supports the Cheshire and Wirral Raptor Study Group’s Buzzard Survey.50th indoor meeting on ‘Roadrunner Country’ by Keith Offord (January).Terek Sandpiper - first for C&W.Cormorant – first nesting for C&W.

2000 Recording Forum (evening) held at Pettypool Trust, Sandiway.Blyth’s Reed Warbler - first for C&W.Turtle Dove - last known breeding in C&W.Mersey Estuary WeBS count exceeds 60,000 wintering Dunlin (largest in the UK).

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2001 CAWOS website went live.Introduction of the CAWOS database and computerisation of records.Recording Forum ‘Recording in Cheshire’ held at Wincham Hall Hotel.50th issue of Bird News.The first colour cover of the Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report.2001 Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report achieves its best showing 3rd= in the BTOBest Annual Bird Report Competition.Little Egret - first successful breeding for C&W.

2002 Recording Forum ‘Bird Recording in Cheshire and Wirral’ held at Wincham Hall Hotel.2002 Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report equals its best showing, 3rd= in the BTO BestAnnual Bird Report Competition.David Norman awarded BTO’s Tucker Medal.Avocet - first breeding for C&W.52 adult Black-necked Grebes counted at Woolston (highest count ever at a breedingsite in UK), with about 20 pairs eventually breeding, more than one-third of UK total.

2003 Firecrest and Bearded Tit - first breeding for C&W.White-throated Sparrow - first for C&W.

2004 Recording Forum and Atlas Training Day held at Pettypool Trust, Sandiway.Start of the breeding and wintering surveys 2004-07 for the Atlas.2004 Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report achieves 4th position in the final BTO BestAnnual Bird Report Competition.Mediterranean Gull - first successful nesting for C&W.Iberian Chiffchaff - first for C&W.

2005 Chimney Swift - first for C&W.Pallas’s Warbler - first wintering for North-West.

2006 Caspian Gull - first for C&W.2007 Desert Wheatear, Radde’s Warbler and Common Rosefinch - all firsts for C&W.2008 Publication of Birds in Cheshire and Wirral A breeding and wintering atlas.

100th indoor meeting on ‘What’s that Raptor?’ by Keith Offord (January).2009 Birds in Cheshire and Wirral A breeding and wintering atlas judged 4th best bird

book of the year in the annual British Birds/BTO competition.Rookery Survey.Paddyfield Warbler - first for C&W.Cetti’s Warbler - first proven breeding for C&W.Confirmation of Dee Estuary as European Marine Site.

2010 Awarded The Marsh Local Ornithology Award for the publication of CAWOS Atlas.‘Your Heritage’, HLF-funded educational programme based on CAWOS Atlas resultsdelivered to Key Stage 1 & 2 children by Cheshire Wildlife Trust.Warbler Survey 2010.Repeat Rookery Survey.Marsh Harrier - first breeding for C&W.Wood Warbler - last known breeding in C&W.Designation of Liverpool Bay as Special Protection Area (SPA).

2011 Goosander Survey 2009-2011.Raven Survey.Red-flanked Bluetail - first for C&W.Turtle Dove - not recorded in C&W.

2012 Atlas data made available via the dedicated website (January).CAWOS helped to achieve concessions after planning permission was given forthe proposed Frodsham Wind Farm.50th Anniversary of the AW Boyd Observatory at Rostherne Mere.Little Swift - first for C&W.

2013 Designation of Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore as SPA and Ramsar site.CAWOS 25th Anniversary celebration.

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Glorious summer sunshine had been a bonus in the last days before fledging, enabling the parentSwallows and House Martins to feed all day to provision their young for their lives yet to beginupon the wing. July became August and late first broods overlapped with the first of the secondbroods, their young lining the hall gutters. Sitting in small huddled groups each brood is separatedfrom the next by a small gap. Every adult that approaches is greeted with the same response, asthe ever-hungry gapes explode with anticipation. It is difficult for the casual observer to know, butit would appear that an adult bird confronted with 40 identical gaping mouths could still identify itsown young. A week later and 150 or so young Swallows and House Martins, now proficient fliers,rested upon the warm slate roofs around the farmyard, some spreading their wings and sprawlingon their sides. Towards lunchtime a change in the air brought more humid conditions and thedistant rumble of thunder. The birds moved from the roof to the wires that span the farmyard,spots of rain the size of 50p pieces first disturbed the dust, then pounded it into a raging torrentas almost two inches of rain fell in just 35 minutes. Where once the cobble track entered thefarmyard there now ran a stream. Drains overwhelmed by the downpour aid the formation of ahuge puddle 30 yards wide where once was the farmyard. The young birds at first startled by theforce of the falling water took to the wing; discovering the pleasures of flying in rain they bathe onthe wing shaking their wings and fanning their tails. However, as the falling rain grows everheavier the young Swallows find themselves in danger. Struggling to stay aloft some make for thesafety of a windowsill, others sit in the pitch holes of the old barn lofts. A couple desperate forshelter sit in a hole in the masonry. The House Martins however were totally unfazed by the rainand climbed higher drawing into a tight flock to ride out the storm, apparently still reluctant to enterman-made structures. After the rain all birds return to the wires to preen and dry out. Why Iwonder, are martins so reluctant to take shelter in buildings even in extreme weather, when itcomes so easily to Swallows?Autumn’s arrival brings shortening daylight hours, making it difficult to enjoy a walk after work andtea is out of the way. This coupled with the onset of middle age when a keen youth overnightbecomes ‘slipper man’ and would much rather collapse in the chair and have a couple of those 40winks a little earlier than was once the case. But to make the effort can prove most rewarding,with limited time before dark I set off to get to a few favourite spots, hopefully ending sitting withmy back resting against a particularly comfortable chestnut tree to watch the sun go down.First call was at the Swallow roost in the maize field, tonight only a couple of hundred birds hadgathered but they still drew the attention of a hunting male Hobby. The russet glow from thesinking sun set his red thighs ablaze, making the identification of a male all the easier. I watcheduntil his hunt and hunger and my observations were satisfied. Moving on I paused to watch 300Canada Geese fly onto the stubble field, their calls every bit a part of the autumn experience. Thelast mournful ‘seeps’ of the Robins and a few broken segments of his song, his marvellous breastfeathers reflecting that same rosy glow as the Hobby, the haws and the sunset. Quickening mypace to pass the pool before darkness descends. The Mallards disturbed by a prowling foxcluster together in the deeper water, their communal quacking sounding to me like a mocking taunt

View from the FarmyardThis popular series ran from October 1994 (No. 24) to April2005 (No. 66) - a total of 43 issues. Pete Hall’s style ofwriting describing the daily goings-on at the 200-year-oldToft Hall Farm, made for a highly enjoyable read and hispowers of observation would shame most birders. Hefinished his last contribution with “Over the last 10 years orso I have enjoyed writing ‘The View from the Farmyard’, butas I will no longer be in a farmyard from which to have aview, the time has come to close the yard gate behind me.”This ‘The View from the Farmyard’ was published in October2001 (No. 52).

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to the fox. The fox, his senses working overtime, sniffs the ground, tastes the water, scent marksthe spot, then hurries along, he clearly has an appointment elsewhere. On the large island in thepool a dozen Mistle Thrushes go to roost, their rasping calls silenced as each reaches cover.As the last Swallows to roost make their final approach I settledown against the chestnut tree, its roots forming a naturalarmchair. I have found this to be a good place to sit, as thehuge silhouette of the tree masks my presence. Dusk is thecue for many flying and crawling creatures to emerge, dungbeetles, ground beetles and craneflies rise in their thousandsfrom the damp grass. Crows aware of this supper snack,stand spread about the field facing this way and that andsnapping up the insects nearest to them. Emerging from thenest hole now their roost an untidy family of Little Owl, theyoung still displaying tufts of down. Dispersing to fence postsand low branches close to me, they one by one drop to theground to join the feast. Craneflies are consumed on the spot,dung beetles are carried to fence-posts to be dismembered.Another fox picks his way across the field eating from thesame larder. Fox droppings often contain many insect parts,showing insects to be an important part of their diet.The male Hobby returning from his kill at the Swallow roost, joins the insect banquet; his summerdiet containing many young Swallows and martins was all the while supplemented with insects.Now as winter approaches insects once again will become the major part of his diet upon hisreturn to Africa. Snatching dung beetles from the air he wheels round in broad gliding circlesdismembering his prey on the wing, all the while silhouetted against the ever darkening sky. Thiscan be repeated up to four times a minute for beetles and even more often for craneflies.It’s hard to know when to stop watching, gradually the birds go to roost, and the fox makes its wayinto the woods. This is autumn to me, the whole spectacle of falling leaves, juicy berries, mutedbird song, the chill draught as the sun sinks, the sweet smell of decay and the earthy smell ofcultivated fields. Swallow, House Martin and Hobby will soon be gone, replaced by the migrantthrushes. Picking my way back home across the fields the hoot and screech of owls tell me to begone as this is their time.

OneMan’s BirdingIn July 2005 (No. 67) Bird News gave a warm welcometo Bob Anderson and his new regular ‘slot’. ‘Viewfrom the Farmyard’ was a hard act to follow, but hequickly won over readers with his unique slant onbirding in south Cheshire and beyond. We’ve chosena recent ‘One Man’s Birding’, which was published inMarch 2013 (No. 91), because a lot of readers willidentify with the content.

ONEMAN’S BIRDING – ANDPERCEPTIONSOn the weekend before Christmas the level of the river in Nantwich was as high as I could everrecall. Yeasty wavelets were breaking over the concrete pillars of the sluice, and across thefootbridge which the gulls like (it gives a good view of a spot where people feed the ducks), thepath disappeared under floodwater within a few yards. So I leaned on the rails to watch theMallards, swimming where there was usually dry land.

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A movement in the rank vegetation alongside the flood caught my eye: a small brown bird,foraging deep down among the stems. Obviously it had to be a Wren: whether by my gardenpond, or a few inches above a frozen lake, or alongside a flood like this one, a small brown birdlow down at the waterside in winter is a Wren.Then it emerged into view, and fed in front of me: not a Wren at all, but a Chiffchaff. Not a majorrarity, but still a bit of a prize on a short winter walk – and something I would have missed (indeed,dismissed) if the flood hadn’t stopped me short, prevented my walking along the usual path, andmade me wait and take my time. Because I am used to seeing Wrens behaving like this, in placeslike this, I assumed that it was a Wren.Now, as the years pass I become more aware of the limitations which have prevented mebecoming a really good birder. Partly it is things like not keeping up to date with the latestidentification techniques, and consequently not paying sufficient attention to finer points of plumageor moult. Partly it is lack of practice in, for example, sea-watching. And partly it is impatience:unless I am static in a hide, or watching a bird or a site for a particular purpose, I am inclined aftera few minutes to shrug, assume that what I have seen is nothing special, and walk on. Butanother weakness (and I think this is one I share with others) may be what I can only describe asseeing what I expect to see.The Chiffchaff is one example. Another instance occurred a couple of years back, during aWeBS count at Hankelow. On a cold, clear January morning, the pool was mostly iced over. Awader was bobbing along one side. Green Sandpipers are not unusual in winter, and my immediatethought, before even raising the binoculars, was “Interesting: that Green Sand is behaving justlike a Common Sand.” Then it flew across in front of me and settled on the ice: no question, aCommon Sandpiper. On a frozen pool, in January, in my neck of the woods, I was expecting anysmall-to-medium wader to be a Green Sandpiper, not an out-of-season Common.I saw much the same thing happen to a Swedish ringer who was showing me round the birdobservatory at Ottenby. As we approached a net, I remarked that I could see that he had caughta Willow Warbler, only for him to reply rather curtly that it was an Icterine. When he came toextract it, he grudgingly admitted I was right (bit of a disappointment: I’ve never seen an Icterinein the hand, and not many out of it come to that). He’d been catching Icterines all morning, andsimply assumed that he had another one.Another aspect, of course, is finding rarities where you expect to find rarities. “Tourist eagles” inthe Highlands is one example (though I’ve seen over-eager birders, as well as tourists, happilytick off Buzzards as eagles). And how about Water Pipits at Neston? May we sometimes seethem because we know they occur there (and we want them for the year list), and don’t actuallybother to look too closely?Now, you could say all this is just a matter of jumping to conclusions, or, in the case of rarities, ofwishful thinking, but I think there is a bit more to it. It’s about perception. Take the case of whatmay be called tunnel vision. Developing observation skills is rightly emphasised in advanceddriver training: asked to identify potential hazards in a photograph of a street scene, drivers maylist things like parked cars or children at crossings, but fail to mention the three-seater setteesuperimposed in the middle of the road (no – really; it happens).I guess the birding equivalent is not noticing the bird in front of you, when looking for somethingelse. You scan the scrape for the waders you have come to see, and then someone commentsthat it’s a nice Med Gull, or something, just in front of the hide - and you grunt and conceal the factthat you haven’t registered it. It has certainly happened to me – and I’ll bet it has happened tomost of us at some time or another.The moral, of course, (in birding as much as in driving) is that observation is the key: not simplylooking for the obvious, but looking around and looking carefully, noticing detail, registering whatwe are seeing, assessing its significance. We can’t assume that what we are seeing is what weexpect to see, or even what we think we are seeing: first impressions may be quite wrong. Itseems obvious – but I think we need to be aware of the pitfalls in perception. Sometimes, as withmy Chiffchaff, it is useful to be reminded of the dangers of jumping to conclusions.There’s a bit in “Down with Skool” in which one character is said to be busy inventing the wheel“because he says that in science we can’t take anything for granted”. In its way, it’s a fair point: inbirding too we shouldn’t take anything for granted. Birds may not always be what they appear to be…

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IndexPage 1 EditorialPage 1 Word from ChairmanPage 2-4 Species SpotlightPage 5-7 RonHarrison'sStoryPage 8-9 C&W Bird ReportPage 9 Rumours...Rumours...Page 10-11 Cheshire& Wirral AtlasPage 12-13CAWOS Database

Page 13-15 Notes and LettersPage 16-17Sites to WatchPage 17 Rumours...Rumours...Page 18-19 Conservation NewsPage 19 Ringing NewsPage 20-21 Looking back over yearsPage 22-23 View from the FarmyardPage 23-24 One Man's Birding

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