Starting With The End.

The Beginning Of The End. Warren Baker.

This photograph marks the beginning of the end for a man in Kent who I got to know via the internet and blogging, but more importantly it marks the same beginning of the end for the birds and wildlife which this man has observed, studied, and recorded daily on his own chosen 'patch' in a more dedicated and comprehensive manner than most other birders and wildlife enthusiasts I know.

Warren Baker explains it all on his blog, he outlines the devastation both wildlife and himself are suffering, in both cases they will have to turn their lives around and move on to accommodate this crime against wildlife, a wildlife which cannot speak for itself and relies totally upon our doing so for it. We need to keep up the pressure on people at the top who we must continue to badger and protest against in order to get it through to them that they are getting it - and doing it - all wrong. We must let them see that their views and decisions don't go unchallenged, and that we are taking note of what they say and do, maybe we should start here with....David Cameron/George Osbourne, the NFU, and Landowners/Gamekeepers.

You can find the first post on Monday in which Warren points this tragedy out to his followers on Pittswood Birds and then his follow up post the next day HERE  

Sparrowhawk. Warren Baker.

Warren also takes some excellent photographs as the Sparrowhawk testifies. Thanks for this Warren. This really isn't the end for you, it's just the beginning....honest. 

Puffin David Cookson

Hundreds of Puffin and other sea birds like the Razorbill and Guillemot, are being found dead on east coast beaches from Aberdeen to Northumberland, believed to be related to severe weather which is leading birds to struggle to find food or sheer exhaustion. It is being suggested that this could be the start of the worst Puffin wreck for almost 50 years.

Although the Puffin is a small sea bird, they are quite hardy birds, adept a coping with all the hazards of life at sea. They are approaching the start of the breeding season, and tens of thousands of seabirds are returning to their colonies, but the tragedy unfolding now could have a devastating effect on their success in 2013, adding to the already population decline particularly of the Puffin. The fear now is that the hundreds of dead seabirds already found may well turn into thousands, and the breeding season will need close monitoring to find the results of many breeding seabirds throughout the summer months.

Footnote.

If the weather bulletin I watched this evening is anything to go by, this weather we are experiencing in the country right now is not expected to improve much - if at all - throughout April.

What a depressing - 'but this is the real world' - post. 

The Reply....

....and another excuse to post some more brilliant photographs on Birds2blog whilst I continue with the long awaited normality to return in my birding life....this is not funny and never was. 

The following is an e-mail regarding the current Preston Guild celebrations in connection with the risk of disturbance to the breeding Common Terns at Preston Dock. I don't want to make any comment on the contents of the message save....'I don't like the sound of a firework display set off from a barge in the middle of the dock, and reckon neither will the Common Terns like it'....However, my sincere thanks to Tim Joel for getting in touch with me on the matter. 

Hello Peter

Thanks for your email regarding the Common Terns at the Docks, the RSPB have also been in touch. The majority of the Riversway Festival activity taking place a week today is located on the grass land adjacent to the control tower and the swing bridge. The water activity including dragon boat racing and boat trips has minimal impact on the water. There is a small firework display on the Saturday night which is set off from a barge in the middle of the docks. All the activity is planned in conjunction with the marina who manages the water space and the Preston City Council team who operate the bridge and maintain the docks area.

Thanks for bringing this matter to our attention.

Tim Joel Festival and Events Officer. As for the brilliant photographs.... Common Tern. Peter Guy. As the Common Tern is a current topic at Preston Dock, this is a pretty impressive image of these two engaged in some sort of aerial display there. Whinchat Brian Rafferty I'm not ever able to resist a photograph of the Whinchat and this one is no exception. Not an easy species to come by these days - let alone photograph one as good as this - but always to my delight whenever I find one. Puffin David Cookson A brilliant portrait of everbodys favourite the Puffin with a bill full of Sand Eel for its young. Roller Antonio Puigg And the Roller....there's one currently in Aberdeenshire if you want to get your bike out and get on up there. And the local MEGA....what I presume is the same roaming bird for several days now in Lancashire, a male Montagu's Harrier is spending some time in the Champion Moor area ESE of Slaidburn, and still there as I write at 12.20pm. So you can see this bird either on your way, or on your return to/from Aberdeenshire. I have no idea why his post runs of the off the page in places on the right!

No Apologies!



I make no apologies whatsoever in posting the following article as a 'gap filler' for Birds2blog. It is by far the best article on the subject I've read in ages - for all the wrong reasons - it is quite long but a must read for anyone with a gram of interest in wildlife and in particular the birds in this tragic story of a tragic country. If we'd like people to call us birders in all its aspects, and in the true sense of the word, then to read this article is almost by order. The starting point for Gavin's story about one mans experience in the 'Theatre of Tragedy'  is HERE

On a much lighter note and still in the real world....

Kittiwake. Gary Jones.

A couple of examples of what I call real and excellent bird photography, with the Kittiwake at its nest and three chicks, and....

Puffin. Gary Jones.

Puffins on the Farnes. Thanks for these, carry on enjoying, and keep up the good work GJ 

I've not been birding since Monday....'other things' again....NOT GOOD, but hopefully tomorrow in the company of JB/BT.

Bad Decision!

A very bad decision yesterday actually as I took too much notice of the weather man who got it badly wrong today and having planned to go 'uplanding' I decided that the showers - that never were - would be no good to me and stayed home and behaved like a couch potato all day, add to this no birding again today....not good for me, body, mind, or soul!

And to make matters worse I'm about to post an article unrelated to birds on a bird blog about some beetles found in Spain.

Photo Credit: SINC-Ignacio Ribera.

Two new endemic beetles have been discovered in the Iberian Peninsula.

With Spanish participation a European research team has described two new beetles measuring little more than 2.2 millimetres in length. The beetles were found in streams in the Pyrenees in the Sierra de la Demanda Mountains. Some experts had previously thought they had belonged to another European species.

One of the two new beetles species  - Hydraena diazi - was found in the Montseny National Park in Barcelona, it measured no more than 2.4 mm in length, the insect also inhabits the Pyrenees. The other new beetle - Hydraena fosterorum - was discovered in the Sierra de la Demanda 

An expert explained that they most probably originated in the same geographical regions that the are now found in, meaning we can use them to reconstruct their history and biogeography. Research has also suggested that all the species in the in this particular Hydraena group - including these two new ones - result from the splitting of a common ancestor which spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula half a million years ago. Today they still remain in their original distribution areas.

Puffin. Gary Jones. 

Shag. Gary Jones.



Gary kept his promise and posted some excellent photographs of the enigmatic Puffin and Shag seen on his recent visit to the Farne Islands....You'll find them HERE

Eyed-Hawk Moth. Brian Rafferty

Brian found this brilliant moth which I'd loved to have seen for myself.

And....

Large Skipper. Linda Gilhespy  

Linda got an excellent photograph of this smart little moth. Thanks to GJ/BR/LG for the excellent images....Many Thanks. 

Hopefully tomorrow, some serious birding somewhere in the Forest of Bowland perhaps!