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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Norfolk birding (3 Viewers)

There was a Spotted Flycatcher at Strumpshaw today feeding at the water treatment works. It had its beak full of flies but I didn't notice any mealworms.;)

The river was extremely high today, as was Breydon Water this morning, and the Lackford Run was flooded to boot top level in places, with the water still flowing in.

Ron
 
Titchwell June 20th

Today’s highlights

Spoonbill – colour-ringed individual on the fresh marsh during the day
Little gull – 6 1st summers on fresh marsh
Red crested pochard – female with juv on grazing meadow

Paul
 
Tiptoed bravely out of Norfolk today to see the White-Tailed Eagle in Lincolnshire. Great views but still a good 350-400 yards from it.
Came home to find our garden has inherited a pair of Magpies, no idea when they turned up but they are here now! Doesn't seem to be having too much of an effect on the smaller birds as yet! Also had a Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker about a mile from my house!
Blog reveals all about Eagle day.
Cheers
Oliver
 
I have vivid memories of when I was a lad, when a trip to the seaside would result in a radiator grille plastered with insects. And of nighttime drives in summer being like driving through a blizzard there were so many moths in the headlights. The other week I drove from Norwich to Yarmouth and saw precisely one moth in the headlights. So yes, I suspect the declines of all insect eating birds is directly down to the fall in insect numbers.

Mind you, there used to be a lot more of everything - in 1800 farmers used to buy sticklebacks fished from the Ouse to use as fertiliser. A contemporary account reports that one farmer alone used 9,000 bushels a year - that's 35,000 m3 of sticklebacks per year for a single farmer. And the hunters on Breydon water used to fill four train wagons a week of feathers for the hat trade during the season. Can you imagine how many egret, avocet and great crested grebes you have to kill to fill a wagon? And they were filling four a week for months every year.
 
stuart white said:
what has caused the decline in insects ? pesticides ? climate change ?
Click to expand...

Must be mainly pesticides. When I was a kid every cow pat was covered in insects, now hardly any, makes one wonder what they are pumping into cows!
Plus as was said one had to stop to clean the flies off the car windscreen, also fields held a mass of insects.
john
 
stuart white said:
what has caused the decline in insects ? pesticides ? climate change ?
Click to expand...

Without doubt pesticides and climate change have played their parts, but habitat decline is the main volume reduction factor. There are two inter-related mechanisms that are key.

First, the extent of habitat reduction, especially for specialist species that cannot adapt quickly, is evident, but second, the simplified plant communities that remain in the reduced areas of habitat cannot support either the variety of insects and arthropods that depended upon them, or the numbers.

A couple of examples will serve: the Red-backed Shrike disappeared because a vital plant community became simplified; because the bird primarily uses perches to scan for large insects/arthropods and insect/arthropod larvae on the ground, the persistence of short-sward grasses is essential for sightlines and for successful hunting. However, modern industrial agricultural techniques mitigate against short-sward grasses, as do non-persistent herbicides. Consequently, coarse long-grass species become dominant, large insect/arthropods diminish, which means low density of prey and these are more difficult to find.

The second example is that suitable habitats for specialist plants or for exploitation by birds no longer exist in many parts of UK in non-fragmented form. Fragmentation of habitat usually (but not always) means that the highest occupation density by birds is never achieved on the scale that continuous habitat generally meets. Edge effects (eg on nuthatches in small woods) result in occupancy of perhaps 50% of that expected.

Pesticides perhaps nowadays are less the villain of the piece that once they were, but non-persistent molluscicides are highly effective in virtually emiminating slugs and snails and so Song Thrushes (specialists) suffer more than Blackbirds (generalists).

Modern pesticides have indirect effects, but rarely poison birds directly - the problem lies with the huge stocks of purchased persticides from before that era (although uneducated farm workers across the world make a nonsense of sensible advice by doubling or trebling the dose 'to make it work better', rather like people taken to casualty with Paracetamol poisoning because they took 20 tablets instead of two to make their headache go away more quickly).
MJB
 
Titchwell June 21st

Today’s highlights

Curlew sandpiper – 1 on fresh marsh
Greenshank – 2 on fresh marsh
Spotted redshank – 8 on fresh marsh
Spoonbill – adult on fresh marsh showing down to 10m from Fen Hide
Black-tailed godwit – 243 on fresh marsh
Little gull – 2 on fresh marsh
Hobby – 1 over Fen Hide

Paul
 
stuart white said:
MJB - thank you for your very interesting and intelligent response to my question
Click to expand...

Yes, I found that interesting too. I'm sure I see a greater ratio of blackbirds to thrushes than in past decades and it wouldn't be a surprise if that were at least partly caused by gardeners and their hatred of slugs/snails.
 
I thought it was a thoughtful post too. Our bird populations are in decline. The reasons are complex! This is not what we always want to hear. Time to join the bto me thinks. Research is the key.
 
Cleme said:
I'm sure I see a greater ratio of blackbirds to thrushes than in past decades and it wouldn't be a surprise if that were at least partly caused by gardeners and their hatred of slugs/snails.
Click to expand...
These are my own, very unscientific observations on that point. For about 25 years I always had a family of Song Thrushes in my garden. However, about three years ago a couple of tall poplars were cut down nearby and a large hedge was trimmed right back. Since then I haven't seen the Thrushes, although there are still plenty of slugs and snails in my garden. Meanwhile, I have been enjoying watching the four juvenile Blackbirds which were raised in the large laurel bush at the bottom of my garden. As I said, completely unscientific observations ...

I have to agree about MJB's post. Very interesting.

Ron
 

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