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Changing Status of Birds in your area (1 Viewer)

david kelly

Drive-by Birder
Scotland
Over the last few years there have been a number of species which have changed status in the area I live in (Lothian in South-east Scotland). Some of these changes are -

Wood Nuthatch (Sitta europea) has begun to breed and is increasing and spreading, possibly due to warmer summers.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) has recolonized and is now widespread. Changes in game bird management have probably allowed this to happen.

Barn Owls (Tyto alba) appear to be increasing and Northern Goshawk (Accipter gentilis) has began to breed in the area. Stonechats are now one of the most obvious species in the upland areas but were absent when I started birding in the eighties.

On the down side we have lost Corn Buntings (Miillaria calandra) and Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris) as breeding species and Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) are now as rare as hen's teeth in the winter.

What changes have you noticed where you live?

David
 
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Exactly the same for Buzzard, Barn Owl and Corn Bunting. Buzzard is probably the commonest raptor in the county now. Amazing when you think back just 15 years to when there were none breeding.

Collared Doves are declining in Leicestershire. So are 'common' finches and buntings.

Steve
 
david kelly said:
Over the last few years there have been a number of species which have changed status in the area I live in (Lothian in South-east Scotland). Some of these changes are -

Wood Nuthatch (Sitta europea) has begun to breed and is increasing and spreading, possibly due to warmer summers.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) has recolonized and is now widespread. Changes in game bird management have probably allowed this to happen.

Barn Owls (Tyto alba) appear to be increasing and Northern Goshawk (Accipter gentilis) has began to breed in the area.

On the down side we have lost Corn Buntings (Miillaria calandra) and Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris) as breeding species and Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) are now as rare as hen's teeth in the winter.

What changes have you noticed where you live?

David

Ive lost Corn Bunting and Lesser Whitethroat from around my village but gained Buzzard . Gareth
 
I think that since I've been living in eastern Scotland (c.9 years) the biggest change has been the increase in Stonechats. They seemed to be very scarce on the east coast when I arrived but then after around 2000 started to become much more common. Now they're quite a regular sight almost all along the coast.
 
Due to clearfelling we now have nightjars about, birds like whitethroat and wood warbler are finding their way up the valleys. Several valleys now have dartford warbler but the best are the Honey buzzards that now find this area of Wales appealing
 
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Andrew Whitehouse said:
I think that since I've been living in eastern Scotland (c.9 years) the biggest change has been the increase in Stonechats. They seemed to be very scarce on the east coast when I arrived but then after around 2000 started to become much more common. Now they're quite a regular sight almost all along the coast.

Not just along the coast, Andrew. All the way up Deeside to Braemar and beyond, Stonechats are hard to miss on heather moorland (mild winters are responsible I presume).

Great Spotted Woodpeckers have become much more common, although they've always been around. Barn owls and Goldfinches are more common than they used to be, as are breeding Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.

On the negative side, Grey partridge have retreated from the upland fringes, and hen harriers have become very scarce (for all the wrong reasons).
 
david kelly said:
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) has recolonized and is now widespread. Changes in game bird management have probably allowed this to happen.David
Also from E.Lothian :

Yes, buzzard have recolonized. Pre-1998 they were common along the edge of the Lammermuirs, not really seen lower down, even where I live at c.200m altitude and c.3 miles from areas where they have been common for a long time.

In 2 years they exploded over E.Lothian, re-colonizing almost all areas. I am not convinced this is due to "changes in game bird management". What is the evidence ? It would be extremely strange if all estates changed practice at the same time. Besides, there is plenty of evidence that persecution continues.

I would be surprised if the situation was not much more complicated. Other factors I suspect are breeding success and food availability. In the former case, I see buzzard in winter feeding on worms and all sorts from the soil. Back in the early 1990s organo-mercury seed dressings were banned, having been used almost universally (on cereals) previously. Since then soil condition has improved markedly. No-one really knows why, and I can think of several other possible contributors, but I suspect that this ban may be a factor. I would not be surprised if it was also a factor in re-colonization by buzzard.

The food supply available to buzzard has changed dramatically over recent years. Yes, release of stupid, non-native, game birds may be important, but that has been a perennial practice. Also significant might be the recovery in rabbit populations following the ravages of myxamatosis. It is only relatively recently that populations have stopped having periodic crashes, which might have been putting a damper on buzzards. In our area there are plenty hares too. (This is true of most of arable east Britain - there is lots of interesting JNCC literature on this). However E.Lothian hare populations crashed about 1990 (personal and other farmers' observations). I suspect some disease must have been responsible. Numbers recovered - about 1998. Obviously that could be coincidence, but would not have been a hindrance.

It is a great pity we don't understand this re-colonization better. If we had a better idea of what barriers had been preventing buzzard spreading, and how they were removed, it might be very much easier to ensure successful re-colonization by e.g. red kite and the sea eagles David pointed out.

Mike.

Competing interests - I am a farmer (not a shooter). Actually I view buzzard as wholly beneficial to my farming activities, but I don't keep livestock :)
 
Very interesting post Mike, especially your point about organo mercury seed dressings and possible link to buzzard numbers increase. I didn't know that but I'm not surprised. Certainly here in Sussex buzzards are now common and they wern't 10 years ago. (haven't noticed an increase in our heavy wet clay soil condition though unfortunately.) Rabbit populations are increasing again here too and in the last few days I've seen two myxy rabbits within a few miles; I believe that's indicative of rabbit population increases.
 
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joannechattaway said:
Very interesting post Mike, especially your point about organo mercury seed dressings and possible link to buzzard numbers increase. I didn't know that but I'm not surprised.
I'm just speculating.

joannechattaway said:
(haven't noticed an increase in our heavy wet clay soil condition though unfortunately.)
Were you using organo-mercury seed dressing ?

joannechattaway said:
Rabbit populations are increasing again here too and in the last few days I've seen two myxy rabbits within a few miles; I believe that's indicative of rabbit population increases.
Yeah. I have seen myxie too just recently. However, resistance has increased, and it doesn't seem to have much effect on population now.

Mike.
 
Mike

Your response was very interesting and informative and I am sure does describe some of the contributory factors as how buzzards managed to recolonise the low lying parts of th Lothians. I do, however, still think that changes in game bird management allowed the species to gain a foothold in the upland areas and to spread from there. The main change I had in mind was the use of Larsen traps for corvid control and the subsequent lessening of the illegal use of poison baits. Persecution still goes on on some estates but, anecdotally, many game keepers have a benign attitude to buzzards.

I should have mentioned that at the same time as the buzzard recolonisation small numbers of ravens have also began to breed in the area, and Jays seem to be spreading into East Lothian too. The main targets of the Larsen traps appear to be Carrion Crows and Magpies.

David
 
david kelly said:
Mike

Your response was very interesting and informative and I am sure does describe some of the contributory factors as how buzzards managed to recolonise the low lying parts of th Lothians. I do, however, still think that changes in game bird management allowed the species to gain a foothold in the upland areas and to spread from there. The main change I had in mind was the use of Larsen traps for corvid control and the subsequent lessening of the illegal use of poison baits. Persecution still goes on on some estates but, anecdotally, many game keepers have a benign attitude to buzzards.

I should have mentioned that at the same time as the buzzard recolonisation small numbers of ravens have also began to breed in the area, and Jays seem to be spreading into East Lothian too. The main targets of the Larsen traps appear to be Carrion Crows and Magpies.

David
Hi David,

Both these factors - recovery in the uplands and use of Larsen traps - came into play a long time before the resurgence in the lowlands. I don't deny they may be important, but I shy away from too simplistic a view. It would be no surprise if there were other (unsuspected) important factors too.

Things that might have triggered reduction in poison use do not appear to coincide with this either. For instance, controls on strychnine were introduced years ago. It is only now, _after_ the re-colonization, that strychnine status has changed again, becoming effectively unobtainable even with licenses. Again, wildlife friendly but effective rodent poison has only become available in the last year or so. Hmm - anyone know the chronology of restrictions on alpha-chloralose ? It's a Part II substance (sale restricted to registered retail pharmacists and listed sellers registered with local authority) but no idea when it was placed on that list. I was surprised to find this site describing it's use for controlling pest birds :
http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th15(g).htm

Staggering thing for me was the speed of re-colonization by buzzard in E.Lothian. They had been common in the hills for years, then suddenly exploded across the low ground taking only about two years to do it - not that E.Lothian is very big.

Mike.
 
Has anyone seen a buzzard actually scrap away soil to reach worms, or do they just take those on the soil surface? The mild weather, combined with lots of rain, brings loads of worms to the surface, whereas in frosty, dry spells they will be much harder to find. Maybe easier winter feeding is helping juvs. survive.
 
citrinella said:
I am not convinced this is due to "changes in game bird management". What is the evidence ? It would be extremely strange if all estates changed practice at the same time. Besides, there is plenty of evidence that persecution continues.
...

It is a great pity we don't understand this re-colonization better. If we had a better idea of what barriers had been preventing buzzard spreading, and how they were removed, it might be very much easier to ensure successful re-colonization by e.g. red kite and the sea eagles David pointed out.

Mike.

Competing interests - I am a farmer (not a shooter). Actually I view buzzard as wholly beneficial to my farming activities, but I don't keep livestock :)
Are you sure it's not its being "allowed" by gamekeepers and bird-friendly farmers that has led to it making inroads into counties in which it has previously been persecuted? I have some reason to believe that this is at least a part of the reason for its success in Leicestershire over the past ten to fifteen years.

I can see what you say about soil management but wouldn't this also have applied to say, sparrow hawks and kestrel that have been very successful in building up good populations well before the recent buzzard success?

Certainly, I have heard of one nearby farmer who has become bird friendly and one of the first pairs of buzzards to breed in this part of Leicestershire in recent times bred on his land several years back. My brother knows of two gamekeepers on a nearby estate that also now allow buzzards to roam freely. This certainly didn't used to be the case. In a different county, Shropshire, another friend knows a farmer who is now 'buzzard friendly' despite one wreaking havoc having managed to get itslef into a breeding enclosure for chickens - the farmer caught the buzzard and released it unharmed despite the loss of many fowl; he was the first to admit that he wouldn't have done that a few years back.

Maybe the buzzard is now being allowed to breed because it keeps vermin and rabbit numbers down and farmers have come round to realising this is no bad thing?
 
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citrinella said:
Hi David,

Both these factors - recovery in the uplands and use of Larsen traps - came into play a long time before the resurgence in the lowlands. I don't deny they may be important, but I shy away from too simplistic a view. It would be no surprise if there were other (unsuspected) important factors too.

Things that might have triggered reduction in poison use do not appear to coincide with this either. For instance, controls on strychnine were introduced years ago. It is only now, _after_ the re-colonization, that strychnine status has changed again, becoming effectively unobtainable even with licenses. Again, wildlife friendly but effective rodent poison has only become available in the last year or so. Hmm - anyone know the chronology of restrictions on alpha-chloralose ? It's a Part II substance (sale restricted to registered retail pharmacists and listed sellers registered with local authority) but no idea when it was placed on that list. I was surprised to find this site describing it's use for controlling pest birds :
http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th15(g).htm

Staggering thing for me was the speed of re-colonization by buzzard in E.Lothian. They had been common in the hills for years, then suddenly exploded across the low ground taking only about two years to do it - not that E.Lothian is very big.

Mike.


Mike

Your expertise on agricultural chemicals and their availability is undoubtedly far greater than mine (= none). Twenty-five years ago Buzzards were almost unknown as breeding birds in the Lothians. In fact when a Red-tailed Hawk escaped in the 1970s, local birders were amazed when it actually found a Buzzard to mate with. When the Breeding Birds of South-east Scotland fieldwork was done in 1988-1994 there were still only scattered pairs around the southern margins of the Lothians, with a few in West Lothian. The same book states that the Buzzard was lost as a breeding species from the Lothians in the early 19th Century.

They have, as you said, spread rapidly from these initial talonholds, and in the new Atlas field work I suspect that the colonisation of the rich lowland farmland and even into Edinburgh will be evident.

I would have to agree with you that there are a large numbers of factors which have allowed the Buzzard to become a reasonably common sight in the Lothians. I would say, however, that changes in the way game interests control "vermin", some of that through legal controls on poisons, and a less baleful attitude to Buzzards from many gamekeepers, are probably the most important reasons which allowed them to build up their numbers.

As for the rapid colonisation of the lowlands I would think that once there were enough productive territories in the uplands they would create a large surplus of young birds which would move into the unoccuppied lowlands and take up the best of the new territories they found, as would birds moving in from other adjacent saturated areas.

David
 
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