I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down

Oh no you won’t, Mr Wolf. The LookOut at RSPB Conwy is topped with an eleven tonne roof resting on walls made of straw bales. Work is underway to seal the exterior with a mix of lime and hemp whilst mud is applied to the interior. It should be open sometime in July and will make a great vantage point from which to watch the wildlife of the lagoon.

The RSPB is looking for volunteers to help complete the final stages. If you would like to learn a new building skill and take part in this amazing project then please get in contact with RSPB Conwy.

What does a nightjar sound like?

If you want to find out, first of all you need to locate a male nightjar.  According to the RSPB there are just 4,606 of them in the UK between May and August. They sing at night and like heathland - which is not necessarily the easiest surface to walk over in the dark.  But the heath at Gwaith Powdwr has smooth pathways and a guide, Rob Booth, to take you to the right spot at the right time without scaring the birds away. 

Rob will be leading a nightjar walk on Saturday 30^th June and on Friday 6^th July starting, presumably from the entrance to Gwaith Powdwr, at 8:30pm.  There is a charge of £2 for members of North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) and £4 for non members. Please call Rob or the NWWT office on 01248 351541 if you would like to take part.

If you can’t make it, turn off your lights, close your eyes, turn up the volume and listen to the film above. The birdsong and call is courtesy of BirdVoice which produces great products for people like me struggling to make sense of who is singing what. 

Iolo's Secret Life of Birds

Free copy of Iolo’s Secret Life of Birds 3 disc DVD box set RRP £17.99 [THIS OFFER NO LONGER APPLIES. ALL 5 COPIES HAVE GONE. You will need to order elsehwere.]

The first five people to phone through and order a new Natur Cymru subscription will receive a copy of the Secret Life or Birds, first shown on BBC2 in five half-hour episodes, which is being released as a DVD box set on 9^th April.

Here’s what one reviewer said about it:

For me there were plenty of secrets, some more spectacular than others: such as the aerial passing of freshly caught prey between a pair of hen harriers, or a tree creeper hollowing out a cosy sleeping hole in the bark of a giant redwood. More harrowing though was the story of the pigeons; diligently building their nest in Cardiff, taking turns to sit on eggs for three weeks, despite the rain, then four days of feeding until the sparrowhawk arrived - cruel curtains for the chicks as the helpless parents watched on. I think it makes a fantastic introduction or a great reminder of the rich variety of our bird life across Wales and aspects of behaviour most of us miss; both an inspiration and a snapshot in time.

CALL 01248 387373 to take advantage of this offer: if you leave a message, please remember to leave your phone number and mention the Secret Life of Birds.  Five copies available. First come, first served. Please have your credit / debit card details ready. 

Fancy a Chat?

stonechat Saxicola torquatus
Jill Pakenham

The spring of 2012 will see the first dedicated survey run by BTO Cymru which will be taking the lead on a pilot survey of three of our chat species, namely the resident stonechat, and the migrants whinchat and wheatear. These three species are seen as a Welsh speciality, and are on every visiting birders wish list. 

whinchat Saxicola reubetra
Bob Garrett

Results from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) show that stonechat numbers have fallen sharply after the last two cold winters, while whinchat and wheatear have shown declines in both range and numbers. The long-term trends for whinchat and wheatear are both showing declines of over 55%. Preliminary analysis of data from the Bird Atlas 2007-11 appears to confirm the long-term BBS trends and highlights areas from which the species have disappeared in the last twenty years.  

wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe
Jill Pakenham

The birdwatchers of Wales have noticed that the Welsh whinchat population has disappeared from much of its traditional range, and that wheatears are no longer a common breeding bird. The primary method for monitoring bird populations is the BBS, for which nearly 250 random squares are surveyed annually in Wales by BTO volunteers.  A targeted survey is needed to obtain more detailed information on scarcer species such as the chats and the habitat features that are most important to them.

The survey will be conducted by volunteers surveying randomly selected 1km squares during three visits in each of April, May and June. The whole square will be covered and all target species plotted on maps. This is going to be an on-line survey, having a similar feel to existing BTO surveys.

If you feel like taking part and would enjoy visiting some stunning countryside contact the BTO Cymru office at either 01248 383285 or email kelvin.jones@bto.org.

The BBS (Breeding Bird Survey) is jointly organised by BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee) and RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). 

Bardsey birds and their SatNavs

Baby manx shearwater

Bardsey is beautiful and so are the birds; I’ve never been so close to puffins.‘If I drive straight up, they fly off’, said Colin the boatman, as we reversed up to them. On land I was lucky enough to meet someone monitoring the manx shearwaters. Like a magician, he put his hand into what looked like a rabbit hole, and carefully pulled out a large grey ball of fluff. ‘The parents have just the one chick and soon it will fly 7,000 miles to Argentina’. 

We climbed to the top of the cliff overlooking Aberdaron and Uwchmynydd. Our main interest was the kittiwake colony below but I couldn’t help be distracted when a squadron of attention-seeking choughs screamed past at eye level. Across Britain kittiwakes have declined by 30% in the past 10 years but here in Wales they seem to be holding their own.

John Clark, marine policy officer for RSPB Cymru, explained the project to attach GPS devices to the kittiwakes. The gadget records data for 3 days and, when downloaded, is used to produce maps – the one I looked at showed the bird to be feeding several miles out, mainly to the southwest. 

On the razorbills they are also attaching TDR gadgets where D stands for depth. Through these they can monitor not only where, but how deep, the birds are diving.

The output of the research, which feeds into FAME (Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment), a much wider project spanning the Atlantic coast of Europe, will help inform us when we make decisions on developments at sea. Not guesswork nor assumption but science and painstaking monitoring over many years – we can’t afford to get this wrong.

Right now decisions are about to be made about Marine Conservation Zones around the Welsh coast. Colin’s hoping that Bardsey waters will not be one of them, as that would scupper his lobster business. He believes his activities are sustainable and can live side by side with conservation.

Apart from the wildlife you’d expect we also had a rare sighting of the BBC Countryfile team as they filmed the family that lives and farms on the island. 

For more information about Bardsey (Ynys Enlli), and details of how to get there, take a look at the website for the Bardsey Island Trust.

Hay 2011

It was great to mix with the good and the great at this year’s Hay Festival. What a wonderful setting for the Inspired by Nature prize-giving ceremony.

Thanks to RSPB Cymru for inviting us into their tent and to WWF Cymru and Tŷ Newydd for sponsoring the competition prizes. To all the competitors, the winners, the judges and Gillian Clarke for presenting the prizes.

Thanks also to BBC Radio Wales for featuring us on the Jamie and Louise programme and the Roy Noble Show. Roy called in to see us .... I think he’d heard about the cake which was the star of the show!

South Stack – tradition, technology and winter coffee

In the good old days, when land was common, farmers would move with their livestock, protecting them from wolves, and guide them to better grazing.  The same process of close shepherding is happening each autumn on the RSPB reserve at South Stack. It’s a practical approach to control the sheep without fencing in 500 acres of land. 

Each morning the shepherd collects the mixed flock of Hebridean, Welsh mountain and badger face sheep from an enclosure. By the time he arrives they are waiting at the gate, keen to be out for breakfast.

Before setting off a small GPS system is fixed with sticky tape round the horn of a large ewe. At the end of the day the device is removed and the data downloaded to a PC for analysis and creation of a map showing the grazing route of the flock.

It’s all part of the work that goes into maintaining and enhancing the heathland for the benefit of the heath and all it supports including choughs and silver studded blues.  A great sight to see, this tradition re-introduced. Thanks to, amongst others, Hilary Kehoe of the Anglesey Grazing Animals Partnership.

What’s more the RSPB have acquired the café and are keeping it open during the winter. On a blustery day a warming cup of coffee is very welcome. 

For more information about South Stacks click here

For more information about conservation grazing on Anglesey click here