What birds (are you/have you been) watching? What birds have been watching you?

[Richard Tarleton]

Fascinatingly there are two schools of thought among oystercatchers as to the most effective way of opening a cockle or mussel shell - hammering or stabbing. Do you simply smash the shell, or do you adopt a more scientific approach, going for the hinge (adductor muscle) which holds it shut? Oystercatchers belong exclusively to one or the other school. Hammerers wear or damage their bills over time, which can make them look blunter.... You can also tell who's who by examining shell fragments on the shore where oystercatchers have been feeding....

Also do you spend time on a large shell which may yield more nutrition but be thicker and harder to open, or (given the time constraints of the incoming tide) do you go for suboptimal shells? This research is unlikely to be of much use to oystercatchers, however, who have to rely on good old evolution to answer these questions.

[ardcarp]

Thanks for that Richard! We'll have to observe them even more closely in future! On the subject of coquillage, we happened to be in Brittany during the recent VERY big spring tide, meaning of course that much more of the shore was exposed at low water. The [human] Bretons come out in vast numbers with buckets, forks and rakes to harvest shellfish. We have pictures of them standing elbow-to-elbow on the shoreline. One trick to collect razor shellfish (les coutes pieds?) is to sprinkle salt on the holes in the sand, whereupon the hapless mollusc shoots to the surface. Cheating really.

[Dave2002]

Birds at Norton Cane services on the M6 toll road look like seabirds, but it's well inland.

Are they after a ready source of fish (and chips)?

[Richard Tarleton]

Birds at Norton Cane services on the M6 toll road look like seabirds, but it's well inland.

Are they after a ready source of fish (and chips)?

Dave, larger gulls (herring, lesser black backed) have spread inland, with new man-made water bodies and feeding opportunities - looking at the map I see there's a country park with large lake just next to the services you mention. Post-breeding season (where we are now) and in winter gulls are pretty ubiquitous in the UK. Also significant are landfill sites and other anthropgenic food sources..... Black-headed gulls are even more likely to be seen on inland freshwater bodies and can be seen just about anywhere.

[Serial_Apologist]

A revolting aspect of pheasant shooting is that the last thing a threatened pheasant wants to do is to fly - they prefer to scuttle off into deep cover. They are only forced to do something completely against their instincts by a combination of beaters and trip wires placed around 9 inches off the ground.

Chris Packham put up a good verbal joust on the subject of grouse shooting yesterday with someone from some wildlife sports body claiming it protects natural ecosystems, on the BBC lunchtime TV news. The rep's main point was that it created jobs! I'm always grateful for people like Chris who seem always able to marshall all the necessary arguments without getting interrupted or told to shut up as time's run out... and envious of them.

[Dave2002]

Richard

The ones I noted were not very big, and some (all?) had V shaped tails. Fairly elegant, but I think some form of gull, or similar.

[Serial_Apologist]

Birds at Norton Cane services on the M6 toll road look like seabirds, but it's well inland.

Are they after a ready source of fish (and chips)?

Someone thought they'd test out the theory that seagulls intent on ones fish and chips can be deterred by staring at them, and got someone else to film and put the evidence on youtube. The problem is that like tourists they don't seem to come for free nosh in singles or couples. Try staring into the eyes of around 20 hungry flapping seagulls, all at the same time!

[Richard Tarleton]

Chris Packham put up a good verbal joust on the subject of grouse shooting yesterday with someone from some wildlife sports body claiming it protects natural ecosystems, on the BBC lunchtime TV news. The rep's main point was that it created jobs! I'm always grateful for people like Chris who seem always able to marshall all the necessary arguments without getting interrupted or told to shut up as time's run out... and envious of them.

Indeed

The idea of a managed grousemoor as a natural ecosystem .....

As far as I can make out grouse moors have been managed for shooting for about 200 years. Clearly grouse (grice ) managed, somehow, before that, without gamekeepers exterminating predators, burning heather and doing all those other things..... Shootists spout self-serving nonsense.

[Richard Tarleton]

Richard

The ones I noted were not very big, and some (all?) had V shaped tails. Fairly elegant, but I think some form of gull, or similar.

Unless you stumbled on an inland common tern colony, Dave - if you're going there again, take a photo! Terns don't scavenge human food, though, they dive or dip for fish.

PS....don't say I don't take this job seriously....I've googled the website for the local wildlife group - everything you need to know should be here....Common tern is on the list, though I don't see mention of a colony.....

[Dave2002]

Unless you stumbled on an inland common tern colony, Dave - if you're going there again, take a photo! Terns don't scavenge human food, though, they dive or dip for fish.

PS....don't say I don't take this job seriously....I've googled the website for the local wildlife group - everything you need to know should be here....Common tern is on the list, though I don't see mention of a colony.....

It's certainly a possibility that these were terns, as you suggest. Might be there next week, so I'll try to get camera at the ready.

Last week I thought I was overflown by a sea eagle in Scotland. At first I imagined it might be a red kite which are common enough in some parts, but this had a different flying action, and was large to say the least. I always thought golden eagles were the largest, but since sea eagles have been reintroduced in some parts, I think these are now top of the list based on size (wing span). A while back someone did send me a photo of a sea eagle taken from Dingwall. The bird that flew over me seemed to be heading west towards the mountains and Strathconon.

[LezLee]

Strathconon is an amazing place. On our 2nd holiday to Scotland we went for a long walk round there on a beautiful Spring day and saw lots of birds new to us and came upon a doe and her foal. Quite magical.

[HighlandDougie]

Indeed

The idea of a managed grousemoor as a natural ecosystem .....

As far as I can make out grouse moors have been managed for shooting for about 200 years. Clearly grouse (grice ) managed, somehow, before that, without gamekeepers exterminating predators, burning heather and doing all those other things..... Shootists spout self-serving nonsense.

This

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/11/highland-estates-swap-driven-for-walked-up-grouse-shooting

gives me some hope for the future (along with the year-on-year increase in black grouse which I've observed in various locations near to the but 'n ben).

[Vox Humana]

This

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/11/highland-estates-swap-driven-for-walked-up-grouse-shooting

gives me some hope for the future (along with the year-on-year increase in black grouse which I've observed in various locations near to the but 'n ben).

Hmm. I see mention of Coignafearn, one of my favourite spots on this planet. Time was when you could virtually guarantee to see a Golden Eagle there, if you had patience. That doesn't seem to be the case any longer, although I gather you can still find them if you are prepared to walk several miles up the valley.

[gradus]

On a friend's farm today we came across a kestrel on the stubble seemingly dust-bathing and grooming feathers although it was difficult to make out exactly what was going - we were sitting in a Landrover about 20 yards away - whilst another kestrel was flying around close by. I saw something similar a few weeks ago on a quiet road and upthread, Richard T. suggested it might be juveniles learning to hunt by catching beetles,worms etc. A little later I saw something I couldn't identify but the impression of blue and orange flashing by stays in the mind's eye and I wonder if it might have been a sparrowhawk?
A little earlier whilst sitting in the garden we could hear 3 or 4 buzzards calling to each other, quite distinctive high and lower pitches to the sounds which suggested adults and juveniles. Later around the fields we saw buzzards flying around generally quite low and landing in trees.

[Richard Tarleton]

Last week I thought I was overflown by a sea eagle in Scotland. At first I imagined it might be a red kite which are common enough in some parts, but this had a different flying action, and was large to say the least. I always thought golden eagles were the largest, but since sea eagles have been reintroduced in some parts, I think these are now top of the list based on size (wing span). A while back someone did send me a photo of a sea eagle taken from Dingwall. The bird that flew over me seemed to be heading west towards the mountains and Strathconon.

"Flying barn door" - I haven't seen one in the UK, but lots in central and eastern Croatia, where their other name of white-tailed eagle is more applicable

This

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/11/highland-estates-swap-driven-for-walked-up-grouse-shooting

gives me some hope for the future (along with the year-on-year increase in black grouse which I've observed in various locations near to the but 'n ben).

Indeed. Hugely encouraging.

A little later I saw something I couldn't identify but the impression of blue and orange flashing by stays in the mind's eye and I wonder if it might have been a sparrowhawk?

Sounds like male sparrowhawk