Swans tower above recent flood

As flooding affects the nesting season on the Ouse washes at WWT Welney, one pair of swans were towering above the lapping water. 

 

A determined pair of Mute Swans are refusing to lose their nest to the flood waters at Welney.  Gathering what vegetation they can find, they are trying to weather the lapping waters to continue incubating their eggs and hopefully hatch the cygnets inside. 

As a result of the flooding on the Ouse washes this spring the breeding season at Welney has come to a standstill.  But one of the many pairs of Mute Swans that breed on the reserve is not giving up without a battle.  Since the waters came on they have increased the height of their nest from its origins on the banks of the ditch next to the footpaths. 

 

‘The water levels are now dropping, relieving the pressure on this particular pair of Mute Swans’ says Marketing and Events Officer, Emma Brand.  ‘We hope the levels will continue to drop over the weekend to have paths to some of the hides open next week, then we should be back to normal with regards to access for the June half term activities, which include pond-dipping, moths on display and biodiversity blitz sessions’. 

 

With the water levels decreasing, the hope is that the reserve will start to open up again to visitors and provide feeding areas for the birds once more.  Updated information about the access on the reserve and what activities are available can be found at www.wwt.org.uk/Welney . 

Emperor Moth flashmob

I took the rash step of buying my brother an iPod Touch for Christmas. It's proving to have been a good purchase. Earlier this week this snippet of interesting video arrived in my inbox...

How cool. I imagine there's an emerging female Emperor Moth in the wall. There are a few more clips, and you can see literally hundreds of male moths flying over the moor to investigate. I just need to persuade Fraser that filming in landscape is a better option.

Cuckoo Lyster on BBC breakfast

Any early birds will be able to see some amazing footage of Lyster, filmed shortly after his return to the UK, on BBC One's Breakfast show tomorrow morning (Sat 6th May).

Everyone involved in this project was filled with a sense of wonder, amazement and elation as news broke that Lyster was the first Cuckoo to complete the epic 10,000 mile round trip, returning to a location just 5 miles from his tagging site. Phil Atkinson and Paul Stancliffe of the BTO rushed to the Norfolk Broads in the hope of catching a glimpse of our returning hero, undaunted by the odds against finding one Cuckoo in miles of marsh and farm land. As you will see in the BBC's footage, luck was certainly shining on Phil and Paul, even if the sun wasn't!

Check out the BTO website tomorrow for the full, behind the scenes, story of how we managed to film amazing footage of Lyster within hours of his return to the UK.

It's not such happy news for Martin, though. We have received no further data from him since 9th April, and sadly must now assume that he is dead.

Martin made it as far as Lorca in southern Spain, where we last heard from him. In that last transmission his tag temperature dropped from a normal 30-32 °C to 11.7 °C, a gradual change over the course of a night. While fearing for the worst, we did hope that he might pop up further north. We are now convinced that this is very unlikely, and must announce Martin's demise.

Martin has bequeathed a wealth of knowledge that has improved our understanding of Cuckoo migration. Of our original band of five, Martin was the first to return to Europe. As the only Cuckoo over two years old, he was looking good to be the first bird to return. He may have fallen victim to some severe weather conditions, which the other birds avoided by crossing the Mediterranean a little later.

--BTO

Wales Coast Path Bird Race 2012

To mark the official opening of the Wales Coast Path on 5^th May 2012, Visit Wales is organising the first ever ‘crowdsourced’ count of bird species along the Welsh coast.

Partnering with key national and local wildlife groups and people, the aim is to set a new record for the number of species of birds seen in one day around Wales.

We’re asking local enthusiasts, ramblers, reserve wardens and visiting birders to share what they’re seeing, wherever they are.

Join in

While walking anywhere along the Wales Coastal Path, people can tell us what they’ve seen via Twitter or Facebook.

Visit Wales will then highlight the top sightings of the day and track the total number of species seen between dawn and dusk — in the process setting a new record for Wales.

To get involved, take to the Wales Coast Path and simply share the species of bird spotted, plus the rough location:

·       Via Twitter, by including the hashtag: #WCPbirds in a tweet

·       By leaving a comment on the Visit Wales Facebook page

Follow the action

·       By following @WCPbirds on Twitter

·       By checking the live blog on the day at http://blog.visitwales.co.uk/

And then there was one

Only two of the three Tawny Owl eggs in the BTO nestbox hatched. The smaller of the two young owls quickly disappeared, leaving a single chick. Nevertheless, both parents have been busy bringing in a variety of food, including the odd Blackbird.

Farm manager pleads guilty to charge of possessing illegal pesticide

A 50 year old man has pled guilty to a charge of possession of the banned pesticide Carbofuran.
Today at Oban Sheriff Court, Tom McKellar pled guilty to a charge of having the poison while working as a Farm Manager at the Auch Estate, near Bridge of Orchy in Argyll in 2009.
Outlining the background of the case the Procurator Fiscal, Kate Fleming, noted that McKellar had admitted to police that a gamebag found on the porch of his home with a container holding Carbofuran belonged to him.  He also admitted that he set out meat laced with the poison as bait for foxes.
The police were first alerted to the estate on 8th June 2009, when a group of hillwalkers phoned RSPB Scotland to report finding the body of a Golden Eagle on the slopes of Beinn Udlaidh, near Bridge of Orchy.
RSPB Scotland Investigations staff, accompanied by a Wildlife Crime Officer from Strathclyde Police, retrieved the body as evidence.
Tests by the Scottish Government laboratories revealed that the adult Golden Eagle had been poisoned with Carbofuran, which has been illegal to possess or use in the UK since 2001.
A follow-up search of land and buildings on Auch Estate, led by the police, with the assistance of RSPB Scotland, SSPCA, Scottish Government and the National Wildlife Crime Unit, revealed a dead fox, confirmed as poisoned, and a sheep carcass laced with Carbofuran.
Sheriff Small asked that the case be continued for preparation of social enquiry reports. Defence agents will outline the mitigation for the offence when the case resumes on the 29th May.
At an earlier hearing in December 2010 at the High Court in Glasgow, McKellar also plead guilty to various firearms offences and was sentenced to 300 hours community service.

Lyster on the move

Everyone following the BTO Cuckoos was worried about Lyster; there had been no news from him since 1st April, when he was in Ivory Coast. At 12.55 on Friday afternoon, a partial signal was received showing his location as Algeria! There was an anxiously wait for a stronger signal. Sure enough this data came through an hour later, enabling confirmation that Lyster is still very much with us and has nearly completed his Sahara crossing.

The signal came from a location just 75 miles west of where Chris was recorded in the Great Erg desert on his way to Italy.

Chris and Martin have stayed put in Italy and Spain respectively. One of the reasons for this may be because of adverse weather. Southern Spain, where we last heard from Martin, has had thunderstorms, hail and strong northerly winds in the last few days — just one of the many hazards faced by migrating birds.