Monthly Archives: October 2021

Channel Islands birds – the new list is out

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We have great pleasure in circulating the updated Channel Islands bird list.
It may be a little late (blame shortages, difficulties in the supply chain, lack of lorry drivers etc, etc) but it’s well worth it. We have new birds, unexpected birds and some unclear changes to our songbird list (i.e. subalpine warblers). Jersey lost a species while Guernsey’s increase of one came through the sighting of an African species, Egyptian goose, that through human intervention is fast developing a population close to us (and in London’s city parks).

Besides the new species on the list, we always get to see the way our avifauna is changing. Glossy ibis? Black-winged stilts? We almost doubled the total number of dusky warblers in the islands’ history in one year too.

Oh, and there have been the annual changes to the list order and some new scientifics. If a species isn’t where you expect it, keep looking! 

An unexpected colonist
In the Channel Islands, nightjars have long been considered rare passage migrants. Few hung around for very long, many were only recorded after being flushed off the ground. Occasionally one was seen flying around at dusk or the distinctive churring call was heard.

As our bird fauna changes, with old favourites disappearing and new, often long-legged waterbirds, colonising, who had nightjar down as a breeder? Nightjars are relatively specialised in their habitat choice and diet and have suffered bad years in the north of their range as insect populations decline. However, in the last few years, they have been found more regularly in the islands and in 2020, not one but two territories were held in Jersey. Of these, while the birds were carefully monitored to avoid any disturbance, and to protect from misuse of the sites, one pair definitely raised young. Will they return, will numbers increase? Will the other islands see more? Well, you’ll need to wait until the next list update – spoiler alert, it’s worth waiting for!

You saw what? Alderney’s list continues to increase

Since the establishment of the Alderney Bird Observatory we’ve begun to expect new additions to theirs and the CI List. The black-winged kites were good, but followed increasing reports in NW France and one in Jersey. While they haven’t reached the UK, we might expect to see them more often here.

The first white-rumped sandpiper for the islands was another good bird but it will take a while to surpass the bearded vulture. Bearded vultures, formerly known as lammergeier, are big birds and block out daylight. They are spreading through some successful reintroduction projects in several places in Europe. As young are joining the new populations, dispersal is to be expected but the sudden sight of one flying by when you aren’t expecting it will long live in the memory. As the Alderney bird was watched leaving over the coast, I was one of several people on Jersey’s north coast hoping, just hoping!

But of course, our quest to identify the birds that live here is never, in any way competitive. Which is why we are so pleased to see Alderney catching up. And we won’t begrudge them that vulture! And we don’t want something even more impressive on our island! 

Download the Working List of the Birds of the Channel Islands 2020 here

 

Chough report: September 2021

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September at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry

By Liz Corry

Sun, Sorel, and sweaty volunteers

At the start of September, a group of Durrell volunteers responded to the call for help at Sorel to remove bracken alongside the aviary and patch up holes in the netting. 

Volunteers removed bracken at Sorel, ruining Dot’s game of hide and seek. Photo by Emily Hewinson.

The weather was less forgiving than anticipated with soaring temperatures and no shade other than the shadow of the choughs occasionally flying overhead. Fuelled by caffeine, cold water, and chocolate digestives they managed to finish the tasks in time for the choughs’ supplemental feed.

Sewing skills were put to the test on the aviary netting. Photo by Emily Hewinson.

The only real challenge that day was working out how many bags of bracken can fit in the back of a Dacia. Spoiler alert – its two. Which meant two trips to the burn pile at the Zoo as we had managed to fill four bags clearing the one tiny strip.

The project vehicle was put to the test this month transporting bracken. Photo by Liz Corry.

Having the holes in the netting closed up will allow us to start catching up choughs again to replace leg rings. We still have one youngster in need of a metal ring.

To catch a chough in the aviary first requires the chough to enter the aviary. Something the Jersey birds decided they didn’t want to do this month. At least not in front of staff.

Preliminary study 

We are hoping to setup a postgraduate research project next year that investigates the choughs’ use of the supplemental feed site with the help of RFID technology. From bank cards to cat flaps, the day-to-day use of chip reading technology is increasingly being applied to wildlife conservation and research. 

We can potentially use the technology to tell us which birds are visiting the aviary, how often, for how long and what times of day, the list goes on. There is even the possibility of remotely weighing individuals and calculating how much food they take on, on an individual and group basis. The challenge is designing a setup suitable for choughs, their behaviour, and their environment. A perfect puzzle for a post-grad.

In the meantime, we are kick starting the study by finding out what size and shape antennae we could use to read the RFID chips attached to the birds as a leg ring. An off-the-shelf bird counter is available using a square antennae. Will a chough happily walk through this? 

Instead of spending £800 up front to find out the answer is no, we are going to play around with hatch sizes at the aviary. They already pass through a 40cm by 60cm rectangle. Can they cope with 25cm by 25cm? 

This means we need to spend lots of time watching, recording, and trawling through camera trap footage. It’s actually more entertaining than it sounds.

WildSnap! at Sorel

Speaking of camera trap footage…Durrell launched a nature connections programme in summer called WildSnap aimed at teenagers and their tech savvy brains. In partnership with My Naturewatch using a combination of Raspberry Pi electronics and Blue Peter magic, you build your own camera trap then go out and see what wildlife you can find.

The kit costs roughly the same price as a cheap bog-standard camera trap you can buy from the site that rhymes with Glamazon (especially if you live in a VAT-free country). Naturally we were keen to put one to the test and see how useful it could be on the chough project.

Image quality is equal if not better than a budget priced shop-bought camera. The design might not be the most robust, but it does the job taking video or photo.

For any non-teens who want to try building their own camera, check out the how to video below. Raspberry Pi products are widely available these days. Just remember to drop the ‘e’ when Googling!

Chough travels

Whilst staff attention focused  on the aviary, the choughs decided September was best spent away from Sorel. Once again, Les Landes to Plémont became a popular playground as well as food source.

Portelet looking for food at Les Landes. Media by Jo Bramley/Jersey Wildlife Facebook group.

There were several consistent reports of choughs in the south west of the Island too. Enough to suggest a small group had made the visit their daily morning routine. 

One colleague reported her delight in seeing the birds outside her window whilst staying at the Corbière radio tower. Quite an impressive view made even more memorable by the charismatic choughs.

Not so many reports from east of Sorel. It’s unclear if the parish of Trinity still has a resident chough or two. We are entering the time of year when choughs tend to disperse further afield. Residents in the other Channel Islands and the French coast should start keeping their eyes peeled!

World Migratory Bird Day 2021 and Global Bird Weekend: Join the global celebration of birds and nature on 8,9 and 10th October 2021!

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“Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a Bird!” is the theme of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, an annual global campaign dedicated to raising awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them will be held on 9th October. The Global Bird Weekend will be held over the weekend (8-10 October) to coincide with World Migratory Bird Day.

This year’s World Migratory Bird Day will focus on the phenomena of “bird song” and “bird flight” as a way to inspire and connect people of all ages around the world in their shared desire to celebrate migratory birds and to unite in a common, global effort to protect birds and the habitats they need to survive.

The 2021 World Migratory Bird Day theme is an invitation to people everywhere to connect and re-connect with nature by actively listening to – and watching birds – wherever they are. At the same time the theme appeals to people around the world to use their own voices and creativity to express their shared appreciation of birds and nature.

Birds can be found everywhere: in cities and in the countryside; in parks and backyards, in forests and mountains, and in wetlands and along the shores. They connect all these habitats and they connect us, reminding us of our own connection to the planet, the environment, wildlife and each other. Through their seasonal movements, migratory birds are also regularly reminding us of nature’s cycles.

As global ambassadors of nature, migratory birds not only connect different places across the planet, they also re-connect people to nature and to themselves like no other animals on the planet.

In fact, billions of migratory birds have continued to sing, fly and soar between their breeding and non-breeding sites. During the pandemic, which slowed down many activities by limiting our movements, people across the world have been listening to and watching birds like never before. For many people around the world, bird song has also been a source of comfort and joy during the pandemic, connecting people to each other and to nature as they remain in place.

Scientists around the world have also been studying the impact the pandemic is having on birds and other wildlife, looking at how “the anthropause” – the so-called global shutdown in human activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic – has affected birds and other wildlife around the world. At the same time, scientists have also been looking at the positive health benefits of birds and nature on humans.

Clearly, the pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge for humankind. At the same time, it has also brought a whole new level of awareness and appreciation of birds and the importance of nature for our own well-being.

World Migratory Bird Day 2021 is therefore not only a celebration of birds, it is also an important moment to reflect on our own global relationship with nature and to highlight our collective desire to do more to protect birds and nature in a post-pandemic world.

Celebrated across the world on two peak days each year – on the second Saturday in May and second Saturday in October – World Migratory Bird Day is the only international awareness-raising and education program that celebrates the migration of bird species along all the major flyways of the world.

Take part and make your sightings count – register for Global Bird Weekend here  or set up a team on eBird

Inter Island Environment Meeting 2021

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Environmental experts and conservationists from the Channel Islands will be meeting virtually to share ideas and collaborate on projects at a two-day meeting from Thursday 21 October. All Islanders are invited to listen to the speakers and contribute to the meeting.

This year’s Inter-Island Environment Meeting is being chaired by the Jersey Biodiversity Centre (JBC) and Government of Jersey’s Natural Environment team.

The theme of the meeting will be about how the Islands are connected by biodiversity and will discuss biological recording, conservation research, citizen science, and the importance of sharing technology, knowledge and expertise, using the Pollinator Project as a case study.

There will be two interactive workshops and various speakers from the Channel Islands, UK and France. Participants will be invited to share their experience from the workshops which will involve visiting local wild spaces and using the hashtags #IIEM2021 #IslandsConnected on social media.

A preliminary timetable is available to view here.

Chair of the JBC, Anne Haden, said: “By working together as a group of Islands we are able to achieve more and create an aspirational way forward to tackle the biodiversity crisis. Together, we can create a stronger biodiversity network and pool our limited resources to ultimately protect our Islands’ natural environments.

“This meeting is an excellent opportunity for environmentalists and conservationists to discuss and identify the solutions needed to maintain healthy and sustainable ecosystems, for us and future generations.”

Photo: Anne_Nygard/Unsplash

Minister for Environment, Deputy John Young, said: “I am looking forward to collaborating with colleagues and Islanders in our annual Inter-Island Environment Meeting. We will be using the two days to listen to presentations, take part in workshops, and discuss how we can improve the way we communicate with each other for environmental projects and work together as a network of Islands to protect our natural environment.

“By making this a virtual event, I hope that more Islanders are encouraged to join in from work, home or during their lunch break.”

Those who wish to attend online must register in advance by clicking here.

Jersey islanders who do not have access to a computer can attend in person. Talks will be live-streamed on a big screen at the Société Jersiaise. Light refreshments will be provided. Those wishing to choose this option must register by calling 01534 633393.