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The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group

The

HeronHeron Newsletter - December 2018

The Royal Society for the protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: in England and Wales no. 207076, in

Scotland no. SC037654

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Tuesday 8 Indoor Meeting: The Great Texas Birding Trail by Dennis Atherton An exploration at peak migration time of a designated system of trails, bird sanctuaries and nature reserves that run along the entire Texas Gulf Coast. Doors open at 7:15pm for a prompt 7:45 start Introduced by: Ray Evans 01625 432635

Saturday 26

National RSPB Event: ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ at West Park, Macclesfield Contribute to the state of bird populations across the country by taking part in The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch with help from birdwatchers from The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group and Wildlife Explorers. There will be advice on using binoculars and telescopes and help with identifying common garden birds, as well as lots of helpful hints on completing your own survey at home. Meet outside the café at West Park, Prestbury Road, Macclesfield, SK10 3BJ 10:00 am to 12:00 noon Contact: Tina Hanak 07870 804413 or visit the Wildlife Explorers website

Sunday 27

WGBG Coach Trip: North Lancashire Coast Depart at 8:00 am from Wilmslow Guild, Bourne Street, Wilmslow, SK9 5HD Contact: Steve McGann 01625 533652

This will be the first talk Barrie has given to our group. He worked for the RSPB for twenty six years, the last thirteen as an International Officer and he currently leads wildlife tours. The former Soviet state of Belarus positioned between Poland and Russia still has ancient forests, meadows, bogs and wetlands that are rich in wildlife. Large areas of the country are sparsely populated and as a result there are many areas where nature has been left to follow its natural course. Mammals such as lynx, bison and beaver supplement a good selection of birds including raptors, owls, woodpeckers and waders. Estonia, another former Soviet state on the edge of the Baltic, is positioned on a major migration fly-way, particularly in autumn when millions of passerines pass through the centre of the country and well over 50 million waterfowl and shorebirds fly over the north western coast.

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Andy Astbury/Fotolia

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O ur endemic race of willow tit is the second-fastest declining species in the UK, after turtle dove, and is Red-listed. This resident species, which is highly sedentary remaining in an area centred on the breeding territory throughout the year, has been lost from large areas of southern and eastern England in recent years. The RSPB and

others have conducted research into causes of decline and eliminated a number of potential causes which seem unlikely to be causing the large scale declines. One of the potential causes that need investigating further is whether deterioration in habitat quality is affecting this species. One of the main habitats that willow tits occupy in Britain is damp young woodland. This habitat is often short lived with sites frequently drying out and developing into mature woodland over 20-30 years. The RSPB and other organisations, including Natural England, are currently trialling woodland management solutions for willow tit, and the species is part of the Back From the Brink HLF project (https://naturebftb.co.uk/the-projects/willow-tit/), involving detailed study of daily movements and habitat use as well as habitat management. However, due to the declining numbers, monitoring the species is becoming increasingly difficult. A playback method will be used to survey willow tits during the pre-breeding season when the birds are territorial, and covering all potentially suitable habitat in the survey tetrad. The playback method, using a standard (2-minute) willow tit call and listening for a response, has been successfully developed by the RSPB Willow Tit research project. The recording used for the survey is a combination of willow tit alarm call and song.

Ideally, two surveys should be carried out in each survey tetrad between mid-February and mid-April, although if you are only able to undertake one survey we will be able to use the results. If no willow tits are found after two visits despite there being (potentially) suitable breeding habitat in the tetrads, please consider undertaking a third visit. Once the birds are serious about excavating and nesting they become very quiet, from mid-April. Ideally, surveys should be undertaken on ‘fine’ days – if present, willow tits are much more likely to be detected on relatively warm days with no wind and rain. Willow tits are more likely to respond to calls during the morning, and when not heavily overcast.

If you would like to know more and can help with this very important survey work please contact Hugh Pulsford, the County Recorder at countyrec@cawos.org by the end of the year latest.

Hugh Pulsford Cheshire County Recorder

Willow tit by Busby

BUY YOUR TICKETS TONIGHT FOR THE CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

T ickets 5 for £1, are on sale tonight for our Christmas

Raffle in aid of much needed funds for your Local

Group. We will be selling tickets in the hall. Prizes

include; a bottle of wine; a Christmas pudding; a tin of

biscuits and some Christmas crackers. We will be making the

draw during the interval and winning tickets will be assigned a

prize for collection at the end of the evening after Barrie

Cooper’s presentation. This is to give Barrie as much time as

possible to talk and show his images so please don’t forget to

come and collect your prize if you are one of the lucky winners.

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Tree Dressing at Tegg’s Nose Country Park. Every year Wildlife Explorers head into the woods at the end of National Tree week to celebrate trees and their importance to wildlife, people and our culture. Trees are decorated with a mix of natural materials. Budding artists took inspiration from the festive season, the natural world, mythology and

popular culture. All the materials used are biodegradable and leave minimal impact on the environment as they weather and degrade.

This year’s tree dressers were extremely fortunate, enjoying a couple of hours of dry mild weather in what was otherwise a very wet weekend, perfect conditions for working outdoors with clay. With family members of all ages taking part it was really hard to tell whether the children or adults enjoyed it most. Our Tree Dressing art gallery included a wide range of subjects –

snails, squirrels, robins and reindeer as well as snowmen, a Green Man and even Christmas dinner. In recognition of our Swifts Over Macclesfield Project two arty University students, Kat and Ellie, created a fabulous swift using a clay base with layers of autumn leaves. This year’s well-deserved winner of the silly hat

competition (and there were plenty of strong contenders) was Emilia Podmore for a fantastic home-made creation fashioned from school socks - an elephant. Other silly hats included elves, a tiger, a crab, a very seasonal sprout and even a roast turkey. At the end of our session, the last one of the year everyone enjoyed hot drinks and fabulous festive refreshments including some wonderful brownies and cupcakes from the Mayer family. All the team at Wildlife Explorers would like to wish our members, their families and our community supporters a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Tina Hanak Wildlife Explorer Leader

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Nature’s Superheroes

O ur temporary home for the December Indoor meeting was Parkroyal school. We made the most of the lovely surroundings and access to the hall for our session on

Nature’s Superheroes. To start off with everyone collated a booklet of nature puzzles and colouring. Leader Martin explained how some incredible creatures use ‘super powers’ to help them survive. We learned about the speed of cheetahs and peregrine falcons, the visual acuity of buzzards, the strength of dung beetles and the design skills of decorator crabs! Martin also explained the arsenal of defensive and attack weapons of the box jelly and leopard sea slug, as well as the complexity of tiny but incredible rotifers, not forgetting a

quick mention of Tina’s favourite - tardigrades! Explorers Jocelyn, Owen and Matthew were all given poster prizes as they all remembered to come to the meeting as superheroes! The craft for the evening was conker Christmas decorations – everyone made either an elf or an angel for the Christmas

tree. They all had great hair styles. We played Quick on the Draw – there were some great drawing and amazing guessing skills in evidence. Older explorers also played Frogger – a game where a detective has to work out which of the other players is the ‘frog’ secretly killing the other players by adeptly flicking their tongue out! Both groups voted for their favourite Nature Superhero. The first group chose peregrine falcon, whilst older explorers and Phoenix chose the leopard sea slug!

Tina Hanak Wildlife Explorer Leader

All Wildlife Explorer photographs

this month taken by Darren Mayer

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I f you would like to collect used stamps at your workplace, school or organisation, the RSPB can supply you with a collection box and stickers to create your own collection point. When your box is full you can bring the stamps to any indoor meeting and we will take care of sending them onto the RSPB to raise valuable funds for the ‘albatross project’.

To get your collecting box please send your address and contact details to Communitymarketing@rspb.org.uk and ask for a used stamp collection kit.

Editor

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T his is effectively another Miscellany BUT I will start with nettles as is the title of this piece. Nettles: Nettles in the countryside, where we spend much of our time, they are a bit of a bane (or pain). However you can do something about them if you should receive a sting. Usually nearby or within the nettles you will find a Dock plant if you rub the stung place

with the rounded leaf you should get some relief. Alternatively try a Sorrel leaf, which is just as effective. However this plant is much more difficult to find and is rarely associated with nettles and has not got rounded leaves but has much thinner leaves. You might prefer a medication to take with you, such as a paste, recommended by a local pharmacist namely Anthisan, which contains mepyramine maleate and is obtainable from your local pharmacy. Alternatively use a bite and sting relief, which contains hydrocortisone acetate. The first one is said to last for 2 years (and in the tube for 2 years) the second for ten years. My pharmacist suggested I also took an internal tablet once a day for up to 7 days. This was citirizine hydrochloride. She said that it would take about 2 days to clear up. That’s exactly what happened to me, because I was stung on my hand by an irate wasp! Where have all the birdies gone? This is an extension from the last newsletter Although the evidence appears to the contrary, I think you will find, on the whole, that most species have reduced in numbers. This is certainly true of our garden. We might see one or two of the species but that is all. Our garden is largely devoid of Greenfinches where once there were dozens, There has been an upsurge in some species such as the Woodpigeon. This was covered last time but what has happened to most of the species? I’m sure some of you have answers! Global warming update : The latest newspaper update suggests that global warming is a fact But it’s almost impossible to predict what may happen in the year 2100 but it has been predicted by some. The fact is that we have very little information whether it is now or in the near future. The weather forecasters hedge their bets using words like “maybe or could be”. In this part of the world it is remarkably mild and of course we have had a very mild winter so far. So what’s going on? Quite honestly – nobody knows!! We still need to prepare for what might happen, so what do we do? Who knows? The seasons vary one heck of a lot. Look at this winter so far, very mild. How is the rest of the country doing? : Overall, quite well although many of the birds have disappeared

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O n our way home from our summer holiday trip to the Isles of Scilly with Speyside Wildlife (see next seasons Heron for that story) in October (!) we stopped off at Labrador Bay, which is approximately four miles south of Teignmouth. This wasn’t a casual stop for a cup of tea but a planned

search for cirl bunting to add to our year list. Cirl buntings were once widespread and common across much of southern England but in recent years have become rare and only found in south Devon, mostly confined to coastal farmland between Exeter and Plymouth. The RSPB researched to understand the decline in this species and found a loss of food sources and nesting sites had caused the decline. Changes in 20th century farming practices were responsible for the change but in Devon, small traditionally managed coastal farms have persisted which has made the area more appealing to the cirl bunting. The RSPB supported these traditional farming practices and in 2016 the target of 1,000 pairs of cirl bunting was reached, fours years ahead of the schedule. When we visited Labrador Bay, we found a small flock in the car park hedgerow. There are other sites for example RSPB Exminster and Powderham Marshes nature reserves so if you holiday in Devon be sure to look for cirl bunting, they have even expanded their range to Cornwall.

Ian Taylor

Cirl bunting by Busby

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Health and Safety

In the event of fire or other emergency necessitating evacuation of the building, please leave in an orderly manner

via the nearest available Emergency Exit or as instructed by a designated Committee member. Emergency Exits are

indicated by the internationally recognised symbol of a ‘running man’ on a green background.

If required, there is a first aid kit in the kitchen. (If you do have an accident, however minor, while here tonight please

report it directly to a Committee member who, amongst other things, will ensure that details are logged in the

Accident Report Book.)

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“Butterflies”, “bird song” and “healthy” are words that trigger a pleasurable feeling in most people yet “scrub”, “thicket” and “wild” trigger a very different reaction in many of the same people. This honest and readable book documents the change from battling unproductive farmland on Knepp Estate in Sussex to managing it both viably and in tune with nature. For more than 17 years, the author and her husband have stewarded the estate in an instinctive and logical way resulting in an eruption of biodiversity, making Knepp Estate a hot spot for turtle doves, nightingales and purple emperor butterflies along with many other species. One can visit the Knepp Estate on a wildlife safari, camp or undertake a land management course (see www.kneppestate.co.uk) and experience first hand the contrast between what now passes for countryside and what jewels are just waiting to flood back in given the chance. I learned a lot from the book such as the chemicals used to worm animals also impact on earthworms and that what we see as a species’ habitat can actually just be what they have to manage in rather than actually prefer eg peregrines do nest in trees. Having learned the importance of scrub and thicket for many species, I am now struck by its dearth in the countryside and was saddened that one of the biggest barriers to improving habitats for wildlife was people’s perception of nature as messy unless it is a controlled green meadow or a wood. This makes as much sense as valuing a baby or a graduate but dismissing childhood and adolescence as unnecessary. The project’s integrated approach to nature and farming certainly works and has also thrown up solutions to soil impoverishment and flood prevention, adding wider value to the project. It was very telling to read that the Oxford Junior dictionary aimed at 7yr olds in 2007 dropped almond, blackberry and crocus in favour of analogue, block graph and celebrity. The owners’ tenacity in dealing not only with government bureaucracy and administration but overcoming the compartmentalised, “optional extra” attitude people now have to the natural world was compelling and humbling reading. The project is not an isolated one in the UK but brave and challenging given its proximity to conurbations. Similar projects exist in Ennerdale and Pumlumon in Wales as well as in Holland and the Carmargue. I hope this book goes “mycelial” ( you will understand when you have read it!) and that you share it with landowners and those living in farm conversions who mow down their paddocks and verges, in the hope that we can create corridors for wildlife, since species cannot thrive in isolation.

Jo Stafford

The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group Committee would like to The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group Committee would like to The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group Committee would like to The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group Committee would like to

wish all of our Members a wish all of our Members a wish all of our Members a wish all of our Members a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New YearMerry Christmas and a Happy New YearMerry Christmas and a Happy New YearMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year