Country Matters ~ May 2005

As I write this most birds are in the middle of their breeding season.  A few like Mallards have well grown young, others such as the Greenfinch are still laying eggs.  What is surprising is that the parents ever manage to fledge any young.

Birds having survived our winter or a long migration back from warmer climes then have to attract a mate.  The male is usually the more active partner in courtship and in finding and keeping a territory.  We tend to think this must be a pleasant period in a bird’s life but it leads to many deaths.  We have found five dead birds at this time in our garden.  One was a female Song thrush that had only just paired with a male.  It died from a large trauma on its back, probably from flying into a nearby tree.  At this time of the year birds’ hormones are at a high level and like their human counterparts in similar circumstances caution is ignored.  Unfortunately not all birds find a mate.  Last year we had a male Blackbird who had the prime territory by the kitchen where food was always available and a large Mahonia which has always been a favourite nesting site.  He was unable to attract a mate all season, like the Swallow the year before, which roosted on an electricity cabinet by the back door.  He had probably spent the winter in South Africa and on his return was still unable to fulfil his main aim in life.

Having found a mate a nest site must be found and this is when the female usually takes charge.  The Mallard duck with the drake in tow walks round our garden for days looking at possible sites.  The Ruddy Shelduck even turned up with a female Common Shelduck and as she only nests in holes, spent two days looking for a suitable rabbits hole without success.  The lack of holes is thought to limit the breeding success of Owls and some Tit species; this is why the provision of nest boxes is usually successful. I should have dug a few land drains in the ground for the Shelduck to nest in.

Having found a site and built a nest, for Owls this consists of a few feathers plucked from the female’s breast or with Long Tailed Tits an elaborate oval nest made of moss and lichen with a small entrance hole, always sited in the centre of a thick usually prickly bush.  The next decision is when to start laying eggs, too early and there will be no food to feed the young, too late and there will not be the opportunity for some species to have a second brood or the young will not have grown enough to survive migration or the winter.  Blue and Great Tits always time the hatch of their eggs just when the supply of caterpillars on trees are at their peak.  So they often start laying then stop for some time and then restart.  They will still not start incubating until they consider the caterpillars will be in plentiful supply.  Last year their forecasting was wrong as cold weather set in while they were incubating and despite laying ten to fourteen eggs our Tits failed to fledge a single youngster.  This year we have four nests of Great and Blue Tits that are now feeding young.

Having hatched the eggs the problems for the parents really start, they are so busy feeding their young they cannot protect them all the time from predators.  In Rayne if you nest off the ground Magpies and Squirrels are the main predators followed by Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws.  If you nest on the ground it is mainly Foxes and Badgers followed by Stoats and Hedgehogs that are a danger, though the latter has declined dramatically because of Fox and Badger predation.  Just while writing this I have seen a Magpie, a Rook and two Jackdaws searching our garden trees and hedges for nests, no doubt they all have hungry young to feed.  A male Kestrel at this moment sits in a tree looking around the garden and a Sparrow hawk has already visited the garden twice today catching a Greenfinch on its first visit.  This morning I found a Chaffinch that had five youngsters about to be fledged, it now has two headless corpses and the other three have disappeared.  This was almost certainly due to one of the corvids out hunting.

Despite all this most species maintain their numbers but in the short term some will be increasing and others decreasing their population size.  This cycle has been repeating throughout history but unfortunately man is now having a profound effect on the habitat and climate in this country.  This will mean that some species will suffer a collapse in their populations while others will learn to live in the very different environment we are creating.  Many of the predator birds are becoming increasingly successful.  This is because they prefer feeding on other birds’ nests at this time of the year but if this source of food is not available then they have a wide range of food they are able to use including the detritus from human living.  The open and sanitised habitat we have created in our countryside makes finding birds nests very much easier for the predator.

This also creates a dilemma for many conservation organisations, do you control predators to help prevent the decline or possible extinction of some species in this country.  The birding organisations do not countenance the control of bird predators but do carry out control of four legged ones on their reserves.  The Wildlife Trusts rarely support the control of any species for fear of upsetting members though some now have an active deer control policy.  One thing you can be sure of, the main culprit, ourselves, are unlikely to agree to curbs on our activities or numbers.

Wildlife Reports for May 2005

Ron Turner and his daughter Sheila Seates heard a Nightingale on 1st May and again the following morning near his house in Capel Road.  It sung on and off throughout the day until it was dark.  On one occasion it was singing at the same time as a Blackbird in his garden, a bird whose song is often mistaken for that of a Nightingale.  The Nightingale was not seen but remained hidden like most Nightingales, in the foliage.
Sophia Henderson, Warner Close was the first person to report the Parakeet flying around the village.  It was seen perched on the chimneys and roofs of houses and in surrounding trees.  Its very loud call announced its presence even when it was not visible.  This is a very common call in their home countries as they leave their night time roost at daybreak and return in the evening.  Mary and Barry Mouser then sent me a good picture of the Parakeet feeding on a nut feeder in their garden.  I have not yet had the time to identify the species but it is certainly a cage bird escape.
Janette Moores, School Road some years ago had a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest in an apple tree.  This year a Green woodpecker has drilled a nest hole above the original hole and nested.  She also saw Jackdaws taking the young from a Pied Wagtails nest.  Though Magpies and Squirrels are the worst of the nest robbers the other corvids never miss the chance of a tasty meal.
Barbara Taylor had a Red Legged Partridge apparently quite tame walking in her garden.  I have commented before how tame Partridges can become when they are nesting.  Their nests can often be found in the garden and commonly in plants growing next to the house.  The birds probably think this is a better position to nest away from ground predators.
Roger Pertwee had a pair of Grey Partridge in his garden but unlike the Red Legged it is a much warier bird and not common in the Parish.  Since Roger’s report we now have a pair at Goulds.
Harold Giles was not pleased to report the continuing appearance of Fallow Deer slots on the Duckend Green allotments.  Any gardener will understand his lack of enthusiasm for these animals as they can easily prune a garden overnight especially as there appears to be five animals in this group.
Andrew Goodey watched a female Brambling calling from the top of an oak tree along the Flitch Way.  He has also seen a pair of Cormorants flying low around the village.  Anybody with fish in a sizable pond beware, they are efficient fishermen.
Geoff Stone, Braintree Green has a ditch bordering the garden.  He caught a fleeting glimpse of a rabbit sized ginger coloured animal moving along it.  He stalked it and eventually saw that it was a small fox cub that then disappeared into what had been an old rabbit warren.  For the last three years he has not had any surviving ducklings on his pond.  This is not surprising as a pair of foxes with young will hoover up anything that is edible and, to our tastes also inedible, in quite a large area round their earth.  The cubs that have still to learn their fear of man will often take pets from the garden during daylight.  I always get several reports of cats going missing at this time of year.
Roger Perry tells the amusing story of his son Alex and his girlfriend who one evening looked at an old water pump in a village near Rayne.  Alex pumped the handle and out of the spout flew a bat, which had been roosting there.  At this time of year the female bats form maternity roosts where they give birth to their young.  One often finds small roosts of ejected male bats at this time of the year but a pump spout is rather unusual.

Roger Jiggins, r.jiggins@btconnect.com, 01376 324 311