Travel by train back from King’s Cross to the edge of Cambridge and our project area and you see just three main agricultural crops: winter wheat, winter barley and winter oilseed rape. Occasionally there is a crop of winter beans or spring barley. Winter crops predominate – crops that are sown in September or October and harvested the following autumn. Winter crops mean no over-winter stubble. No weedy stubbles means less winter food for wildlife. The fields are huge; there are no conservation headlands and hedges are small and tightly cut.

Fly into Stansted, look down on the fields of winter wheat in Essex and South Cambs and look for skylark conservation patches – small bare patches of ground where the seed drill was raised for a few seconds during sowing to provide skylark nest sites and you will see – none. The picture is a hostile farming environment to the detriment of biodiversity and bio-abundance of our local countryside.

It is difficult to describe the changes in the countryside surrounding our project area without sounding critical of farming and farmers. I try to avoid this, but it’s difficult to be a neutral about our countryside neighbourhood that has impoverished wildlife. Traditional crop rotations have been changed in the effort to increase profitability and soil structures are suffering. Crop yields using new varieties have changed little over the last 10 years and the push for greater productivity has encouraged the increased use of chemicals to boost performance. Black Grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) has become a serious competitor to winter cereals; headlands have been sprayed with herbicides to eradicate volunteer plants but the Black Grass has fought back and become resistant to some herbicides. Some crops of winter wheat look like fields of Black Grass. Insect pests have been controlled by systemic non-selective insecticides that remove target species and most others.

“Neonics” (neonicotinoid) insecticides have been banned on Oilseed Rape to control cabbage stem flea beetle. This insect has become such a serious pest after a succession of mild winters and crop rotations of just winter wheat and winter oilseed rape, that many growers were unable to establish the crop for this harvest year. “Neonics” have been banned on all flowering crops to protect bees, but they can still be used on non-flowering crops such as sugar beet. Ask farmers, the seed trade and the agrochemical industries if “neonics” should be banned for causing a collapse in our countryside insect life and they will cite papers disputing the evidence which conservationists assert is incontrovertible, according to their research. It’s not just lowland arable farming; go to our uplands and all you see are sheep, and more sheep, and the occasional blocks of Corsican pine.

Anecdotal evidence from amateur naturalists, like ourselves, has noted the disappearance of bees and the general lack of insect abundance. What happens in the countryside affects us townies!

The Red List contains birds of conservation concern whose population has declined by 50% in the last 30 years and shows no sign of increasing. Nine are species of our resident farmland birds. This decline coincides with the switch to winter cropping and the loss of over-winter stubbles that provided a source of essential winter food. A recent winter survey (2017-2018) on a farm in the north of our project area showed that most of the farmland birds: Linnets, Yellowhammers, Grey Partridges – birds on the Red List – were concentrated on the only fields on the farm that had over-winter stubble. Two years earlier five pairs of Lapwings (another Red Listed species) attempted to nest there on over wintered stubbles – the first time for about 50 years. I believe lack of winter feed has caused the extinction of the rural House Sparrow (Red Listed) which used to nest in hedgerows in small colonies of untidy domed nests in our project area.

It’s not all bad news. The RSPB’s Hope Farm at Boxworth and Robin Page’s Countryside Restoration project at Barton have shown that you can run commercial farms and increase the number and diversity of farmland birds. To do that you must also provide a winter food supply and a rich and diverse insect fauna throughout the year– nestlings and young birds need a high protein rich insect diet to fledge and thrive. (Woodpigeons are the exception!)

Nine Wells, in our project area has, probably, the highest concentration of Grey Partridges in the County but this is threatened by the growth of Addenbrooke’s. The NIAB’s farm in the north of our project area has seeded permanent flower-rich field margins, ditches are only trimmed and cleared in winter and hedges are cut on a three-year cycle. This farm has one of the highest farmland breeding populations of Skylarks (Red Listed) in the country and breeding Yellow Wagtails (Red Listed) have returned. Quy Estates, on the edge of our project area, manage Wilbraham Fen and the traditional sheep grazing meadows nearby. It is probably the southern-most remnant of the Great Fen and must be one of the most interesting wetlands that is not a formal nature reserve.

The most exciting development is the Red List Revival project pioneered by Edward Darling on his farm near Therfield heath. He began this project to conserve bird species on his own farm and to encourage neighbouring farmers to do the same. Farms are surveyed twice a year during the breeding season (May/June) using the British Trust for Ornithology transect method and farms are awarded accolades for increasing bio-diversity, especially the birds.

But as townies we must not be hypocritical. We cannot criticise farmers if we have an arsenal of chemicals in our own garden sheds to kill slugs, snails, insects – anything that might maul, chew or consume our garden plants and vegetables. Cut a small access hole in the bottom of the garden fence and let the hedgehogs in!

Bob Jarman

8^th June 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

An Oystercatcher over Cambridge Station during morning rush hour on 8^th May was unusual and seeing three flying south over Nuttings Road on May 26^th (Iain Webb) was even more unusual. They might be visiting the new open water site at Hobson’s Park near Great Kneighton.

Two Common Terns flew over King’s Parade on 12^th May but only one of the returning pair that often feed along Riverside and the river straights to Fen Ditton appears to have returned this year; it seems to have lost its partner over winter or during the return migration. The bird has now moved on and we may have lost our Common Terns this year. First year birds remain on their wintering grounds off West Africa and return in their second year so birds may be back next year.

Blackcaps are very common singing throughout our project area but Common Whitethroats are scarce this year. I have heard as many Lesser Whitethroats in our project area as Common Whitethroats – this is very unusual; in Ditton Meadow in the path of the Chisholm cycle trail a hawthorn bush has both species singing. The web site www.xeno-canto.org is an excellent source of recorded bird song.

Swifts were later to return this year but by mid-month had arrived in numbers; I have an irrational fear that one year they just might not return and life will never be the same without them!

The House Martin colony at Addenbrooke’s Hospital is in full swing. It’s difficult, at this stage, to work out how many nests are being actively used but a watch in mid-May counted 73.

A Black Kite over Clarendon Street on 20^th may not be as unusual as seems; not far away one was claimed over Bar Hill Golf Course on Friday 11^th May. Kites over our study area are not unusual and have bred. A Red Kite was seen trailing a Peregrine that had a pigeon kill over the junction of Gilbert Road with Histon Road at roof-top height. The Kite was hoping the Peregrine would drop its kill so it could sweep down and claim the carrion.

The City Peregrines were filmed feeding two chicks in mid-May (twitter: @CambPeregrines) and the other breeding pair has at least one chick. A Kestrel that roosts against the chimney pots at the top of Benson Street occasionally hovers over the rear gardens of the terraced houses and Histon Road Cemetery.

The female peregrine at the City Centre site – the male is about a third smaller
with bars on its breast that do not reach across its chest

Part of Midsummer Common has been mown but the nettle patches have been left intact as a food source for the larvae of some of our declining butterfly species such as Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell. Similarly, the grass cutting in St Andrews Church graveyard in Chesterton has left patches of the Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca) standing.

Spotted Flycatchers are a seriously declining summer visitor. The Cambridgeshire Bird Club is surveying them across the County (any sightings, please, to: spofl@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk). They used to breed off Huntingdon Road and in the Botanic Gardens in the 1980s but disappeared when the Elms went. There is perhaps one pair in the very south east of our project area but they seem to be absent from other suitable locations – College gardens, riverside woodlands and large private garden in the south of our study area.

A small remaining population of Common Lizards in the north of our project area in Orchard Park (formerly Arbury Park) is under threat from building development. It is hoped that the builders will hold off so that as many lizards as possible can be caught and transferred to a site about a mile away to live in the stone boulder supports of a farm road over the A14.

An adult Cormorant of the continental race in the Cam at Fen Ditton with its grey neck “shawl”. This race has colonised the south of England in recent years. The native race is all black and breeds on the sea cliffs in the north and west of the UK. The continental race nests in trees but none, as yet, in our project area. It is this race that roosts in winter in the willows along Riverside.

Bob Jarman

29^th May 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Seem to be Blackcaps singing everywhere, front gardens and back gardens, anywhere where there is some scrub or overgrown shrubs. But what has happened to Common Whitethroats? At a farm site on the northern edge of our project area I have often counted 10-18 singing males by now but so far have counted just one! I have heard more Lesser Whitethroats this spring than Common Whitethroats. Sedge and Reed Warblers also seem to be in short supply. This spring has been two hot days followed by a thunderstorm then cold and rain. It’s one of the wettest, most dismal, springs I can remember!

The Kingfisher reported over Magdalene Street Bridge in my last blog flew over the bridge, not under it, because the water level under the bridge was too high!

Now is time to look for Wheatears of the Greenland race on Trumpington Meadows and other open fields. They have the longest migration of any European passerine summer visitor and when they leave the UK they head out across the North Atlantic to their breeding grounds in Greenland.

In the latest edition of British Birds (May 2018. Vol 111 pp 250 – 263) there is an article about white feathers in black birds; not just Blackbirds but black birds! The causes might include nutrient deficiency; I have a distinctive male Blackbird in my Chesterton garden with a small white shoulder patch. The photograph below was taken on 2^nd April and shows it feeding young in the neighbour’s shrub. The eggs were probably laid 14-16 days earlier when it was very cold; I have not seen any young birds so assume the nest was sadly overwhelmed by the rains. This male Blackbird is distinctive and patrols a territory of about 100 m x 100 m – 1 hectare. It’s is not the only male Blackbird in this area and there are frequent territorial disputes.

Common Terns have returned to the pit at Milton Country Park that fringes the northern edge of our project area – they should now be looked for fishing along the river from Horningsea to Riverside and Jesus Lock; Swallows over New Square and Huntingdon Road on 23^rd April. Swifts are back in Cambridgeshire but our nesting Swifts in the City don’t usually appear in numbers before 5th May. I worry each year that they may not return and life … will not be the same again!

Nightingales would now be rare passage migrants in our project area; in the 1980’s one was singing in the bushes outside the old toilets in Drummer Street and in the 1930’s it was claimed that there were more birds of this species along Trumpington Road per miles than any other stretch of road in England (Bircham 1989). Paradise, riverside in Newnham and college gardens are possible locations. Watch for nesting Lesser-black backed Gulls on the roof tops of ARU and the DAB/Downing Street complex. They have been seen prospecting.

I worry when I hear people talk about “rank vegetation”; rank vegetation to some is a valuable wild life habitat to others. Stinging nettles are condemned as “rank vegetation” on Midsummer Common but are a valuable larval food plant to some of our declining butterfly species such as the Peacock. Orange Tip butterflies are on the wing – the males, with the orange tips, have a reckless, erratic flight that seems to have little purpose – I’m sure it does!

Bircham, P. M. M. (1989). The Birds of Cambridgeshire. Cambridge University Press

Thanks to Rhona Watson for her wonderful photographs.

Bob Jarman

30^th April 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

You can now sit, with a coffee in the Market Square and watch Peregrine Falcons, the world’s fastest flying bird! I often mention Peregrines but their breeding success in lowland England is a
remarkable success story. In the late 1960’s the only “twitchable” Peregrines were a pair in a quarry behind Aviemore in Highland Scotland and a national population of about 60 pairs! The latest survey has located 1769 breeding pairs in the UK, the majority in lowland counties and a 22% increase on the 2002 census. They are still vulnerable to persecution – as the gun shot injury to one of the Cambridge bred birds in 2017 shows – and there has been a decrease in upland areas associated with moorland management.

I think my guestimate of 15-20 breeding pairs of Sparrowhawks in our study area is too high. Five to ten pairs are more realistic. Sparrowhawks became extinct in Cambridgeshire in 1960 due to agricultural pesticide poisoning but returned in 1985. If/when it warms birds will be displaying over Cherry Hinton, Milton Road, Arbury and the City centre.

I think there are at least two pairs of breeding Buzzards in our area. Buzzards returned to breed in Cambridgeshire in 1999 and are now, probably, our commonest raptor. Sit on Madingley Hill just outside our study area on a warm day in April for an hour overlooking Girton and Eddington and from Histon to Over and you can count over 20 individuals soaring in the thermals plus 2-3 Sparrowhawks and Kestrels (and maybe even a Raven or two!).

The Red-legged Partridge in a garden in Cavendish Avenue was probably looking for food during the recent freezing weather.

The Black-headed Gulls along the river have halved in number and mostly developed their brown hoods and are filtering back to their breeding sites. The mud churned by the runners and their families on Midsummer Common after the Half Marathon on March 4th provided a late bounty of available earthworm food; the grass soon grew back and by third week of March had 90% recovered.

A Kingfisher over Magdalene Bridge during morning rush hour on 31st March was heading upstream, probably to a nest site. Blackcaps are still being reported from East Chesterton, Glisson Road Area, Cavendish Avenue (probably two males) and two males and a female off Huntingdon Road – one male that delivered a muted sub-song has now burst into full song; a male was singing in
Logan’s Meadow on 12 April. Chiffchaffs were singing in Huntingdon Road, Logan’s Meadow and the Cambridge Business Park in Chesterton on 12 April. Sadly, the singing Chesterton Siskin has gone. Goldcrests are now singing from the smallest and isolated conifer trees from Coldham’s Lane to St Albans Way to De Freville to Histon Road and Roseford Road; many trees have their own self-sustaining population and the larger groups also have Coal Tits. I can no longer hear bats but I can still hear the high trill of Goldcrests, some birders cannot! If the song does not end in a flourish check out for Firecrest!

I have now 18 Mistle Thrush sites across our study area (thanks Sam Buckton, Michael Holdsworth and Martin Walters); please keep sending me your records. I didn’t realise Mistle Thrush has become a red listed species – a species that has declined by 50% in the last 25 years with no sign of recovery. Rhona Watson has sent me brilliant shots from Jesus College. Sadly, a Fieldfare forced into town to look for garden berries during the recent frosts was knobbled by a cat! Wintering thrushes are usually very timid but I have seen them in their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Poland where they are very confiding and can be closely approached.

I have finally located the Newnham Heronry. I could only see three active nests but this is Olwen’s “manor”.

This year 111 apparently active Rooks nests (108 in 2017) have been counted. They are interesting to watch. One bird sits by the nest while the second bird looks for sticks and twigs for the nest. If the nest is left unguarded neighbours pillage it for their own nests! I cannot understand why there are no rookeries in Trumpington/ Byron’s Pool area. I think the loss of elms and sustained persecution since the 1960’s could be the reasons (see below).

The edge of the Dickerson Pit at Milton Country Park just comes into our project area. The female Scaup (found by Jon Heath) was still there on 22nd March.

Now is the time to locate House Sparrow nest sites. I carried out a City survey in January to March 2013 and January to April 2014, of the breeding population of House Sparrows in the political wards of Cambridge City. I found 733 “active nests” and an estimated total population of 1000 pairs based on numbers of birds counted.

I concluded that distribution is determined by nest site availability and the need to maintain an interconnecting colony. The minimum colony size is three “active nests”. Removal of ivy from walls, home improvements which prevent access to loft space and housing built since the mid 1990’s with sealed, insulated lofts prevent access and nesting. Colony survival is as important as nest site availability. If nest sites are lost, colonies break down and fail and the population declines. There is a mutual relationship between House Sparrows and Starlings. Sparrowhawk predation is not a cause of House Sparrow decline. Cherry Hinton had the largest House Sparrow breeding population, Trumpington the smallest. I need to do another survey ….. sometime!

If you have House Sparrows and need to insulate your roof do put up nest boxes – a three box terrace is best and at gutter height facing east. South facing sites are often ignored because they risk overheating in the summer! The best place to buy a bird nest box is: John Stimpson, 53 Twentypence Rd, Wilburton, Ely CB63PU – 01353740451: from Cottenham up the hill into Wilburton, on the right usually with an “A-frame” notice outside.

The lack of House Sparrows and Rooks, two species of open farmland, in Trumpington/Granchester is worrying. In the 1960’s – early 1980’s there were so many House Sparrows feeding on the cereals yield trials from August to September at the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) – now Trumpington Meadows – a farmworker was a dedicated sparrow killer! The PBI is no more, as are the House Sparrows. It was probably the move to winter cereals and winter Oilseed Rape from the late 1970’s onwards doing away with over-winter stubbles that was responsible for the demise of the House Sparrow; did the same happened to Rooks?

Listen for Black Redstarts and their strange song that sounds like ball bearings being “scrunched” together. Why they are not common here is a mystery. Travel to France and you will see them at the first service station you stop at! Spring/summer visitors are arriving! Sand Martins are about; keep watch for passage Wheatears and Ring Ousels on open fields particularly Trumpington Meadows and Hobson’s Park. Tawny Owls are hooting. Reed and Sedge Warblers are in but so far in small numbers. First Brimstone butterfly on 27th February gave false hope for a warm spring!

Bob Jarman

12 April 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Winter Blackcap survey: Over winter 2016/2017 Blackcaps were recorded at 30 sites in the Cambridge NatHistCam study area. Overwintering of this warbler, which is mainly a summer visitor, is an urban phenomenon, encouraged by garden feeding and warmer urban temperatures. Ringing studies indicate these birds originate from southern Germany/Austria; the majority of this population join the UK birds and migrate south to north Africa to spend the winter but a small population migrate north-west to overwinter in the UK.

Breeding Rook survey: A count in March 2017 found 108 apparently active nests (AAN) at six rookeries in the study area and 111 AAN at the same six rookeries in March 2018. In 1959-60 there were 62 rookeries with 1158 AAN in our study area. The three largest rookeries in 2017/2018 were in the same locations as 1959-60; each with more or less the same number of AAN.

Mistle Thrush survey: Mistle Thrushes are a principal vector of mistletoe, the hemi-parasitic plant abundant in trees in parts of west Cambridge. They nest in March and begin singing in November of the previous year to establish breeding territories. Thirteen singing males were recorded; all were in the north and west of the city where mistletoe is most clearly seen.

Tawny Owls: A partial survey of Tawny Owls from the call of young birds disbursing from nest sites found four sites in the west of our study area and one in the east.

Ravens were once vilified by sheep farmers as lamb killers that plucked they eyes out of their victims leaving them to die in agony. As a result, they were heavily persecuted. We now know they are mainly carrion feeders. Ravens around a lamb carcass are feeding on a still birth or after-birth. They are expanding their range from west to east and two recent articles in national dailies (the i-newspaper and The Times) have carried articles about this (“Beast from the West”/”Black is Back”). Two to three pairs breed in west Cambridgeshire. They have been seen displaying, a tumbling/rolling aerial display, over Madingley and in February 2017 a pair were seen on the northern edge of our project area flying over Impington. This February a pair were seen heading out of Histon towards Oakington, just outside our study area. They are early nesters (February/March) and it’s likely these were young birds nest site prospecting.

The Rooks nesting at Girton College have returned to repair winter damage to their rookery – it’s the only rookery in the city using conifers to nest.

The city Peregrine that was shot last autumn and taken to the Raptor Foundation near St Ives is recovering, but staff are unsure of its ability to hunt for itself. When the weather warms Sparrowhawks will begin their aerial displays; I guestimate 10-15 pairs across the City. The first year Kestrel on Coldham’s Common looks set to stay, but the pair that had three young near the Darwin Green housing development between Histon Road and Huntington Road, which is now being built, will have to move on. The bird seen at Eddington may be one of these.

Golden Plover, Hobson’s Park

Peregrines return to City centre (see Olwen’s February blog)

Red Kite  was seen over Regent’s Street on February 20^th (Rhona Watson).

A Kittiwake flying south over Chesterton on 2^nd March (Simon Gillings) is very unusual and could be just one of a bigger cold weather movement of this species.

Duncan’s photos of the Little Egrets on the Snakey Path from Brookfields (end of Mill Road) to Cherry Hinton Hall park are stunning – walk along the path and you may get the best views of Little Egrets you will ever see!

The edge of the Dickinson Pit at Milton Country Park just comes into our project area. There is a female Scaup there (found by Jon Heath). This uncommon sea duck was probably making an overland passage from west to east and back to its Scandinavian breeding grounds when it was stalled by the “beast from the east”.

A large flock of about 600 Golden Plovers were on farm land in the north of our project area on 12^th February and about 150 Linnets on nearby stubble feeding on meadow grasses, mayweeds and groundsel that have been flowering and seeding over the winter. Also two flocks totalling about 60 Golden Plovers, on Hobson’s Park near Great Kneighton (I always thought the “i” came before the “e” except after “c”!).

Six Siskins feeding on sunflower hearts in a Chesterton Garden in early December are still coming daily; the male has been singing – will they stop to breed? Blackcaps are toughing out the cold by staying close to fat ball feeders; one bird has been present during the cold period from 8:00am to 4:30 most days and sees off blackbirds and tits but slips away when the robin arrives. Female Blackcap seen over several days in John Street (Mary Seymour). The snowy silence was broken on Wednesday morning 28^th February by a singing Robin keeping warm by the gas boiler exit flue!

The cold “Beast from the East” and settled snow causes real problems for birds approaching their breeding seasons. Fieldfares and Redwings have come into the city looking for remaining berries, cherries and crab apples but most have already been taken by resident Blackbirds. I have 12 records of territorial Mistle Thrushes – the Midsummer Common bird has been singing since November – Mistle Thrushes are also early nesters. Redwings will soon muster in numbers for their pre-migration gatherings. I have seen flocks in Cherry Hinton Hall grounds where they sing together as a chorus their curious subdued sub-song.

Fieldfares forced into gardens for food during the cold period

Winter Blackcap staying close to its food source

A solitary Chiffchaff in Chesterton on 2nd March in a leafless street tree looked doomed in the freezing temperatures. Soon time for the first Brimstone butterflies.

Robert Brown of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club is surveying Grey Wagtails, especially breeding birds. They can often be seen by The Rush, the cut across Coe Fen. Last year, a pair were feeding young on the roof of the M&S building on the Market Square and a pair nested in the river wall 100m upstream from Magdalene Street bridge. Please send any records to him at: research@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk

5^th March 2018

Bob Jarman

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Gulls are difficult! Immature plumages, different winter and summer plumages, races within species, variation within species, recently separated species and several shades of grey add to the difficulty, or challenge, of identification. The majority of gulls in winter from Riverside to Jesus Lock are our “dead-bog-standard” Black-headed Gulls (without their black heads); numbers range from 140 to 270 depending upon the surface water on Jesus Green and Logan’s Meadow and the availability of worms brought to the surface. There may be a dozen Common Gulls and three or four Herring Gulls amongst them. Look out for Mediterranean Gulls; they have been seen two to three times in our project area. The most recent was a full adult, with Black-headed Gulls in August on wet grassland on the new Darwin Green development; it was probably a dispersed adult from a single breeding pair near Earith. Lesser Black Backed Gulls are mainly flyovers along the river BUT……..in summer birds have been seen in the city centre suggesting they might be nesting on the rooftops!

Travel out of our project area to the Amey Cespa recycling plant at Landbeach/Cottenham Long Drove and the tip at Milton and the number of gulls and species and complexity of plumage variation increases. The following photographs taken over winter 2017/18 on Riverside/Jesus Green illustrate some of the plumage variations:

Typical Herring Gull Riverside

Adult winter plumage Black-headed Gull, Jesus Lock

Unusual Herring Gull with Black-headed Gull, Jesus Green

Seventy-three Grey Partridges at Nine Wells is a spectacular count and 15 in two family coveys on farmland in the north of our project area; four Little Egrets near Long Road in December. Little Grebes are not common on the river, they used to breed on Riverside but increased use of the river probably disturbed them; one was seen in January and two pairs appear to be resident further along the river at Fen Ditton; three in the balancing ponds at Eddington on 4th February. A Great-crested Grebe on the river opposite Trinity College, dodging punts, in early January was unusual.

An oddly confiding Buzzard in College grounds on the 4^th February appeared to be nest site prospecting. City Peregrines were seen mating on 1^st February and then returning to a nest site – that’s got to be good!

Male Blackcap – James Littlewood

Mediterranean Gull Darwin Green 2014

Blackcaps continue to show; in addition to sightings in Olwen’s blog, birds have also been seen in Longworth Avenue, Tenison Road, Benson Street, Stanley Road and East Chesterton. Six Siskins have been daily visitors to a garden feeder in Longworth Avenue and a small group are regular in the Priory Road/Benson Street area off Huntingdon Road. Small groups of Lesser Redpolls have been seen feeding in the alders adjacent to the guided bus track near Cambridge Regional College and Cambridge North Station; they were in the alders in Green End Road but these mature trees have been felled; a flock of 35 Greenfinches in Storey’s Way on 4^th February were unusual for a species that is on the verge of being Red Listed. The Bullfinch in Oxford Road in Olwen’s January blog is unusual; it had probably come into the warmer City, like the Greenfinch flock, for food.  Current research suggests Bullfinches pair for life which enables them to breed earlier than unpaired birds.

A Firecrest in Holly bushes in late January at a site in the north of our project area might just indicate a breeding territory (see blog, The Birding Account, January 2017), a Jack Snipe in the east of our area and townie Woodcocks are unusual waders.

So far only five Mistle Thrush territories have been counted in our project area; there must be more but their absence in Cherry Hinton could account for the lack of Mistletoe there.

The same adult Lesser-black backed Gull, showing how the light can affect the appearance of the grey back and wing colour.

Bob Jarman

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

An excellent article by Paul Brackley in the Cambridge Independent (Jan 3-9^th 2018) talks about how ineffective governance is a threat to biodiversity. He also mentions how targeted recovery programmes by conservation charities e.g. the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts have helped rare birds re-establish thriving breeding populations. It got me thinking: what is Cambridge City’s balance sheet – winners and losers of breeding birds over the last decades? It is one of the questions our NatHistCam project will explore, but for birds the stories are reasonably well known.

The bird story is good: probably more winners than losers. Let’s start with the losers. The main losers are specialised woodland species which fits into a national pattern, not just Cambridge. Hawfinches which once bred in the Botanic Gardens and along the Backs are long gone. Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers (LsW), once our commonest woodpecker and in the 1980s often seen in Romsey Town gardens and orchards near Histon Road, are gone. So have Spotted Flycatchers which bred in Whitehouse Lane off Huntingdon Road and went when the Elms died from Dutch Elm disease. The LsW is  sparrow sized and may have died out from predation by Grey Squirrels or from the larger Great-spotted Woodpeckers. The Lesser Redpoll, a finch of cool northern pine forests, has gone; the last confirmed breeding in the City was in 2002. Nationally this small finch has withdrawn north and west probably as warmer summers have disrupted its insect food supply to chicks in the south of its range.

Our Rook survey has shown that numbers have dropped in the City by 90% since the 1960’s; rookeries along the Backs and in college gardens in west Cambridge have gone. Rooks are birds of open farmland and pasture and their decline mirrors the decline in numbers of many bird species in the farmed countryside. A major shift in farming from spring crops to winter crops from the late 1970’s ended the availability of over-winter weedy stubbles as a source of food. Our local Rookeries are now on the northern and eastern edges of our project area adjacent to neighbouring farmland.

Now for the plus side! Other corvids are doing well, probably due to less persecution. Most morning I’m woken by the belly-aching croaks of Carrion Crows. For several years a pair nested immediately above the Mill Rd/East Rd junction – probably the most polluted part of the City! After food fairs on Parkers Piece, up to 60 can be seen clearing the dropped food and takeaways (likewise early mornings). Magpies and Jays are now frequent garden visitors.

The Little-ringed Plover is an enigmatic species that colonises temporary wet sites around gravel and sand workings. It used to breed regularly in Cherry Hinton but the site became the David Lloyds Health Centre and a Holiday Inn Hotel. I recently heard birds over the Eddington development and it has cautiously re-established in Trumpington.

Grey Wagtails have become common across the City, not just near waterside habitats. I’m sure a pair raised young on the rooftop of M&S in the Market Square in 2017. Woodpigeons now breed commonly across the city (perhaps the countryside is too full of them!). They are one of the few species that can rely solely on vegetation to feed their squabs (or is it squibs!) and do not need high protein insect food to raise their young.

Little Egrets can now be seen across the city wherever there is open water or a stream. Another wetland species, the Cetti’s Warbler, can now be heard in the ditches in Barnwell in the shadows of Cambridge United’s football ground. The number of overwintering Blackcaps continues to increase. Lapwings attempted to breed on the northern edge of our project area, the first time for at least 50 years in 2017 and may do so again in 2018.

The real success has been in birds of prey, as Duncan’s photographs of Buzzards over East Road show. Peregrines were thought of as rare birds of rugged cliffs and haunted moorlands, but there are now more Peregrines breeding in our project area than on the Shetland Isles (2 v 1!). Buzzards have arrived in the last 15-20 years; they probably do not breed in our project area but certainly do on the very northern edge. Red Kites have successfully bred in our project area and may also account for the “eagle” seen in a Cherry Hinton garden! Sparrowhawks are now as frequent as they have ever been (they were extinct as a breeding species in Cambridgeshire from 1960 to 1985) and breed in the very centre of the City in college gardens. As an example of just what can happen if habitat is right, the area in the City boundary between Huntingdon Road and Histon Road (that is now being developed as Darwin Green) was left vacant for about nine years. In that period a big population of Field Voles established. Over-winter 2015/2016, up to four Short-eared Owls and over-winter 2016/17, a female Hen Harrier hunted over this area. In the past Merlin has been seen here. The problem is that alongside the presence of these wonderful birds of prey comes illegal persecution.

What of the future? Grey Partridges are holding on in the farmed margins of our project area with two breeding pairs in the north. But the population faces extinction in the south due to development near Nine-Wells. Stonechats may become breeders in the new country parks around Trumpington. Firecrests, might, just might turn up and breed; they like Holly bushes in winter and Douglas Firs to nest!

What have I missed?

Bob Jarman

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Bob Jarman

December 2017

The Mistletoe survey at the beginning of 2017 resulted in 122 records of Mistletoe in the NatHistCam area. The most common host trees are Poplars, Lime, Hawthorn and Apple. Mistletoes does not seem to like oaks; or perhaps oaks do not like mistletoe. These are visible locations and probably underestimates the actual distribution of mistletoe across the City; there are probably many more, out of sight, on garden hawthorns and apple trees. This is the next phase of the survey – to uncover the distribution in gardens although very little mistletoe has been found in the 21 gardens surveyed so far.

Please let us know if you have apple trees in your garden (and what varieties) and whether any of them have mistletoe growing on them.

The tree-top distribution of mistletoe is probably by thrushes, particularly Mistle Thrushes. In Chesterton I have seen a Mistle Thrush “hunkered-down” in a clump chasing off any visiting thrushes. The distribution in gardens maybe due to wintering Blackcaps. I have seen two male Blackcaps chasing off thrushes visiting a clump on a garden hawthorn then squabbling with each other over grazing rights! The birds wipe the sticky berries from their bills onto tree branches. Mistletoe seeds do not need any pre-germination treatment by passing through the bird’s digestive tract.

Mistletoe is a hemi-parasite – its roots infiltrate the host’s conductive tissue for water and nutrients absorbed through the host’s roots but the mistletoe’s green foliage actively photosynthesises. It is dioecious (“two-houses”) with separate female berry-bearing clumps and male pollinating clumps that produce no berries. Clarke Brunt has infected apple trees in the orchard at Milton Country park (on the northern edge of our project area) and says that aerial shoots of mistletoe appear after 3-4 months but its takes 2-3 years before significant growth is visible and the male plants produce pollen before the females bear berries.

Why kiss under the mistletoe? The two berries at the base of the leaf fork are supposed to represent male and female fertility. After each kiss, a berry is removed from the stalks; when the last berry is removed, the match for life of the kissing couple has been made. Mistletoe is the marriage matchmaker!

Mistletoe growing near Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec 2011 [below]
Mistletoe is associated with many superstitions especially in Nordic legends. In Christian legend, mistletoe was originally the crown of thorns forced onto the head of Jesus as he carried the cross through Jerusalem to Calvary. The Lord was so angry with the thorny rose bush that he transformed it into mistletoe – a flabby, parasitic, thorn-less shrub that grows at the tops of trees. The original crown of thorns (a Rubus bush) is supposed to grow only at St Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai but contemporary history says that it is a cutting from the original bush that grows in the Greek Orthodox archbishop’s garden in Jerusalem.

Berry bearing female clump, Chesterton, Dec 2017 [left]

Male mistletoe clump without berries Chesterton Dec 2016 [below]

Mistletoe is grown commercially in the fruit orchards of Kent and Worcestershire. Perhaps profits have reduced as  mistletoe establishes itself as wild plants but female berry-bearing clumps growing within easy reach in Chesterton seems to remain untouched.

Happy Christmas – under the mistletoe!
Bob Jarman
December 2017

More on Little Brown Jobs (LBJs) and Happy Christmas!

Another Little Brown Job (LBJ) is the Redpoll (see December 2017 blog). It has a troubled taxonomic history. The species that breeds in England, Wales and (parts of) Scotland is designated the Lesser Redpoll. It has been separated from the Common Redpoll but in Ireland both “species” are considered the same – Common Redpoll.

Lesser Redpoll used to be a regular breeder in our project area; in spring displaying males could be heard in song flight over Romsey Town, Cherry Hinton and Petersfield. In 1989 a male was singing from the telegraph wires above Ridgeon’s wood yard in Cavendish Road. Within ten years it had disappeared as a breeding species in, not just Cambridge City but Cambridgeshire – the last confirmed breeding was in Coleridge in 2002, although a displaying bird was heard over Carlton Way/Gilbert Road in spring 2016.  A warming climate seems to be the reason this arboreal finch has receded north and west with a strong increase in Ireland. It is now a winter visitor to our project area and should be looked for feeding on Alder catkins – Newnham park play area and Milton Country Park near the apple orchard are good sites. It is a small Linnet-like Little Brown Job (LBJ) – the males have a red forehead (“poll)” and a black bib. It has a very distinctive flight call. Flocks may contain Common Redpolls which are paler with distinct whiter wing bars.

Siskins often accompany Redpoll flocks in winter and also feed on Alder catkins and visit garden feeders. They have distinctive yellow rumps and wing-bars. They breed in conifer woods, are common in the Thetford/Brandon Brecklands, but displaying males often linger in spring and singing birds have been seen in Cherry Hinton Hall park in late April.

Siskins in Chesterton
December 11-14^th 2017

Another record of a single Stonechat from our project area – Trumpington, Country Park from Guy Belcher.

A walk along the Riverside will produce (Grey) Herons, Cormorants on the willows near Logan’s Meadow, possible Water Rail in Logan’s Meadow nature reserve, wintering Chiffchaff and Kingfisher (given away by its distinctive flight call – a loud “jeet”), winter plumage Black-headed Gulls and Green Woodpeckers often “grubbing” for ants.

Blackcap records for this winter period have come from Benson Street, Alpha Road and Longworth Avenue.

Male Sparrow Hawk sitting on a balcony rail, Riverside [left] and (Grey) Heron [right], Riverside (thanks to Nigel Fuller)

Cormorant [left] Anting Green Woodpecker [middle]  Winter-plumage adult Black-headed Gull (thanks again to Nigel Fuller)

Couldn’t resist the seasonal
Robin sitting-on–the-garden-fork-handle photograph

Happy Christmas

bobjarman99@btinternet.com