Sitting in the café in Chesterton Road on 3^rd February a female Sparrowhawk swept across busy Chesterton Road at knee height, through a front gate and over a wall. Perhaps it spotted a gap in the traffic, perhaps it just took a chance but it looked to me like reckless predation!

In Windsor Road, there is an apple tree that is completely infested with Mistletoe. It is a Bramley and now fails to produce any fruit. This seems to be reckless parasitism as the host appears to be dying. The houses at the Histon Road end of Windsor Road were built in 1937 on an established orchard owned by St John’s College and this tree is at least 100 years old.

The female Goosander was seen again at Milton Country Park on 8^th February; it often swam close to the vegetation on the island at the north end of Dickerson Pit. A Blackcap was calling loudly from Logan’s Meadow on 6^th and another was heard in gardens on Huntingdon Road on 7^th February and a female Blackcap (“browncap”) in Lovell Road on 21^st.

Sunday 9^th was storm Ciara – one of the worst days for weather by far this year (followed by storm Dennis on 15^th/16^th). Still, a Song Thrush was singing in Chesterton during the day and off Huntingdon Road a “browncap”, Chaffinch, Dunnock and four species of tits were using a bird bath at the same time. Coal Tits are actively singing. A phone-in to Christopher South on Radio Cambridgeshire reported a Blue Tit nest with chicks. But the storm destroyed all the Rooks nests in Long Road although 31 Rooks, presumably the birds from the colony, were feeding on Hobson’s Park on 12^th February.

I checked the state of most other rookeries on 13^th February after storm Ciara but before storm Dennis. I counted the following intact nests (spring 2019 count of active nests in brackets):

• Cherry Hinton Hall, 4 (10) and nearby Walpole Road, 5 (12).
• Teversham Drift and close-by Church End, 18 (32).
• Teversham Church and close-by Airport Way, 22 (26).
• Girton College and nearby Huntingdon Road checked on 18^th February after Ciara and Dennis, 14 (34)

All sites appear to have lost remnant nests from last year. How much of this is down to normal losses and how much is due to storm Ciara (and storm Dennis in the case of Girton College) I don’t know. The Walpole Road, Airport Way and Long Road sites are particularly exposed. Rooks were active at all the sites except the Girton College site. On 25^th February five nests had been reconstructed in Long Road.

Three Bewick’s Swans circled over Jesus College on 12^th before heading north-east (Rob).

Sunny mornings in February and March are good months to record House Sparrow nest sites and colonies. The males call loudly usually by the nest entrance. One of the best colonies in Cambridge is in Richmond Road with a colony of 4-5 nests in the dense Ivy on a west facing front wall of a terraced house.

Two Little Egrets were at Hobson’s Park on 12^th February and three Little Egrets were in the horse paddock next to the A14 Bridge at the end of Fen Road; on 20^th February, two were there and one in Ditton Meadows. Lapwings have taken up residence at Hobson’s Park and a male Peregrine was on the URC Church on the same day.

At our NatHistCam Committee meeting Duncan McKay reported there are six active Badger sets within a mile radius of the City centre; the largest in college grounds off Grange Road has 21 entrances! At this meeting, a map of Mistletoe distribution was circulated. In the east of the City – Romsey Town and Cherry Hinton – Mistletoe is scarce but is present in Wenvoe Close, Cherry Hinton and Seymour Street, Romsey. Strangely, none in Cherry Hinton Hall despite Mistle Thrush singing there on 13^th February and a Blackcap calling in nearby Mill End Road also on 13^th February – the two principal bird vectors of the parasite. Greenfinches were singing across Cherry Hinton on 13^th February.

Cycle north along the Cam and you will see Cormorants, all are of the European race that develops a grey “shawl” of feathers over head and neck in adult breeding plumage. I reckon average dive time is 25 seconds with a range of 23-29 seconds; whether this is escape/avoidance dive-time or feeding dive-time I don’t know!

On 14^th February, a Kingfisher was on Riverside and a pair in a display chase at Milton Country Park on 22^nd February; the latest UK Kingfisher population is 3850 – 6400 pairs which is lower than I expected (British Birds, February 2020).

Wicken Fen is not in the NatHistCam area but the Hen Harrier roost is worth mentioning; Marsh Harriers are present too. I think it is one of the best birding sites in the County. At dusk on 14^th of February five males and three ring-tails (female/1^st y) were seen. It’s worth the National Trust entrance fee (and car park fee!); the best views can often be seen just outside the reserve centre or from the top of the scaffolding tower. Week days are best; weekends can get crowded! Barn Owls are an almost certainty too.

Goldcrests and Coal Tits are singing wherever there is a well-established stand of conifers and my first city flowering Blackthorn was on the 14^th.

The south edge of Dickerson Pit at Milton Country Park on the 18^th had a pair of displaying Great-crested Grebes, five Shovelers and five Wigeon on 22^nd February; the commonest ducks were Gadwell and Tufted Duck – feeding dive time was 19-23 seconds!

“Are you looking for the Peregrines?” said a Civil Enforcement Officer (Traffic Warden) to me on 21^st February. “I saw one earlier this morning” he said “Got a picture of it on my phone, have a look and last week I saw a Red Kite over Coe Fen”. The pair were displaying noisily at roof-top height on 22^nd February and the size difference between the male (smaller) and the female (larger) was obvious. A Woodcock was off Huntingdon Road on 21^st (Sean Rouse, www.cbcwhatsabout.blogspot.com).

The Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust encouraged land owners to complete the 30-minute Big Farm Bird Count during February. I completed one on the NIAB’s Trials ground that falls within our study area – 15 species in the half hour including Yellowhammer, singing Skylarks and a flyover Grey Wagtail!

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The Hobsons Park Stonechat pair were feeding along the busway on 25^th and 176 Black-headed Gulls were around the lake – 9 (5.1%) were first years. This matches a guestimate of first year birds along Jesus Lock to Riverside in winter 2018/2019 of 6%.

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A flock of Long-tailed-Tits were arguing with their reflections in a garden mirror off Perne Road on 29^th (Paul).

Bob Jarman 29^th February 2020. – bobjarman99@btinternet.com

A hint of spring sunshine and breeding behaviour begins. Great Tits are often first with their ringing song, Blue Tits too, but their song is often a coarse version of their call and they never sing for long. Great Tits keep going! Blackbirds are at it and Song Thrushes just revving up. Mistle Thrushes have been patiently singing since last November.

It happens every year – I hear a call, often associated with a tit flock, and ignore it until I remember what it is – of course it’s a Tree Creeper. I’m relieved that I can still hear it at my age. “Sibilant” is the word – it’s a word I have only read describing bird song but that’s what a Tree Creeper’s call and song sounds like: sibilant! One was singing in Logan’s Meadow in mid-January. Wrens are singing – they never seem to stop. They are our commonest bird with 11 million pairs out of the estimated 84 million breeding pairs of birds in the UK (British Birds, February 2020 Vol 113).

Four Great-spotted Woodpeckers were chasing each other through and around Logan’s Meadow. At least two were males with a red patch on the back of their heads. I like them. They are noisy, full of enthusiasm, careless and indiscreet in their nuptial display chases. Rhona Watson has photographed a female (without the red spot) in Jesus College grounds with a chafer grub. I think it was a gift and part of the rituals of a breeding pair bond.

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There were still plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares about in January. Fewer seem to have ventured into the City this winter which has been mild. I think there is still plenty of food to be found in the countryside and on farmland although Logan’s Meadow has a regular roost of Redwings. Eighty-Five Fieldfares were in a flock on farmland in the north of our project area in early January. The Newnham Nuthatch was a regular visitor to a garden feeder during the month.

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A female Goosander has been present on the Dickerson Pit at Milton Country Park during most of January. I have seen it in almost exactly the same place on several occasions – in the north end of Dickerson pit which is just outside our NatHistCam project area. The front cover of the latest Cambridgeshire Bird Club Annual Report (no 92, 2019) for observations logged in 2018 has an illustration of a female Goosander with chicks. Goosanders bred successfully for the first time in Cambridgeshire in 2018 at two sites; one site was on the River Cam at Little Shelford. Typically, it is a breeding bird of faster moving upland rivers and streams.

In 2014, I found a female Goosander with seven chicks in May on the River Great Ouse near Milton Keynes. They were amusing to watch. From a distance, they were like yobs on a day out diving, swimming and clambering over each other in the water until they saw me on the water’s edge when they lined up politely and immaculately behind their mother and swam past in a line. It’s a breeding bird we should now look for on lowland rivers.

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Peregrine(s) have been seen regularly on the united Reform Church in Trumpington Street. On a cold wet morning, I saw the female perched on the very top of the spire looking huddled and damp.

I had not been to Kingfishers Bridge Reserve near Wicken Fen for many years but in the last two weeks I have been there twice! It’s just off the road from Stretham to Wicken opposite the road to Upware. Its free to visit and well worth it. James Moss, the warden, and Stephen Tomkins gave excellent talks about the reserve to the Natural History Society on 30^th January. It has a visitors’ centre and encourages families and has hides, picnic tables and the “Bittern Hump” where you can sit and watch and wait for Marsh Harriers and Bitterns. There is a white-board where you can add your own sightings; someone had seen a” fezunt” which continues to amuse me!

In the month the regular pair of Stonechats, three Little Egrets and Kestrel were at Hobson’s Park and a Kestrel over the Market Square and Logan’s Meadow. The Kestrel is the common European lowland raptor and its range extends into North Africa and the middle-East.

Over the New Year I visited The Lebanon. The weather was terrible! Heavy rain every day often most of the day. I visited Mleeta in the south of Lebanon which can be described as the Hezbollah theme park! Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organisation but is an integral part of the sectarian peace and government in Lebanon. The park is on hills overlooking the lowlands of south Lebanon and was the resistance headquarters against the Israeli occupation in the 1990’s. It is a memorial to the deaths of the Hezbollah “martyrs” and shows captured Israeli munitions, a gift shop, lecture hall and a 200m tunnel through the hill to the Hezbollah observation post. The “sparrowhawk” is depicted as the bird of resistance because it “hovers, all seeing, over the valleys below and is bitter to the taste”. The Hezbollah guides were not impressed when I pointed out the bird described and in their propaganda film was a Kestrel.

Bob Jarman 31^st January 2020.

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

This could be the last bird blog as our NatHistCam project comes to an end. It had been a fascinating three-year study – not just local patch birding but an attempt to record the changes in the City’s bird life and habitats. It’s difficult to understand just how big these changes are. Have all similar cities experienced the changes that Cambridge has? In a historical context, there have been major changes in the bird life of the City – some probably due to climate change, others to habitat loss due to building developments, and other changes, especially the increase in raptors, due to protective legislation. Perhaps the most interesting development has been recording of nocturnal passage over the City and identifying species and numbers of birds by their flight contact calls.

The Pallas’s Warbler was re-found on December 2^nd at Paradise Local Nature Reserve. The other December highlight was the Western Siberian subspecies of Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis) found in Logan’s Meadow Local Nature Reserve by Simon Gillings on December 11^th and subsequently by Nigel Lister. I’ve had a couple of goes looking for it – the second time on 23^rd December I found a Chiffchaff but it was always too mobile and too distant to clinch an identification; I didn’t hear it call – perhaps it didn’t.

Three Blackcaps – two males and a female – have frequented a garden off Huntingdon Road feeding on Mahonia nectaries and Honeysuckle berries; they have been seen most days during December including Christmas Day! Up to seven Cormorants have frequented the roost at Logan’s Meadow and a pre-roost gathering of at least 16 Magpies assemble there most evenings (down from 26 last year).

Little Egrets have been seen in and over the City in our project area at Sheep’s Green and Granchester Meadows on December 14^th, over the junction of Histon Road with Huntingdon Road on December 13^th, and over the Sir Isaac Newton pub on Castle Hill on December 21^st. Twenty years ago, sightings like these would have been unthinkable; thirty years ago, would have required a full written description to the UK Rarities Committee.

Pairs of Stonechats have been seen behind the Cambridge Rugby Club near the Tennis Club and at Hobson’s Park on 21^st December and 24^th December respectively. Perhaps one year a pair will stay and breed in our project area but every year pairs appear settled but by March they have gone. Also at Hobsons Park on 24^th December 17 Linnets, a Water Rail (heard only) and 21 Rooks. Were these the same 21 Rooks I saw on Nightingale Avenue recreation ground on 23^rd December and were they from the Long Road colony or the Cherry Hinton Hall/Walpole Road rookery? On the very edge of our project area a flock of c220 Linnets were seen on a field of Maize stubble and potato haulms together with 26 Pied Wagtails,1 Grey Wagtail and 20+ Meadow Pipits. This highlights just how important over-winter weedy stubbles are!

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Up to five Little Grebes are regular along the Cam from the Long Reach adjacent to Ditton Meadows to the bridge over the A14.

Late news from Hobson’s Park: Lapwings bred there this years and chicks were seen (Dusty Miller).

Bob Jarman 26^th December 2019

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

On 22nd November, a Pallas’s Warbler was found in Paradise Nature Reserve. It was a sensational find of this tiny rare migrant warbler inland and a fantastic discovery (Mike Crosby, cbcwhatsabout.com). It’s the second County record. Local naturalists say that it could have been there some days before it was identified. The first County record was a moribund bird found in Peterborough outside the Natural England offices in 1998; it had struck a window. Over the weekend of the 23^rd/24^th November it attracted about 100 birders. I caught up with it on 25^th and 26^th November but it was difficult to locate and it moved with speed through the foliage loosely associating with a Long-tailed Tit flock and Goldcrests. The most recent national annual total of this rarity is just 27 in 2017. Inland locations are very rare; overwintering birds are even rarer. This bird ought to be in south-east China by now!

Also seen in the nature reserve were two Chiffchaffs, a Nuthatch (a good find – this bird is rare in our project area), 1/2 Treecreepers, a well-watched Kingfisher fishing and a Woodcock.

The October monthly bulletin of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club has an item by Simon Gillings about his analysis of October night-time bird calls over his Chesterton home. His findings are remarkable and the practice of analysing overhead nocturnal bird calls adds a new dimension to ornithology – I nearly said bird watching – but it is not “watching”! If I’m reading his tabular summary correctly he has recorded the following October monthly totals (highlights only): Whooper Swan 4; Little Grebe 9 (I don’t think I have ever seen Little Grebe fly more than a foot above the water but migrate and colonise they must and they do!); Turnstone 4; Knot 4; Common Sandpiper 4; Ring Ousel 17 (I have never seen Ring Ousel in Cambs and as I live about ½ a mile from Simon they probably flew over my house!); Redwing 3417; Song Thrush 980; Tree Pipit 9. The numbers and species recorded are …… astonishing and add a new story to the intrigue of bird migration – remarkable! Less vocal species may also pass over such as Corncrakes on their way to the Hebrides and maybe it will unravel the secret westerly migration of Aquatic Warblers too.

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During the month, a Common Gull on The Pond at Eddington had a white Darvic leg ring on its right tarsus plus an aluminium? ring on its left. From a number of photos, the ring identification was “JK81”. I contacted the Euroring internet site and received the following details: ringed at the Stavanger ringing centre, Ostfold, Norway on 21 May 2016 as an adult – possibly three years old; seen at Ostfold, Norway in August 2016 and then Eddington on 7^th November 2019 – so it’s at least six years old.

A probable Rose-ringed Parakeet (Ring-necked) was seen in Jesus College on 4^th November. This non-native escapee is an uncommon bird in Cambs. Bramblings have been present in the Beech Woods since the beginning of the month and Kingfishers can be seen in the small sector of Milton Country Park in our project area (Jon Heath saw 4 there on 6^th November).

Eddington is the best place to see Common Buzzards in our project area and nearby in the grounds of Girton College on 10^th November one, possibly two Nuthatches and two Tree Creepers amongst the roving tit flock. On 11^th November, a Peregrine was over the Market Square and on 15^th November, the female and male Peregrines were “jousting” in flight together over the Market Square. I have never seen male and female birds together as well before. The female is larger, bulkier and deeper chested than the male and after aerial spats they often sat together on the corner spires of King’s College. Take a seat for coffee at Don Pasquale’s and wait for the action!

Also seen on the 11^th November, at Hobson’s Park, a Water Rail, four Common Snipe and a female Stonechat and on 14^th November at Hobson’s 12 Common Snipe (in a wet sector of the area set aside for allotments) and a flyover Peregrine; on 24^th November, there was a pair of Stonechats at Hobson’s Park and a Little Egret.

On 16^th of November I watched angler Alan Stebbings (he works at Ridgeon’s) land a 10 lb pike near the Mill Pond whilst a nearby Grey Heron waited for him to throw it the disgorged fish bait. Panic amongst pigeons in the Market Square on 22^nd November was not caused by a Peregrine but a flyover Kestrel!

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A Mistle Thrush was singing in Chesterton on 13^th November, another was heard near Storeys Way on 19th and Paradise Nature Reserve on 26^th; one was defending a Mistletoe clump with berries in Chesterton on 26^th November. On 16^th November, a male Blackcap was in my Chesterton garden – mid-November is a typical arrival date for overwintering Blackcaps from central Europe. This matches ringing records from Holme Bird Observatory on the Norfolk coast. A female Blackcap, a “browncap”, was seen in a garden in Benson Street on 23- 26^rd November feeding on Mahonia nectaries and a male in Tenison Road feeding on the shrivelled remains of grapes on a vine.

A nocturnal Peregrine strike is suspected of killing the Long-tailed Skua that was found in October; perhaps the Skua was too bulky to carry off or the falcon failed to “get-a grip”! Records of Red Kite over Mill Road cemetery in May, June and September this year (Andrew Dobson). This is in the very centre of our NatHistCam project area.

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Bob Jarman 30^th November 2019

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

On 16^th October Shaun Mayes of the St John’s college staff found the fresh corpse of a bird outside Merton House at the junction of Queens Road and Madingley Road. Shaun and his birdwatching colleague David Brown contacted David’s brother-in-law Jonathan Bustard (a good name for a birder)! and the identification was confirmed as a juvenile Long-tailed Skua.

This is a remarkable inland record for this rare migratory sea bird. I think it is the first for our project area and possibly only the 12^th record for the County. Previous records have come from Foul Anchor in the north of Cambridgeshire, beyond Wisbech, on the banks of the River Nene five miles south of The Wash. It adds further evidence to the idea that migratory sea birds travel overland to short-cut migration routes. In the 1970’s and 1980’s Graham Easy saw flocks of skuas (Arctic and Great Skuas) passing south west overhead, at great height, in autumn over Milton. He speculated that there were major overland migration routes for skuas and Kittiwakes following the north east/south west trajectories of the Ouse/Cam, Nene and Welland river valleys exiting in the Bristol Channel. Remarkably, these seabirds appear to take an overland short cut on their way to wintering grounds off the coast of Senegal.

We know that some skuas on their northerly spring passage fly through the Great Glen from the North Atlantic to exit in the Moray Firth and the North Sea on their way to their breeding grounds in the northern Isles and the sub-Arctic tundras. Watching Skua movements on the North Norfolk coast this time of year and all the skuas appear to be flying west i.e. into the Wash not east which, as you would expect, would take them around the East Anglian coast and then south eventually into the English Channel.

This is a brilliant record – thanks to Shaun and David.

On 6^th October, there was a big night time passage of Song Thrushes and Redwings and daylight passage of Redwings over the City. I haven’t seen a Fieldfare yet! On 10^th October, there was a Yellow-legged Gull at Hobson’s Park and two there on 15^th October. Also at Hobson’s Park on 15^th October were 60+ Redwings (over), a Water Rail, 2 Snipe, 4+ Corn Buntings and outside Trumpington a huge flock of 500+ Golden Plovers. The influx of Jays into the country – apparently due to a failure of the acorn crop in Europe – seems to have stopped but they have filtered inland and are common throughout our project area.

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The common wagtail in our project area seems to be Grey Wagtails not Pied Wagtails. I see or hear them most days. There is a regular pair on or over the Radio Cambridgeshire building, a male was singing in Regents Street on 16^th October and they are often flying over the Market Square and where I live in Chesterton. Also on 16^th October was a late Swallow over Mill Road Cemetery.

I discovered a new habitat! Behind the West Cambridge university building there is a balancing pond – a large lake of at least one hectare; it is hidden from view behind the hedges along the Coton/west Cambridge footpath. According to a local angler it’s been there for about 5 years and is full of huge Common Carp – ideal for a passing Osprey.

On 18^th October, a Chiffchaff was calling in a large garden in Huntingdon Road and there were three Buzzards over Thornton Way. On 19^th October, there were eight Common Buzzards over the rough land at Eddington, 12 Linnets and 12 Meadow Pipits. Buzzards are now, probably, our commonest raptor. Twenty years ago, in 1999, they nested for the first time, in great secrecy, in west Cambridgeshire. It is a remarkable turn-round and is likely due to legal protection (thanks to EU law!) and the subsequent lack of persecution.

On 29^th October one of the Peregrines was roosting at its regular site in the city centre and on 30^th October Gadwell were the commonest duck on the slice of Milton Country Park in our project area; the regular wintering Widgeon had also returned.

Dr Simon Gillings of the BTO has collected the night-time recording device from my garden. It recorded night time calls of birds passing over head from 6pm to 6am and he had placed a number of them across the City. Martin Walters has written a very good “Nature Notes” in the Cambridge Independent (23^rd October 2019) about Simon’s project. Simon now plans to download the recordings to survey nocturnal migration (“noc-mig”) over Cambridge.

Bob Jarman 31^st October 2019

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Whinchats and a Pied Flycatcher as autumn passage migrants arrived in our study area – see August Blog. A Pied Flycatcher on Coldham’s Common on 1^st September (Rob Pople) is only the second I can remember in our study area. Two Whinchats at Hobson’s Park on 3^rd September (Peter Bircham) (cbcwhatsaboutblogspot.com). A Wheatear was seen on the bare fields on farmland in the north west of our study area. A Nuthatch in St John’s College gardens (David Brown) is a welcome sighting of a bird that has bred widely in west Cambridge but seems to have disappeared.

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There seems to have been an influx of Jays and many are moving through the City. This has coincided with groups seen together at Holme Bird Observatory on the North Norfolk coast with up to 40 present one day. Nine flew together over Chesterton on 29^th September.

On the 10^th September, a single Little Egret at Hobson’s Park and a flock of 16 Corn Buntings. There were lots of Chiffchaffs throughout the month: 3-4 in and around Logan’s Meadow, at least one ventured across the river to Tesco’s carpark off Newmarket Road. A tit flock in Logan’s had at least one Treecreeper. Towards the end of the month in the warm weather a Chiff could be heard singing regularly in Milton Country Park.

Fifty Golden Plovers over Trumpington (Doug Radford) signals the beginning of winter (cbcwhatsaboutblogspot.com).

Most winters a Woodcock will turn up in a Cambridge garden especially during freezing conditions. I was interested to read of a juvenile bird ringed at Holme Bird Observatory and found dead six years later at Tralee in southern Ireland. British tracked birds have also been recovered in central Asia. Where do our Cambridge birds come from? Redwings have been heard outside the city – it’s only a matter of time before we hear their night-time calls over the city (but, see the PS below!).

I’m never sure what to think of Greylag and Canada Geese in our study area; presumably all originally derived from feral birds. The flock of about 60 Greylags centred around Milton Country Park must have a considerable impact on vegetation on the lake margins. In Suffolk, it’s the breeding feral (?) Barnacle Geese that have multiplied over the last 10 years to flocks of several hundreds. I have seen small groups of Barnacle Geese in our study area in the past presumably from this feral population.

Dr Simon Gillings of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is setting up a number of devices across the City to record the night time migration of birds over the city. Is Cambridge and our study area a major migration highway/flyway? This is one of the most exciting current ornithological projects and is happening here in Cambridge.

PS a major flyover of Song Thrushes and Redwings on the night of Sunday 6^th October ahead of the very heavy rain early that morning.

Bob Jarman 6^st October 2019

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

Swifts were still around on 26^th August despite the major departure from the City a month earlier on 28^th/29^th July. Fifty high over the City, 15 over the Senate House on 15^th August and 10 over Histon Road on 17^th August perhaps signalled another local departure. On 26^th August two over Trumpington Street and one over the Market Square were probably feeding late broods.

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A Wren was feeding young in Logan’s Meadow on 2^nd August and Painted Ladies were the commonest butterflies on the Buddleia at Cambridge North Station on 19^th August. The Painted Ladies looked in good condition, not ragged migrants, suggesting they had hatched locally. The invasion of Painted Ladies this year has been remarkable. In mid-July, I visited the Malin Head, the most northerly point in the Republic of Ireland, and there was a Painted Lady every 25m.

The Willow Emerald Damselfly (above) is a species new to our study area. I think Duncan McKay discovered it first. Nationally it is expanding its range and the one photographed by Trevor Kerridge at Milton Country Park – just within our NatHistCam study area – is a new location.

I haven’t seen a Spotted Flycatcher in the City for many years. They used to breed in Whitehouse Lane off Huntingdon Road but when the Elms went so did the flycatchers. There is an excellent article in the latest bulletin (covering June/July observations) of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club by Mike Holdsworth about a three-year study into the distribution of Spotted Flycatchers in the County which have declined dramatically. The College Gardens and the Botanic Gardens look ideal habitats but none have been found in the City.

Keep an eye open for Common Cranes in flight over the City – Jon Heath has seen them. This time of year they gather in numbers and move around the countryside. The Fenland population in 2018 was 53 individuals and is now the largest in the Country and exceeds the North Norfolk population and the reintroduced population in Somerset. I recently visited The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve at Welney and saw a group of 26 – disappointingly they were all adults with no young birds from the current breeding season.

A recent article in British Birds magazine by Mark Avery describes how forty-three million non-native young Pheasants are released for shoots annually. He questions the impact this might have on local wild bird populations (British Birds, July 2019). Only about 13 million of these are actually shot! This may account for the increase in Buzzards which must be our commonest countryside raptor and probably breeds in our study area. There have even been calls from the shooters to cull Buzzards that are taking some of these released birds or scaring the released game birds onto non shooting land. Most pheasant shooting is carried out with lead shot so there is a knock-on pollution problem. In Denmark lead shot is banned and replaced by steel shot.

A Willow Warbler (above) was in the Buddleia at Cambridge North Station on 19^th August. I used to think I could tell Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff apart on their calls. Willow Warblers have a disyllabic “hoo …weet”, Chiffs a monosyllabic “hooeet”. I’m not so sure now! At least two Chiffs in Milton Country Park on 15^th August, two Chiffs in Logan’s Meadow on 23^rd August were typical tail and wing flicking Chiffchaffs; one heard calling in a private garden in Huntingdon Road on 29^th August (identified by call!).

There have been several county records of Pied Flycatchers in the last two weeks of August and lots along the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts but none revealed themselves in our study area.

There have also been county reports of Whinchats and Redstarts. Whinchats used to be regular autumn migrants on a farm in the north of our study when I worked there.

An Osprey was seen at Great Kneighton/Hobson’s Park on 26^th August – a typical date for this migrant. One of the adult Peregrines was seen near its City centre nest site on 29^th August.

Bob Jarman 29^th August 2019

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

On Dawn Chorus day (7th May) Duncan McKay cycled across the City and recorded dawn bird song from 17 locations; he also asked other Nat Hist Soc members to record the dawn chorus from their bedroom windows – on their mobile phones – and received replies from 7 other locations. He had the following results from the total of 24 locations:
Blackbird 18/24; Robin 17/24; Wren 16/26; Woodpigeon 13/14; Blackcap 11/24; Carrion Crow 7/24; Chiffchaff 6/24.

In addition, he recorded single Sedge, Reed and Cetti’s Warblers along Cherry Hinton Brook. The big surprise that Duncan has confirmed is the widespread presence of Blackcaps and Chiffchaff across the city this year. He emphasises a 7th May dawn chorus is a single time-point in a much bigger time-frame. From late February until mid-April gardens are ringing with singing Great Tits especially on sunny mornings. By the beginning of May, they are feeding broods and feature less in early morning throng. Blue Tits are odd songsters. They have a variety of calls but their song is a strange scratchy effort that is only delivered during a short period in April – and that’s it! Thanks, Duncan – brilliant! Blackcaps are still singing widely until the beginning of July.

An article in the current British Birds Journal summarises work by the BTO looking at garden bird feeding. As a nation, we spend between £200m and 300m on bird feeding products annually (I’m at least £50 of that!) and this has contributed to significant changes since the 1970’s – Goldfinches and Woodpigeons in particular have become much more common. I’m not convinced about Goldfinches; I remember often coming across “charms” of Goldfinches in north Cambridge with my friends as schoolboy birders in the early 1970’s. Woodpigeons, yes! Modern farm rotations have included winter Oilseed Rape since the late 1970’s and this has produced a benign environment for Woodpigeons in the countryside – it’s becoming full up with Woodpigeons so they have moved into urban areas!. They raid my fat balls and often browse the grass and weeds in my small lawn and on the nearby park.

I have had my differences with Cambridge City Council over their use of Community Payback teams clearing vegetation. I came across a team who were using sticks to thrash the vegetation to shreds to clear the pathway along Hobson’s Brook. The thrashing of path-side vegetation seemed completely indiscriminate and included a thicket where I had seen a pair of Chiffchaffs building a nest in May close to the path…I did not see or hear the Chiffchaffs again. I also questioned the Council commitment to conservation after all the nettle clumps on Midsummer Common were strimmed – nettles being an important larval food plant for several of our declining butterfly species.

Lastly an Osprey over Trumpington Meadows on Friday 21st June (Iain Webb – www.cbcwhatsabout.blogspot.com). This blog may go quiet in the next month as I recover from hip surgery.

bobjarman99@btinternet.com – 2nd July 2019

One of our most exciting spring migrants is the Hobby, a swift-shaped falcon. Satellite tagging has shown they spend their winters catching termites in Mozambique. One or two pairs probably breed on the edges of our project area; hunting birds are often over the City and were recently seen over Huntingdon Road and Chesterton. In the early 1960’s this species was confined to the New Forest and Dorset heaths. Slowly, it expanded its range and by 1964 there may have been 1-2 pairs nesting in Cambridgeshire. Until the 1960’s this species was a target for bird nesters. It uses disused crows nests and is faithful to suitable breeding sites; a breeding site in the north of our project area has probably been used for the last 25 years. It nests late and entire clutches were stolen to order. Once taken the birds did not usually lay again and if they did the eggs were often stolen for a second time.

The ban on egg collecting and more importantly enforcing the ban enabled the Hobby to expand from its New Forest strong-hold. Crows were less persecuted so the number of potential nest sites increased. The extraction of gravel in the Home Counties and into Cambridgeshire created open water gravel pits for it to feed on one of its favourite prey items – dragonflies.

While Hobbys are away in winter chasing termites in southern Africa, the City’s Peregrines are catching feral pigeons in the Market Square or wildfowl on the Ouse Washes.

The male Peregrine of our city centre nesting pair on watch some distance from the nest on 15^th May – it’s a good sign! The heavy rain the next day on the 16^th is a worry as the nest was partially water-logged last year and one chick was lost.

Common Terns have returned and are regularly fishing from Jesus Green to Riverside to Horningsea and Bait’s Bite. Where they breed is a mystery but in August young birds can be seen harassing the adults for food.

The Common Terns below Elizabeth Way Bridge; one of them swallowing a fish about half the size of the bird itself!

There are at least two singing Whitethroats in bushes along the river on Logan’s Meadow. It’s probably our commonest “scrub” warbler; its pleasant short scratchy song is often the prelude to a towering song flight, a rather clumsy hover and then parachute descent into a bush. Nearby are Treecreepers nesting in one of the nest boxes put up by the Council.

 Male Yellow Wagtail                                Whitethroat

Yellow Wagtails are much less common than they used to be. They are birds of meadows and damp pasture. This bird was photographed in a wet puddle near the Histon Rd/Huntingdon Road footpath on the 11^th May. They have adapted to agricultural arable crops and occasionally nest in oilseed rape in the north of our project area. A study by Bill Jordan for the Cambridgeshire Bird Club found fenland birds often nested in potato and pea crops.

Male Yellow Wagtails have (probably) the dullest song of all our passerines: “slurp, slurp, slurp” or if you are lucky: “slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp”, but their striking yellow plumage says it all!

So far no definite sight or sound of Black Redstarts in the City.

Couldn’t resist a couple of butterfly pics; a Brimstone, left, on a Primrose and a rather battered Speckled Wood that had probably emerged from hibernation; both taken near Histon Road.

Bob Jarman

17^th May 2017

What’s the point of Woodpigeons? What do they do? What are they for? The UK breeding population increased by 169% between 1967-2010 (Bird Atlas 2007-11, Balmer et al) probably because of agricultural intensification and boosted by the move to winter oilseed rape and winter cereals from the late 1970’s. The UK population is estimated at 5.4 million pairs and its abundance is probably because of the birds’ ability to survive on green vegetation unlike other granivores (BTO Birdtrends 2014)

More recently Woodpigeons have become dominant garden birds (RSPB Garden Birdwatches) probably as countryside habitats become “full” of resident birds. Despite this their breeding biology and ecology are poorly studied.

        Woodpigeons nesting in
Dorchester town centre

Woodpigeon left;
Collared Dove right

 

A maize stubble field in the north of our study area attracted a flock of 1,480 (counted from photographs) in winter 2015/16. UK birds are almost entirely resident but Woodpigeons in northern Europe do migrate and movements of autumn birds have been noted on the north Norfolk coast. Woodpigeons to birdwatchers are an irritating fact of life! Lone birds can resemble Sparrow Hawks and distant flocks can look like Golden Plovers.

Stock Doves (or Stock Pigeons) are smaller discrete versions of the clattering, bulky Woodpigeon and lack the white wing and white neck patches. They are usually seen singly or in pairs but, unusually, a flock of c100 were feeding on Oil seed Rape stubble from harvest 2016 awaiting spring barley 2017 drilling in the north of our project area.

Feral pigeons: escaped homers, urban vandals, building defacers – these general nuisance birds are thought to derive from wild Rock Doves which are now confined to rocky northern and western cliffs on the very margins of the UK.

These feral birds should now be controlled by urban Peregrines. Cambridge has its own nesting Peregrines (see below); London has 26-30 breeding pairs – the second highest urban Peregrine population in the world behind New York.

Hopefully Peregrines will breed again in the City this year; the female is more strongly barred and bigger than the male by about an additional 1/3^rd; they have been seen mating.

Male Peregrine (above)

Female Peregrine (right)

Corvids – the crows – are also unloved (see March blog). The local newspaper in Royston, Hertfordshire is the “Royston Crow” but the crow on the paper’s logo is not the corvid we are familiar with – it’s a Hooded Crow. Hooded Crows used to be considered conspecific with the Carrion Crow but have been granted species status. They used to be frequent winter visitors in flocks of 30+ in Cambridgeshire but are now exceptionally rare – 1 or 2 per year in Norfolk and occasional single strays into the north of Cambs.

Hooded Crows replace Carrion Crows in Ireland and central to northern Scotland and are the common crow in much of Fennoscandinavia and central Europe. Milder winters have probably resulted in these birds remaining resident with little need to move south or west, to the UK, to avoid freezing conditions.

A scruffy Hooded Crow!

The Rook survey in our NatHistCam project area is now 108 (apparently) active nests. Rather like House Sparrows the biggest numbers are in the Cherry Hinton area.

Another corvid is the Jay. This woodland species is a resident and predator of nests and nestlings and eater of slugs and snails. In Chesterton, breeding birds are summer visitors and the first arrived back on March 17^th.

^{May 2017 Bob Jarman}