My Kind of Bird Watching Winter 2000

My thoughts turned to writing this article while I was sat in a canvas hide 8 feet from a grit tray waiting to photograph bearded tits. I felt the situation admirably sums up what I like to get out of my bird watching

Firstly I am thrilled by the exquisite plumage and delightful antics of the beardies as males chase off other males apparently in defence of the female, then they sway in the reeds and suddenly dart off, flying with ease through the dense reeds. I indeed feel privileged to be so close to such beautiful and interesting birds. I recall how I first saw beardies on the paths at Leighton, we wondered if they were taking seeds or insects or was it possibly grit they were after? Now right in front of me I have the answer, for by putting out fresh builders sharp sand on trays and seeing beardies start to root among it, they could only be searching for suitable grit, which they need in winter to help grind up the hard reed seeds.

But what gives even further value to the sighting is that all the birds are individually colour ringed. I note down the combinations and I as soon as I get home I switch on my computer to work out which birds they are. I am interested to find that four of the five birds that I got the colour combinations of are adults. One male having been first ringed as a juvenile bird in 1995 making it five years old. His female is three years younger and we have not seen her since last October. This means that we have identified 43 different adult females to date interestingly this compares with 74 adult males and both are up on last year. I check back through the sightings and retraps of this apparent pair to see if they add any further clues as to whether beardies pair for life or at least as long as they survive. They have been caught together on three occasions, lending further support to this theory

So my kind of bird watching means watching and delighting in seeing birds (and of course other wildlife) but I want to go one step further and study birds, finding out about their behaviour, ecology and populations. In a species like bearded tit you really feel that you are breaking new ground, although you seem to raise more questions than you answer!

 Each spring I do a common bird census on Warton Crag. This means ten main visits of ca 3 hours with a few supplementary evening visits to record woodcock, owl's etc. Not only is it a super place to be, but I find mapping bird populations really exciting; You get to know the area and its birds and other wildlife so well. Each year has its surprises as the population changes, you soon discover that species have good and bad years. At the start of the season you wonder for example if a certain patch of blackthorn and gorse will again hold nesting long-tailed tits and later on a singing lesser whitethroat. At the end of the season, as you analyse the results you can discern some populations trends in many species and you start to look for possible reasons for these changes.

In winter I thrill to the exquisite beauty of wildfowl and waders, especially when present in large numbers, but to make the experience complete I love to count them. Partly this is done as my contribution to the National WEBS counts. But I count almost every time I see any concentrations. I can look back over the years and see for example how the wildfowl and waders have firstly moved in then increased on the Allen & Eric Morecambe Pools. Some species such as mallard increased then declined, others like wigeon have continued to increase.  All this gives me great interest and satisfaction, and I helps get me out on those cold winter days!

Like everyone else I like to see a rare bird, I can still remember for example the great thrill at finding a Wilson's phalarope on the Eric Morecambe Pool. (Quite fitting this)! But I prefer to see my rare birds either on my own patch or abroad in their natural habitat. I personally would not travel great distances in Britain just to see a rare bird. The thought of spending all day in a car on our crowded motorways just to spend a short time watching one bird then make the long journey back fills me with horror. I would much rather spend the time watching birds in my own area. The same applies when birding abroad I plan my trips so that I spend as much time as possible bird watching. My philosophy over rare birds is that rather than travel to somewhere in the south of England to see for example a single great bustard, I prefer to see 80-90 displaying naturally in Kiskunshag National Park in Hungary! After all the single British great bustard is really the village idiot of the great bustard population which has lost its way and will probably perish!

But don't get me wrong though, I fully appreciate that my style of bird watching is not for everyone. One of the fascinating things about bird watching as a hobby is that it has so many different facets. I welcomed the establishment of the Reality Bird League and really appreciate the hard work that John Mason and the others who take part put in. Not only does it add an extra dimension to their bird watching and increase the enjoyment of their hobby, but also it has spread coverage of our area as they search for birds to add to their year list. I find the report in each newsletter fascinating. I have toyed with the idea of joining but I have a sneaking suspicion that with my style of bird watching I would come bottom! How about a second division where you get extra points if you count birds? You could for example get extra points if you see over 20 black terns or regularly count over 1000 wigeon at a locality. Just a suggestion!  Enjoy your bird watching .

John Wilson