November issue - Magazine - Page 33
Glenside
News
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LOCAL INTEREST
Nature Notes for December
Jackie goes to church to find some wonderful local birds
that some birds were there
because of their individual
requirements. Creeton, for
example, has several
mature Lime trees that are
festooned with fabulous
Mistletoes. As a result,
there were a number of
Mistle Thrushes at the tops
of those trees eating the
berries. Careby has some large conifers (Picea sp) and I
was staggered to find a Crossbill at the top of one of them
happily using its weird crossed over bill to prize seeds out
of the cones. This was only the second time I have seen a
Crossbill in the area.
Careby's situation next to the river means it is home to
a Kingfisher. Creeton is next to open fields with Meadow
Pipits. Siskins were using the small-coned conifers in
several of the locations. The Yew trees associated with
most churchyards (though unusually there are none in
Creeton) had luscious-looking red berries. Toxic to us but
a brilliant source of food for birds. The Redwings and
Fieldfares recently arrived from Scandinavia were
enjoying those.
Little Bytham church has the largest tower. Birds do
not see a tower, they view it rather as a cliff face, and I
was delighted to find a Peregrine Falcon using the tower
on several occasions. He was not the only raptor species I
found. Buzzard and Red Kite did flybys everywhere and
Castle Bytham is clearly visited by a Sparrowhawk as I
found several plucking sites. Sparrowhawks like to pluck
their food whilst Peregrines dismember it. Inevitably it was
Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves that were being devoured
as Buzzards eat small mammals and Kites like carrion.
The numbers and diversity of birds in all of our
churchyards was really pleasing. I would urge everyone to
go and have a look and enjoy those spaces. You do not
even need binoculars. You are close to the action, and the
density of the evergreens means that you often cannot see
the birds anyway. Rather you should be quiet and listen.
Use the Merlin app to help with ID. If you listen as it
highlights a bird species and look in the direction of the
sound you might catch a glimpse. The app even gives you
a picture of the bird so you know what to look for. It is a
useful tool for everyone and a great learning experience
for youngsters.
Page 33
Images by Pete Murray
When I write these columns I am aware that I am usually
writing about what can be seen on the local footpaths,
farms and nature reserves. However, for people with
limited time or mobility, visiting these places regularly
may not be an option. So it was whilst I was preparing for
my birdwatching Global Big Day in October that I started
to look at some different sites locally.
Global Big Day is when the world's birders come
together as a community and intensively record the local
birds they see over a 24-hour period. This is all done via
an app called eBird and results are submitted to a central
computer owned by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at
Cornell University in the US. It provides a world snapshot
of bird populations and is being used globally to inform
research, planning and conservation measures.
In advance of the event, I decided to create some
additional personal locations to survey. As a start, I looked
at Little Bytham churchyard on several occasions and was
staggered by the birds I
found. After Global Big
Day was over I started to
wonder about the other
Glenside churchyards.
After all, these spaces are
peaceful, have a lot of
mature trees and for
centuries have been
unmolested. The habitat
for birds, which simply
require a safe unpolluted
space to roost and feed,
is as good as any nature
reserve.
So commenced a little adventure. Birds are always
most active for about three hours at the beginning of the
day. Ideally in late autumn that meant being in position to
observe them at between 9.00am and 10.00am. Little
Bytham churchyard is a minute's walk away from my
house, so that was easy. The others are more distant, so I
took the Call Connect bus. What a smashing service it is!
I cannot recommend it highly enough!
The results of my birdwatching were simply
astonishing. It turned out the churchyards had been hiding
all manner of species right under my nose. Not only the
normal garden birds, which I
had expected, but some very
rare, even endangered species.
Every churchyard was unique,
although there were some
species in common to each
location. For example, I found
Blue, Great and Long-tailed
Tits, Robin, Chaffinch and
Goldcrest in each churchyard.
However, the uniqueness
of each space, in both its location
and surrounding habitat, meant
