And still it goes on!

I'm not one for politics I lead a pretty laid back life with good morals but some things really get my goat, politicians being one! I'm not going to moan on about it here but by god I wish we could get someone in power who really gives a hoot about the environment and protecting it!

Sadly bird of prey persecution continues in the UK and to be honest its none stop really, maybe this is because we are becoming more aware and people/groups are making more noise about it but I definitely agree with the statement that what is found is only the tip of a very big iceberg!

I get regular updates and new flashes via e-mail and social media and within the last 7 days it has resulted in the updates of the 16 birds of prey found poisoned in Scotland, a buzzard from the Peak District found in a leg trap and a poisoned Peregrine falcon.

As always you can keep up to date with the latest raptor persecution in Britain check out

 http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/


Else where in the world Chris Packham is raising awareness on the slaughter of thousands of birds in Malta during the migration. Interestingly we had a vet from Malta visit work to ask for advice on rehabilitation and furthering her contacts, she regularly has Marsh Harrier/Honey Buzzard and other bird species brought to her for treatment after being shot by Maltese hunters. I asked her if it was getting better out there and more importantly are the Maltese government actually doing anything and her opinion was that things had improved and the government and law enforcement in Malta were working hard to stop the slaughter. It will be interesting to see if Chris Packhams work out in Malta shows otherwise. A few years ago I did weigh up spending a week out in Malta during the migration helping monitor and police the migration of thousands of birds over Malta including many species of birds of prey but in the end part of me had to ask could I stand on a view point and watch a Honey Buzzard being shot out the sky in the distance? The answer was no I couldn't!

Find out about Chris Packhams work http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/

My 2014 season has started monitoring wild birds of prey on my patches albeit slowly as I have a new team mate in the shape of an 8 week old Dachshund puppy who doesn't quite have the legs for a full day in the countryside yet. Early signs are that Tawny owls are having a good start to the year my faithful pair have 4 eggs and other pairs on territory. The Little owls that nested in the side of some aviaries at work are calling every afternoon and hopefully will take to one of the nest boxes I have put up for them. I feel I am behind on Ravens this year, I really need to pull my finger out and get up some trees to check nest sites. Buzzards are all in the usual places with new sites appearing and I had a lovely view of a male Goshawk in my local woods whilst out running the other evening on the side of the wood I haven't found them yet! Long eared owls are also on the cards this year with a nice evening spent in Wales with Steve Roberts locating sites which turned up one brief sighting of a male and a distant female nest calling. It will all kick off soon I love this time of year!

We've had a few sighting's of Red kites over the centre and that's another thing on the bucket list for this year, I must get down to a feeding station its been 10 years since I last visited Girgrin farm.

Ok I better go the puppy is trying to demolish a newspaper all over the lounge! I will write again soon sorry for the delay!!

4 months!!!!

Four bloody months it has taken me to write another blog post, I'm worse than my boss Jemima at updating my blog but I blame her for working me so hard!

I wanted to share some videos that I have found on Youtube, well one in particular and then the others are ones I have caught bits of but they are all on eagles so I hope you enjoy! The first one is on the White Tailed Eagle and I loved it. In fact it made me look into flight for Belarus it looked such a stunning country with amazing wildlife!

White Tailed Eagle video -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx1-Os0l7Ac

The rest below!

Philippine Eagle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjqZ8zxidk

Bald Eagle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjqZ8zxidk

Harpy Eagle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqEy7Akirfw

And I know you eagle fans are secret owl lovers to so here is an Eagle owl video from the BBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjmu8SWsdm4


Enjoy!

Once in a blue moon and a blog post!

I should probably stop apologising now for my complete neglect of this blog, life is super hectic since I started the new job. The new job is going brilliantly though here at the ICBP with lots of exciting things on the horizon. BUT this blog is not about me but the birds so I must get back on track.

I really don't know where to start with this post as it has been so long since the last one a lot of things have been going on around the world relating to birds of prey and conservation. The breeding season is well under way in the UK and although I said I wouldn't mention myself again I am back out monitoring wild birds of prey with some fantastic new species on the list. I will do a report at the end of the breeding season! With the breeding season comes the webcams from all over the world, here in the UK the usual urban Peregrines will now have chicks fledging with Ospreys also being filmed again including the great Loch Lowes Osprey affectionately known as Lady back once again and breeding!!

Have a look at her attempts at  http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/

Meanwhile elsewhere in the UK raptor persecution continues to rear its very sinister and ugly head to th point where I really don't know where to start! As always one blog in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest in bringing the news to our attention http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/

Possibly the shocker of the summer must go to Natural England though for the underhand grant of two licences to control Buzzards on a shooting estate and Chicken farm. This would have never come to light had it not been for a freedom of information application from the RSPB who must be applauded for this. Those of you new to this on going idiotics won't realise that the government had to do a U-turn on a proposal to look into lethal control methods of buzzards affecting games stock last year after public out cry. I will actually  write up a complete separate posting on this topic delving into more detail and personal opinion but the opening of canned worms can be found here http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/natural-england-issues-licence-to-destroy-buzzard-eggs-nests-to-protect-pheasants/


I actually have a facebook page fr this blog that as you can imagine has not been touched so I must start adding all the interesting stuff I read via e-mail or on various websites but if you want to find more stuff out take a look at the links page I have put up on the right hand side! I will also update the bird of the month page tonight with the help of the fantastic ARKive site http://www.arkive.org/ , if you have a spare hour online and love the natural world then you have to take a look! I used this site the other day with a group of school children learning about bird of prey habitats, the video footage of Barn owls, Peregrines and Philippine Eagle had them mesmerised!

Finally before I go I must thank Allen Holmes again for letting me use his images they really are awesome have a look at his work http://www.allenholmeswildlifegallery.co.uk/

BRRRRRRRR

It won't let me upload pictures!!!!!! The laptop I am using that is because I am not part of the administration team so I have to find out how to change this with the boss who has the pass word! And I have some cool photos to show you!

Anyway do we think its going to be a bumper summer this year? Well I sure hope so because boy is it cold at work especially the biting wind which blows up the flying field. I wanted to go and check a Raven nest the other day back at home but the snow was 5 foot deep at the top of the overhang and I didn't fancy my chances even with a rope! It is a good job this bird chose to build the nest under a decent over hang otherwise it might have looked like the poor Peregrine at Nottingham Trent uni.

This image only worked as I borrowed it from a FB page! What a hardcore mother!

I feel for all the wildlife out there in these extreme weather conditions we have been having but one species that has appeared several times over the last month is the Barn owl. I tend to drive to work early morning and for the past month I've had 4-5 sightings of Barn owl in broad daylight which is a classic sign of the hardships of nature in winter. The Barn owl has had a roller coaster ride in the UK over the last 50 years or more and it is probably the most studied of our native owls with nest boxes schemes over large parts of the UK, fingers crossed this year proves to be a successful year to keep numbers on an upwards trend. As with any predator though their numbers are governed by their prey so the small mammal population will play a huge role in the outcome of the 2013 breeding season.

Barn Owl from my friend Allen Holmes. http://www.allenholmeswildlifegallery.co.uk

Looking at the picture above I'm not sure a species of owl has stirred quite as much emotion in humans and folklore as the Barn owl has, as I type this I can hear the Barn owl in the aviary outside shrieking its very harsh call but they can also make snoring and hissing noises as well. It is actually the most cosmopolitan of all owls in the world only missing from the harsh arctic and antarctic regions and if you look at the classification of the Barn owl you will find owls as an order Strigiformes are split into Tytonidae which is the Barn and Bay owls alone with every other species of owl within the Strigidae. Enough of that banter this late in the evening!

Probably the first bird of prey that drew me into raptors playing a big part of my life but also what an important member of our countryside. An owl of the night with its shrieking and hissing call was often portrayed in earlier days as a creature of ill omen and bad luck even nailed to your door to ward off evil spirits. Little did they know that this bird was in fact the farmers best friend when it came to protecting his produce from rodents, the farms own pest control better than ugly modern plastic bait stations or a song bird slaying moggy!

Sadly the Barn owl now falls foul of our roads and I remember being told once that one in three Barn owl deaths are accounted for by our highways and after seeing them ghosting along the A49 to work this last month I can imagine this to be true. We keep our hedgerows trimmed down car height meaning Barn owls fly straight into the path of vehicles and also the best form of hunting habitat of rank, rough tussocky grassland is mainly found along our roads drawing Barn owl in. Lets start growing taller hedges landowners!

That being said this species is on the limit of its range here on the British Isles and when you factor in the fast pace of life and change this country has seen I think this species has done really well to survive. Along with the hard work of various individuals and conservation groups I think we can enjoy Barn owls in Britain for years to come and who wouldn't want to!

3 months late!!!

Sorry for the massive lack of blogging I think it has been about 3 months since my last blog but life has been busy nonetheless birds of prey are still in the news. I have a new job however and I would like to include it a bit more in this blog as I'm sure readers will enjoy hearing about it. I will also aim to put pictures into post's as looking at other blogs by friends I have realised I don't use any and it is quite plain.

My new job is at the International Centre for Birds of Prey owned and ran by bird of prey authority Jemima Parry-Jones and her brilliant team of staff. I have to say I feel privileged to work at such and establishment the collection and knowledge is brilliant and hopefully I can bring something to the table.

Find out more at www.icbp.org and come and visit me sometime!

Sadly birds of prey are still being persecuted in the UK I could probably write something different on it everyday for a year and their would still be a backlog of stories but I did read an interesting book based on mans relationship with predators titled Tooth and Claw. Not just including raptors but other predatory species past and present on the British Isles and mans relationship(s).

I've also been having a think about how I write this blog and I'm going to put a few more of my own view points and opinions instead of just news articles and links to websites and papers. Seeing as it is my blog I thought I should add a bit more of a personal opinion on all things raptor related.

Your probably all wondering where my pictures are for this blog but I'm on a new laptop so I will sort it for next time and upload a couple of some birds that I work with! I promise and I won't leave it for 3 months.

Right now I live next door to some vultures and eagle which is cool, I can constantly hear the screeching of one of the centres Barn owls from the owl aviaries and the squirrel that has moved in above me in the attic has just started scratching around!! Good job I'm a heavy sleeper!

Pictures to come tomorrow!!

An invitation to join Terry Pickford bird watching in the Czech Republic May 2013.

The Czech Republic is one of the best-kept secrets in the birding world. Few British birdwatchers venture to this fascinating and friendly country to explore the mountains, extensive reed beds and thousands of fish ponds which are the habitat for many of Europe’s rarest breeding birds. With over 200 recorded breeding species and an unbelievable 405 recorded species to wet your appetite this is a birding paradise.

Saker Falcon, Obora image Dusan Boucny

Yet the Czech Republic is less than two hours’ flight away, accommodation is first- class and food and drink are still remarkably cheap and very enjoyable if you know where to go.

Terry Pickford, one of Britain’s foremost raptor experts with over 45 years experience has been leading small birding groups to Southern Bohemia and Moravia each May since 1995. Groups consist of seven people and under Terry’s expert leadership you will expect to tick off an average of 140 species. As expected raptors are very much on the menu, species include Imperial Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Saker Falcon, Honey Buzzard, Red and Black Kites, Hobby, Montagu’s Harrier, and on rare occasions Red-footed Falcon, Pallid Harrier and Lesser-spotted Eagle have been observed.

Imperial Eagle image by Dusan Boucny

In May 2013 Terry will lead the seven days of a two venue visit to the republic, the first four days beginning from the atmospheric old town of Trebon in Southern Bohemia. From this heavily forested region you will be invited to join Terry as he explores the internationally famous Trebonsko Biosphere reserve, where it is not uncommon to observe four or even five raptor species soaring above your head together.

The fabulous Trebonsko Biosphere Reserve

With more than 500 ponds each constructed in the Middle Ages, these extensive lakes surrounded by vast woodlands now support the largest population of White-tailed eagles in the republic, estimated to number at least twenty nesting pairs. There will also be great opportunities to see Scarlet Rosefinch, European Bee- eaters, Corncrake, Black Stork and a large variety of Woodpeckers before travelling along the Austrian Border to enjoy the last three days of your trip at your final venue in southern Moravia. Here your holiday will continue from the prestigious Hotel Hranicni Zamek, locally known as the Little Border Chateau , near the town of Lednice. Dinner each evening is taken in the hotel dinning room, bring your binoculars, with panoramic views over-looking one of the largest fish ponds in the region providing an unrivalled vista from your table. Look out for: Marsh Harrier, Hobby including many species of waterfowl: Red-crested Pochard, Black-necked Grebe, Gadwall and Garganey plus rare or uncommon waders rarely seen in the UK. You are also likely to see the Roe deer, Eastern Hedgehog and Pine Marten crossing the lawn as evening encroaches. 

Montagu’s Harrier image by Dusan Boucny

Tucked away in an obscure corner of Southern Moravia, just 30 minutes from your hotel, along its border with Austria and Slovakia, you will visit ‘Obora’ one of the republic’s last flood planes regarded as an absolute gem by Gerard Gorman. At the southern tip of this unique region the Dyje and Morava rivers converge and the flood-plain between is a complex of riverine forests with old gnarled oaks, ashes and elms.

Purple Heron  image by Dusan Boucny

Obora is regarded as one of the most important habitats inside the republic for a variety of rare and threatened breeding species of raptors, including Imperial Eagle, Honey Buzzard and Saker Falcon. There is also a good selection of woodpeckers: Middle Spotted, Black, Grey-headed and Syrian; the Golden Oriol and Corncrake can be seen and heard also in good numbers here. You must also look out for both the Purple and Squacco heron along the river and pond edges.

White-tailed Eagle image by Dusan Boucny

If you would like to join Terry or require addition information before making any decision, please contact Terry Pickford by using the the following e-mail: Czech.Birding@raptorpolitics.org.uk before the middle of January 2013 to register your interest.

The visit begins from Manchester airport departing on Wednesday 22 May returning on the 29 May. Throughout the trip you will be staying in first class pension and hotel accommodation complete with en-suite facilities based upon a B/B arrangement. Travel will be by mini bus and throughot the visit Terry will be assisted by Jaroslav Simek one of the republic’s most experienced bird watchers and member of the Czech Republic’s Rare Breeding Bird Committee.

Trebon General Information

Trebon’s main square

Trebon is located on the bank of Lake Svet (World Pond) in the heart of the Trebonsko Protected Landscape Area, which has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The town square is dominated by the Old Town Hall, with its 31-meter tall observation tower. This square is encircled by burghers’ houses, featuring Renaissance and Baroque gables and a vaulted arcade. Trebon’s other historical monuments include a chateau with a park, an Augustinian monastery with St Giles’ Church, and the Schwarzenberg Vault, with a chapel where chamber music performances are held in the summer.

Svet Pond is a man made lake, used for fish farming and water recreation, constructed by the Rozmberk family’s regent in 1571. Rozmberk Instructional Trail, a 22 km marked interpretive cycling trail, begins at the dam on Svet Pond, just south of the old city center. Cesta Kolen Sveta, a 12 km hiking and cycling trail circles the pond itself. The Schwarzenberg Vault is a 19th century Neo-Gothic structure, built as a mausoleum for the Scwarzenberg family, located in its own park south of Svet Pond.

Cervené Blato (Red Marshland) Nature Reserve is located in the south-western part of the Trebonsko Protected Landscape Area. It was established in 1953 to protect the peat-bog, an Ice Age relict that preserves an unusual plant and insect community as well as many pairs of breeding Night jar.

Cervene Blato - Breeding haunt of Green Sandpiper

Lednice Region: information and characteristics of the town and Castle:

Lednice is situated on a flat bank of the River Thaya, which creates numerous picturesque shoulders, canals and ponds there. It is an important border town. Lednice is one of the most attractive and most visited places in the Czech Republic. Since the year 1996, this “Garden of Europe” is a part of the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

The most attractive monument of the Lednice-Valtice historical complex is Lednice castle. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the romantic historical architecture. In the year 1632 the Lichtenstein family built the castle as their summer family residence. They also owned a nearby castle Valtice which was their main residence. Lednice castle was built in Italian style of villas and it became a Moravian pearl of a baroque architecture. 

Between these two castles Lednice and Valtice was created a beautiful park full of valuable historical objects. It was developed over three centuries. When you walk through the park, you can see a romatic ruin of John’s Castle, Hunting lodge built in classicism style, Temple of Apollo with the Doric portico; Pond mansion; Border Castle; Belvedere; a viewpiont Reistna Colonnade; Rendez-vous also called Temple of Diana; Three Graces; Aqueduct; Obelisk; Waterworks and Minaret. You can also see if you are lucky European Beaver, Night Heron and Great Reed Warbler as well as at least four species of woodpecker.

Czech Birdwatching-Image Gallery by Terry Pickford 

Hotel Reception: Little Border Chateau-Moravia

Dinning out: Southern Bohemia

Dinning in the old Castle Dungeon: Southern Bohemia

Little Border Chateau Dinning Room View over Pond

Long-eared owl: Photographed in Chateau Grounds 

 Short-eared Owl: Photographed in Local Graveyard

Sumava Mountains: Birding Group 2010

Sumava Mountains: Scarlet Rosefinch Habitat

Sumava Mountains: Scarlet Rosefinch

Sumava Mountains: Crested-tit

Sumava Mountains: Firecrest

Obora Flood Plain Moravia: Corncrake

White-tailed Eagle: Trebonsko: Southern Moravia

Trebonsko: Carp Production on a huge scale result, 20 breeding pairs White-tailed Eagles

Trebonsko: Eyries containing White-tailed Eagle triplets common

Moravia: Male Montagu Harrier image taken from Mini Bus

Moravia: Female Montagu Harrier captured from Mini Bus bringing nesting material

Moravia: Penduline Tit nest

Moravia: Penduline Tit

Southern Bohemia: Northern Merlin rare summer migrant from Russia, captured near Trebon

Trebonsko Reserve, Southern Bohemia: Jaroslav Simek ringing Bluethroat

Middle-spotted woodpecker, photographed in hotel grounds

Hawfinch photographed in hotel grounds

European Beeeater photographed in breeding colony just 20 Km from hotel

Egg on my face!

I believe you have to laugh in life and most importantly be able to laugh at yourself! Well I had to laugh at myself the other day!

I love my running and I'm really fortunate to have some nice hill's with amazing scenery to run around. Not only is it good for health (apparently) I normally get some cracking views of wildlife especially birds of prey.

Sunday morning I decided to go for a run around and over my favourite hill, it was a lovely morning with blue skies and sunshine the sightings of buzzard and kestrel as I got to the hill. I decided to run round the bottom of the hill alongside some farm land before going up and over back to my car.

Now I'd like to say I'm good at identifying native birds of prey by sight and sound as I spend plenty of time in the field watching them but sometimes you get it wrong, or in this case embarrasingly wrong. As I ran round the path next to the fields I heard an alarm call from a bird of prey and my ears pricked up straight away.

I slowed down to a jog and looked over in what I thought was the direction of the noise and noticed a gnarly bare Oak tree then I heard the noise again. At first I thought Kestrel and scanned the tree for a visual, then the noise again but it was actually more hawk like. I had stopped running at this point and heard the alarm call of another bird straight after the hawks alarm call but still no visual.

The noise started again and I checked the fields but with no binoculars it would have been impossible to see a Sparrowhawk in the grass. What was also odd was a couple of crows were wandering about in the grass not paying the blindest notice to what sounded like a fight near them. Then the noise again exactly the same as the other few times and the penny dropped.

The noise was coming from the farm behind the Oak tree, and then it started again right on cue. It was a hawk and its prey but a recorded one on replay designed to keep birds off the livestock feed on the farm. How stupid did I feel, and not only that I was freezing cold stood their like a right plonker looking for a bird that was in fact a plastic box in a cow shed. Lesson learned!

I bet the crows had a laugh about it!