Our next talk is coming up soon, on Thursday 7th December, when Dr Anthony Lowney from Hartpury University will talk about the tiny African Pygmy Falcon – Africa’s smallest bird of prey. Anthony spent seven years in South Africa where he carried out his PhD and post-doc at the University of Cape Town and in the Kalahari where he studied birds and bird nests in arid environments.
One species that Anthony studied in detail is the African Pygmy Falcon, as part of a research team that had followed a population of up to 40 territories since 2011, and he will share his knowledge of this charismatic but understudied species. Anthony will discuss the falcon’s breeding biology and their rather strange relationship with Sociable Weavers (a species the falcons rely on for their nesting sites).
The venue is again the Royal British Legion Club in Hardwicke, GL2 4QA. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. There’s a bar; under-18s must be accompanied.
Standard tickets are £7, full-time students £3.50 and under-18s are free. Online bookings are subject to a small booking fee. If you would rather pay cash on the door, just reply to this email stating how many tickets you would like.
Richard is a lifelong birder and photographer who lives on the Cotswolds and has studied Hobbies there for many years. With great patience – and with help from landowners and gamekeepers – he has found many territories and nest sites.
Richard will share his detailed knowledge of this notoriously secretive species, and show his remarkable photos of Hobbies in and around their nests.
Royal British Legion Club, Hardwicke, Gloucester, GL2 4QA
Thursday 16th November
Tickets: Standard: £7 Full-time students: £3.50 Under 18s: free
…or to reserve a ticket and pay cash on the door, email [email protected]. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. There’s a bar; under-18s must be accompanied
The Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group has been studying the diet of goshawk using nest trail cameras for the five years 2017-22. In many nests the non-native grey squirrel constitutes a high proportion of prey delivered by the adults. Grey squirrel can cause significant damage to trees, recently estimated to cost £37 million a year across England and Wales, and considerable time and money is spent on grey squirrel control. It is expected that a breeding pair of goshawk can provide a form of natural pest control of grey squirrel in the woodland in which they nest, and this article discusses ways in which woodland managers can support them. Download the full article by Anna in PDF format below.
Chris Sperring is a professional wildlife conservationist who has worked for the Hawk and Owl Trust for over 30 years. He also presents and broadcasts on TV and Radio, lectures on a wide range of subjects, is a wildlife photographer, and writes articles for magazines and newspapers… and always enjoys a good debate! Chris will talk about: • British owls • the work of the Hawk and Owl Trust • how do current climate issues impact on owl ecology?
Last winter I was asked to estimate the number of breeding pairs of Red Kite Milvus milvus in the North Cotswolds for a presentation being given by Andrew Bluett. From a back of an envelope calculation based on breeding sites known to me and other local birders and suitability of habitat, I suggested there to be 100 breeding pairs of Red Kite in the thirteen 10km Ordnance Survey squares which make up the North Cotswolds. This generated some discussion amongst county birders, in part because of the lack of records submitted to the county recorder and in part because they only colonised the area around a decade ago, with the first confirmed attempted breeding recorded in 2012 on the National Trust’s Sherborne Park Estate (although earlier breeding attempts were suspected).
Figure 1 Three Red Kite chicks in a nest in the North Cotswolds (Rich Tyler)
In order to derive a more reliable population estimate for the area, in the spring/summer of 2022 I set out to census (i.e. find all) breeding pairs of Red Kite in one 10km square, which could then be extrapolated to give a population estimate for the whole area. I selected SP11 as it is my local square and was easiest for me to survey comprehensively. In total I located 13 active nests, plus a 14th site near Windrush which is usually used but was not this year for some unknown reason. Seven nests were at sites where I had known them to breed in previous years. Three further sites were located by specifically surveying farm copses and woodlands in SP11 for Red Kite. One new site was discovered whilst carrying out a breeding bird survey for a local farm. One nest was discovered whilst watching my son play cricket as an adult Red Kite disappeared into some poplars on the edge of Bourton-on-the-Water carrying prey. The final nest was perhaps the most interesting find – I was checking on the Red Kite nest near Sherborne to estimate the age of the chicks for ringing and as I walked out of the woodland I happened to pass under the old nest used in the previous year. As I looked up, I was amazed to see three large chicks perched on the edge of the nest, almost ready to fledge. The nests were less than 200m apart – certainly the closest I’ve known them to nest. All chicks from both nests fledged successfully.
Figure 2 shows the approximate (but not exact) location of the 13 nests, plus the unoccupied Windrush site. Looking at the distribution of maps and knowing the landscape, I think it is quite possible that I have missed a 15th nest site to the south/east of Cold Aston. I have also shown the approximate location of three nest sites just outside SP11 which I happened upon by chance (although I did not thoroughly survey outside the boundary).
Figure 2 Approximate (but not exact) locations of 14 Red Kite nests in SP11, plus 3 just outside
The North Cotswolds recording area consists of thirteen 10km squares (SO90, SO91, SO92, SP00, SP01, SP02, SP03, SP10, SP11, SP12, SP13, SP22, SP23), the majority of which are made up of similar habitat to SP11 and all of which are known to hold breeding Red Kite (with nearly 50 sites known, the majority of which have been located by chance during other surveys/activities by me or other local birders). To estimate the total number of breeding pairs in the North Cotswolds, an area equal to one 10km square was disregarded on the assumption that there would be few breeding pairs within urban areas such as Cheltenham and Cirencester. Otherwise, it was considered that the remaining area all consisted of suitable habitat for breeding Red Kite, with a mix of farmland for foraging and woodland/copses for nesting, and so each remaining 10km square is likely to hold 10-15 pairs of breeding Red Kite. The eastern squares are likely to hold slightly higher numbers than the western squares as these were colonised first from the Chilterns reintroduction. The whole North Cotswolds area is therefore estimated to hold between 120-180 breeding pairs of Red Kite. The North Cotswolds makes up approximately half of Gloucestershire but as the other parts of Gloucestershire are further from the reintroduction site and contain less suitable habitat for Red Kite, breeding numbers outside the North Cotswolds are currently much lower – but may well increase in time.
Many thanks to Dave for providing an update on his long term monitoring of the Peregrines at Cheltenham Christ Church, having added details about what turned out to be a disappointing 2022 season. The document summarizing the lives of the birds that breed at Christ Church can be downloaded here or found on the documents page. A large amount of archive video can also be found via the church’s own website.
Blackfriars Priory, Gloucester, GL1 2HN – Wed 11th Jan 2023.
Come along to this historic venue and hear the Emmy Award-winning documentary wildlife cameraman and filmmaker talk about his work and his new book, which won the 2022 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. James has filmed around the world and has collaborated with Sir David Attenborough on numerous projects. He is also the author of ‘The Man Who Climbs Trees’.
James says ‘I wrote this book whilst filming wildlife in the New Forest during the spring and summer of 2020, a time when the world was filled with uncertainty and things were growing darker by the day.
On my own in the woods, I was given permission to keep filming a family of wild Goshawks. The story revolves around the day-to-day drama of life in an apex predator’s nest, but at its heart GOSHAWK SUMMER is my attempt to acknowledge and honour the critical role that Nature plays in our lives – a role that we take for granted at our peril.’
Tickets: Standard: £12 Full-time students: £6 Under 18s: free Tickets available now from Eventbrite Online bookings are subject to a small booking fee. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. There’s a bar; under-18s must be accompanied
Our Winter Talks are up and running again and the first one is part of the launch of a major new book about the species, written by two Gloucestershire-based raptor enthusiasts, Richard Sale and Steve Watson. Using brilliant new video footage and photographs, Steve and Richard will give a detailed insight into the contents of the book, including new information about this charismatic raptor. You will learn something new about Peregrines, perhaps about plumage, diet, distribution or flight and behaviour. Running to 528 pages, ‘The Peregrine Falcon’ is a very comprehensive book, covering all nineteen subspecies that occur across the world. There are 150 full colour photographs and 235 figures and tables. Signed copies of the book will be available at the talk at a special price of £45 (normal price for unsigned copies is £50 plus P&P). Cash or cards accepted. Date: Wednesday 30th November, 7:30pm (doors open 7pm) Venue: British Legion Social Club, Green Lane, Hardwicke, Gloucester, GL2 4QA
There’s a bar, and under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are £7 each plus a small booking fee (full-time students half-price, and under-18s free) and are available via EventBrite via this link:-
For further information about ‘The Peregrine Falcon’ by Richard Sale and Steve Watson, see this PDF.
Also please ‘Save the Date’ of January 11th for the next GRMG talk when EMMY award-winning wildlife cameraman and author James Aldred will talk about his book “The Goshawk Summer”, which won the 2022 Wainwright Award for Nature Writing.
We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our application for a grant under DEFRA’s new Farming in Protected Landscapes programme for 175 barn owl, little owl and kestrel boxes to be installed this winter in the North Cotswolds. We are working with over 30 farms and estates in the area to increase the availability of nest sites in barns currently lacking suitable sites and to replace natural sites in ash trees which will be lost to ash die-back. We will also be providing advice on improving habitat quality for these species and monitoring boxes going forward to expand our knowledge of these species in Gloucestershire.
A year ago I gave an account of a successful breeding attempt by a pair of Hobbies on farmland near my home in Halmore, Berkeley. I thought those who have seen that article would be interested in hearing what happened in 2021.
Last year my final sighting of one of the adult birds was on September 17, and I last saw the two juveniles on the 22nd, by which time they were fully grown and strong flyers. Having kept my fingers firmly crossed over the winter for a return, I was delighted, on May 1 this year, to spot a Hobby on Ragged Oak (as I call it), the stag-headed oak tree amid arable farmland which was most frequently used by the Hobbies in 2020, first by the male while on lookout and later also by the juveniles after fledging. This 2021 arrival was even on the same branch, suggesting that I was looking at the same male bird.
The male hobby in late June 2021 on ‘Lone Oak’, taken from a hide concealed in a nearby hedge (Chris Newton)
Within the hour we were leaving for a two-week holiday in Scotland, so I could do no more until the middle of May. I was conscious that after 2021’s very cold spring the bird world generally was a couple of weeks behind the norm, and that the small birds upon which Hobby families rely were in short supply, Would this affect breeding?
Sightings from mid-May to mid-June were irregular and always of single birds, but then on June 15 I spotted two Hobbies sitting in the birds’ other favourite tree, a solitary oak tree I call Lone Oak. From my previous observations, they were behaving typically for a mated pair pre-incubation – sitting several feet apart in the same tree and doing very little for extended periods. I saw them again later that day and the next, but after that we were back to single-bird sightings for the rest of the month. I presumed that this was because the female was now on eggs, which are typically laid around mid-June, although I was conscious that given the late spring, the breeding cycle might have been pushed back.
The male soaring above (Chris Newton)
On 13.7 I saw one of the birds, presumably the male, apparently chasing away a Kestrel (a Kestrel pair were successfully raising a family in the same area at about the same time). A couple of days later I saw the Hobby harrying a small group of Swallows high up (Swallows and other hirundines were thin on the ground locally this summer, so perhaps he was having to take every chance he could get). Then on July 16th I was surprised to see two Hobbies flying away together from the field side by side. I had assumed the female must be incubating, although I believe female Hobbies do leave the nest periodically.
During the second half of July, when the temperature topped 30 degrees, and the first half of August, I continued to make sporadic sightings of single birds, always in mature oaks with bare branches, like last year. However these locations were not all in or around the birds’ ‘home’ field as they had been in 2020, and some of the chosen trees were 200-300 metres away from the group of oaks where I had presumed the Hobbies were nesting, making me wonder if they had chosen another location.
A view of the bird on ‘Ragged Oak’ (Chris Newton)
On August 11, I noticed from afar a commotion in the heart of the Hobbies’ territory which involved two Hobbies and a number of Carrion Crows. The crows did not seem willing to leave, and the fuss went on for several minutes. Was this an attack on the nest, and if so was this, or another attack by these birds, successful? I will never know, but it seems possible.
I was now searching daily for branching juveniles, as in 2020 I had first seen them on August 16. I was also still hoping to see or hear a food delivery, something which I had observed several times by the same stage of the 2020 season, because this would have given me a fix on where the nest actually was. In fact I only ever detected one food delivery, on August 14, when I heard the male’s ‘burglar alarm’ call and saw him bringing a food item into the same small group of large oaks where I believe they nested last year, suggesting that young birds were still being fed at that point – although he may of course have been provisioning the female. I heard that unmistakeable call many times last year, but in summer 2021 I heard it only three or four times in total.
Solitary bird photographed in late July (Chris Newton)
I saw single Hobbies several times from then until August 30, when a glimpse of the male in Lone Oak proved to be the last sighting of the summer. I continued to patrol the area with binoculars until the end of September without further success. I also explored our local fields more widely, conscious that other pairs might be breeding nearby (I have anecdotal evidence from a neighbour that they have nested in the area before) and if so, that the August-September period would give by far the best chance of discovery, because this is when the whole family are on the wing as the juveniles learn to fly and to hunt.
So was predation the cause of this year’s failed attempt to breed, or was it the lack of food in the shape of small (and particularly young) birds? Or maybe something else? I will never know. I am just hoping that my Hobbies will survive the rigours of migration to return in 2022, or perhaps that the chicks they raised last year will return as breeding adults, as they will be old enough then. I’ll keep you posted.
Many thanks to Dave Pearce for updating his chronicles of the Peregrines of Christ Church since 2010. The revised document is now available to download here. Dave is already looking forward to the coming season as we look forward to hearing his insightful observations.
