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The autumn 2016 GRMG newsletter has been sent out to people on our mailing list, and is now available to download here. In this issue, you will find the results from our Little Owl survey, comments on the 2016 Peregrine survey,information on wildlife crime in the county, and two guest articles – ‘The Yorkley Ravens’ by Elizabeth Sleeman and ‘Raptor Monitoring on the National Trust’s Sherborne Park Estate’ by Anna Field – and much more.

We are delighted to offer two talks this winter by speakers who are both nationally recognised authorities on their species. These are ticket-only events; tickets are available at £5 each from the shop on our website, www.glosraptors.co.uk. If you are unable to buy tickets online, contact us on [email protected] to reserve tickets for collection on the door.

At both events there will be tea/coffee and biscuits and a chance to chat and hear about GRMG’s latest activities and plans.

Buzzards, with Robin Prytherch, 7.30pm Thursday 8th December, Gala Club, Fairmile Gdns, Gloucester, GL2 9EB.

Robin has been studying Common Buzzards in an area south of Bristol for many years, making extensive and very detailed observations of breeding behaviour, and monitoring individual birds. He has several papers published in the journal British Birds, most recently on the way territorial size and productivity have changed as numbers have increased, and (in March this year) on “nests, nest trees and prey remains”.

 

Barn Owls, with Colin Shawyer, 7.30 Wednesday 25th January, Ribston Hall School, Stroud Road, Gloucester, GL1 5LE.

Colin is a raptor biologist and professional ecologist specialising in birds, mainly birds of prey and has published widely on this subject. He was Director of the Hawk and Owl Trust between 1988 and 1998. He undertook work for the BTO between 2000 and 2010 developing and implementing its Barn Owl Monitoring Programme and in 1988 founded the Barn Owl Conservation Network (BOCN); he is BOCN Coordinator for UK and Ireland. He oversees and undertakes extensive Barn Owl nest monitoring every season.

You will have noticed that we haven’t posted anything for a while… that’s not because there hasn’t been anything going on! On the contrary, it’s because we’ve all been too busy to write anything for the website (must do better…).
So here’s a brief summary of various things that have occupied us this summer:

Nest-finding and ringing
Supporters have again tried to monitor all known Peregrine nests in the county. We’ve also been busy finding and monitoring nests of Goshawks, Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, Red Kites, Kestrels, Tawny and Little Owls, Hobbies and Ravens and, in some cases, ringing the young birds in them. Much of this work – but by no means all of it – is done in the Forest of Dean. This year we have been helped by a couple of climbers, who are a brilliant addition to the team.

One exciting project was that we advised and supported a crew making a film about Goshawks for the BBC’s Natural History Unit. The programme will feature our honorary president, Helen MacDonald (author of “H is for Hawk”), and she was involved in some of the filming sessions. We will report further when we know more about when the programme with be broadcast!

Nest-boxes
Since our formation less than two years ago we have made and erected about 200 nest-boxes – huge thanks to the box makers, especially Rich Harris and the Southam Crew, and to Jimmi Hill. Rich reports that 55 boxes for Tawny Owls were put up in the wider Southam area last winter, and 12 of them held breeding pairs this year – an amazing result in the first year. About 80 Little Owl boxes were made and put up, many of them in old orchards thanks to a collaboration with the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust. We look forward to seeing how well occupied they will be next year (hopefully not entirely by Jackdaws and Stock Doves!).

Little Owl Survey
All the available indications are that Little Owls are in quite rapid decline, so we tried to see what we can find out about how they are faring in Gloucestershire. During the BTO’s Bird Atlas spring/summer surveys from 2008 to 2011, Little Owls were found at just over 100 sites in circumstances which suggested they were definitely or probably breeding. We decided to visit as many as possible of these sites in 2016 to see if they were still present. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped with this survey. Records are still coming in, so if we contacted you and you haven’t yet responded, please do! Currently 46% of the sites visited still had owls present which, given the vagaries of surveying wildlife – especially a partly nocturnal species, is by no means disastrous. Having said that, there is evidence that a significant proportion of previous nest sites have been lost because of alterations to (or demolition of) buildings. Watch this space for final results in due course.

Wildlife crime
Sadly, wildlife crime does not only occur on remote moors and mountains, and part of Gareth Jones’ role in the group is to liaise with and support the local police and others on raptor persecution and crime in the county. Regrettably, Gareth has had a busy summer as a result of several criminal incidents involving persecution or disturbance. It is not possible to give further details because of ongoing investigations, but rest assured that we are active in drawing the police’s attention to incidents of which we are aware.

Winter talks
The talks we organised (on Honey-Buzzards and Little Owls) were well-attended and well-received last winter. We are planning more this winter (on Barn Owls and Buzzards), and we will post details as soon as dates and details are confirmed. In addition, members of the group will be presenting a talk about ourselves and our activities to Dursley Birdwatching and Preservation Society, Cheltenham Bird Club, the Forest of Dean branch of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, and to the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society.

On Thursday, April 21st the RSPCA were called to an incident involving a domestic cat and a Goshawk in the Brockweir area of the Forest of Dean, close to the Welsh border. The bird was taken to the Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre (Beckford) where an X-Ray was taken for a fractured wing. The results of the X-Ray found that the bird had in fact been shot and was later euthanised due to the extent of its injuries.

PDF – Full statement and appeal for information.

You may be aware of the fact that Little Owl populations are in decline in Britain, so we have decided to make the Little Owl our main survey species for 2016 in the hope of learning something about how local populations are faring and seeking possible causes of the decline. The BTO are planning a major “Project Owl” study from 2017-2019 and Little Owls will be included in that. If we can survey this species in Gloucestershire this year it will put us in a good position to contribute to the national survey when it starts.
Read more about what GRMG are doing for Little Owls, and how we hope our supporters might contribute, in our latest newsletter.

Are you a climber and a keen birder, or know someone who is?

Each year our resident ringer Robin Husbands (fully licensed with the BTO and Natural England) rings a large number of young birds of prey over the course of the breeding season here in Gloucestershire. Although Rob is not the only licenced ringer here, he covers a wide area of land and covers a many British raptor species which keeps him, and the rest of the GRMG team helping him with this, very busy. Many of these species are urban and nest in accessible buildings however in the more rural locations our county’s raptors do not make it easy for ringers and nest high in the tops of trees or in a quarry/cliff face.

Benefits of ringing are numerous and include; monitoring numbers of the county’s raptor species, contributing to knowledge of numbers of successful nests and fledged young, supporting understanding of migration and movement,  having a central place for many records, building up a long-term dataset – and many more. When ringing raptor young we can also analyse nest size, nest material, dietary information and other data when accessing a nest.

In order to support Rob, the GRMG is looking for a qualified climber to help climb trees/abseil in quarries or on cliffs over the course of each year’s breeding season. The birds would then be passed down to Rob/those acting under his license to ring the young who will then, once all scientific data had been collected and recorded, pass them back up to be put back in the nest by our climber.

We would also like support with our winter work (collecting nest material, building basic nest frameworks to support some species in starting nests and installing cameras at roost sites).

The GRMG would welcome a climber to support us in gaining invaluable data on our county’s raptor species and our climber would be classed as an integral part of our organisation.

If you are interested, or would like some more information, please contact us on the usual email [email protected].

Following on from Steve’s excellent breeding activity chart which we featured last month,  Steve has now produced a companion document, in the form of some raptor breeding activity observation notes. The previous chart illustrated when to look out for the different phases of breeding for each respective raptor species. This chart expands on that by detailing the behaviours  witnessed during courtship, nest descriptions, clutch sizes and duration of incubation, post-hatching behaviour and fledgling mortality. As per the previous chart, the observation notes are also viewable on the species page, and can be downloaded from the documents page.

Last weekend two of the team attended the Birders Against Wildlife Crime conference in Bristol. Thanks to Gareth for this summary of the day.

Birders Against Wildlife Crime was founded by a group of birders that were fed up with Wildlife Crime in general and wanted to do something about it.  Their mantra is Recognise, Record and Report and their whole being is about these three R’s!

They have organised two Hen Harrier Days where like-minded individuals meet to peacefully protest at the plight of the Hen Harrier on northern moors. Last year, they had a conference where the speakers talked about their experiences of wildlife crime, whether that was from the Police, RSPB or interested parties point of view.

This year the conference was in Bristol and myself and Natalie went on the Saturday. The day compere was Charlie Moore of “Talking Naturally” Podcasts  and one of the founders of BAWC.

We kicked off the day with a talk by David Lindo of Urban Birder fame.  He talked about his patch in London, the incidents of wildlife crime and the anger he felt at being, what he perceived to be, powerless.  He also talked about the power of TV and how after appearances on programs like Springwatch his local council started listening to him where they once ignored.  He also spoke about hundreds of Long-eared Owls being killed in Serbia until the locals found the worth of them to tourists such as the groups he leads to see the spectacle.

Next came Sergeant Rob Taylor of North Wales Rural Crime Police Team. Rob has reduced wildlife crime by a massive amount by proactive robust policing. He has strong opinions on the way he has done this and the way others should follow, which is based on almost treating wildlife crime like a murder scene and detailing absolutely everything.  He also links wildlife and rural crime like poaching and Badger baiting/digging to more serious crime.  His talk was fascinating – horrific regarding the injuries to Badgers and dogs but also a little depressing as even this unit is threatened with cuts, as well as Rob retiring (job offers welcomed) in a few weeks.

The last talk before lunch was Dr Louise Robinson who is a lecturer in Forensic Biology at the University of Derby. Dr Robinson has made sure wildlife forensics is a subject she can teach on her course and talked about DNA being collected in wildlife crimes. Her intern, Sally Smith, had used her thesis to recreate the exciting breakthrough of getting finger marks from feathers.  It was really fascinating stuff and I think its safe to say there is a little way to go before it can become a mainstream tool for fighting bird crime.

During lunch we got to catch up with Georgina Locock and Emily Joachim talking all things Little Owls and raptors.

After lunch we had a talk by World Animal Protection Partnership which talked about their work in the UK to help police forces.  They actually paid for the Metropolitan Wildlife Crime Officers when they were threatened with closure because of cuts.  They had also done a survey of all the police forces in the UK and graded them in regards to tackling wildlife crime.  It was pleasing to see Gloucestershire Police in the top grading but I am sure Simon Clemett, our WCO, would welcome more resources and training for his staff to get even better.  During these tough times this is where we hope we can help out with advice and training when required.

Next was Bob Elliot who is the Head of RSPB investigations.  He is really on the front line of raptor crime and it was quite clear that it’s a very hard job with long unsocial hours but very rewarding when they manage to get a conviction. Rob talked about several cases in Scotland and Northern England and it was clear how it is almost impossible to get a conviction but speed and information is the key.  Getting people to recognise wildlife crime and reporting it as soon as possible so they can strike when the iron is hot.  He described how little poison was required to kill a bird and also described a case where they had found 34 pieces of poisoned meat put on 7 foot posts which could have no other purpose than to kill raptors.  It was depressing to note that still, with all those baits, no one was charged.

We had a short break and then Stewart Rowden of the Avon Bat Group talked about the laws around the protection of Bats which Gloucestershire is certainly a hotspot for rare species of them.

Mark Avery was the last talk.  He spoke about wildlife crime and particular grouse moors.  He spoke very eloquently about all the issues around grouse moors from water supply, to the ritual burning of heather to improve shooting of artificially high numbers of grouse. He also spoke of other wildlife crimes giving examples from England, Scotland and Wales.  He was adamant that in the end good will triumph over evil.

Just before the end we watched a film about the Black Isle poisoning of Red Kites. This was a very moving film and well worth watching. It was interesting to note that this was probably not a deliberate act of trying to kill kites but the accidental result of trying to poison foxes.

To sum up it was an absolutely fascinating day which we both really enjoyed, and would recommend to both birders or anyone interested in wildlife to go to next year.

The spring 2016 GRMG newsletter has been sent out to people on our mailing list, and is now available to download here. In this issue, you will find a review of the talks we hosted over the Winter period, the results from our 2015 Goshawk survey, an update on our Tawny box project as well as a guest article by Dave Pearce on the continually successful Christ Church Peregrines and details of our Little Owl survey this year – as well as much more.

Our focus at the moment, before the 2016 breeding season begins, is to increase the number of submissions we get from our supporters in the form of sightings. Your sightings are important in the conservation of the county’s raptors and you can read more about this on page 5.

If you have any stories or suggestions on items you think we should include in our next newsletter, or you would like to write a guest article, send us an email ([email protected]) with the subject as ‘Newsletter’.

Steve Watson has prepared a chart that illustrates exactly what breeding activity can be observed from our raptors, and at what time of year. Courtship is already well under way with more species expected to join the quest for a breeding partner in the coming weeks, as indeed is nesting activity in some species. Please visit the species page to see the chart. You can save your own copy of the chart from there, and it is also available to download from our documents page.

Your sightings of birds of prey in the county are hugely important to us and allow us to monitor these birds, analyse their numbers and locations and keep track of any potential problems within the different population groups. Over winter, understandably, there has been a slight decline in the number of sightings we have received and we’d like to see the number of sightings recorded to us to increase again – especially for the course of the breeding season.
We’ve recently made it easier than ever to submit your sightings with us. The first way you can do this is by filling in our online form which is quick and provides us with all the information required. Alternatively, on the same web page there is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet which can be filled in over the course of a set period of time and emailed to us regularly which many of you are using already and we thank you for this.
The benefits of submitting your sightings to us are numerous and include: monitoring numbers of the county’s raptor species; contributing to knowledge of numbers of successful nests and fledged young; building up a long-term dataset and many more. As well as this we pass on all of our records to the county bird recorder and your data will therefore contribute to the county database and the annual bird report.