Press release from Alderney Wildlife Trust

The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has been receiving reports of an Atlantic puffin wreck (multiple unusual deaths) on the east coast of Scotland and the north-east of England.

It appears that, while the exact causes of these deaths are currently unknown, the birds have died of starvation, unable to feed in the recent bad weather and strong easterly winds. This incident is likely to be the biggest ‘wreck’ since 1947 and research will be done this summer to see how it affects the northern colonies of puffins. Numbers of guillemots and razorbills have also been picked up after, presumably, suffering the same fate. The RSPB have added that as we are fast approaching the start of the seabird breeding season, where tens of thousands of seabirds return to their colonies to raise their young, the recent events could have an impact on the success of this year’s puffin breeding season. Puffins are already suffering population declines.

No reports of a puffin wreck have occurred in the lower regions of the species range, and the Channel Islands have not received as much bad weather as the north of the UK.

Although the puffins arrived back on Burhou, Alderney, later this year than last, a good number were recorded by the remote camera (see Living Islands Live). It is unlikely that the wreck will affect Burhou, but in the event that anyone does find any dead puffins washing onto shorelines in the Channel Islands, particularly Alderney, please report them immediately to ecologist@alderneywildlife.org. Thank you.

The current cold spell in north-west Europe will have been accompanied by the usual media activity in many places. Much of the news generated will focus on the regular “why weren’t we better  prepared” headlines. One group, however, that know exactly what to do when snow comes in the area are the many thousands of birds that winter in the region. While resident birds not used to such cold weather might have to make do, those species that have come from further north are quick to up and move until they find something more suitable. The most obvious places for these versatile wanderers to head for are the coast and offshore islands that are usually much milder than inland areas. And so, with the snowfall on Friday, Jersey welcomed many thousands of new arrivals.

The usual clue to a cold-weather migration of this sort is the presence of lapwings on verges and every small field. While big flocks might develop in areas like the fields around St Ouen’s Pond, lapwings may happily feed alone in much smaller areas. The 2-300 lapwings on the Island on Thursday had been joined by possibly over a thousand more by Friday. Several small flocks of golden plovers came in with the lapwings – these two birds often join together in winter.

The other abundant and obvious visitors are the thrushes. There were already plenty of wintering redwings on the Island but on Friday morning they were joined by many thousands more that had arrived across the parishes in fields and gardens alike.  New blackbirds and song thrushes had arrived too and were obvious as they tried to feed on the roadside at first light. Fieldfares, a bird formerly more common in the Jersey winter when winters were much colder than now, had also come in but only in smaller numbers so far. Interestingly, there are many less waterbird arrivals like ducks and grebes suggesting that so far it is only snow on the fields moving the wanderers and not the kind of cold temperatures that freeze ducks out of their ponds.

News update from the Hawk and Owl Trust

Five young marsh harriers hatched on Sculthorpe Moor Reserve in Norfolk, UK have had wing tags fitted as part of a long-term study to see where the species travels to once the young birds leave the area where they were hatched.

This year’s birds join a total of 27 young marsh harriers hatched from other Norfolk sites in the same season and 14 from the 2011 generation, making a total to date of 46 birds carrying distinctive lime green wing tags.

Tags are visible to the naked eye from a distance, and the individual codes can be read with binoculars or telescopes.

Older birds can be distinguished from this year’s because the 2011 harriers’ tags carried white letters and numbers, while the 2012 birds have black codes.

The fitting of the wing tags is done by bird ringers, who have a wealth of experience and knowledge in handling birds of all species. It is a painless experience for the birds. Data is being analysed by students at Leicester University, but little is known about the birds’ movements once they leave the nest, where they go in winter and where they return to nest in the spring. Marsh harriers are migratory and are expected to fly south. However, in recent years many marsh harriers have been stayed within the UK and Channel Islands.

This study will allow the scientists to understand the following questions:

1. Where do these birds go once they are independent of their parents? Are they a long distant migrant, travelling into Europe and beyond, or do they stay in the local area for the winter?
2. Once mature, do they return to the area where they were hatched, or do they breed at completely different sites?
3. Once they start to breed, do they breed in their traditional reed bed habitat or in other crops?”

None of Jersey’s marsh harriers have been given wing tags but several have been given numbered metal leg rings in common with other bird species ringed locally and elsewhere.

Please report any sightings of wing-tagged harriers if they come to Jersey or pass through the Island. Sightings should be reported to the Hawk and Owl Trust here but please also let the Société Jersiaise Ornithology Section know too. All records are valuable even if details of the wing codes are not clear to the observer. Look out too for any birds with coloured plastic leg rings that might be obvious – these might be birds from other study programmes.

Just when you thought things could not get worse, a new strain of avian pox is taking its toll on garden birds in Britain.

Report from Birdguides

A new report published this week online in PLOS ONE reports on the impact that avian pox is having on great tit populations. Avian pox has been recorded in British bird species such as house sparrows, blackbirds, dunnocks and wood pigeons for a number of years. However, the emergence of a new strain of this viral disease in great tits is causing concern amongst vets and ornithologists.

Wildlife vet Dr Becki Lawson from ZSL says: “Infection leads to warty, tumour-like growths on different parts of a bird’s body, particularly on the head around the eyes and beak. Although the disease can be relatively mild in some species, great tits suffer severe growths that can prevent them from feeding and increase their susceptibility to predation. Whilst a range of tit species are susceptible to this novel form of the disease, detailed monitoring of birds in Wytham Woods by scientists at the University of Oxford show that great tits are by far the most susceptible.”

“Although recovery from infection can occur, our results show that this new strain of avian poxvirus significantly reduces the survival of wild great tits and has particularly large effects on the survival of juvenile birds. Based on the numbers of affected great tits that we have observed at Wytham Woods, our models do not predict that this new disease will cause an overall population decline of the species. However, pox-affected populations have lower yearly growth rates. Hence, they are likely to have greater difficulty in recovering from other environmental factors that might reduce their numbers,” says Dr Shelly Lachish of the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford University.

With help from the public, scientists at the RSPB and ZSL have tracked the disease, which has spread rapidly in five years from southeast England to central England and into Wales. The annual seasonal peak of observed cases occurs in the early autumn months and incidents continue to be reported at this time of year. Genetic studies on the virus show that it appears to be the same strain seen previously in Scandinavia and more recently in central Europe, and is unlikely to have originated within Great Britain. BTO data on bird movements confirms that great tits rarely migrate outside the country. The spread of the virus to Britain is, therefore, thought to have occurred through the arrival of an infected vector, such as a mosquito.

Great tits are a particularly obvious bird at this time of year as many of them visit bird feeders. Numbers of great tits and blue tits do migrate into the Channel Islands in winter, especially during very cold weather on the continent. Please look out for any with obvious raw looking lesions and abscess-like growths often on the legs and face. There may be obvious lumps too under the feathers. If you see any birds that are affected please let the Société Jersiaise Ornithology Section know and information will be sent on to the authorities. It is unlikely that anything can be done for individual birds but it will be useful to monitor the disease’s progress in Jersey.

Two separate reports are available as downloads from PLOS ONE

Emergence of a novel avian pox disease in British tit species  download here

Epidemiology of the emergent disease Paridae pox in an intensively studied wild bird population download here

News from the RSPB

Since Operation Turtle Dove was launched by the RSPB, Conservation Grade, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Natural England in May, the reporting hotline has had 429 calls reporting the elusive bird.

Norfolk came top as the county with the most reported turtle dove sightings (112), second was Suffolk (69), closely followed by Cambridgeshire (61), with Essex (32), Kent (29), and Lincolnshire (20) coming fourth, fifth and sixth. In Jersey we may have had only one breeding pair this year and it is unclear whether these were successful in rearing any young.

Alison Gardner from the RSPB’s Operation Turtle Dove, said: ‘It’s great that we’ve already had so many people supporting Operation Turtle Dove and looking out for these birds.

‘At this time of year, just before turtle doves Streptopelia turtur head off on migration, juveniles and family groups are easier to spot so we’re hoping for some more reports before the season’s out and are appealing to anyone who spots a turtle dove to call and give us as much information as possible.’

Turtle dove numbers have fallen dramatically since the 1970s with just nine birds now for every 100 there were 40 years ago. Once widespread across much of England and Wales, the species has been lost from many areas and are now primarily restricted to areas of East Anglia and southern England. Not so long ago, turtle doves were widespread in Jersey in summer but are now close to disappearing.

Reasons for the turtle dove’s population crash are not fully understood. However, since the 1960s the diet has changed from mainly the small seeds of wild plants to one dominated mainly by crop seeds, which are scarce early in the breeding season and may provide a poorer quality diet for turtle doves.

Simon Tonkin, the RSPB’s senior farmland advisor, said: ‘turtle doves feed almost exclusively on seeds. Many of the traditional wild foods are now scarce on farmland and it is uncertain whether crop seeds are providing an adequate substitute. Additionally, turtle doves prefer to nest in hedgerows or areas of scrub over 4m tall, habitats that are less common than in the past.’

Operation Turtle Dove’s hotline has also received a number of calls from people with large gardens, often backing onto agricultural land, who’ve spotted turtle doves taking food from their bird feeders and using the garden pond to drink from and bathe in.

RSPB researchers have also found nests in gardens and amenity areas bordering farmland, which may reflect a shortage of resources on agricultural land, meaning the birds are forced to find alternatives to survive.

Simon added: ‘This means farmers and householders in rural areas have a huge role to play in the conservation of this beautiful bird. While there are some great advocates out there doing all they can, it still needs more support.’

To report your turtle dove sightings, call the Operation Turtle Dove Hotline 01603 697527 or you can submit your sightings to turtledove@rspb.org.uk Please also send in your records to the Jersey Bird Recorder at the Société Jersiaise ornithology@societe-jersiaise.org or through Jerseybirds.

The RSPB has two advice sheets on how to help turtle doves, one for farmers and one for people with large gardens or outside spaces that back onto arable fields and are available free by emailing turtledove@rspb.org.uk

On 7^th June 2011 a single male cirl bunting was, rather surprisingly, found singing merrily on the perimeter fence at Les Landes racecourse. Not only had this bunting, whose decline and disappearance from Jersey been one of the catalysts to BIRDS ON THE EDGE, not been recorded here since 2004 but Les Landes was not a typical site for the species. As the excitement of this find settled a pair of buntings were located on the golf course in Grouville on 24^th June. There may have still been time for these birds to breed in 2011 but there were no signs of activity so we settled down to watch over them through the winter.

One of the possible causes for this bunting’s decline in the UK has been identified as a lack of winter food. The RSPB supplied us with details of feeder designs and good seed mixes and several hardy volunteers maintained the feeders through the winter months. After apparently ignoring the feeders for several weeks the buntings, who remained in the area throughout, began to feed on the seed provided and, while not a very hard winter, this may have helped them survive. If nothing else it may have stopped them wandering away from this traditional site.

This year we watched as the pair remained in the area and gave tantalising hints of a breeding attempt. The weather, however, may have contrived against them as heavy rain in spring washed out lots of our birds. Then, on 24^th July, Mick Dryden, one of the pair’s active monitors, found a single chick – the first hatched on the Island since possibly 12 years ago. A subsequent visit found a second chick and the female may be attempting to nest again.

It may take more than one pair to spur on recolonisation but it is a positive start. Thanks are due to the many people who helped out with feeding the birds, to the RSPB for their advice and to the Royal Jersey Golf Club for their support throughout.