The big freeze cropped up in this blog yesterday – and it is inevitably going to occupy our thoughts for some time to come. For wild birds, the impact is likely to be felt well into the future.
Yesterday I focussed on Dartford warblers – we are considering whether it will be possible to put out supplementary food for them, though one real key to the survival of individual birds is how well they can continue to find food under the domes of snow kept off the ground by heather and gorse in their heathland homes.
With the intense cold freezing wetlands solid, their birds face tough choices. Reports are coming in of secretive and rarely seen birds such as water rails (here’s a picture taken by Tom Kirby at our Saltholme nature reserve) are becoming much more visible as they hunt for food.
Bitterns (picture below) have been a recent success story for nature conservation with their population having been nursed back to a relatively healthy population of just over 80 booming males (they are difficult to count apart from when the males are giving their far-carrying booming call). The freeze puts their recovery in serious jeopardy.
They can move looking for milder conditions – but with the whole country locked in ice their options are limited. We are taking the unusual step of putting out small fish at key reserves as an emergency response. I spent a morning back in the 90s with John Wilson, then the warden of our Leighton Moss reserve, helping him put out fish during an earlier freeze (well, I carried the bucket).
Experience of previous harsh weather like this means we can expect reports of distressed bitterns turning up in unexpected places.