Last week saw the Geltsdale RSPB team heading out for a pre-dawn Ring Ouzel survey. Starting at 4.50am in various locations around the reserve, we covered specified areas – or transects – while listening out for the distinctive call of the Ring Ouzel. Although there were just three singing Ring Ouzels heard across the whole surveyed area, a whole host of other species were also spotted, including Short Eared Owls, Roe Deer and large groups of lekking Black Grouse (there were 16 in just one of the transects!). We plan to repeat the survey, so are profiling Ring Ouzels in this week’s blog to share some facts about this endangered upland bird.
Ring Ouzels (Latin name: Turdus torquatus) look similar to Blackbirds, although they are slightly smaller and slimmer. Males have black feathers with pale wing panels caused by white edging to their wings and some of their body feathers, and a striking white band across their breasts. Females look similar, but are often more brown than black and their white parts are duller.
They breed mainly steep-sided valleys, gullies and crags, from near sea level up to around 1,200 feet, and are found in the UK in the summer months, from Dartmoor to the Scottish mountains. They spend the winter in Spain and northwest Africa. They begin breeding in mid-April and continue until mid-July, building their nests in vegetation close to the ground or in crevices, and often having two broods of chicks, which they feed on earthworms and beetles. Adults eat a varied diet including worms, insects and berries and males can be heard singing their fluting song from crags and boulders to claim their territories.
Since 2002, Ring Ouzels have been on the UK Red List, as their range and populations have declined. The UK range contracted by 44% between 1970 and 2010 and the population is thought to have declined by 71% between 1990 and 2012. This may be due to afforestation, changes in stock management and grazing regimes, climate change and problems in their wintering and migration areas. Ring Ouzels often nest in heather or under bracken, so they need plenty of this on rock ledges and steep slopes for breeding, as well as short-grazed grassland for feeding. A mosaic of heather, grassland and bracken provides the optimum conditions for them, with plenty of earthworms, insects and spiders to feed on in the breeding season and moorland berries such as crowberries, rowans and bilberries in late summer and autumn.