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andrewp

Big news for me this week – I’ve just seen my hundredth species at Strathbeg. Any guesses for what it was? Slavonian Grebe? American Wigeon? Nah. It was, in fact, a Woodcock. (American Wigeon got in at 94, and the grebe was way down at 68).

Woodcocks are cracking things, and a species that I’ve been trying to catch up with for several years. It was also the highlight of our weekly survey of the farmland birds that we get on the reserve.

A surprisingly large proportion of the reserve is given over to arable fields and meadows for wild flowers. These encourage the local farmland birds to get breeding, and give them a reliable supply of food over the winter. Given the trouble that these birds have been having on a national scale, it is pleasing to see hundreds of them using our reserve. Along with our resident flock of Tree Sparrows we get good numbers of Corn and Reed Buntings, Yellowhammers, Linnets and winter thrushes using the ground, and a splendid array of wild flowers in the spring and summer.

The good news is that our farmland bird trail leads visitors right past all the best sites to see them. It’s a circular walk that veers off from the trail to Tower Pool Hide, and cuts through open grassland, meadows and hedgerows, all of which are great places for getting close to birds that are normally just small brown specks flying away from you very quickly. Just follow the blue posts around the fields.

Given the surprises that turn up on these fields (along with our more regular visitors Lapland Buntings are almost annual), the trail is remarkably underused. So here is a top five hit list for our arable trail, to tempt you out into the thick of it.

  • Corn Bunting: One of Britain’s most imperilled birds, Corn Bunting numbers have declined by 90% in the last thirty years or so. Look out for these dumpy little critters singing from the wires. My record is seven on one wire, which I’m very proud of.
  • Short-eared Owl: These are probably the easiest of the owls to catch up with at Strathbeg, especially in winter when migrants from mainland Europe bolster their numbers. They also have the pleasing habits of coming out while the sun is still up and perching on conspicuous fence posts.
  • Woodcock: This is a remarkably under-recorded bird, and I’ll bet there are a fair few seasoned birdwatchers out there without it on their lists. Your best chances are along the arable trail as it veers towards the rookery, early or late in the day. I’m reliably informed that in good years they have a tendency to scare visitors by flying perilously close to their cars.
  • Tree Sparrow: Our Tree Sparrows can be seen all year on the feeders, but just for a little variety they will rove around with the mixed flocks of buntings and finches in the fields.
  • Roe Deer: When these guys prance through the meadows with their white tails bobbing around and the fawns following behind it’s hard not to have a little ‘Bambi moment’. The best place for them is the large field between the entrance road and the rookery.