Sadly, not just the leaves are falling – We have taken numerous calls from the public with concerns about tree cutting work happening in different localities. Trees give the main structure to a garden and attract a wide range of wildlife. Trees provide wildlife with shelter, food and nesting sites. Therefore, RSPB recommend felling should only ever be done if deemed essential or on the grounds of public health and safety.
The breeding season has now come too a close (although pigeons and doves may still have young in nests!). If the trees are void of active nests and there are no tree preservation orders (TPOs) served by the Local Authority, then legally felling work can proceed with the landowners consent.
IDs One caller who thought they had lost their mind wanted to report seeing an amazing gathering of up to 50+ (that’s what she said!) red kites over the M40 motorway in Oxfordshire. Sizable groups occur at good feeding areas and the Oxfordshire/Bucks borders are a known stronghold through the RSPB reintroduction program since 1989.
Several calls have come in relating to bumper numbers of goldfinch flocks visiting garden feeders. In contrast, other concerned callers continue to report a sudden disappearance of the birds, poor goldfinches can’t please everyone!
This year appears to be a good “influx” year for Hummingbird hawk-moths, “no madam their not actual hummingbirds!” They are a sub-tropical immigrant species that do sometimes occur in the UK in large numbers. The larvae feed on sticky goose grass (gallium) and adults are often seen during autumn.
A distressed sounding caller described a very large pelican like bird in Essex, photographic identification later confirmed it to be a Maribu stork!
A man rang the office at the Forsinard reserve having sighted a very large bird with a backpack and an aerial sticking out from the pack. This was in the mountains up here in the north west, near Tongue. It flew quite close to his car, being mobbed by crows or ravens [probably ravens]. After some investigation on my part, I discovered that the backpack was probably a satellite tag, rather than a radio tag (the latter have a smaller pack which tends to get preened into the feathers) and as the bird was not seen to have any wing tags, it was less than three years old (wing tagging is now illegal and no birds have been wing tagged since 2007. There has been tagging of both golden eagles and sea eagles, but as many more golden eagles have been tagged, that's probably what this bird was, and it's likely to have come from Mull.
Autumn MigrationA few inland callers have come across worn out manx shearwaters, which have become misguided and ended up following estuaries deeper inland. When this occurs it is refereed to as a “wreck”. Ideally, the birds will need to be feed and returned to the coast.
Keep your eyes pealed for the insurgence of Redwing and Fieldfare; they have been recorded in multiple sites according to reputable birdwatch websites but were still awaiting the flurry of calls. Watch the weather and wait for easterlies!
I love the change in seasons, but have you ever realised how there seems to be two "dominant" seasons being summer and winter and the other two I see more as "transition periods". Has anyone else thought of this before?
-Alfie Bell