RXwildlife Sightings

This is a request for help. In the summers from 1983 until 1992 a Little Tern with a squeaky voice visited Rye Harbour. Originally known as “squeaker” it has now been accepted as an American Least Tern. I am writing an article about this record and have looked back through my notebooks. If you saw this bird I am asking that you look through your notebooks and let me know the dates you observed this bird. You can listen to the bird by clicking here. Thanks if you can help, I know you all keep detailed notes and know exactly where to look! E-mail me asap at yates@clara.net

About 400 G C Grebes offshore this morning and 30+ divers rushing about on the horizon. There were about a dozen Gadwall sitting on the sea too. While you often see Wigeon out there ( sometimes mistaken by the unwary for Common Scoter), Gadwall tend to stick to the freshwater which, however is mostly frozen just now.
Blackbirds and Song Thrushes continue to be conspicuous, pushed south by the cold. They’re not only in sheltered garden habitats but out along the seawall, on the shingle at Rye Harbour and, more typically in thorns alongside the A259, where I take cautious glances away from the road in the hope of seeing a Waxwing. Read the rest of this entry »

The BTO has issued this press release.

Britain is currently undergoing its most prolonged period of cold weather for over a decade. In such circumstances, it is important to be especially careful in minimising any unnecessary disturbance of wild birds, especially the wildfowl, waders and other waterbirds that visit our coastal and inland wetlands in such internationally important numbers. In frozen conditions, birds not only need to expend more energy to maintain their body temperature, but food becomes much more difficult for them to obtain. In such cases, disturbance by people only adds further to the physical stress on birds, and such additional disturbance may result in increased mortality.

Read the rest of this entry »

As someone who does not use slug pellets I have issues in my garden with high numbers of slugs and snails.  The current spell of freezing weather has given me the opportunity to sort out at least part of the problem and help a declining bird species at the same time.

Snails tend to gather under objects in the garden and can be easily collected at this time of year.  Over the past month there has been a notable increase in the numbers of song thrush in the garden.  The species was observed only once or twice over the spring and summer, but has been ever present in the past month with three seen yesterday.  I have tried placing the snails on the path in our garden, where they remain in the freezing weather,  and the thrushes have learnt rapidly to come and feed on them.  The blackbirds do to some extent too, and tend to drive their smaller relatives off, so I have dispersed the snails about to give the thrushes more of a chance.  Often they just grab a shell and dash off with it before a blackbird appears on the scene, but I have been able to watch a few smashing shells on the path to extract the contents.

Aftermath of a song thrush banquet.