BirdwatchingJulysampler

SWAROVSKI BTX ON TEST
WILL THIS SCOPE CHANGE BIRDING FOREVER?
BRITAIN’S BEST-SELLING BIRD MAGAZINE
BACK IN
BRITAIN!
Why Spoonbills
are causing a stir
STONECHAT
SURPRISES
THINK YOU
KNOW THEM?
THINK AGAIN…
HOW MANY
SPECIES HAVE
YOU SEEN?
FARMLAND
FAVOURITE
LEARN HOW BARN
OWLS ADAPT TO
DIFFERENT HABITATS
NIGHTMARE
NEIGHBOURS
Dominic Couzens discovers
the Swallow’s darker side
JULY 2017 £4.30

JULY 2017
CONTENTS
Features
20
COVER
STORY
24
COVER
STORY
#My200BirdYear:
half year update!
Hundreds of you are
taking part in our fun
and flexible challenge
Booming populations
How warmer temperatures are encouraging
some birds to stay and breed in the UK
32
A birding pioneer
Scottish-born Alexander Wilson is renowned for
his birding discoveries in the Americas
38
COVER
STORY
48
COVER
STORY
73
COVER
STORY
Land of opportunity
How the farming of our countryside can have
a huge impact on Barn Owl survival
Neighbours from hell
Dominic Couzens reveals the darker side of the
Swallow and the tactics used to find a mate
Surprising Stonechat
Birder Ian Parsons was amazed to discover
a fact about the Stonechat that he never knew
32
65
4 July 2017

BEYOND
BIRDWATCHING
July’s a wonderful month for
heading to the seaside and
enjoying the wildlife it has to offer.
Find out more on page 12
38
24
6
In The Field
46
53
65
Your Birding Month
Five birds to find include
Spotted Flycatcher, Barn Owl
and Wood Sandpiper
Q&A
Your birding questions and
mystery bird pics put to our
panel of avian experts
Go Birding
Another 10 great
walks in the UK
and Ireland
to see lots of
great birds
ID Challenge
How well do you know birds
that live or feed on or beside
water? Find out here!
Birding Gear
86
COVER
STORY
88
89
Gear Review
We put Swarovski’s BTX
scope to the test – but how
does it fare?
Books
This month we review a
selection of titles including
The Genius of Birds
Wishlist
Birding-related goodies this
month include fleeces, bird
food and towels
News & Views
11
14
16
19
44
111
82
84
Species update
The BTO want your help in
monitoring House Martin
nest boxes – find out why
Weedon’s World
Mike’s been on a 24-hour
‘bird race’ – but did he beat
last year’s record tally?
News Wire
Young birder wins prestigious
scholarship – plus, a chance
to WIN £500 worth of
sleepout gear
Grumpy Old Birder
Bo Beolens wants more
done to make hides more
accessible for the disabled
Your View
A selection of the month’s
best reader photos and letters
Back Chat
Campaigner for nature Jonny
Rankin answers our birding
questions this month
Travel
93
96
Birding Madagascar
It’s endemic birds aplenty at
this exotic location, just off
the coast of Africa
Urban birding
Last month Leicester and
this month Derby – our cities
offer the birder much variety
Bird Sightings
Rarity Round-up
The best rare birds seen
in the UK and Ireland
throughout April
UK Bird Sightings
A comprehensive round-up
of birds seen on your patch
during April
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ALSO AVAILABLE ON IPAD
& ANDROID NOW!
birdwatching.co.uk 5

GEAR
NEW PRODUCTS & GREAT SAVINGS FOR ALL YOUR BIRDING NEEDS
SETTING THE
STANDARDS
REVIEWS
SWAROVSKI BTX EYEPIECE MODULE £2,070
REVIEWED BY MATT MERRITT
BUILT FOR COMFORT
There’s a very useful sighting guide, plus
a forehead rest that just makes extended
viewing that bit more comfortable again.
The former can be removed, while the latter
adjusts to suit your needs.
Watch the
video
Go to birdwatching.co.uk/
videos to watch our
video review
All Photos: Jake Kindred
86 July 2017

WHEN SWAROVSKI
LAUNCHED their ATX/
STX modular scope
system a few years back,
how many birders
thought the next step would be to bring
out a binocular eyepiece module for it?
Like all the best ideas, it seems
obvious, but it took everyone by surprise
when it was launched earlier this year. In
essence, though, it fits to the 65mm,
85mm and 95mm objective lens modules,
and allows you to view through them
using both eyes.
So what are the advantages? Well,
I was able to watch more comfortably, for
longer, than with a standard scope. Using
both eyes feels a lot more relaxed,
especially when viewing a single subject
or location for long periods, such as
while reading rings on birds’ legs.
Secondly, the image feels deeper and
more 3D to me, as it should, with both
eyes providing information to the brain.
Given that you know a Swarovski
objective lens is going to provide a very
bright, natural, sharp and wide image to
start with, that’s a great bonus.
Enjoying the benefits
It does take a little getting used to.
I found myself closing one eye anyway to
start with, so it took a while before I
enjoyed the benefits of the two eyepieces.
And, as with any pair of binoculars, you
need to set it up right – the eyepieces
twists up and down to three positions,
there’s a dioptre adjustment on the right
barrel, and you can adjust the
interpupillary distance. Get them right,
and you soon start to see what all the
fuss is about.
It is heavier than the ATX eyepiece
module, but not so much that it would
put me off carrying one. But you do need
a good sturdy tripod with this set-up,
because of that extra weight, otherwise
constant wobbles will wipe out the
optical gains.
In short, it’s setting a new standard in
scopes. If you already have an ATX front
end, you’ll want to add it at some stage. If
you’re just thinking of buying your first
top-end scope you need to try it.
FACTFILE
Magnification: 35x
Weight: 1,420g (with eyepiece)
RRP: £2,070
Contact: uk.swarovskioptik.com
EXTENDING YOUR REACH
You can slot the ME Magnification Extender (£290) into your
BTX set-up. With the 95mm, it extends the magnification from
35x to 60x. The BTX has no zoom, although I didn’t miss it.
For me, the ME did reduce the depth of field quite drastically,
so I would only be using it occasionally.
OPTIONS OPEN
The BTX fits the 65mm,
85mm and 95mm objective
lens modules. We tried it with
the last of these, and it really
does produce superb results,
combining ease and comfort
of use with amazing optics –
the image feels more ‘walk-in’
than pretty much anything I’ve
ever seen before.
RATINGS
OPTICS êêêêê
HANDLING êêêêê
PRICE êêêêê
OVERALL êêêêê
NB: Price rating reflects value for
money against others in its class
birdwatching.co.uk 87

BRILLIANT
BIRDING
In January, Bird Watching
magazine launched a fun and
flexible challenge to get
people out seeing even more
birds – and #My200BirdYear
is proving to be extremely
popular with UK birders

THE HALFWAY POINT of 2017 is upon us, so it’s a good time to
take stock of how you’ve fared in Bird Watching’s
#My200BirdYear challenge, and to plan the rest of your birding
calendar to fill in the gaps on your list. It’s not a competition,
of course. You’re free to set your own rules about exactly what
counts. Some people are stricter than others about species that
are only heard, for example. Some count birds seen outside the
UK, while others don’t. The idea, above all, is to see more bird
species by setting yourself a target.
HOW HAVE THE TEAM DONE?
Matt Merritt on his
#My200BirdYear
As I write, in late May, my total
is 165. Unlike Dr Weedon (see
panel right), I’ll take any ticks
going, so that includes birds
seen close to home in
Warwickshire, and others seen
close to our Peterborough offices, plus a few more
picked up during working trips to Cumbria,
Northumberland, Speyside and Austria (Short-toed
Treecreeper, Red-crested Pochard, and Crested Tit,
the latter a surprising ‘dip’ in Scotland).
I’ve missed some waders, like Spotted Redshank,
Whimbrel and the stints, so I’m looking forward to
putting in a few hours during autumn migration,
and I need to do some searching for the two
flycatchers, Redstart and Wood Warbler over the
summer. Add in a skua or two, and a concerted
effort where winter wildfowl are concerned, and
the 200 looks well within reach.
Best of all, it’s taught me a lot more about my
new patch. I’m getting to know where to find
passage migrants, and if there’s one bird I’d like to
make part of the 200, it’s one of the Bearded Tits
that drop in at Napton Reservoir now and then.
Mike Weedon on his
#My200BirdYear
In a normal year, I am out
birding quite a lot, trying to
see as many birds as possible
around Peterborough. Luckily,
#My200BirdYear has provided
me with a ready-made excuse
for business as usual, but even more so!
As I write, it is the last week of May, and I
already have 171 on my Peterborough area year
list. This includes such gems as Red-rumped
Swallow, Rough-legged Buzzard and, recently
Black-winged Stilt; with 10 bird species I didn’t see
at all last year, nicely bagged on the list.
I have strayed from my home area on just a few
occasions: to see the Bluethroat and White-billed
Diver in South Lincolnshire, and for our BW reader
holiday in the Highlands. These trips have boosted
my year list so that when I heard Spotted Crake
near home a couple of weeks ago, I had reached
the 200-bird yearly target.
However, the Peterborough area challenge is
spurring me on. The record is 189 bird species in
a year, so 190 will do (200 would be even better, of
course, but is surely not possible. Or is it?).
Matt Merritt
Mike Weedon
é BLUETHROAT
Both Matt and Mike made pilgrimages to see this beauty at Willow Tree
Fen LWT, in South Lincolnshire, early in the year
é PTARMIGANS
Male (right) and female moulting into spring plumage on Cairngorm
Mountain, during our BW reader holiday in the Highlands in April
birdwatching.co.uk 21

HOW HAVE READERS DONE?
Alamy
STEVE WARD
194 so far. A day on the
Solway added
Whitethroat, Whimbrel
[above] and three skuas
on last big day out.
TREVOR NOBBS
Currently on 89 species
in Cornwall. Still
confident on reaching
my 200.
JOHN WALKER
Just got to 150 on my
year list and 183 on my
life list.
KAREN SNOW
I’m up to 132, most of
which were seen in Kent.
Hope to add a couple
more this weekend.
DAVID MORRIS
105, including some
seen in Central Park,
New York, on New
Year’s Day.
JAMES COMMON
Just realised I’ve passed
200 species this year.
Wood Sandpiper no.203
Time to up my target?
SORREL JOHNSON-
HUGHES
I’m on 136 and saw all
but a few of them in
Hampshire. Hoping to
see Nightjar soon and
Osprey at Rutland
Water on the way to see
seabirds at Flamborough
Head. I’ve surpassed my
usual year total now, and
seen some firsts, and
improved my fieldcraft,
so I’m pleased with how
it’s going. Favourite
sighting was a pair of
Short-eared Owls.
What do I do now?
Autumn migration is already upon us. We know
that’s a bit depressing to hear in the middle of
summer, but the birding benefits are many.
Among those species that breed in the far north
and Arctic, mainly waders and wildfowl, some
birds will already be making their way south to
their wintering grounds, so it’s a great time to look
for these birds as they make their journeys (some
of which end in the UK, of course).
Many will be juveniles, which can make ID that
bit more challenging; but adult birds are involved
too, even this early in the season, so head to your
local gravel pits or reservoir and scope the muddy
margins as well as the main body of water.
Remember, too, that some species are present in
the UK throughout the summer, even when your
field guide suggests they aren’t. Take Knots, for
example. Most books will have this down as a
wintering bird and passage migrant, and you can
indeed see huge flocks at sites such as Snettisham
RSPB during the colder months. But visit in the
summer and you’ll still find several hundred;
failed breeders, and birds that never made the
journey north in the first place.
So, if you’re out birding during the summer,
keep an open mind and don’t rule anything out.
Field guides are just that – guides – and for birds,
the seasons run into one another much quicker
than we might think.
Start to fill in the gaps
Let’s say you started out with a burst of
enthusiasm, and chalked up most of the local
winter species during January and February.
Then, when spring migration started, you ticked
off the birds as they came through, including all
those species that don’t breed in your area so have
to be seen during a fairly small time window.
But you’ve ground to a bit of a halt, and you’re
wondering where the other 70, 80, 90, 100 species
ê SNETTISHAM KNOT FLOCK
Even in the summer you can catch up with ‘winter’ birds such as Knot
around The Wash at sites like Snettisham
22 July 2017

ON TWITTER
twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag
Short-eared Owls
Lisa Geoghegan / Alamy
are going to come from. You need to make a plan.
First, list all those species that you know breed
or winter on your home patch, and think about
exactly where you might see them. You’ll find
yourself grouping various (not always related)
species together – for example, Hobby, Sedge
Warbler, and Water Rail might all be expected to
be found at a local wetland site.
Then list any others that you might expect to
see during your summer holiday, or during days
out. If you’re living inland and this takes you to
the coast, there’s obviously a lot of seabirds that
could boost your total considerably, especially if
you take the time to master a bit of basic gull ID.
But here’s the good thing about #My200BirdYear.
When you go to find them, you hear and glimpse
another, far less showy warbler, too. It’s
unremarkable looking, but the sound it’s making
is utterly distinctive. Grasshopper Warbler.
And around the margins of one of the pools,
there’s a rather delicate looking wader that’s just
not quite right for Redshank or any of the other
usual suspects. You use your field guide to
carefully rule them out, one by one, and conclude
that you’ve got your first patch Wood Sandpiper.
And that’s what we hope #My200BirdYear will
do. You’ll slowly realise that there are more
species out there, within easy reach, than you ever
thought. You can follow others’ progress and
report your own by using the #My200BirdYear
hashtag on social media.
HOW TO TAKE PART
David Tipling
All you need to do is go to birdwatching.co.uk/
my-200-bird-sign-up and fill in your details – there’s
still plenty of time to make it to 200 ,even if you start
now, because most of the ‘winter’ birds you’ve missed
will be back in evidence around October.
But keep an eye on Bird Watching magazine, too.
Starting in our September issue, and at Rutland
Water’s Birdfair event in August, we’ll be showing
you how to take part in our #My100BirdYear
challenge, including how you could complete it in
a single day!
birdwatching.co.uk 23

BREEDING
SPOONBILLS & EGRETS
Population
BOOM
Although climate change will have a devastating effect
on many of our birds, warmer temperatures
are encouraging other species
to stay and breed in the
UK’s marshy environs
WORDS: MATT MERRITT
24 July 2017

ê NEW BREEDERS
Spoonbills have started nesting
again in the UK after a
300 year absence
Biosphoto\Photoshot.
birdwatching.co.uk 25

BREEDING
SPOONBILLS & EGRETS
BACK IN THE 1970s, when I first started
birdwatching, ID was pretty
straightforward if you saw a long-legged,
long-necked bird. Bitterns were extremely
rare in the UK (and even now, how often
do you see one well?), and Spoonbills
were gone, seemingly forever, so the
Grey Heron had the field (or should that
be the marsh?) pretty much to itself.
IMAGEBROKER,ALFRED & ANNALIESE T/Imagebroker/FLPA
How things have changed. In southern England, at
least, and increasingly further north, birdwatchers
now stand a chance of seeing a whole host of
herons, egrets and similar species, and there
might well be more to come.
The pioneers
In fact, though, it’s often cited as a case of
recolonisation. Spoonbills had become largely
absent from the UK from the 17th Century
onwards, with only occasional single pairs
breeding and a handful of passage birds seen each
year, largely in the spring.
The destruction of much of their preferred
habitat, as fens and swamps were drained for
agriculture, was the main culprit for their demise,
although hunting and then egg collecting took
their toll, too.
But, in 2010, came the announcement that at
least four pairs had fledged young at Holkham
National Nature Reserve in Norfolk – the first
breeding colony for more than 300 years.
Spoonbills typically breed in single-species
colonies or, as at Holkham, in small groups within
è GLOSSY IBIS
Perhaps this will be the next
heron-like bird to colonise the UK
ê BREEDING FINERY
The ‘aigrettes’ of Little Egrets were
once highly prized, helping their
eradication from the UK
è SPOON-FED BABY
Even tiny Spoonbills have
flattened, spatulate bills!
mixed-species colonies containing other water
birds, such as Grey Herons, Little Egrets and
Cormorants, so expansion in numbers and range
can be a slow process.
Once it gathers momentum, though, it can really
take off, and as more and more Spoonbills also
winter in the UK, the potential for the Norfolk
colony to sprout outliers rapidly is great. It needs a
mixture of freshwater lakes, reedbeds, and
brackish lagoons, so will always be tied to coastal
areas, but it could benefit from plans to create
natural sea defences in many areas by means of
planned flooding and managed realignment.
It was a similar story with the Little Egret. It
was once probably common and widespread in
Britain and Ireland – they were listed among the
birds eaten at the coronation feast of Henry VI in
1429, and 1,000 were eaten at the enthronement of
George Neville as Archbishop of York in 1465.
But habitat loss, over-hunting and a cooling
climate saw them decline rapidly, so much so that
Thomas Bewick, in the first years of the 19th
Century, described them as almost extinct.
Things got worse. Egret plumes became the
must-have fashion accessory, to the extent that, in
1887, one London dealer sold two million egret
skins. Most came from the hunting of wild birds,
with disastrous effects, and by the 20th Century, it
was a bird of southern Europe only. This
catastrophe did spark a reaction, though, and in
1889, the Plumage League was formed, a
conservation organisation that would become the
RSPB we all know today.
Conservation action in continental Europe
helped the Little Egret population to grow rapidly,
until it became common in western and then
northern France, and breeding took place in the
Netherlands at the end of the 1970s. Throughout
this time, it was a rare vagrant to Britain, but
records became more and more regular, until in
1996, a pair first bred at Brownsea Island, Dorset.
26 July 2017

From there, its numbers and range have
expanded as far north as Scotland, with breeding
numbers now estimated at 750-plus pairs, and
wintering numbers pushing up past 5,000 birds.
The next wave
All fairly straightforward, so far. Spoonbills and
Little Egrets are both largely white, so can’t be
confused with Grey Herons, and the former are
distinctive by virtue of their spatulate bills, used
to sweep through the water in search of food, and
their habit of flying with their necks outstretched.
In the last few years, though, increasing
numbers of Great White Egrets have been seen in
the UK, closely followed by Cattle Egrets. The
former, Grey Heron sized but also all-white, bred
for the first time in 2012, at Shapwick Heath
Nature Reserve, Somerset.
The number of wintering birds continues to
increase, with south coast sites such as Dungeness
being particularly good spots to find them, so the
likelihood is that they’ll become a regular breeder,
and that their population might expand along the
same lines as their smaller relative’s. Their even
smaller relative, the Cattle Egret, is a species that
has expanded its range worldwide by a huge
amount in the last century – it even crossed the
Atlantic and is now seen in large numbers in parts
of South America, and is one of only two species
(the other is the Arctic Tern), to have reached all
seven continents.
It’s perhaps surprising, then, that it has taken so
long to make inroads into the UK, but the story
has been much the same as with Little and Great
White: increased numbers of wintering birds, with
invasions in 2007-8 and last winter, and first
breeding in 2008, again in Somerset.
Given its global success, and the fact that the
population in northern France is thriving, expect
it to become a familiar sight in Britain, far from its
origins on the African savannah.
Robin Chittenden/FLPA
Harvey van Diek / PIC FAIR
birdwatching.co.uk 27

BIRD the
WORLD
THE
BEST HOLIDAY
OFFERS AND TRAVEL
REPORTS FROM
AROUND THE GLOBE
MAGICAL
MADAGASCAR
Hemis / Alamy
An island home to a host of
endemic birds and other great
wildlife, including lemurs!
WORDS: BARRIE COOPER
IF CHARLES DARWIN’S ship HMS Beagle had
made a diversion and arrived in Madagascar
before the Galápagos Islands, it’s quite possible
he may not have bothered moving onto the
archipelago off Ecuador.
After separating from the African land mass 165
million years ago, Madagascar developed amazing
examples of evolution. Some species arrived after the
separation and subsequently evolved into several
species as different habitats were colonised, requiring
different adaptations. For example, the world’s largest
bird, the flightless Elephant Bird, grew to a height of
more than three metres and is the largest known
species of bird to have existed.
Madagascar is famous for being the only place in
the world for lemurs and, incredibly, some became as
large as gorillas. Sadly, as is often the case on islands,
once people arrived extinction for the Elephant Bird,
the huge lemurs and several other species inevitably
followed. Nevertheless, Madagascar is still a truly
unforgettable place for the modern birder and also for
the general wildlife enthusiast.
Although there are only about 210 regularly
breeding birds, half of these are endemic, including
five endemic families.
To see a good range of endemics it’s necessary
to visit three key habitats: spiny forest in the
south, western dry deciduous forests and
eastern rainforests. Each habitat holds a range
of interesting species in addition to endemics.
For most members of a group tour I recently
led, the spiny forest was the one they selected
as holding the most memorable birds. This
small area of spiny forest held species from
other endemic families, one of which is the
ONLINE
EXCLUSIVE
Read a longer version
online at
birdwatching.co.uk/
madagascar
82 July 2017

OTHER WILDLIFE
I’m a keen birder with experience in more than 60 countries,
but I have to admit that the lemurs are the highlight of
Madagascar for me.
How can you resist taking lots of photos of Ring-tailed
Lemurs (below)? Or the beautiful Diademed Sifaka? Or
the dancing Verreaux’s Sifaka? I’m glad we don’t have film
cameras these days, it would cost a fortune! But perhaps
one of the main highlights of a visit to Madagascar is to
hear the wailing calls of Indri.
To be underneath the trees where the world’s largest
lemur is calling is a true wildlife experience to linger long in
the memory – it’s the sound of this amazing country and
a privilege to hear such a charismatic animal, as indeed are
most of the lemurs.
Barrie Cooper
é GIANT COUA
Relatives of the
cuckoos, the couas are
strictly birds of
Madagascar
Barrie Cooper
Barrie Cooper
couas, which are related to cuckoos but build their
own nest and raise their own young. Another target
endemic family for birders are the ground-rollers.
Perhaps the most interesting family are the vangas
and if Darwin had studied them rather than his
finches, they’d now be famous. This family has an
even more incredible range of beaks than the
Galápagos finches.
The spiny forest holds one of the best examples of
niche filling with the splendid Sickle-billed Vanga and
it’s quite a highlight when you see one of these black
and white birds perched at the top of a tree with its
long, grey, curved beak.
There are a few wetlands on the eastern coast
where you will hope to find the endemic Madagascar
Plover as well as migrant waders, Hottentot Teal,
Madagascar Lark and Madagascar Cisticola.
In the north is a lake where, in 2006, the presumed
extinct Madagascar Pochard was rediscovered, with a
population of just 24. Moving inland from the spiny
forest, the Zombitse forest is an example of dry
deciduous forest and is one of only three sites known
to hold Appert’s Tetraka, a warbler-type bird that
moves through the understory in small groups.
The forest also holds Greater and Lesser Vasa
Parrots, plus various lemurs and other endemics.
Continuing eastwards takes us to the wetter parts of
Madagascar and, for me, the Nuthatch Vanga is one of
the prizes here.
Another highlight of the rainforest must be the sight
and sound of the Madagascar Cuckoo Roller displaying
over the canopy as you strain your neck trying to get a
good view of this unique bird.
You really do need to visit Madagascar to
understand the true magic of an island that Darwin
would have loved.
MADAGASCAR
Barrie Cooper
ç BLUE COUA
It is not hard to see
where the Blue Coua
gets its name from...
é SCALY
GROUND-ROLLER
An endemic beauty of
a bird from a family
restricted to
Madagascar
ê SAVANNA
Madagascan savanna
in the Menabe region
of western Madagascar
Antsiranana
Diana
Sambava
Antsohihy
Bofia
Boeny
Maevatanana
Maintirano Tsiroanomandidy Toamasina
ANTANANARIVO
Antsirabe
Morondava
Ambositra
Toliara
Fianarantsoa
Ihosy
Manakara INDIAN
OCEAN
Farafangana
Ambovombe
Tolanaro
birdwatching.co.uk 83

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42 July 2017
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