FIRECREST TOURS : Guided Birdwatching & Wildlife Days

Common Scoters sleeping by   Graham Catley Of all the research projects carried out by RSPB Scotland, perhaps one of the most puzzling has been the case of a disappearing duck: the common scoter.

Image: Colin Wilkinson A consortium led by the RSPB has been named as the preferred bidder to design, build and operate a new visitor centre and to manage the stunning natural habitats within Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest Country Park. One of the UK’s leading nature conservation charities – the RSPB – has come out on top in a procurement process organised by Nottinghamshire County Council for a new visitor centre and to take on the conservation management of Sherwood Forest Country Park, which forms part of Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve (NNR). 

Blue Tit at nest box  ( Katie Fuller ) With the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) National Nest Box Week (14 - 21 February) upon us and spring time fast approaching, people across Scotland are being urged to dust off their muddy wellies and get back into the garden to put up a nest box in time for the bird breeding season.  Boxes shaped like caravans, farmhouses, eggs and even windmills are on sale as nesting sites for garden birds, but RSPB Scotland is warning that attractive or elaborate boxes are not necessarily safe or effective. In some cases, unsuitable nest boxes could even lead to birds being put in danger.

Puffin in flight  ( Chris Gomersall ) Excitement is building for the re-opening of one of Northern Ireland’s most iconic tourist destinations, the Rathlin West Light Seabird Centre. Rathlin Island is Northern Ireland’s only inhabited island and is also home to one of the UK’s largest seabird colonies.

Four of the UK's bird species, including  Puffin  and  Turtle Dove , have today [Thursday 29 October 2015] been added to the list of birds considered to be facing the risk of global extinction. The latest annual revision of birds on the  IUCN Red List , which has been announced by BirdLife International on behalf of the IUCN, doubles the number of UK bird species considered to be facing the risk of extinction to eight. The IUCN Red List assesses the threat of extinction for each bird species. Those with no immediate threat of extinction are listed as Least Concern. Those species considered to be facing a threat of global extinction are listed in three levels of descending threat: Critically Endangered; Endangered; and Vulnerable. Shockingly, a further 14 UK species are considered to be Near Threatened, meaning that any further deterioration in their status could see them added to the Red List too. Turtle Dove  has declined massively in Britain ( Photo...

       Paperback /  325 Pages /  Pelagic Publishing (2012) /  ISBN 978-1907807299 /  RRP £12.99 Review #1 by Mike Everett for British Birds Quite early in chapter one, reading about Mark Avery’s time as a deer researcher on Rum, I came across the bizarre statement that ‘our base… looked across Mull to Skye and the Cuillins…’ and wondered whether this boded well for the rest of the book. I need not have worried; it must have been an editorial mistake. This is a marvellous account of one man’s work for bird conservation, reflecting Mark’s impressive birding and academic background as well as his sharp intellect, his sure grasp of strategy and his huge commitment to his vocation. His well-known sense of humour is there too, as is that enviable facility at communication which made him such a great asset to the RSPB.

Juvenile Hen Harrier by Jude Lane Hen harrier chicks have been fitted with high-tech satellite tags as part of a new RSPB initiative to help conserve England’s most threatened bird of prey. The chicks, which are approximately four weeks old, are currently being raised in a nest on the United Utilities Bowland Estate. The site is traditionally the stronghold for the English hen harrier and the RSPB has worked with the water company and its shooting tenants to protect the birds there for more than 30 years. The hen harrier nest is the first successful one in England since 2012 and one of only three in the whole of England this year. Chicks produced in the other English nests – one of which is also on the United Utilities Bowland Estate –will also be fitted with satellite tags when they are large enough. The satellite tags were supplied by Natural England and fitted by Stephen Murphy, the Agency’s lead adviser for hen harriers. He said:  “The lightweight satellite tags...

Kittiwake by   Grahame Madge Birds and Climate Change, a new book released today (July 1, 2014), shows that recent climate change has already had a significant impact on bird populations around the world. These impacts are projected to become much larger in the future, increasing the extinction risk for many species. However, the book gives reasons for cautious optimism. We have a window of opportunity to reduce the threat that climate change poses if action is taken now. To address this, we need to reduce the future amount of climate change. Increased use of renewable energy can help, although if not deployed carefully, it can also cause unintended but significant problems to many bird species. The other type of action is to adapt existing approaches used to counter threats to bird populations so that they also deal effectively with climate change.

The dunlin is often a good sign of a well-managed peatland, but too few good sites remain (Dunlin by  Chris Gomersall ) From Dartmoor to the Peak District and from the North York Moors to the Lake District, England’s uplands are iconic landscapes that improve the environment, help combat climate change, provide havens for nature and benefits for people, such as clean drinking water. Nowhere is this statement more true than upland peatlands. But today a partnership of wildlife groups and industry is reminding government only four per cent of England’s upland peatlands are in good ‘ecological’ condition, and the remainder is not living up to its potential for providing homes for nature and combating climate change.

Here is the RSPB's report on bird crime in 2012 which includes accounts of individual offences against bird legislation. The full PDF can be viewed full screen, with larger text or zoomed in  here .

Black-throated Diver by  Chris Gomersall A pioneering project to recreate ideal breeding habitat for one of Scotland’s rarest birds on some Scottish lochs has met with remarkable success. The black-throated diver, a species that only breeds in freshwater lochs in the north-west of the country, is benefitting from the scheme to create special floating rafts that provide the necessary conditions to breed and raise chicks.

PC Helen Felton and RSPB's Head of Investigations Bob Elliot with illegally killed buzzards (RSPB) Colin Burne, of Winters Park, Penrith, has today pleaded guilty to the intentional killing of buzzards on land managed by a private shooting syndicate in Whinfell Forest, near Penrith, Cumbria. The 64-year old gamekeeper attended Carlisle Magistrates Court today where he pleaded guilty to three charges. These related to the killing of two buzzards on the 11 February 2013, killing five buzzards prior to this date and possession of a wooden stick as an item capable of being used to kill the birds. He received a 70-day jail sentence, concurrent on each charge, suspended for 12 months.  In sentencing, the Judge stated that had it not been for his ill health he would have considered jailing him. On Monday 11 February, this year, a cage trap containing live buzzards was found by members of the public on land managed by the shoot. Cage traps can lawfully be used to control certa...

Skylark by   Andy Hay Cuts to the environment budget announced today prove the need for a radical rethink on how we protect our threatened wildlife. That's the message from the RSPB following today's announcement that Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), alongside several other Government departments, is set to be hit with a 10 per cent cut.  Added to the cuts that have already been announced, this leaves Defra's budget at almost half where it was in 2010 in real terms. Today's cut is likely to fall disproportionately on conservation as spending on flooding issues and the badger cull is likely to be protected. The news comes a month after the groundbreaking State of Nature report was launched by Sir David Attenborough and 25 leading conservation organisations which revealed that our wildlife is in serious trouble with 60 per cent of UK species in decline. 'We need a radical rethink of how we can protect our plants, anima...