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The Birdy Bit |
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October
2008
Over the years 25 stilt sandpipers have turned up in Britain, being rare vagrants from North America. A birdwatcher in North America of course may see many of these birds and pass them off as common. Unless, as some species are, they are critically endangered, a 'rare' bird is often a common species which has got lost and turned up in the wrong place. This most often happens on migration when birds get blown off course and become displaced across continents or oceans. The unpredictability and the chance of seeing a As the wet summer has turned into a wet autumn, much of the grazing stock had been removed from the fields before the usual end of October deadline. Once stock were removed, sluices on the land at North Plain, Rogersceugh and Biglands were raised to allow winter flooding, already attracting hundreds of teal and wigeon to feed and roost. Hen harriers have returned too, quartering large areas of bog, farmland and saltmarsh during the day, returning to roost on Bowness Common each evening. |
Perhaps
the rarest bird to visit the RSPB's Campfield Marsh reserve arrived at the
end of September. The juvenile stilt sandpiper was found by local
enthusiasts on the saltmarsh pool in front of Campfield Farm, causing
great excitement amongs birdwatchers in this country and abroad. A Finnish
'birder' was this year trying to set his country's record for the most
species seen within Europe in a single year. While in Majorca he heard
about the stilt sandpiper, flew to Manchester and drove here to see the
bird, before returning to Majorca. This was the bird that clinched the
record for him!
new species makes it exciting for many nature watchers when something rare
turns up. However, managing nature reserves is usually about maintaining
and enhancing the habitat to improve conditions for all the usual species
which utilise it. Thus, all the work on the reserve here is directed
towards breeding lapwing, snipe, redshank and curlew, and wintering waders
and wildfowl such as barnacle geese, teal and oystercatchers. Maintaining
good populations of these species, which are characteristic of the area,
helps reserves act as a core from which species may spread as conditions
elsewhere become suitable.
