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British Birds

Volume 105 • Number 9 • September 2012

498 The merging of populations of Greylag Geese breeding in Britain
Carl Mitchell, Richard Hearn and David Stroud

506 Steppe Eagle migration strategies - revealed by satellite telemetry
Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg, Christiane Meyburg and Patrick Paillat

520 The birds of Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership
Edward Stubbings

530 Hybrid gulls in Belgium - an update

Peter Adriaens, Harry J. P. Vercruijsse and Eric W. M. Stienen

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Finding Birds in Mallorca

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549 News and comment

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545 Reviews

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552 Recent reports

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Barry Nightingale and

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of the Western Palearctic; •> publish a range of material on behaviour, conservation, distribution,
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interpret scientific research on birds in an easily accessible way.

© British Birds 2012

The merging of
populations of
Greylag Geese
breeding in Britain

Carl Mitchell, Richard Hearn and David Stroud

Abstract Two breeding populations of Greylag Goose Anser anser are currently
recognised in the UK: i) the northwest Scotland (or native) population, which is
the remnant of the population that once occurred more widely across Britain; and
ii) the re-established population of birds released primarily by wildfowlers during
the period from the 1930s to the 1960s. As a result of recent large increases in
the abundance and distribution of both populations, there are now numerous
areas where birds of mixed or uncertain provenance occur, making it impractical
to continue to treat them as separate populations. We propose that, for
conservation management purposes, counts and estimates of the population size
of the two populations should be merged to form a new British Greylag Goose
population. This paper provides a brief overview of the evidence and assesses
current gaps in knowledge and the consequences of this proposed change.

Introduction

In terms of wildfowl, biogeographical popula-
tions can be defined as groupings of individ-
uals that share breeding, staging and wintering
areas, or flyways, in a manner that is crucial
for the effective delivery of conservation
management actions (for definitions see
www.ramsar.org/pdf/lib/hbk4- 1 7.pdf). The
biogeographical populations of migratory and
sedentary geese in the Western Palearctic are
well documented (Scott & Rose 1996; Madsen
et al. 1999), but changes in their status and
distribution necessitate periodic review.

Two breeding populations of the Greylag
Goose Anser anser are currently recognised in
Britain (e.g. Madsen et al. 1999), the north-
west Scotland (or native) population and the
re-established population, which until now
have been treated as separate biogeographic
entities, largely on the basis of geography (dis-
creteness) and possible differences in proven-
ance. Both populations have increased in
abundance and distribution recently, to the

498

extent that they can no longer be considered
to be objectively separable, and so the basis of
this differentiation needs revision. This situa-
tion has long been forecast. For example,
when assessing the population status of birds
in north and west Scotland in 1997, Mitchell et
al. (2000) suggested that: ‘it may be safely pre-
dicted that eventually the two stocks will inter-
breed and Greylag Geese once again nest over
much of Britain’. Largely as a result of data
gathered for an extensive survey of Greylag
Geese in Scotland in 2008 and 2009, Mitchell
et al. (2010a) suggested that: ‘it is now consid-
ered impractical to continue to treat these
populations as separate’. Furthermore, the re-
established population has been regarded -
incorrectly - by some as a non-native popula-
tion (and typically described as ‘feral’), rather
than the more accurate treatment as a re-
established population of a native species,
comparable with, for example, Red Kite
Milvus milvus, White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus
albicilla and Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus. As a

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

Greylag Geese breeding in Britain

consequence, the Greylag Goose does not cur-
rently have an official 1% threshold for use in
relevant site designation purposes. The pro-
posal put forward here, to combine the north-
west Scotland and re-established populations,
would bring about a change to the status of
the re-established population such that a
formal 1% threshold would be required.

Historical status

The Greylag Goose is the only goose species
breeding in a native state in Britain. At the
end of the eighteenth century, the species had
a much wider distribution, breeding in many
areas of Scotland and more locally in
England (Holloway 1996) and probably in
parts of Wales. During the nineteenth
century, numbers began to decline and it
seems likely that the drainage and cultivation
of fenland and overhunting were responsible
for the probable extinction of the species in
England and Wales. In Scotland too, its dis-
tribution contracted during the nineteenth
century and numbers decreased. The causes
of this decline were variously attributed to an
increase in predation, egg-collecting, distur-
bance through increasing levels of recreation,
and the loss of nesting cover through heather
management and overgrazing. However,
perhaps the most important factor in many

areas was the almost continuous persecution,
often through indiscriminate shooting, by
crofters and farmers (Berry 1939).

By the 1870s, breeding Greylag Geese were
confined to the Uists, Harris and Lewis in the
Outer Hebrides and, in very small numbers,
on the west-coast mainland of Scotland (see
Mitchell et al. 2010a for a review). The north-
west Scotland population (or the ‘native
Greylag Goose population’, as it became
known) was thus the remnant of a popula-
tion formerly widespread throughout
Britain. By the 1930s, the number of breeding
Greylags in Scotland possibly numbered no
more than 500 birds, probably representing
their lowest number in historical times
(Berry 1939) and few, if any, bred elsewhere
in Britain. From this low ebb, numbers began
to increase and by the early 1960s this popu-
lation numbered c. 1,000 birds, predomi-
nantly in the Outer Hebrides, with a small
number recorded from the Scottish mainland
in west Ross & Cromarty and west Suther-
land (now Highland), and probably in Caith-
ness (Atkinson-Willes 1963). The number
and distribution of these Greylags continued
to increase slowly, and by 1997 Mitchell et al.
(2000) considered the population in
northern Scotland to be c. 10,000 geese. The
key concentrations were on the Uists (3,311

272. Greylag Goose Anser anser with recently hatched young. Norfolk, May 2010.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

499

Roger Tidman/FLPA

David Hosking/ FLPA

Mitchell et al.

birds), Tiree and Coll, Argyll (2,366), Suther-
land (1,262) and Orkney (1,114). In 2008-09,
a repeat survey found c. 34,500 geese, with
the main concentrations on Orkney
(c. 10,000), the Uists (5,948), Shetland
(4,633), Tiree and Coll (3,648), and Harris
and Lewis (1,912) (Mitchell et al. 2010a).

The population increase since the 1930s is
likely to have been driven by a combination of
factors. The special protection afforded to the
Greylag Goose under the First Schedule of the
Protection of Birds Act (1954) included, for
example, the outlawing of the taking of eggs
and the provision of protected areas. This
special protection was maintained under
Schedule 1 /II of the Wildlife & Countryside
Act (1981) in specific areas, namely the ‘Outer
Hebrides, Caithness, Sutherland and Wester
Ross only’. This reflected the re-establishments
which had taken place in the intervening
period (see below), and the difference in atti-
tude towards protecting reintroduced birds. A
dramatic change in agricultural practice from
the 1970s onwards provided greatly improved
food supplies for geese. Large areas of former
rough hill ground in Scotland were subject to
grant-aided intensive management and
reseeding, providing palatable, highly nutri-
tious food in close proximity to potential
breeding areas. In addition, a recent reduction

in the severity and duration of cold weather in
winter has probably led to increased over-
winter survival and females being in better
condition at the start of the breeding season,
in March. Hunting probably slowed the rate of
increase in some areas, but faced with a potent
mixture of favourable factors, increases in
numbers and range continued nonetheless.

Re-establishment

From the 1930s onwards, Greylag Geese were
re-established as a result of releases in areas of
former occurrence, chiefly by those with wild-
fowling interests. The majority of these
reintroductions used eggs supplied from the
northwest Scotland population, but it is pos-
sible that a very small number of Iceland-bred
geese, taken in winter, were also involved
(Boyd & Matthews 1963). From the 1930s to
the 1950s, flocks of re-established Greylag
Geese built up in Wigtown (Dumfries & Gal-
loway), Sutherland and parts of England, and
these should be considered as a successful
reintroduction of the British population.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the
former Wildfowlers’ Association of Great
Britain and Ireland (WAGBI), now the British
Association for Shooting and Conservation
(BASC), organised catching teams to visit
northwest and southwest Scotland to obtain

273. Greylag Geese, Jura, Argyll, March 2009.

500

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

Greylag Geese breeding in Britain

Anser anser within Britain (n=l 16, some movements involve more
than one marked individual) derived from ring-recoveries and live
sightings of colour-ringed birds. Ringing location shown as blue circle.

both native and re-estab-
lished birds. These were
released at a large number
of sites in England and
Wales (see Owen & Salmon
1988 for details) and in
smaller numbers in parts of
Scotland. WAGB1 stated
that their aim was ‘to try to
re-establish the Greylag as a
wild nesting bird in
England’ (Harrison 1959).

The released birds remained
in fairly discrete groups
with little or no migratory
behaviour; subsequent dis-
persal and the colonisation
of new sites appeared to be
largely in the vicinity of the
original releases. Since that
time, numbers and distri-
bution have largely con-
tinued to increase.

Despite the preferred
habitat of natural fens, bogs
and marshes having disap-
peared from much of Britain
(although less so in Scot-
land), the species showed
itself capable of adapting to
modified or new habitats for
both breeding and win-
tering. A large number of
gravel-pits and reservoirs,
particularly in southern
Britain and typically with
grass or cereal monocultures
close by, were created from the 1950s and
proved attractive to the geese. By the early
1980s they were firmly re-established as
breeding birds in southwest and east-central
Scotland and in other parts of lowland Britain,
notably in southern and central England
(Owen et al 1986). Owen & Salmon (1988)
suggested that there were 13,000-14,000 re-
established Greylags in Britain in the mid 1980s
and they estimated an annual rate of increase of
c. 13% during the period 1966-88. In 2000, the
estimated number of re-established Greylags in
Britain (including Scotland) was 24,500 and
numbers were increasing at an average of 9.4%
per annum (Austin et al 2007). The annual
index based on the Wetland Bird Survey

(WeBS) shows a period of continued increase
in numbers since the 1990s (Holt et al 2011)
and, assuming the rate of increase has remained
unchanged (9.4% per annum), the number of
re-established Greylag Geese in Britain would
have been c. 51,000 birds by 2008 (and the total
number of birds in both populations c. 86,000).
However, the most recent estimate of the whole
British population incorporated an extrapola-
tion factor (taking into account the likely pro-
portion of the population not counted during
WeBS counts) to derive an estimate of 140,000
birds (Musgrove et al 2011).

The manner in which colonisation of
newly occupied areas has occurred is largely
undocumented because there has been little

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

501

Mitchell et al.

ringing of British Greylag Geese. Most data
indicate that the population is largely seden-
tary, or undertakes only short-distance move-
ments (Swann & Brockway 2002), although
some long-distance movements have been
recorded in recent years. For example, some
breeders undertake an annual moult migra-
tion from southwest England and south Wales
to the Glasgow area, and possibly farther
afield (WWT/Clyde Ringing Group unpubl.),
and there are regular winter movements from
Orkney to East Anglia, albeit by a small pro-
portion of the marked population (Orkney
Ringing Group unpubl.). Fig. 1 shows move-
ments of over 100 km and demonstrates the
capacity of some Greylags to disperse longer
distances, making colonisation of most parts
of Britain possible from any of the strong-

holds established in the mid twentieth
century. The 2008-09 survey of geese in Scot-
land (Mitchell et al. 2010a) revealed sum-
mering Greylag Geese across much of
Scotland, with birds occupying the geo-
graphic range between the northwest and the
re-established populations (for example, in
various areas of Argyll, including Islay, and
Highland). Fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-1 1
has revealed a breeding range covering most
of Britain apart from the highest ground in
Scotland and large parts of the south and west
of England and Wales (fig. 2).

In many parts of Scotland it is now
impossible to determine confidently whether
the Greylag Geese there are derived from the
northwest Scotland or re-established popula-
tions, or both, as is likely in Orkney (see Dis-
cussion). Consequently,
treating all the breeding
birds as a single popula-
tion provides the best, and
only meaningful, option.

Discussion

The merger of the popula-
tion estimates of the
currently recognised
northwest Scotland and
re-established populations
of Greylag Goose is a
desirable and pragmati-
cally necessary step that
allows these birds once
more to be recognised as
a single population of
Britain’s only native
breeding goose. By
adopting this approach,
researchers would be able
to monitor and manage
the combined population
effectively at a biologically
meaningful scale. This
change is necessitated by
widespread and contin-
uing changes in the abun-
dance and distribution of
the two currently recog-
nised populations. Further
increases in abundance
and range are expected
in the decades ahead.

present

possible

breeding

probable

breeding

confirmed

breeding

j A *

*• ^ •««

A? :•?'* • . :tr;

X , T

’ r * : /

Fig. 2. Breeding distribution of the Greylag Goose in Britain based
on data from Bird Atlas 2007-1 I.

502

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

Greylag Geese breeding in Britain

However, a number of uncertainties regarding
the status of birds in specific areas require
further attention.

Firstly, it may be possible that birds from
the migratory Icelandic population also now
breed in Britain. Pennington (2000) suggested
that Greylag Geese now breeding in Shetland
originated in Iceland and that Shetland birds
had simply abandoned the final 500 km of
their northbound journey across the Atlantic
in spring. For Icelandic birds that had win-
tered in, for example, Lothian or Perth &
Kinross, the discovery of excellent breeding
habitat in Shetland, which meant that they
did not have to fly the final leg of their migra-
tion, might well have been attractive. The
extension of the breeding range to include
former stopover areas is a phenomenon well-
known in other geese, most notably among
Russian-breeding Barnacle Geese Branta leu-
copsis, which established a breeding popula-
tion on Gotland, Sweden (Larsson et al.
1988). Unfortunately, there are no ringing
results to show whether Greylags summering
in Shetland leave the islands in the autumn to
winter farther south. In addition, there are no
records of birds ringed in Iceland, or in
winter in Britain, breeding in Shetland.

The British and Icelandic populations meet
farther south in winter, in Orkney, Caithness
and other areas south to the Moray Firth,
North-east Scotland, the central belt, Argyll
and Dumfries & Galloway (and, until at least
the early 2000s, as far south as north York-
shire; WWT/East Dales Ringing Group
unpubl.). The recent change of wintering area
of the majority of the Icelandic-breeding pop-
ulation to Orkney (Mitchell et al. 2010b) has
reduced this contact in many areas, but inter-
change of individuals between the two popu-
lations appears always to have been modest.
Only a few birds ringed during the summer in
Scotland have been found in a subsequent
summer in Iceland, and none ringed in
Iceland have ever been recorded in Scodand in
the summer. It has been suggested, however,
that the rapid increase in the number of
breeding birds in Orkney from the mid 1980s
was unlikely to have been entirely due to the
small number of geese deliberately released
there and/or birds colonising from Sutherland
(Eric Meek pers. comm.). During the 1990s,
the number of wintering Icelandic birds

increased rapidly there, from c. 4,000 in the
early 1990s (3% of the total Icelandic popula-
tion at that time) to c. 70,000 (some 64% of
the total population) in the most recent census
(Mitchell et al. 2010b). These figures clearly
raise the possibility that some Icelandic birds
may have opted to remain in Orkney to breed.
Recent ringing returns, of a small number of
Greylags ringed in summer in Orkney and
seen in winter in East Anglia, perhaps suggest
that these birds retain migratory tendencies -
and the distance and direction from Iceland to
Orkney is not dissimilar to that between
Orkney and East Anglia.

However, no data exist to provide cer-
tainty about the presence of birds of Ice-
landic origin breeding in Shetland, Orkney or
elsewhere in Britain. Until such evidence is
available, we consider it most appropriate to
include these birds in the proposed single
British population. Genetic studies of Grey-
lags using the British-Icelandic flyway have
not yet been carried out. These could provide
greater clarification of this issue and may
deliver the evidence needed for a further
revision of population groupings. In terms of
population management, however, the
origins of the Greylag Geese breeding in
Britain may be relatively unimportant.

It is not known whether the British and Ice-
landic breeding populations are genetically dif-
ferent; this also merits further investigation.
Matthews & Campbell (1969) suggested that
there were modest differences in skeletal meas-
urements, but recent examination of a much
larger dataset (WWT unpubl.) suggests no
such differences and that British and Icelandic
birds are morphologically similar. It is possible
that the origins of the biogeographical popula-
tions in Iceland and Britain are in any case the
same. It seems plausible that Britain was ini-
tially colonised by breeding Greylag Geese after
the last Ice Age; sometime later, when Iceland
became ice-free, pioneers began to migrate
from Britain to Iceland to breed, taking advan-
tage of longer daylength and large undisturbed
areas to moult, while other birds remained in
Britain (Ploeger 1968).

The status of the Greylag Goose in Ireland
also requires closer attention. There is some
suggestion that this is not a native breeding
species in Ireland (but see Holloway 1996),
and should therefore be treated as a non-

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 498-505

503

Mitchell et al.

native, but given the wide distribution of the
Greylag Goose elsewhere in northwest
Europe this seems rather unlikely.

In terms of the conservation management
of Greylag Geese in Britain, there are some
consequences of merging the two populations
for site protection. With respect to interna-
tional designations, British-breeding Greylags
are neither migratory nor listed on Annex I of
the EU Birds Directive, and no SPAs are clas-
sified for them (Stroud et al. 2001). While
there are several Ramsar Sites in the Outer
Hebrides, only one of these lists Greylag
Goose as a qualifying species: Loch
Druidibeg, Loch a’Machair and Loch Stilli-
gary on South Uist, which formed one of the
first groups of UK sites to be designated
under the Ramsar Convention in 1976. This
site was merged with other areas in 1997 to
form the larger South Uist Machair and
Islands Ramsar Site. However, the grounds for
qualification of Greylag at this site (as given
in the Ramsar Site citation) relate to Criterion
3 (important biodiversity) rather than Criter-
ion 6 (numerical importance as highlighted
by 1% population thresholds). Thus the
changes proposed here have no implications
for this site. A 1% threshold for the combined
population - 1,400 birds - would currently
identify three potential sites of international
importance under Ramsar Criterion 6: Nos-
terfield Gravel-pits and the Lower Derwent
Ings (both Yorkshire), and the North Norfolk
Coast (Holt et al. 2011). Counts of more than
1,400 Greylags have also been recorded in the
past five years at Tophill Low, Bolton-on-
Swale Gravel-pits and Hay-a-Park Gravel-pits
(all Yorkshire), Dungeness and Rye Bay
(Kent/Sussex), Point of Ayre Gravel-pit (Isle
of Man) and the Ouse Washes (Cambridge-
shire/Norfolk). Analysis of ring-recoveries
and monitoring of the wintering Iceland pop-
ulation indicate that no Icelandic birds are
present at the aforementioned sites. Some of
these sites (North Norfolk Coast, Derwent
Ings, Dungeness and Rye Bay, and Ouse
Washes) are already designated Ramsar Sites
and the designation of other Ramsar Sites for
this species is unlikely given policies to priori-
tise such international designations for
species of the highest conservation concern.

SSSI selection uses national 1% thresh-
olds, which in this case would be the same as

504

for Ramsar (since the international range of
the population is confined to Britain). No
SSSIs in the Outer Hebrides are classified for
the Greylag Goose, although it does occur as
a ‘non-qualifying’ species widely within the
British SSSI network (i.e. a species for which
no directed site management is undertaken).

Current monitoring of the British Greylag
Goose population is adequate but, owing to
its large geographical range (fig. 2), remains
incomplete. Population size and trends can
be estimated using a variety of data sources,
most notably specific surveys (e.g. Mitchell et
al. 2010a), WeBS and the Breeding Bird
Survey. Pew data are available on demo-
graphic parameters (i.e. annual breeding
success and survival) away from core areas of
the northwest Scotland population. An
expansion of ringing and the collection of
age-ratio data in other parts of the range are
highly desirable, particularly for manage-
ment purposes. British Greylag Geese are
widely hunted during the open season, and
therefore data on the size of hunting bags is
also highly desirable so that an effective man-
agement system can be developed for
Britain’s only native breeding goose.

Acknowledgments

Ian Bainbridge, Tony Fox, Baz Hughes, Tony Martin,
Myrfyn Owen and Deborah Procter are thanked for
commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript.
The efforts of those undertaking ringing of Greylag
Geese in Britain, particularly John Bowler; Paul Boyer;
Raymond Duncan, Alan Leitch, Bob Swann and Fraser
Symonds, are greatly appreciated. Scottish Natural
Heritage and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust funded the
1997 and 2008-09 surveys of Greylag Geese in
Scotland. We are grateful to the BTO for supplying fig. 2.

References

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Berry, J. 1939. The Status and Distribution of Wild Geese
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— , Colhoun, K., Fox, A. D., Griffin, L„ Hall, C„ Hearn, R„
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— , Patterson, D., Boyer; R, Cunningham, R, McDonald,
R„ Meek, E„ Okill.J. D„ & Symonds, F. 2000. The
summer status and distribution of Greylag Geese in

north and west Scotland. Scot. Birds 2 1 : 69-77.

Musgrove, A. J„ Austin, G. E„ Hearn, R. D., Holt, C.A.,
Stroud, D. A., & Wotton, S. R. 20 1 I . Overwinter
population estimates of British waterbirds. Brit. Birds
104: 364-397.

Owen, M„ & Salmon, D. G. 1 988. Feral Greylag Geese
Anser anser in Britain & Ireland, 1960-86. Bird Study
35: 37-45.

— . Atkinson-Willes, G. L„ & Salmon, D. G. 1986.
Wildfowl in Great Britain. 2nd edn. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.

Pennington, M. G. 2000. Greylag Geese breeding in
Shetland. Scot Birds 2 1 : 27-35.

Ploeger; R L. 1968. Geographical differentiation in
Arctic Anatidae as a result of isolation during the
last glacial. Ardea 56: 1-155.

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Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands
International Publication No. 6, Slimbridge.

Stroud, D. A., Chambers, D., Cook, S., Buxton, N„
Fraser B„ Clement, R, Lewis, R, McLean, I., Baker, H„
& Whitehead, S. (eds.). 2001 . The UK SPA Network :
its scope and content. JNCC, Peterborough.

Swann, R., & Brockway. I. 2002. Greylag Goose. In:
Wemham, C.V.,Toms, M. R, Marchant, J. H„ Clark,

J. A„ Siriwardena, G. M„ & Baillie, S.R. (eds.), The
Migration Atlas: movements of the birds of Britain and
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Carl Mitchell and Richard Hearn, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucester
GL2 7BT; e-mail Carl.Mitchell@wwt.org.uk

David Stroud, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough
PEI 1JY

Carl Mitchell is a principal research officer at WWT. Richard Hearn is Head of Species Monitoring at WWT
David Stroud is senior ornithologist with JNCC, where he advises on a range of national and international bird
conservation policies. He is also a member of the UK Rare Breeding Birds Panel.

274. Greylag Geese, Norfolk, December 2009.

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Roger Tidman/ FLPA

Alan Harris

Steppe Eagle migration
strategies - revealed by
satellite telemetry

Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg, Christiane Meyburg and
Patrick Paillat

Abstract Sixteen Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis were fitted with satellite
transmitters during migration or on their wintering grounds (15 in Saudi Arabia,
one in South Africa). From these 16 birds, a total of 3,734 location co-ordinates
were received. Adult and immature Steppe Eagle migration strategies were
markedly different in terms of timing (adults returned to breeding territories in
southern Russia and Kazakhstan in late March and early April, whereas immatures
arrived in mid May) but not in terms of route and wintering area. Immatures
remained on the wintering grounds for substantially longer than adults, typically
for about six months. An adult took almost eight weeks to cover 9,543 km from
Botswana to Kazakhstan, averaging 177 km daily. The longest mean daily flight
distance among all tracked individuals was approximately 355 km. In 1998, an adult
male was recorded through a complete annual cycle; it spent 31.5% of the period
in the wintering area in Ethiopia and Sudan, 41.9% in the breeding area in
Kazakhstan, and 26.6% on migration.

The Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis is a
long-distance migrant, breeding from
southeast European Russia, east
through the central Asian steppes to
Manchuria in eastern China, and wintering
in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula,

the Indian subcontinent and southwestern
China. In Africa, Steppe Eagles winter across
a huge area, extending from the eastern Sahel
south to South Africa and Namibia. Brooke et
al. (1972) suggested that adult and immature
Steppe Eagles have different wintering

506

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

Steppe Eagle migration strategies

grounds and Christensen & Sorensen (1989)
found that adults predominate north of the
equator while immatures and subadults are
proportionately more common farther south,
though with much overlap. Satellite-tracking
data suggest that this is not the case, however
(Meyburg et al. 2003).

In recent decades, major declines in the
Steppe Eagle population have been reported;
for example, Yosef & Fornasari (2004) found
that the number passing through Israel has
dropped by half since 1975, with the number
of immatures having declined from 30% of
the total in the 1980s to less than 2% in 2000.
Whether these declines are real or simply the
effect of changes in the species’ wintering
grounds and migration strategies is unclear.
Throughout its range, potential threats to the
Steppe Eagle include habitat loss, especially
in steppe regions, human persecution, and
electrocution on power lines (e.g. Davygora
1992, Karyakin & Novikova 2006). Currently
categorised by B i rd Li fe International as a
species of ‘Least Concern’, the Steppe Eagle is
under review to determine whether its status
should be upgraded to ‘Near Threatened’
(Bird & Symes 2009).

The use of satellite telemetry has proved
to be an innovative and appropriate method

of recording the migration routes and
dynamics of large and medium-sized birds
(Meyburg et al. 2003, 2011; Meyburg & Fuller
2007). In this study, we examined the migra-
tion patterns of 16 Steppe Eagles to deter-
mine whether the strategy adopted differs
between adults and immatures.

Study areas and methods

Since 1991, over 100 Steppe Eagles have been
trapped at a site approximately 50 km ENE
of Taif, Saudi Arabia (21°37’N 40°43’E)
(Ostrowski et al. 2001; Meyburg et al. 2003).
The birds’ age was determined (retrospec-
tively in some cases) by reference to Clark
(1996), and sex by size and weight. In addi-
tion, a few individuals were trapped in
October 1993 on the Red Sea coast of
Saudi Arabia southeast of Mecca (20°03’N
40°25’E). For this study, 15 Steppe Eagles of
varying ages trapped in Saudi Arabia (in
October 1992, March and October 1993,
October 1996 and October 1997) were fitted
with a platform transmitter terminal (PTT).
In addition, another bird (eagle Ell) was
fitted with a PTT in January 1995 in the
Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Details of each Steppe Eagle and its trans-
mitter are listed in table 1. Earlier PTTs were

275. Steppe Eagle nest. Lower Volga River, Russia, June 2010.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

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Steppe Eagle migration strategies

battery-powered but the five transmitters
fitted in 1996—97 were solar-powered, giving
an extended life-cycle. The PTTs weighed
50-80 g. By prolonging battery life (through
programming long off-hours into the duty
cycles), individual eagles could be tracked for
extended periods, in one case for over one
year. Battery-powered PTTs were programmed
to transmit for eight hours in each 64-hour
period (in two cases), and eight hours in each
104-hour period (in eight cases). The trans-
mitter fitted to El 1 was programmed with dif-
ferent cycles to coincide with the eagle’s
expected movements during migration.

Data processing

Satellite data were received through the Argos
satellite-based positioning system. These data
were decoded and processed using software
produced by Microwave Telemetry, Inc. and
displayed via Google Earth Pro, ArcView GIS
3.2b (ESRI GIS and Mapping Software, Red-
lands, CA), and Animal Movements Extension
to ArcView GIS. All location data were analysed
individually and entered into databases.

To display migration routes, only location
classes (LCs) 3, 2, 1 and 0 were used. LCs
of inferior and poor quality (LCs A, B and
Z) were mostly excluded. The error ranges

indicated by Argos for class LC 3 (best
quality) are 150 m, LC 2 up to 350 m, and
LC 1 up to 1 km. Only where important data
points were missing were LCs of lesser
quality used in the results. Distances between
wintering and summering areas, and between
individual travel sectors, were calculated as
the sum of the distances between all accepted
neighbouring Argos locations.

Limitations on transmitter life and
data

From the 11 birds equipped with battery-
powered transmitters (El-Ell), a total of
1,219 location co-ordinates were obtained.
The mean number of locations per eagle was
111 (range 18-394). Mean PTT life between
fitting and the last location monitored was
224 days (range 47-370). In some cases, the
transmitters continued to send signals after
the birds had either perished or lost the
transmitter. Excluding local movements, the
total distance over which an individual was
tracked reached 17,129 km (table 1). From
the five birds with solar-powered PTTs
(E12-E16), a total of 2,510 location co-ordi-
nates were obtained (mean 502), and mean
length of time active was 213 days (range
44-419).

276. Steppe Eagle nest, Lower Volga River, Russia, June 2010. Note that the gape extends behind
the eye, which distinguishes Steppe Eagle from similar Aquila eagles, especially Lesser Spotted
A. pomarina and Greater Spotted Eagle A. clanga.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

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Of 15 Steppe Eagles trapped in the
Arabian Peninsula, seven remained there
throughout the winter; one was trapped on
spring migration and continued its journey;
one stopped transmitting before its final win-
tering area was established; and six crossed
the Red Sea at the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait
(between Yemen and Djibouti). Of those
wintering in Africa, five remained in East
Africa, in one case wintering north of Bab-el-
Mandeb. One adult female travelled as far as
southern Africa. Regardless of age, all six
birds wintering in Africa conducted a loop
migration around the Red Sea, arriving via
Bab-el-Mandeb and departing via the
northern end of the Red Sea (Suez)
(Meyburg et al. 2003).

Loss of contact with PTTs occurred for
various reasons. With some individuals (e.g.
E5 and E9) the PTTs functioned until the
batteries were depleted and the birds were
evidently still alive. In other cases (e.g. E2
and E8) the batteries depleted prematurely.
Contact was lost abruptly with some birds
(e.g. El, E3 and E7) long before the batteries
would have become depleted. Possible causes
include the loss of the PTT, a PTT defect or
the death of the bird. A fourth group of birds
eventually lost the PTT after a longer period,
or were believed to have perished, indicated
by the transmitter (e.g. PTT 04170 fitted to

E4) continuing to transmit from the same
location for an extended period.

Migration

One of the most striking discoveries from this
study was the loop migration around the Red
Sea undertaken by all six of the Steppe Eagles
that wintered in Africa (Meyburg et al. 2003).
All six tracked birds crossed the southern Red
Sea in autumn to enter Africa at Bab-el-
Mandeb, while on spring migration they
returned north to the west of the Red Sea and
left Africa via the Gulf of Suez (Egypt) and
Eilat (Israel). The movements of El 3 led us to
speculate that this bird was deterred from
making the Red Sea crossing into Africa; it
subsequently wintered in the Arabian Penin-
sula (see below). The easterly winds that pre-
dominate in February and March
(Hellermann & Rosenstein 1983; Meyburg et
al. 2003) presumably deter Steppe Eagles
from crossing the Red Sea at the Bab-el-
Mandeb and the detour via Suez extends the
journey by approximately 1,250 km.

Speed and timing of migration

The daily distance travelled during migration
varied between and within individuals.
Various factors affect the distance travelled
and time spent on migration, including
weather conditions, the need to feed and the

Table 2. Period and duration of spring migration, total distance and mean daily flight distances
travelled by selected Steppe Eagles monitored during this study.

Eagle

Wintering area

Departure

Arrival

Duration of

Distance

Mean daily flight

no.

date

date

migration (days)

travelled (km)

distance (km)

Ell

South Africa

2nd Jan

31st Mar

50 a

9,738

195

E5

Botswana

29th Jan

24th Mar

54

9,543 b

177

E9

Chad, Sudan

12th Apr

18th May

37

5,877 (7,152) c

159

E10

Sudan

18th Feb

1st Apr

43

5,876 d

137

E4

Saudi Arabia

25th Feb

28th Mar

32

3,527 (4,089) *

110

E12

Saudi Arabia

1st Mar

2nd Apr

33

3,489 f

106

E13

Saudi Arabia

27th Mar

23rd Apr

28

2,801 (3,811) R

100

E16

Sudan, Ethiopia

24th Feb

9th Apr

45 h

7,315

193

Notes: a The migration was interrupted in the Sudan for 39 days but this is excluded from the above value.
b From the point of departure. c 5,877 km from the point of departure of the spring migration but
7,152 km from the most distant wintering site in Chad. d From the Sudan. e 3,527 km from the point of
departure of the spring migration, but 4,089 km from the southernmost point of its wintering site in
Saudi Arabia. f From the last location in the winter home range. » From southwest Saudi Arabia, excluding
a brief stopover in Yemen and ‘pendulum swing’ in northern Saudi Arabia. h The migration was
interrupted for seven days but this is excluded from the calculation.

510

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Steppe Eagle migration strategies

proximity of the destination - in simple
terms, birds with farther to go are more
anxious to press on. It became clear that
birds that wintered farthest from their
breeding area generally travelled greater daily
distances and spent more time on their
journey than the eagles wintering farther
north. The mean daily flight distance was
almost 200 km for those birds overwintering
in southern Atrica, but only slightly more
than 100 km for those overwintering in
Arabia (table 2).

For most eagles, the limited number of co-
ordinates meant that it was not possible to
record all overnight stops, which would have
allowed us to determine individual daily
flight distances precisely. We could measure
only the average speed between two Fixes,
often more than 24 hours apart, and from
this we calculated mean daily flight distances
for different parts of the route. These daily
distances travelled fluctuated considerably
and showed a clear dependence on the
weather (Meyburg et al. 1998).

Spaar & Bruderer (1996) used radar to
measure the speed of migrating Steppe Eagles
as they passed over Israel. Although they were
able to track the eagles for short distances
only, they calculated a mean speed of 44.6
km/h. Migrating Steppe Eagles spend about
50%-65% of daylight hours on migration,
around six hours per day. A speed of 45 km/h
maintained for six hours equates to 270
km/day, which is considerably greater than
the mean distance recorded during this study.

Adults returned to the breeding areas at
the end of March or in early April, whereas
immatures arrived roughly six weeks later, in
mid May (table 2). Only one immature (E13)
arrived much earlier (23rd April). All the
eagles tracked to their breeding areas spent
the summer in southern Russia and western
Kazakhstan, in the vicinity of the Aral Sea.

Birds wintering in Africa

On their arrival in Zimbabwe, Irwin (1981)
suggested that most Steppe Eagles continue
to the southwest and enter Botswana or
Namibia. This pattern was confirmed by E5,
which entered Botswana after leaving
Zimbabwe. Irwin reported no return passage
through Zimbabwe but the return route
taken by E5 saw it move north through

Zimbabwe from February onwards (fig. 1).
Another bird (Ell) overwintered in the
Kruger National Park and migrated north
along the eastern border of Zimbabwe.
According to Ash & Atkins (2009) the only
suggestion of a return passage through
Ethiopia is provided by small numbers seen
moving north at Langano (south of Addis
Ababa) between mid March and mid April. It
is noteworthy that E5 passed all the way
through Ethiopia in the second half of Feb-
ruary, and that Ell migrated along the
Ethiopian/Sudanese border.

Eagle E5 (fig. I )

During autumn migration, this adult female
travelled from Saudi Arabia to Botswana, cov-
ering 5,882 km in 30 days (an average of 196
km/day). The mean daily flight distance that
we measured ranged from 124 km to 266 km.
The return migration, which began on 29th
January 1994 and covered 9,543 km, was
completed in 54 days, an average of 177

Fig. I . Eagle E5. (Note: In figs. 1-5, red lines
and dates denote autumn migration, yellow the
wintering area, green the spring migration and
blue the summering area.)

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

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Meyburg et al.

km/day. Along the Red Sea coast north to the
vicinity of Suez, this bird covered a mean dis-
tance of 294 km/day. From here its speed
decreased but picked up again from northern
Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan, where it averaged
238 km/day. Owing to the distance involved,
this eagle took the greatest time to travel from
the wintering grounds to the breeding area.

Of the 16 birds monitored in this study,
E5 was tracked over the greatest distance
(17,129 km). After taking into consideration
the distance from breeding site to capture
site, its total annual migration would have
been in excess of 20,100 km, including 1,704
km travelled within the wintering grounds in
Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The
routes followed during the autumn and
spring migration were remarkably similar
south of the Kenya/Ethiopia border and the
bird flew over the Ethiopian Highlands on
both its south- and its northbound journeys.
The location positions obtained failed to
reveal whether this bird flew as far north as
Suez, or whether it crossed the Gulf of Aqaba
farther south.

Eagle E9 (fig. 2)

Having overwintered in Sudan, this imma-

ture female began its return migration on
12th April 1994 and travelled 5,877 km to
reach the centre of the summering grounds
in 37 days (mean 159 km/day), on 18th May
(fig. 2). This period included stopovers
lasting several days. Its route took it along the
Red Sea coast, where it covered 1,641 km in
five days (mean 328 km/day.

This bird was tracked for the second-
longest period of any eagle in the study. Like
the other birds wintering in Africa, it exe-
cuted a loop migration of the Red Sea. Of
particular interest is that it spent the winter
in areas of Ethiopia, Sudan and southeastern
Chad that are quite well separated. This is
also the only Steppe Eagle monitored that
migrated to the west of the Caspian Sea. The
route followed during the early stage of its
southward migration is noteworthy in that,
between 5th and 18th September 1994,
northwest of the Caspian Sea, it moved north
again: only on 25th September was it located
as far south as on 5th September. The last
position location received, after the bird had
been monitored for over one year, was from
northwest Iraq, 1,750 km north of its place of
capture. Adding that 1,750 km to the total
distance tracked results in a year-round
migration of 12,879 km.

Eagle EI0 (fig. 3)

After being fitted with the trans-
mitter in Saudi Arabia, this adult
female travelled back and forth,
reaching the Red Sea and returning
inland again. Eventually it migrated
south and crossed the Red Sea at
the Bab-el-Mandeb to reach its
wintering grounds in a relatively
densely populated region of the
Sudanese Sahel.

After spending the winter in
Sudan, it returned to the breeding
grounds on 1st April 1994, travel-
ling 5,876 km in 43 days (mean 137
km/day; fig. 3). During the two and
a half days it took to travel across
Iran, it travelled at a mean speed of
355 km/day, the longest mean daily
flight distance recorded in this
study.

The breeding site of this bird
was visited in late July 1994

512

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Steppe Eagle migration strategies

Fig. 4. Eagle El 6.

Eagle 16 (fig. 4)

This bird was tracked for the
longest period of any bird in this
study - almost 14 months - and its
transmitter provided the most data
(2,168 position locations). After
being fitted with the transmitter in
Saudi Arabia, it migrated via the
Bab-el-Mandeb to its wintering
area in eastern Sudan, close to the
border of Ethiopia, which it reached on 8th
November 1997. Here it remained until 24th
February 1998, although it travelled 550 km
SSW, roughly along the border between
Sudan and Ethiopia, during 1 3th — 1 7th
December. Spring migration began in earnest
on 25th February and the bird followed the

Fig. 3. Eagle E 10.

(49°18’N 60°35’E), where the bird was
observed and photographed. The nest had
been built on the ground and contained two
fully feathered young. Despite having bred
successfully, it left the breeding site unexpect-
edly early, being last recorded there on 22nd
August. (Perhaps some female Steppe Eagles
leave before their offspring and
male partners, which is the case in
some Lesser Spotted Aquila poma-
rina and Greater Spotted Eagles A.
clanga ; Meyburg et al. unpubl.) By
27th August it was already 368 km
to the southeast, and a series of
good location positions revealed an
astonishing 2,073-km loop migra-
tion around the Aral Sea. From 3rd
September, the transmitter sent a
series of signals from the same
location (44°58’N 54°0rE), far west
of the Aral Sea, indicating that the
eagle had either perished or lost the
transmitter.

tinued until 24th January, at which
point it spent 39 days in Sudan,
remaining there until 4th March
when migration recommenced. It
reached the breeding site on 31st
March. The greatest speed recorded
occurred as it travelled 1,438 km
across Tanzania and Kenya, aver-
aging 274 km/day, but it also
reached 247.4 km/day as it flew
along the Caspian Sea.

Eagle E I I

On northward migration, this adult
male covered the 9,738 km from
South Africa to Kazakhstan in 50
days, travelling on average 195
km/day. Northward migration
began on 2nd January and con-

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Meyburg et al.

western coastline of the Red Sea to Suez, then
east via Eilat to Kuwait on the Persian Gulf
coast. From here, it flew to the southeast
corner of the Caspian Sea, then north
between the Caspian and Aral Seas until it
reached its likely breeding site in Kazakhstan,
(47°32’N 58°49’E), some 200 km north of the
Aral Sea in the hilly uplands to the southeast
of the Mugodzhary Mountains. Steppe Eagles
are common there, with up to 300 pairs
breeding at a density of approximately 1.51
pairs/100 km2 (Karyakin et al. 2007).
Autumn migration began on 10th September
and it reached the Bab-el-Mandeb on 26th
October. On 5th November 1998, it returned
to the previous year’s wintering area.

Birds wintering in the Arabian
Peninsula

The birds that overwintered in Saudi Arabia
completed the journey from wintering areas
to the breeding grounds in the shortest times
but their migration speed was slower than
that of the birds wintering in Africa. Among
the adult birds, E4 took the shortest time to
reach the breeding grounds. Spring migra-
tion commenced on 25th February and was
complete on 28th March: 3,527 km in 32

days, a mean speed of 110 km/day, although
the daily distances covered varied consider-
ably. During the two-week period that E12
took to cover the major part of its route to
the northwestern shore of the Aral Sea, it
covered a relatively high mean daily flight
distance of 178 km/day. The greatest dis-
tances travelled, up to 194 km/day, were at
the start of the migration in Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait, during 1 st— 5th March. There-
after its pace slowed and on later sectors
along the migration route, the speed dropped
to a mean of 182 km/day, and then 157
km/day. During 17th-22nd March, E12
paused to the northwest of the Aral Sea, cov-
ering only 79 km. From here, to cover the rel-
atively short distance to the breeding site, it
travelled at an average of 51 km/day.

Eagle E I 3 (fig 5)

This immature female was estimated to be
approximately 18 months old when fitted
with a transmitter in Saudi Arabia on 23rd
October 1996. From there, it flew 1,029 km
SSE, parallel with the Red Sea coast to a point
82 km east of Bab-el-Mandeb on the night of
2nd/3rd November. From there, we expected
that it would cross the Red Sea into Africa the
following day, but instead it travelled
north along a route approximately
parallel to its southerly journey,
reaching the Yemen-Saudi Arabia
border on 8th November, and
spending the rest of the winter in
Saudi Arabia, almost reaching the
border with Iraq at one point and
travelling a total of 5,537 km.

It left its wintering range on 27th
March 1997 and flew at a mean
speed of just 100 km/day on its
2,801 -km homeward journey,
reaching the breeding area (halfway
between the northern shores of the
Caspian and Aral Seas) on 23rd
April, some 2,801 km after leaving
Saudi Arabia on 1st April. In the
central part of its journey, between
Isfahan in Iran and the southwestern
shore of the Aral Sea, it reached a
mean speed of 204 km/day. By win-
tering so far north, this individual
reached the breeding area in just four
weeks, the shortest time in this study.

Fig. 5. Eagle El 3.

514

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

Steppe Eagle migration strategies

277. Juvenile Steppe Eagles, Salalah, Oman, November 2011.

Timing of passage and route
followed at migration bottlenecks

Passage of Steppe Eagles over Suez and Eilat
begins in early to mid February and con-
tinues to late April and early May, peaking in
late February and early March (Christensen
& Sorensen 1989); though note that Zduniak
et al. (2010) found that the arrival of the first
birds during 1994-2008 was becoming signif-
icantly earlier. This corresponds well with the
dates that adult eagles E5, E10 and El 1
reached this bottleneck area. Immature
female E9 passed through this region on
22nd April, close to the end of the migration
period. The timing of passage over Bab-el-
Mandeb in late October and early November
also corresponded well with observations by
Welch & Welch (1989); only E10 passed
rather late.

Our satellite-tracking data do not confirm
the suggestion from ground-based observa-
tions that adults and immatures may favour
different routes at the northern end of the
Red Sea - with adults preferring to cross the
southern Golf of Suez while immatures con-
tinue north to Suez (Shirihai et al. 2000). Fur-
thermore, our data do not support the
assumption that birds migrating over Suez
subsequently pass through northern Sinai and

thence into Israel, rather than via Eilat (Shir-
ihai et al. 2000). For example, E5, E10 and El 6
all passed through both Suez and Eilat on
their way north in spring (figs. 1, 3 & 4).

Movements on the wintering
grounds

During winter, the number and size of home
ranges used differed widely among individ-
uals. Furthermore, some travelled long dis-
tances during the winter, making it difficult
to define home ranges. Owing to the rela-
tively high number of good position loca-
tions received (c. 30 in each case), the winter
ranges of three birds are particularly well
documented.

Eagle E4

The winter movements of E4 formed the best
dataset in our study. From 24th October 1993
to 20th February 1994, it occupied two dis-
tinct home ranges, within an overall ‘win-
tering area’ that stretched 560 km between
the northwest and southeast extremities. The
first home range, used from 24th October
until 12th November 1993 and extending
over an area of 91 km2, centred on the road
from Taif to Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, where
roadside animal corpses may have provided a

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Meyburg et al.

Table 3. Winter home-range location and size, and duration of stay in

the wintering area for

selected Steppe Eagles in this study.

Eagle

Duration of stay

Location of winter home range

Co-ordinates

Home range

no.

(km2)

El

30th Nov 92 to 26th Feb 93

Saudi Arabia (50 km NE Taif)

21.37°N 40.43°E

317

E4

24th Oct to 12th Nov 93

Saudi Arabia (150 km NE Taif)

22.13°N41.26°E

91

16th Nov 93 to 19th Jan 94

Saudi Arabia (120 km NE Abha)

18.46°N 44.17°E

4,540

31st Jan to 20th Feb 94

Saudi Arabia ( 1 30 km NE Taif)

21.43°N 41.23°E

1,960

E9

9th Nov to 2nd Dec 93

NW Ethiopia (95 km W Aksum)

14.08°N 37.50°E

4,740

3rd-7th Dec 93

South Sudan (65 km SE Kadugli)

10.38°N 30.12°E

56

12th Feb to 5th Mar 94

Southeast Chad (60 km E Am Timan)

10.59°N 20.5 1°E

140

7th-14th Mar 94

Southeast Chad (45 km SE Dourdoura)

1 1.05°N 21.44°E

5

18th Mar to 12th Apr 94

South Sudan (120 km S Kadugli)

09.54°N 29.54°E

28

E10

29th Nov 93 to 28th Jan 94

Sudan (260 km E Khartoum)

15.53°N 35.22°E

18,000

30th Jan to 18th Feb 94

Sudan (220 km S Khartoum)

13.42°N 32.58°E

172

E7

27th Oct 93 to 1 1th Feb 94

Saudi Arabia (220 km E Medina)

24.34°N 41.47°E

18,500

E5

13th Dec 93 to 20th Jan 94

Eastern Botswana (235 km N Gaborone) 22.32°S 26.02°E

4,150

E12

2nd Nov 96 to 1st Mar 97

Saudi Arabia (220 km E Medina)

24.34°N 41.47°E

65,000

E13

1st Dec 96 to 5th Jan 97

Saudi Arabia (260 km SE Taif)

20.01°N 42.30°E

5

22nd Jan to 9th Feb 97

Saudi Arabia (112 km WSW Riyadh)

24.15°N 45.42°E

30

E15

8th Nov 96 to 27th Feb 97

Saudi Arabia (178 km WNW Riyadh)

25.17°N 45.08°E

621

E16

8th Nov 97 to 24th Feb 98

Sudan (60 km E Ad-Damazin)

1 1.39°N 34.56°E

12,810

food source. The second home range, the
centre of which was 485 km from the first,
was at Gabal al-Wagid and occupied between
16th November 1993 and 19th January 1994.
Although it ranged over 4,540 km2, E4 spent
much of its time along a small section of the
only road in the region, again suggesting that
roadside corpses were scavenged. E4 then
returned to the first home range for the rest
of the winter, but the area it roamed was now
substantially larger, covering 1,960 km2 (table

3).

Eagle E5

E5 overwintered in Botswana (fig. 1),
reaching the southernmost location in South
Africa on 23rd November. From here, it flew
545 km to the vicinity of Bulawayo, Zim-
babwe, and returned to Botswana in a direc-
tion almost parallel to its original route,
where it finally established a winter home
range. Here it remained from 13th December
1993 to 20th January 1994, covering an area
of 4,150 km2 (table 3).

516

Eagle E9

E9 spent parts of winter 1993/94 in no fewer
than five areas, situated in Ethiopia, Sudan
and Chad (fig. 2). The home range in
Ethiopia was 917 km from the two neigh-
bouring ranges in Sudan, which in turn were
1,100 km away from the wintering site in
Chad.

Time spent on the wintering
grounds and departure dates

Since most adults return to the breeding
grounds in late March and early April, those
birds wintering farther north are able to
maintain a winter home range for a longer
period. This has many advantages, since an
individual can identify the optimum places
to forage and feed regularly at such sites,
whereas migrating birds depend on feeding
opportunistically en route. Adult birds win-
tering in the Arabian Peninsula can remain in
their winter home range longer than those
wintering in Africa, typically for over four
months and almost twice as long as those

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

Steppe Eagle migration strategies

wintering in southern Africa (table 3). Imma-
tures are not under the same pressure to
reach the breeding grounds quickly and some
may spend up to six months on the wintering
grounds. Some juvenile birds may spend
their first summer on the wintering grounds
(although this is yet to be confirmed by satel-
lite tracking), but older immatures usually
return north.

Discussion

Many sources have described the passage of
Steppe Eagles and other raptors at migration
bottlenecks, (e.g. Shirihai 1982, Fleming
1983, Welch 8< Welch 1988, 1991, Shirihai &
Christie 1992, Shirihai et al. 2000, DeCan-
dido et al. 2001, Den Besten 2004), but the
patterns and strategies associated with
migration, in particular of the complete
annual cycle, have not been determined fully.
Since ring-recoveries are few and, apart from
this study, only a single Steppe Eagle has been
tracked by satellite (Ellis et al. 2001), little is
known about the speed and timing of migra-
tion of this species on a large scale.

To date, the complete annual cycle of just
one Steppe Eagle (E16, an adult male) has
been mapped. In 1998 this individual spent
31.5% of the year (115 days) in the wintering
area, in Ethiopia and Sudan; 41.9% (153
days) in the breeding area, in Kazakhstan;
and 26.6% migrating, of which 12.1% (45
days) was during spring and 14.5% (53 days)
in autumn. It returned to the wintering area
on almost the same day in two successive
years: 8th November 1997 and 5th November
1998.

The findings of this study do not support
the theory that adult and immature Steppe
Eagles spend the winter in different regions
of Africa. Our field observations in Kenya,
Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa
were consistent with the data acquired from
the eagles we tracked. Relatively few individ-
uals flew to southern Africa, irrespective of
age, but many more wintered in eastern
Africa. In Tanzania, we observed the species
in large concentrations in December and
January, including adults, juveniles and
immatures.

Ongoing migration studies of other
species, including Ospreys Pandion haliaetus,
Lesser Spotted and Greater Spotted Eagles,

using solar-powered PTTs that transmit a
signal constantly, have shown that distances
in excess of 400 km/day (and exceptionally
over 500 km/day) may be covered (Meyburg
et al. unpublished data). It is possible that
Steppe Eagles cover similar distances, but this
could not be verified in this study owing to
the constraints of the PTTs used. It is also
possible that, because of their higher wing
loading, larger species cannot travel as far in
a single day as smaller species.

Studies of Lesser Spotted and Greater
Spotted Eagles suggest that these species can
do little to increase their flight speed during
migration. Individuals must wait for the air
to warm and thermals to develop before
migration can begin. As the air cools in the
afternoon, the heat energy given off by the
ground is insufficient to form thermals, and
at this point active migration ceases for the
day. To a ground-based observer, this pattern
is reflected in morning and late afternoon
activity peaks. Rapidly rising thermals may
carry soaring raptors to altitudes beyond the
visual acuity of the human eye; migration
appears to tail off by late morning but
increase again later as raptors descend and
search for a safe roosting site. Thermals allow
a maximum of 7-8 hours travelling time per
day, depending on location. Since flight speed
cannot be significantly altered, birds that
have further to travel must initiate their
migration sooner and use a greater propor-
tion of the daily ‘thermal allowance’ for trav-
elling rather than resting or hunting.

Migration and the human impact

The fact that a substantial proportion of the
Steppe Eagle population now overwinters in
the Arabian Peninsula may reflect an
improved food supply. In recent years, the
number of herds of domestic ungulates has
increased dramatically as a result of artificial
feeding; a plentiful supply of food is at hand
for the eagles, which systematically seek areas
where animal carcases have been left lying. At
such locations, where the Steppe Eagle is by
far the most numerous raptor, it is now not
unusual to see 50-100 birds together. This
‘new’ food supply may have resulted in fewer
birds migrating as far as eastern Africa and
especially southern Africa. The ecological
advantage for a few individuals to continue

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

517

Meyburg et al.

to migrate to southern Africa is unclear.

By wintering over such a huge geograph-
ical region of Africa and southern Asia, it
seems that the Steppe Eagle may have min-
imised the risks associated with persecution,
disease, lack of food and habitat destruction
at a population level. Populations using the
same breeding area but different migratory
tracks and wintering areas are exposed to
varying levels of environmental and
anthropic pressures such as drought, habitat
destruction or illegal hunting. Widely sepa-
rated wintering ranges have the potential to
buffer populations against temporarily
adverse conditions in one part of the range,
but more permanent differences between
alternative migration routes or wintering
areas have the potential to create source or
sink subpopulations.

By the same token, conservation strategies
for such species are harder to design and
implement. To inform global conservation
planning for the Steppe Eagle, it is important
for future research to determine (i) the pro-
portion of the global population wintering in
the Indian subcontinent and Africa, and in
the different areas within Africa; (ii) specific
threats associated with different migratory
pathways and wintering areas using a combi-
nation of satellite data and field studies; and
(iii) the genetic structure of and exchanges
between subpopulations that show different
migration and wintering strategies.

Some questions have been clarified by the
use of satellite telemetry but further research
is needed to better understand winter habitat
use and foraging ecology of Steppe Eagles.
Since the introduction of global positioning
satellite technology, questions regarding
habitat use, home-range size, migration flight
speed and height have been more precisely
studied in some other species, but not yet in
the Steppe Eagle. It remains unclear if and
where a migration divide exists, and to what
extent the breeding areas of birds wintering
in southern Asia, Arabia and Africa overlap.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in Bonn, Germany, for
its generous financial support of the Satellite Telemetry
Steppe Eagle Project. Wildlife research programs at the
National Wildlife Research Center in Saudi Arabia
were made possible through the initiative of His Royal

518

Highness Prince Saud Al Faisal and under the guidance
of Dr Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada, Secretary General of
the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation
and Development in Riyadh. We also thank those who
helped with the fieldwork, especially Dr A.V. Davygora,
Xavier Eichaker Phillipe Gaucher, Dr Alan Kemp and
Stephane Ostrowski. Prof. Kai Graszynski was very
helpful in securing funds for this study

References

Ash, J„ & Atkins, J. 2009. Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Christopher Helm, London.

Bird, J„ & Symes, A. J. 2009. Reviewing the conservation
status of three Asian Aquila eagles. Forktail 1 2:

I 12-1 15.

Brooke, R. K„ Grobler J. H, Irwin, M. P S., & Steyn, P
1972. A study of the migratory eagles Aquila
nipalensis and A. pomarina (Aves: Accipitridae) in
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Rhodesia B5(2): 61-1 14.

Christensen, S., & Sorensen, U. G. 1 989. A review of
the migration and wintering of Aquila pomarina and
Aquila nipalensis orientalis. In: Meyburg, B-U., &
Chancellor, R. D. (eds.), Raptors in the Modern World,
pp. 1 39-1 50. World Working Group on Birds of
Prey Berlin.

Clark W. S. 1996. Ageing Steppe Eagles. Birding World
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Davygora, A. V. 1992. Der Steppenadler Priroda

(Moscow) 3: 40-47 (In Russian, German translation
in Greifvdgel u. Falknerei 1994: I 18-122).

DeCandido, R. D„ Allen, R. D„ & Bildstein, K. L. 200 1 .

The migration of Steppe Eagles (Aquila nipalensis)
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den Besten.J.W. 2004. Migration of Steppe Eagles
Aquila nipalensis and other raptors along the
Himalayas past Dharamsala, India, in autumn 2001
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Ellis, D. H„ Moon, S. L., & Robinson, J. W. 200 1 . Annual
movements of a Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis )
summering in Mongolia and wintering in Tibet.

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Fleming, R. L„ Jr 1 983. An east-west Aquila migration in
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Karyakin, I.V., & Novikova, L. M. 2006. The Steppe Eagle
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chance of coexistence? Raptors Cons. 6: 48-57.

— , Pazhenkov, A. S„ Kovalenko, A. V., Korzhev, D. A„ &
Novikova, L. M. 2007. Large raptors in the
Mugodzhary Mountains, Kazakhstan. Raptors Cons.
8:53-65.

Meyburg, B-U„ & Fuller, M. R. 2007. Satellite tracking. In:
Bird, D. M„ & Bildstein, K. L. (eds.), Raptor Research
and Management Techniques, pp. 242-248. Hancock
House Publishers, Surrey, Canada.

— , Meyburg, C., & Barbraud, J-C. 1998. Migration
strategies of an adult Short-toed Eagle Orcoetus
gallicus tracked by satellite. Alauda 66: 39-48.

— , Paillat, R, & Meyburg, C. 2003. Migration routes of
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means of satellite
telemetry. Condor 1 05:

219-227.

— , Howey, RW, Meyburg,

C., & Fiuczynski, K. D.

201 I.Two complete
migration cycles of an
adult Hobby tracked by
satellite. Brit Birds 1 04:

2-15.

Ostrowski, S., Fromont, E„

& Meyburg, B-U. 200 1 .

A capture technique for
wintering and migrating
Steppe Eagles in south-
western Saudi Arabia.

Wildlife Soc. Bull. 29:

265-268.

Shirihai, H. l982.The
autumn migration of
Steppe Eagles at Eilat,

Israel, 1 980. Sandgrouse
4: 108-1 10.

-& Christie, D. A. 1992.

Raptor migration at
Eilat. Brit. Birds 85:

141-186.

— , Yosef, R., Alon, D„

Kirwan, G. M„ & Spaar, R.

2000. Raptor Migration in
Israel and the Middle
East IRBC, Eilat.

Spaar R-, & Bruderer B.

1 996. Soaring migration
of Steppe Eagles Aquila
nipalensis in southern
Israel: flight behaviour
under various wind and
thermal conditions./

Avian Biol. 27: 289-301.

Welch, G.R..& Welch, H.J.

1 988. The autumn
migration of raptors and
other soaring birds
across the Bab-el-

Mandeb straits. Sandgrouse 1 0: 26-50.

— & — 1991 .The autumn migration of the Steppe
Eagle Aquila nipalensis. Sandgrouse 1 3: 24-33.

Yosef, R., & Fornasari, L. 2004. Simultaneous decline in
Steppe Eagle ( Aquila nipalensis ) populations and
Levant Sparrowhawk ( Accipiter brevipe s)

278. Nest of Steppe Eagle
the Mugodzhary Mountains

with young chicks in typical breeding habitat, in
, just north of the Aral Sea, Kazakhstan, May 2006.

reproductive success: coincidence or a Chernobyl
legacy? Ostrich 75: 20-24.

Zduniak R, Yosef, R., Sparks, T H., Smit, H„ &

Tryjanowsk R 2010. Rapid advances in the timing of
the spring passage migration through Israel of the
Steppe Eagle. Climate Res. 42: 2 1 7-222.

Prof. Dr Bernd-UIrich Meyburg, Wangenheimstr. 32, 14193 Berlin, Germany;

e-mail BUMeyburg@aol.com ^

Christiane Meyburg, 31, Avenue du maine, 75015 Paris, France; e-mail Schwarzmilan@aol.com
Patrick Paillat, PO Box 129555, Al Mamoura building - block A, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;
e-mail paillat@eim.ae

Bernd-UIrich Meyburg is chairman of the World Working Group on Birds of Prey (WWGBP). He has carried
out research on no fewer than 16 raptor species since 1992 using satellite telemetry. Christiane Meyburg
worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) in Paris. Since
1 992 she has helped her husband to analyse the satellite-tracking data from his projects. Patrick Paillat is a
conservationist, based in the Middle East since 1986, where he led the Houbara Bustard Conservation Project
at the National Wildlife Research Centre in Taif, Saudi Arabia, until 2005. He is currently a consultant for the
International Fund for Houbara Conservation in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 506-519

519

Igor Karyakin

Alike Page

The birds of Blakeney
Point: 1 00 years of
National Trust
ownership

National

Edward Stubbings Trust

Abstract In 1912, Blakeney Point was acquired for the National Trust and became
Norfolk’s first nature reserve. The Point had long been recognised for the richness
of its birdlife, notably its breeding terns, but 1912 effectively marked the beginning
of concerted conservation and monitoring work. Its prominent position on the
north Norfolk coast meant that, even by 1912, it had a track record for attracting
migrants. This short paper brings together some of the highlights of this iconic
reserve to mark its first centenary.

279. An aerial view of Blakeney Point, July 2005.

By the end of the nineteenth century,
Blakeney Point, in north Norfolk, had
already established a reputation for
birds. In September 1884, Norfolk’s first
Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria was shot by two
London doctors, F. D. and G. E. Power, who
also recorded an exceptional 80 Bluethroats

520

Luscinia svecica between Blakeney Point
(hereafter ‘the Point’) and Cley: in an article
in the Transactions of the Norfolk and
Norwich Naturalists' Society of that year they
described the ‘Blue-throated Warbler’ as
being the commonest small migrant recorded
during their visit. At that time, shooting

© British Birds 1 05 • September 2012 * 520-529

Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership

Blakeney Point

Hood

North

Wiveton

Hall

lakene'

Mnrs.trui

East Bar

ham

Point V. T** \

• • J **S<xjth Side

fkey

hes

//, ijGarret

O Croon copyngnt and datao*M

100023974 '|

Fig. I . Blakeney Point, north Norfolk.

wasn’t confined to migrants and there are
reports of people emptying their muzzle
loaders into the Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta
colony on their way home from the Point or
taking a trip out to the Point specifically to
shoot terns. Wildfowling and punt gunning
were a source of food for local
people, several of whom acted as
guides to the gentlemen collec-
tors and sportsmen.

The Point was first placed
under formal protection as a bird
sanctuary in 1901 and Bob
Pinchen, a former gunner and
wildfowler, was appointed as the
first Watcher by the Blakeney and
Cley Wild Bird Protection
Society. Prof. Francis W. Oliver,
from University College London
(UCL), and Dr Sydney Long
knew the area well and recog-
nised the need to protect its habi-
tats and wildlife. In 1912 they
instigated a successful public
appeal, carried out on their
behalf by Charles Rothschild, the
pioneering conservationist and
founder of what later became
The Wildlife Trusts movement.

Blakeney Point was duly handed
over to the National Trust in
1912, and in the following year
Francis Oliver’s treatise on Blak-
eney Point was the very first Fig. 2. Prof.

paper in the first edition of the Journal of
Ecology (Oliver 1913). Oliver’s name will
always be associated with the Point because of
his scientific work there and his involvement
with the purchase of the reserve in 1912. He
and his colleagues brought parties of students

Francis Oliver.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

521

National Trust Archive

National Trust Archive

Stubbings

Fig. 3. This map shows the area (shaded in red) to be fenced off, as agreed by Ted Eales and
G. Bullard (a member of the Blakeney Point Local Advisory Committee). Their 1961 letter to the
National Trust’s Blickling Office states that This is an attempt to suggest some means whereby
people, birds and flowers can exist together.’ Both the map and the letter are kept at Blickling
Hall, a National Trust property in Norfolk.

to the Point for residential field courses for
many years, and students from UCL continue
to use the Point for conservation studies and
other field courses to this day.

Watchers and Wardens

After the Point was acquired for the National
Trust, Bob Pinchen remained in post as
‘Watcher’ (short for birdwatcher) for a
further 18 years, living in the houseboat
Britannia, which he moored in what is now
known as ‘Pinchen’s Creek’ (fig. 1). In
1928-29, Billy Eales spent a year with
Pinchen to learn the routines of a Warden, as
they were known by then. His son Ted, an 1 1-
year-old boy at the time, was on the payroll
from the start, being appointed ‘litter col-
lector’ by Prof. Oliver. Ted Eales was later to
take over from his father and remains the
Point’s longest-standing Warden. He served
from 1939, when his father died, until his
retirement in 1980. Reginald Gaze became
Ted’s assistant in 1946 and published several
books about the Point and the birds of
Norfolk including Bird Sanctuary in 1947.

During the early years of Ted Eales’s war-
denship, the terneries were unfenced and
people could walk and picnic among the nests.
On what were known locally as ‘Point
Sundays’, eggshells around picnic areas were
evidence that the odd tern egg had been eaten,
as well as locally collected flatfish and cockles.
Francis Oliver had for some time been
exploring the issue of controlling visitors so

British Birds 1 05 • September 2012 * 520-529

280. Bob Pinchen, Blakeney Point’s first
‘Watcher’, with a Ringed Plover Charadrius
hiaticula chick.

ir...

Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership

28 1 . Ted Eales, just before the Second World War.

that the wildlife was not unduly
disturbed and, in the 1960s, Ted
began fencing off an area on Far
Point where most of the terns
nested. Phis and many other
insights into life on the Point can
be read in his autobiography,
Countryman’s Memoirs: a warden’s
life on Blakeney Point (1986). He
was well known to a wider audi-
ence for his involvement in the
making of Anglia Television’s
award-winning Survival pro-
grammes and as the face of the
Countryman programme.

After Ted’s retirement, a full-
time replacement was eventually found in
1981, when local man Joe Reed and his family
moved out to the Point. They lived in the
Lifeboat House every summer for over 15
years. At this time, Sandwich Terns Sterna
sandvicensis had reached a peak in Norfolk
(Taylor et al. 1999), and Blakeney Point, under
Joe’s watchful eye, became the most important
site in the UK for this species. The Warden’s
post passed to David Wood in 2003 and to
Edward Stubbings in
2007, meaning that, in
its 100-year history, the
reserve has had just six
head wardens.

The nature of
the Point

The processes of
coastal geomorph-
ology have been
shaping the north
Norfolk coastline for
millennia, yet in geo-
logical time Blakeney
Point is thought to be
a relatively young
feature. In recent cen-
turies, the Point has
extended westwards
and moved landwards,
a trend predicted to
continue for the next
century at least (Pye &

Blott 2010). The Point
forms part of one of
the largest expanses of

undeveloped coastal habitat in Europe and is
perhaps the most conspicuous feature of this
‘marshland coast’. Stretching away from the
mainland at Cley-next-the-Sea, it continues
west for 6 km to Far Point, almost opposite
the village of Stiffkey.

The main shingle ridge incorporates
several lateral ridges, or recurves, and is char-
acterised by a covering of low-growing, salt-
tolerant vegetation. Suaeda bushes (Shrubby

Fig. 4. The Lifeboat House, Blakeney Point.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

523

James McCollum National Trust Archive

Richard Porter

Stubbings

282. The shingle ridge, with its famous suaeda bushes, looking west towards the Watch House,
July 2004.

Sea-blite Suaeda vera) border the saltmarsh
on the landward side of the ridge. These are
at the northern limit of their range and are
more characteristic of Mediterranean regions
(Allison & Morley 1989). The expanse of
suaeda, so familiar to anyone who has walked
the Point regularly, provides cover for newly
arrived migrants and breeding birds, notably
Wrens Troglodytes troglodytes, Dunnocks
Prunella modularis. Linnets Carduelis
cannabina and Reed Buntings Emberiza
schoeniclus. Beyond the Long Hills, sand
dunes begin to dominate the landscape,
created by blown sand trapped by pioneer
vegetation. These ephemeral landmarks
contain coastal grasses, sedges and lichen
heaths. The younger dunes are calcareous in
nature owing to the presence of shell frag-
ments, but the older dunes become more
acidic as the calcium is leached away. Skylarks
Alauda arvensis and Meadow Pipits Anthus
pratensis breed here at high densities. Exten-
sive areas of saltmarsh border the landward
side of the Point. These are characterised by
their samphire ( Salicornia ) and sea lavender
( Limonium ) communities together with
other annuals that strive to colonise the mud
and sand. The saltmarsh is at its best in late
summer, awash with the purple of Common
Sea-lavender L. vulgare.

Breeding birds
Terns

Blakeney Point is one of the most important
sites for breeding terns in Europe and has
supported up to five species in the past 100
years. At the start of the twentieth century
there was a small colony of Common Sterna
hirundo and Little Terns Sternula albifrons
(approximately 140 and 60 pairs respectively)
on the Point but their breeding success had
always been poor, due to their eggs being
taken by local people, disturbance and the
attentions of the gunners. Common Terns are
known to have bred on the Point from at
least 1830 (Taylor et al. 1999). The popula-
tion began to increase in the late 1920s,
however, and peaked at more than 2,000
pairs between the mid 1930s and the early
1950s (fig. 1), and numbers were high
throughout most of the 1970s but no more
than 165 pairs have bred since 2000. The
reasons for their recent decline at Blakeney
are not well understood, although predation,
for example by Common Kestrels Falco tin-
nunculus, Short-eared Owls Asio flammeus
and gulls, may be important (McNeill 1993;
Taylor et al. 1999). The Point’s Common
Terns are thought to be generalist feeders,
foraging at sea at varying distances from
the colony (Perrow et al. 2009), and in the

524

British Birds 1 05 • September 2012 * 520-529

Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership

C-oy o-i

Fig. 5. Sandwich Terns Sterna sandvicensis, Blakeney Point.

twentieth century would have benefited from
the then widespread inshore whitebait fishery.

In 1900, the Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvi-
censis was still a rare visitor; the species first
bred in 1893, but was an irregular breeder
until the 1970s (fig. 6). Now, in contrast to
the fortunes of Common Terns, some
3,000-4,000 pairs breed annually, which is
roughly 30% of the UK population. The
colony peaked in 1992 at 4,000 pairs and in
2012 at least 2,200 chicks fledged from 3,735
nests. Traditionally, Sandwich Terns in north
Norfolk have used the Point and Scolt Head

Island (some 30 km to the west) for breeding
and, depending on food supplies and preda-
tors/disturbance, move between or share
these two sites. The Sandwich Tern is able to
‘tough out’ the harshest of conditions and
travel a relatively long distance in search of
prey, chiefly sandeels Ammodytes , sprats and
herrings (Clupeidae) (Perrow et al. 2009).

The Point’s shingle and sand beaches are
ideal for Little Terns, although numbers have
never reached much more than 200 pairs
(216 pairs in 1975 is the peak count).
Nonetheless, the 160 pairs in 2011 comprised

Fig. 6. The population trends (number of pairs) of the three more abundant tern species nesting
on Blakeney Point, 1920-2012. All known counts are shown.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

525

James McCollum

Tim Lubbock

Stubbings

283. Stanley Webster, 1 986. Two generations of the Webster family have fished around the Point
and the bay between Near and Middle Point is now named after Stanley (see fig. I). Some terns
become extremely tame in search of free fish and would even snatch cigarettes from the fishermen’s
hands, mistaking them for fish!

about 8% of the UK population (and in that
year the Point was the most important UK
site for both Sandwich and Little Terns - see
http://jncc.defra.gov.uk).

The Point’s Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
population has always been small, and is
close to the southern limit of the species’
breeding range; peak numbers were seen in
the 1990s when 20+ pairs returned to breed
over a seven-year period. Interestingly, Arctic
Terns on the Point are positively sanguine in
defence of their nests compared with the
aggression shown by the species farther
north, and often suffer heavy losses to preda-
tors. They specialise in fishing in the salt-
marsh creeks inland of the Point and catch
many small crabs, which are even fed to their
chicks. Roseate Terns Sterna dougallii first
bred on the Point in the 1920s (there is some
doubt over the year of first-confirmed
breeding, although the four pairs in 1922
remains the highest total) but no breeding
behaviour has been noted since 1999.

Gulls

In the days before the Point was protected
formally, Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus
ridibundus struggled to breed successfully:

local people harvested their eggs, many of
which were taken to the London markets to
be sold as ‘puet eggs’. In later years, they were
viewed as serious predators of the terns’ eggs
and chicks. For example, Ted Eales’s last
report, in 1979, stated: ‘Several hundred
[Black-headed Gulls] laid but destroyed as
many [eggs] as possible. Still about 100
chicks survived.’ More recently, the relation-
ship between Black-headed Gulls and the
terns has been reassessed and is now even
regarded as a (facultative) symbiotic one, as
the gulls help to defend the colony against
predators such as Red Foxes Vulpes vuJpes. In
recent years, up to 2,000 pairs of Black-
headed Gulls have bred annually, mostly in
the main ternery. In 1992 the first pair of
Mediterranean Gulls Laras melanocephalus
bred and 12+ pairs bred in 2012, raising 40
young, an increase reflecting a wider national
trend (Holling et al. 2012).

Waders

Fewer than ten pairs of Oystercatchers
Haematopus ostralegus bred on the Point in
the early 1900s but numbers increased slowly
through the twentieth century, with 100-200
pairs in the 1960s and 1970s and a little

526

British Birds 1 05 • September 2012 * 520-529

Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership

over 100 pairs breeding today. In contrast, the
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, a once-
common breeder, has undergone a marked
decline in recent years, down from 100
breeding pairs to 15 or so in the past two
decades. Ground predators such as Stoats
Mustela erminea and Weasels M. nivalis , gulls
and human disturbance are all implicated,
and management is now focused on allevi-
ating these pressures where possible. Red-
shanks Tringa totanus breed on the higher
areas of saltmarsh, and in the sand dunes. As
is the case for Oystercatchers, numbers
peaked in the early 1960s (60 nests in 1962),
but they have fallen subsequently, to c. 15
nests in 2011-12. Two unsuccessful breeding
attempts were made by a pair of Kentish
Plovers C. alexandrinus in 1983 and a male
was on territory in the area in 2007. Little
Ringed Plovers C. dubius have also attempted
to breed and in 2012 Avocets bred on the
shingle for the first time.

Migration

Since the Powers’ ground-breaking discovery
of Bluethroats and other migrants in
the 1880s, the Point
has provided succes-
sive generations with
unrivalled opportu-
nities to watch and
study migrant birds.

The Point’s bird list
currently stands at
327, two of which
were new to Britain
(Pallas’s Leaf War-
bler Phylloscopus
proregulus in 1896
and Yellow-breasted
Bunting Emberiza
aureola in 1905) and
21 new to Norfolk.

In 1909, Emma
Turner used some of
the first-ever rings
(issued from the
British Birds ringing
Scheme) to ring
Common Tern
chicks on the Point.

Since th en, recov-
eries of terns ringed Fig. 7. Bluethroat Luscinia svecica on Blakeney Point.

on the Point have come from as far afield as
Ivory Coast and Angola (both Sandwich
Terns, caught in nets for food). In terms of
migrants, Cley Bird Observatory carried out
systematic migration studies between 1949
and 1963. Richard Richardson and Peggy
Meiklejohn were involved in setting up and
running the observatory; visiting ringers
stayed at a cost of four shillings (=20p) per
day and helped to man the station during the
migration periods. A Heligoland trap was set
up initially at Cley beach but was destroyed
in the floods of 1953 and two new
Heligolands were erected at The Hood in
1954. Two notable catches were a Subalpine
Warbler Sylvia cantillans on 11th June 1951
(the first record for England, although the
bird unfortunately escaped prior to ringing;
Taylor et al. 1999) and a Radde’s Warbler
Phylloscopus schwarzi on 3rd October 1961
(the second for Britain). The latter could not
be identified immediately, so was kept
overnight in Richard Richardson’s outdoor
aviary, until Ken Williamson could travel
down from Scotland to confirm the identifi-
cation!

C

v

V 1

* V

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

527

James McCollum

Richard Porter

Stubbings

4

1.

284. First-summer male Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus, with a background of the turbines of the
Sheringham Shoal windfarm, May 2012.

The geography of the Point and its
strategic location facing the Continent mean
that it is an ideal location for attracting
migrants from Europe. The combination of
relative isolation (the western end lies about
1.5 km offshore) and low vegetation cover
means that birds are both attracted to land
there and, having arrived, relatively easy to
find. Migrants can be found anywhere on the
Point, not just in the famous Plantation and
Lupins but anywhere in the extensive belts of
suaeda. Weather is the key to predicting bird
arrivals: southwesterlies bring few grounded
nocturnal migrants but any wind between
northwest and southeast can be more pro-
ductive, in both spring and autumn.

In spring the number of grounded
migrants is generally low but on occasion
larger numbers of Northern Wheatears
Oenanthe oenanthe (up to 100) and Willow
Warblers P. trochilus (up to 50) may be
present, the diurnal passage of Barn Swallows
Hirundo rustica can be impressive, and a few
‘overshooting’ Mediterranean species,
notably Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachy-
dactyla (15 records) and Subalpine Warbler
(14 records), are surprisingly regular.

It is the autumn, however, which is mostly
responsible for Blakeney Point’s reputation
for migrant birds. From mid August, Willow
Warblers and Pied Flycatchers Ficedula
hypoleuca predominate (up to 200 and 75
have been counted in a day respectively), but
the Point has a pre-eminent position for

528

Greenish Warblers P. trochiloides, with at least
23 now recorded in August and early Sep-
tember alone (and no fewer than five on 24th
August 2007). As the autumn progresses, so
does the mix of birds. Mid September ‘falls’
often feature Common Redstarts Phoenicurus
phoenicurus, normally in small numbers but
at least 400 on the afternoon of 18th Sep-
tember 1995. Late September to November is
the time for Goldcrests Regulus regulus,
winter thrushes and Robins Erithacus
rubecula, all of which can arrive in large
numbers. The famous ‘Robin Rush’ of 1st
October 1951, for example, saw many hun-
dreds on the Point. Alongside these common
migrants come regular scarcer migrants,
perhaps a Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor,
a Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inor-
natus or a Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi.
Blakeney Point’s famous Bluethroats have
been in long-term decline, however. Still
regular until the mid 1960s, they have
become steadily rarer and are now far from
annual, though at least 14 were recorded in
May 1985 and 1 1 in May 1987.

The Point also offers an excellent selection
of migrant waders in ‘the Harbour’ (actually
the estuary of the Rivers Glaven and Stiffkey)
and along its beaches. It is also well-sited for
recording seabird passage, though the
options for getting out of the wind to sea-
watch are severely limited.

The Point has continued to provide a
seemingly endless supply of the rarest birds,

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

Blakeney Point: 100 years of National Trust ownership

adding Asian Desert Warbler Sylvia tiana to
the Norfolk List in 1993, Fea’s/Zino’s Petrel
Pterodroma feae/madeira in 1997 and Trum-
peter Finch Bucanetes githagineus in 2008. In
the last two years alone highlights have
included Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
hudsonius , Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri
and an apparent Alder Flycatcher Empidonax
alnorum in September 2010.

Migrant-hunting on Blakeney Point still
provides some of the most exciting bird-
watching available anywhere. It is physically
demanding, however, and not to everyone’s
taste but the sense of remoteness and close-
ness to ‘the action’ combined with the feeling
that anything might happen and the satisfac-
tion of effort well rewarded make a long day
on the Point a very special experience indeed.

The future

Blakeney Point is one of the jewels in the
crown of the UK’s coastal nature reserves. Its
wildlife and habitats will always demand a
high level of protection and management,
from the pressures of human visitors and
predators through to the impacts of climate
change and sea-level rise; the recent prolifer-
ation of offshore windfarms adds another
dimension too. Continued research and
monitoring of the Point’s birds, and how they
use the area, is paramount. Hopefully, the
reserve’s centenary will not only raise aware-
ness of the Point’s wildlife and its history but
also inspire future generations of naturalists
to care for this unique site.

Acknowledgments

Many people have contributed to the successful
management of the Point. These include the many
National Trust staff who have worked on the reserve,
wardens of the neighbouring Cley Marshes reserve,
members of the local advisory committee and the seal
ferrymen. I would also like to thank James McCallum,
Richard Porter, Andrew Stoddart and Stuart
Warrington for helping with the preparation of this
short article. The book by Andy Stoddart and Steve
Joyner (2005) is essential reading for those wanting to
know more detail of the migrant riches and history of
the Point.

References

Allison, H„ & Morley, J. (eds.) 1 989. Blakeney Point and
Scolt Head Island. 5th edn. National Trust, Norfolk.
Eales.T 1986. Countryman's Memoirs: a warden’s life on
Blakeney Point Baldwin, Fakenham.

Gaze, R. 1 947. Bird Sanctuary. Faber & Faber London.
Holling, M„ & the Rare Breeding Birds Panel. 20 1 2.

Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 20 1 0.
Brit Birds 1 05: 352-4 1 6.

McNeill, D. 1 993. Tern research on Blakeney Point
Norfolk Bird Club Bull. 5: 14-16.

Oliver F. W. 1913. Some remarks on Blakeney Point,
Norfolk. J. Ecology 1:4-15.

Perrow, M. Ft, Gilroy. J. J., Skeate, E. R., & Mackenzie, A.
2009. Quantifying the relative use of coastal waters
by breeding terns: towards effective tools for
planning and assessing the ornithological impacts of
offshore wind farms. Report to Cowrie Ltd,

London.

Pye, K„ & Blott. S. J. 20 1 0. Geomorphology of the
North Norfolk Coast: past, present and future.
Report to National Trust; Pye Associates,
Crowthorne.

Stoddart, A. M.. & Joyner S. C. 2005. The Birds of
Blakeney Point. Wren Publishing, Sheringham.

Taylor M.. Seago. M.. Allard. R, & Dorling, D. 1 999.

The Birds of Norfolk. Pica Press, Robertsbridge.

This paper is dedicated to Simon Aspinall, a devoted conservationist and regular visitor to the Point,
who died in 201 1.

Edward M. Stubbings, c/o The National Trust Office, Friary Farm, Cley Road, Blakeney,

NR25 7NW -A

Details of how to visit and learn more about Blakeney Point are available from the author or via
the National Trust website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blakeney/

See also http://norfolkcoastnationaltrust.blogspot.co.uk/

The illustrations by James McCallum which accompany this paper are taken from his new book,
The Long, Wild Shore: Bird and Seal Seasons on Blakeney Point, which is also a celebration of the
centenary of Blakeney Point reserve and is due to be launched at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, on 17th
November 2012 (the exhibition runs until 2nd December). Discover more at James’s website
www.jamesmccallum.co.uk

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 520-529

529

Hybrid gulls in Belgium
- an update

Peter Adriaens, Harry J. P. Vercruijsse and
Eric W. M. Stienen

Abstract This paper provides an update on interbreeding by three species of
large white-headed gull at a colony in Zeebrugge, Belgium. Mixed breeding in the
colony was studied in detail in 2010, and this account documents some of the
known hybrids and their offspring. The results have particular significance for the
identification of Ye I low- legged Gull Larus michahellis in western Europe, in terms of
record assessment in areas where the species is still a rarity, and also in terms of
measuring the continuing range expansion of that species.

Interbreeding among large white-headed
gulls in the Low Countries has been doc-
umented by various authors, including
Tinbergen (1929), van Dobben (1931),Voous
(1946), Cottaar & Verbeek (1994), Vercruijsse
(1995) and Cottaar (2004) in the Nether-
lands, and Vercruijsse et al. (2002a, b) and
Adriaens (2003) in Belgium. Eight years have
now passed since the last paper on the
subject, during which time more research has

been carried out and colour-ringing projects
have produced a wealth of new information.
In this paper, we describe the current situa-
tion in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and document
several colour-ringed hybrids and back-
crosses in various plumages. This informa-
tion is particularly relevant in terms of the
identification of Yellow-legged Gull Larus
michahellis in areas where that species is still
rare (which includes large parts of northern

Table I. Numbers of pairs of breeding gulls at Zeebrugge, Belgium, since 2001 (based on
Vercruijsse et al. 2002b, Adriaens 2003, Stienen et al. 2007, Courtens et al. 2008, 2009, 2011,
Adriaens et al. 2012, and own data INBO). In 201 I, one pair of Yellow-legged Gulls was present,
but did not nest. The number of hybrid gulls each year is almost certainly underestimated, since
particular attention was paid to this subject only in 2010.

Number of breeding pairs

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-
backed Gull

Yellow-legged
Gull (pure)

Interbreeding
Yellow-legged x
Herring/LBB/
hybrid gull

Interbreeding
hybrid gull x
Herring/
LBBGull

Interbreeding
Herring x
LBB Gull

2001

1,184

2,695

0

1

>3

0

2002

953

3,404

2

2

>3

0

2003

1,479

4,164

1

2

>3

0

2004

1,986

4,515

1

2

>3

0

2005

1,872

4,321

1

3

>3

l

2006

1,732

4,573

1

3

>2

0

2007

1,315

3,995

0

3

>4

0

2008

1,755

4,243

1

3

>5

0

2009

2,417

4,484

2

4

>5

0

2010

2,433

4,385

1

3

9

0

2011

2,336

4,760

0

1

>6

0

530

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

Britain at least) and mapping out the species’
range expansion in western Europe.

Mixed pairs of Herring L. argentatus and
Lesser Black-backed Gulls L. juscus have
always been rare in Belgium, with the last
known cases of interbreeding in 1998 (when
one mixed pair raised three young; D. Vange-
luwe pers. comm.) and in 2005, when a mixed
pair was observed on the nest and photo-
graphed (W. Courtens pers. comm.). Despite
intensive research in the Zeebrugge colony
since 1999, no other mixed pairs of Herring/
Lesser Black-backed Gull have been found.
However, Yellow-legged Gulls have recently
made a significant entry into the picture - or
rather the genetic pool - at Zeebrugge.
Numbers of pure pairs of Yellow-legged Gulls
are still very low (0-2 per year; plate 311), but
the species interbreeds regularly with the
abundant Herring and Lesser Black-backed
Gulls (table 1). In addition, some offspring of
these mixed pairs have returned to the colony
and produced young (backcrosses). Table 2
gives an overview of the mixed pairs recorded
at Zeebrugge in the 2010 breeding season,
with their respective rings. That year, one
pure pair of Yellow-legged Gulls also bred
(unsuccessfully), and four unringed hybrids
were present in the colony (in addition to five
or six ringed birds; see table 2). Thus, more
Yellow-legged Gulls were breeding in mixed
(three) than in pure (one) pairs, while pure
Yellow-legged Gulls were outnumbered by
hybrids (9-10 individuals), making identifica-
tion of ‘ michahellis types’ in the colony quite
challenging. A similar situation has been
described in the Netherlands (Cottaar 2004).

We have little information about the

reproductive success of the birds in table 2,
but we know that the mixed pair MLAT x
LZAP raised one young (i.e. a backcross) in
2010, fitted with blue NPAP (see plates
299-301). The pairs KRAP x DRAG and
H112111 x MNAZ also produced chicks,
which were metal-ringed but not seen subse-
quently and may have died.

Notes on individual birds

Here, we present general information on the
ringed hybrids observed in 2010-11. Field
identification of these birds is discussed in
the captions to the plates.

Blue GJAL (plates 285-287)

This female gull (plate 285; ‘bird A’ in Adri-
aens 2003) is usually present in the Zee-
brugge area year-round, with occasional
visits to Maine-et-Loire, France. It was ringed
as a chick at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in
June 1992, as a Herring x Yellow-legged Gull,
although the ringer could not exclude the
possibility that the ‘Yellow-legged Gull’ was in
fact a hybrid (N. D. van Swelm pers. comm.).
Its dark grey upperparts (much darker grey
than Herring, even darker than Yellow-legged
Gull) are remarkable, and reason to believe
that the other parent may have been a hybrid
(e.g. Yellow-legged x Lesser Black-backed).

In 2001, this bird’s primary pattern was
characterised by two white mirrors on both
wings: a large, prominent one on the outer-
most primary (P10), largely merging with the
white primary tip, and a smaller one on P9,
restricted to the inner web (see photo 2 in
Adriaens 2003). However, in 2007, the white
mirror on P9 had become distinctly smaller,

Table 2. Mixed pairs of gulls in the Zeebrugge colony in 2010, with information about their rings
and offspring (if colour-ringed).

Taxon

(colour-ringed)

Ring

Paired with

Ring

Offspring

Yellow-legged Gull

blue FLAT

X

Herring Gull

blue GFAU

Yellow-legged Gull

metal HI 32902

X

LBB Gull

blue LBAS

Yellow-legged Gull

metal HI 121 1 1

X

hybrid YLG x HG

blue MNAZ

hybrid YLG x LBBG

blue MLAT

X

LBB Gull

blue LZAP

blue NPAP

hybrid

blue GHAM

X

LBB Gull

—

hybrid LBBG x HG

blue KRAP

X

LBB Gull

blue DRAG

unknown

blue FLAF

X

LBB Gull

blue RRAY

hybrid (HG x unknown)

blue GJAL

X

Herring Gull

—

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

531

Peter Adriaens Wouter Courtens Peter Adriaens

Adriaens et al.

and was even absent in the right wing alto-
gether (plate 286). In 2010, the P9 mirror of
the left wing had returned to its original size
in 2001, but the one in the right wing was still
decidedly smaller (though no longer absent;
plate 287). As far as we know, such obvious

year-to-year variation in primary pattern has
not been described previously in a large gull.

Each year between 1998 and 2008, GJAL
was paired with the same (colour-ringed)
Lesser Black-backed Gull. In 2009, it switched
to a Herring Gull from a neighbouring terri-

285. Blue GJAL - adult female
hybrid Herring Gull Larus
argentatus x unknown - with
its partner, a Herring Gull,
Zeebrugge, 18th May 2010.
GJAL is very similar to a pale
Lesser Black-backed Gull

L fuscus of race graellsii, but
with larger white primary tips,
all-white mirror and tip on PI0,
and subtly more bluish-grey
upperparts. Compared with
Yellow-legged Gull L michahellis,
note broader white tertial
crescent, slightly darker
upperparts, and petite head.

286. Blue GJAL, 4th June
2007. The white mirror on P9,
present in at least 2001 and

20 1 0, has disappeared (cf plates
285 & 287 and see text).

287. Blue GJAL, Zeebrugge,

1 8th May 20 1 0. Grey tongues
on the underside of the
primaries are more extensive
than in most Yellow-legged and
Lesser Black-backed Gulls, in
which the wing-tips typically
appear more extensively
‘dipped in ink’.

532

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

tory (while its former partner bred with
another Lesser Black-backed). From then on,
some of GJAL’s bare parts (such as gape and
orbital ring) became noticeably less bright;
could bare-part colour vary from season to
season to match that of the partner?

Blue KRAP (plates 288-290)

Blue KRAP (‘bird B’ in Adriaens 2003) was
ringed as a chick at Zeebrugge in June 1992,
the offspring of a mixed Lesser Black-backed
Gull x Herring pair.

288. Blue KRAP, adult male
Lesser Black-backed x Herring
Gull hybrid, Zeebrugge, 14th
May 2010. Compared with
Yellow-legged Gull, note slightly
shorter primary projection,
broader white tertial crescent,
subtly different shade of grey
on upperparts, and more
elongated head profile with
long, sloping forehead.

289. Blue KRAP, Zeebrugge,
14th May 2010. Note fairly long
grey tongues on primaries, and
rather broad white trailing
edge to secondaries.

290. Blue KRAP, Zeebrugge,
14th May 2010. Note fairly long
grey tongues on primaries, and
rather broad white trailing
edge to secondaries.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

533

Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens

Peter Adriaens Harry J. P. Vercruijsse

Adriaens et al.

Metal HI 46307 (plates 291 & 292)

This bird was ringed as a chick at Zeebrugge
in June 2006, the offspring of a male Yellow-
legged Gull and female Herring Gull. It bred

at Zeebrugge in 201 1, when it appeared to be
a male, and was paired with a Herring Gull. It
is not known whether the pair raised young.

291. Metal HI 46307 -adult
male Yellow-legged Gull x
Herring hybrid - with its
partner, a Herring Gull,
Zeebrugge, 30th March 2011.
A big, powerful gull, which
differs from Yellow-legged Gull
in its shorter primary
projection, broader white
tertial crescent, slightly paler
upperparts, and greenish tinge
on legs.

292. Metal HI 46307,
Zeebrugge, 1 2th May 2011.

The primary pattern is similar
to that ofYellow-legged Gull,
though with a little more grey
at the base of P9 than average,
while the white trailing edge to
the secondaries is slightly wider
than in Yellow-legged Gull.

Bl ue MNAZ (plates 293 & 294) the Zeebrugge colony as an adult in 2008,

Blue MNAZ was ringed as a chick at when it bred very close to a mixed pair

Zeebrugge in July 2004. It was first noted in (Yellow-legged and Herring Gull) and is most

likely an offspring of this
pair; morphologically, it
is very similar to metal
HI 46307. It was caught
in May 2010 (table 3);
this was a particularly
big, heavy bird - heavier
than any argenteus
Herring Gull on record.
It appeared to be a male,
and was paired with the
same Yellow-legged Gull
in 2008-10.

Table 3. Biometrics of blue MNAZ, with mean values of adult male
argenteus (from Cramp & Simmons 1983 [I] and Olsen & Larsson
2003 [2])

Blue MNAZ

Adult male argenteus
(mean values)

Length of head

131.5 mm

Bill

55.2 mm

53.2 [1]

Bill depth at gonys

21.0 mm

19.9 [2]

Tarsus

69.3 mm

65.2 [1]

Wing length

451 mm

425 [1]

Weight

1,284 g

977 g [1]

(max. 1,186 g; own data)

534

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

294. Blue MNAZ, Zeebrugge,
21st May 20 10. The primary
pattern is more similar to that
of Herring Gull. The inner
secondaries are all white,
creating a very wide trailing
edge.

293. Blue MNAZ

(right) - adult male
Yellow-legged x
Herring Gull (before
it was colour-ringed)
with its partner, a
Yellow-legged Gull,
Zeebrugge, 13th
April 2010. Note
how, in the hybrid
gull, the white tertial

crescent is more

prominent and
continues as a white

‘skirt’ below the

greater coverts; also
note the shorter

primary projection
(with slightly larger white
primary tips), subtly paler grey
upperparts, paler legs with
greenish tinge, and paler orbital

ring.

Blue FLAF (plate 295)

Blue FLAF, ringed as an adult at Zeebrugge in
June 2006, was considered to be a male
Yellow-legged Gull when ringed. It is very
similar to that species, but there are some
reasons to suspect a hybrid or backcross

295. Blue FLAF - adult male
gull Larus sp., Zeebrugge, 20th
May 20 1 O.This bird is
extremely similar to Yellow-
legged Gull, but the orbital ring
is slightly paler, with a rather
more orange lower half, and
the gonys spot is rather pale
too. In direct comparison, the
upperparts are subtly darker
than in Yellow-legged Gull, but
the difference is very small.

origin. It shows a migration pattern more
typical of Lesser Black-backed Gull, spending
the entire winter near Valencia, Spain, until
early March. Although there is intra-popula-
tion variation in migratory strategies of most
taxa, territorial Yellow-legged Gulls normally

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

535

Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens Harry J. P. Vercruijsse

Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens

Adriaens et al.

return to the Zeebrugge colony in December.
In addition, it shows some morphological
traits which are not entirely typical of Yellow-
legged Gull (see plate 295). This bird has bred
in the Zeebrugge colony since 2000, and was
paired to a Herring Gull each year until 2004,

when it mated with a Lesser Black-backed
Gull, which it has remained faithful to since
then.

Blue MLAT (plates 296-298)

First ringed as a chick at Zeebrugge in June

296. Blue MLAT - adult male
Yellow-legged x Lesser Black-
backed Gull hybrid, Zeebrugge,

1 0th May 20 1 0. It differs from
Yellow-legged Gull in its
broader white tertial crescent
and slightly darker grey
upperparts - quite similar to
a pale graellsii, but upperparts
with more of a bluish tinge, and
contrasting more strongly with
the black wing-tips.

297. Blue MLAT, Zeebrugge,

I Ith May 20 10. The pattern
on the upperwing is basically
similar to that ofYellow-legged
Gull.

298. Blue MLAT, Zeebrugge,

1 0th May 20 1 0. On the
underwing, grey tongues on
the outer primaries are slightly
longer than on an average
Yellow-legged Gull, though
the pattern certainly overlaps.

536

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

2002, this is a hybrid Yellow-legged x Lesser
Black-backed Gull that was colour-ringed in
May 2010. It appears to be a male, and has
always paired with a Lesser Black-backed
Gull, successfully raising young in several
years.

Blue NPAP (plates 299-301)

Blue NPAP was hatched at Zeebrugge in 2010,
a backcross offspring of blue MLAT (see above)
and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. In July 2011 it
was seen in northern France and in December
2011 it was in A Coruna, northwest Spain.

299. Blue NPAP - juvenile
backcross [Yellow-legged x
Lesser Black-backed Gull (blue
MLAT)] x Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Zeebrugge, I I th July 20 1 0.
This bird is extremely similar
to a juvenile Lesser Black-
backed Gull and there are
probably no useful differences,
but note that dark bars on
the central greater coverts
are slightly more widely spaced
than on an average juvenile
Lesser Black-backed Gull.

300. Blue NPAP, Zeebrugge,

I Ith July 2010. It is effectively
inseparable from Lesser Black-
backed Gull.

301. Blue NPAP, Valdoviho,

A Coruna, Spain, 13th December
20 1 I . In its second winter, this
backcross still looks identical
to Lesser Black-backed Gull.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

537

Antonio Gutierrez Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens

Adriaens et al.

BlueTBAC (plates 302-304)

Blue TBAC is an offspring of blue FLAF (see
above) and a Lesser Black-backed Gull,
hatched at Zeebrugge in 201 1. It was last seen
at the Zeebrugge colony on 17th August

2011, but the next day it was recorded at
Dungeness, Kent. In February and April 2012
it was sighted in France and on 11th May
2012 it revisited the Zeebrugge colony.

302. Blue TBAC - juvenile
hybrid or backcross, [blue
FLAF] x Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Zeebrugge, 22nd July
2011. Both the wing and the
tail pattern are similar to those
of Lesser Black-backed Gull.

303. Blue TBAC, Dungeness,
Kent, 1 8th August 2011.

Now that the bird is at rest,
the juvenile plumage perhaps
appears most similar to
Yellow-legged Gull.

304. Blue TBAC, Zeebrugge,

I Ith May 20 1 2. The plumage
of this bird, which is now
approaching one year old,
most resembles that of Lesser
Black-backed Gull, though a few
black-and-white rear scapulars
are present, which recall
Yellow-legged Gull.

538

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

Unringed (plates 305 & 306) Black-backed Gull hybrid, with a Lesser

1 his unringed juvenile is a backcross of blue Black-backed Gull, hatched at Zeebrugge in
MLA1 (see above), a Yellow-legged x Lesser 2011.

305 & 306. Unringed juvenile
backcross of [Yellow-legged x
Lesser Black-backed Gull (blue
MLAT)] x Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Zeebrugge, 22nd July
201 I.Wing and tail like Lesser
Black-backed Gull; strongly
scalloped edges to lower
scapulars.

Green - no code (plates 307-309)

This is a hybrid Lesser Black-backed x
Herring Gull hatched in a private collection

in Belgium in 2008, the product of an ‘acci-
dental’ pairing between two injured birds in
captivity.

307. Third-cycle Lesser Black-
backed x Herring Gull hybrid,
Belgium, 1 3th August 20 1 0.
Compared with a typical
Yellow-legged Gull of the same
age, note the duller leg colour
and pale brown (not blackish)
tertial centres.

British BitfOS • September 2012 * 530-542

539

Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens

Peter Adriaens Peter Adriaens

Adriaens et al.

308 & 309. Third-cycle Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull hybrid, Belgium, 1 3th August 2010. In
flight, it differs from Yellow-legged Gull of the same age in having an extensive brown tail-band
(thinner, blacker and more clear-cut in Yellow-legged Gull). Note also rather solid brown axillaries
(usually paler in Yellow-legged Gulls of the same age).

Conclusions

Of almost 7,000 breeding pairs of large gulls
at the Zeebrugge colony in 2010, at least 12
were mixed pairs (i.e. about one in 570 pairs
was mixed). Most of these consisted of a
hybrid gull interbreeding with a pure species,

but a few Yellow-legged Gulls were also found
mixing with Lesser Black-backed (one) and
Herring Gulls (one). At least one juvenile was
successfully raised (blue NPAP), but the real
number of fledged juvenile hybrids and back-
crosses is surely higher. The young can easily

540

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Hybrid gulls in Belgium

be missed as they leave the nest early and
hide in dense vegetation or rabbit burrows,
making it very difficult for researchers to
assign them correctly to their parent species.
Clearly, hybrids are more frequent in the
colony than pure Yellow-legged Gulls. Most
of the adult hybrids can be recognised by a
careful assessment of mantle colour, the
width of the white tertial edges and white
trailing edges to the wing, colour of bare
parts and primary pattern. A few adults, such
as blue FLAF, and many juveniles seem virtu-
ally impossible to identify correctly, though.
Most of the hybrids spend a large part of the
year in or near the Zeebrugge area, but some
have been observed in France (on several
occasions), England and Spain.

Acknowledgments

For further information on ringed birds and/or mixed
breeding we would like to thank Wouter Courtens,
Volk.er Dierschke, Sonke Martens, Filip De Ruwe,
Norman D. van Swelm, Marc Van de walle and Didier
Vangeluwe. Marc was also an invaluable help in the field.
Wouter Courtens, Antonio Gutierrez, Filip De Ruwe
and David Walker provided us with photographs.
Special thanks go to all of those people who read our
rings and report them.

References

Adriaens, R 2003. Hybrid gulls breeding in Belgium:
www.surfbirds.com/ID%20Articles/
adriaensgulls 1 203.html

— , Stienen, E. W. M., Courtens, W„ Van de walle, M„
Vanermen, N.,Verstraete, H„ & Verbelen, D. 20 1 2.
Eindrapport monitoring SBZ-V 'Kustbroedvogels te
Zeebrugge-Heist’ en SBZ-V 'Poldercomplex' -
resultaten van het zevende jaar (201 1-12).
INBO.R.20 1 2.27. Instituut voor Natuur- en
Bosonderzoek, Brussel.

Cottaar F. 2004. Geelpootmeeuwcomplex van

Ijmuiden: in hoeverne zijn geelpootmeeuwen echte
Geelpootmeeuwen? Dutch Birding 26: 36-42.

— &Verbeek, K. 1994. Geelpootmeeuw Larus

michahellis gepaard met Kleine Mantelmeeuw Larus
fuscus broedend te Ijmuiden. Dutch Birding

16:231-232.

Courtens, W., Stienen, E.W. M., Verbelen, D., & Van de
walle, M. 2008. Eindrapport monitoring SBZ-V
‘Kustbroedvogels te Zeebrugge-Heist' en SBZ-V
‘Poldercomplex’ - resultaten van het derde jaar
(2007-2008). INBO.R.2008.28. Instituut voor
Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Brussel.

— , — ,Van de walle, M„ Verbelen, D., Adams, Y, &
Daemen, E. 2009.Tussentijds rapport monitoring
SBZ-V 'Kustbroedvogels te Zeebrugge-Heist' en
SBZ-V 'Poldercomplex' - resultaten van het vijfde
jaar (2009-2010). INBO.R.2009.59. Instituut voor
Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Brussel.

— , — .Adriaens, R.Van de walle, M„ Verbelen, D„ & De
Bie, J. 20 1 I . Eindrapport monitoring SBZ-V
'Kustbroedvogels te Zeebrugge-Heist' en SBZ-V
'Poldercomplex' - resultaten van het zesde jaar
(broedseizoen 2010). INBO.R.20I 1.30. Instituut
voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Brussel.

Cramp, S„ & Simmons, K. E. L. (eds.) 1 983. The Birds of
the Western PalearcticN ol. 3. OUR Oxford.

Olsen, K. M„ & Larsson, H. 2003. Gulls of Europe, Asia
and North America. Christopher Helm, London.

Stienen, E.W. M., Vanermen, N., & Courtens, W. 2007.
Veranderingen in het broedbestand van
Zilvermeeuw en Kleine Mantelmeeuw te
Zeebrugge in het verleden en te verwachten
veranderingen in de nabije toekomst. Adviesnota
INBO.A.2007.69. Instituut voor Natuur- en
Bosonderzoek, Brussel.

Tinbergen, N.. 1 929. A breeding pair of Herring Gull
( Larus a. argentatus Pont.) x Lesser Black-backed
Gull (Larus fuscus subsp.). Ardea 1 8: I .

van Dobben.W. H. 1931: Einzelheiten uber Farbe und
Brutbiologie der aufTerschelling mstenden
Heringsmowen (Larus fuscus subsp.). Ardea 20:
143-147.

Vercruijsse, H. j. R 1 995. In Frankrijk geringde
Geelpootmeeuw (Larus cachinnans michahellis)
gepaard met Zilvermeeuw (Larus argentatus ) op
Neeltje Jans in 1 992-94. Dutch Birding 1 7: 246-247.

— , Stienen, E.W. M„ & van Waeyenberge, J. 2002a.

First pure pairs ofYellow-legged Gull Larus
[cachinnans] michahellis along the North Sea coasts.
Atlantic Seabirds 4: 1 27-129.

— , — & — 2002b. Geelpootmeeuw Larus michahellis
als nieuwe broedvogel in Belgie. Natuur.oriolus 68:
120-122.

Voous, K. H. 1 946. Sur un cas d’hybridation naturelle
entre Larus fuscus L. et Larus argentatus Pont, dans
les Pays-Bas. Alauda 1 4: 2 1 -32.

Peter Adriaens and Eric W. M. Stienen, Research Institute for Nature and Forest,

Kliniekstraat 25, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Harry J. P. Vercruijsse, Girostraat 38, 5038 DN Tilburg, The Netherlands

Peter Adriaens works as an ornithologist at the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest, where his
main task is to survey breeding birds around the ever-expanding port of Zeebrugge. He also monitors local gull
and tern colonies and gulls are now his main ornithological focus. Eric Stienen is a senior marine ornithologist
at the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest. He has studied terns in the North Sea since 1 990.
Other research topics include the monitoring of gull and tern colonies in the ports of Zeebrugge and
Rotterdam and various other seabird montoring projects. Harry Vercruijsse has been involved in colour-ringing
projects since the 1 980s. and his phenomenal memory and avid reading of colour-ringed gulls greatly contribute
to many projects. His research on the breeding ecology of Herring Gulls in the Netherlands was published in
Zilvermeeuwen uit de duinen van Schouwen in 1 999.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

541

Harry J. P. Vercruijsse Harry J. P. Vercruijsse

Adriaens et al.

3 1 0. Yellow HC83 - a first-cycle backcross of [Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull] x Lesser
Black-backed Gull - was ringed as a chick on Helgoland, Germany, in July 2010 and is shown here
at Blaringhem, France, on 17th February 2011. Superficially similar to Yellow-legged Gull, this shows a
tertial pattern and greater coverts more similar to those of a Herring Gull. Note also that the vent is
more extensively marked than that of an average Yellow-legged Gull. In flight, this bird showed a rather
pale window on the inner primaries, and a tail pattern more similar to that of Herring Gull. Given its
ancestry, it is surprising that the bird can readily be told from Lesser Black-backed Gull in the field.

311. Pair of adult Yellow-legged Gulls (blue CYAM and unringed), Zeebrugge, Belgium, I 3th April
2011. Because the wings are drooped, the unringed bird shows a white ‘skirt’ below the greater
coverts, but note that it is not continuous with the tertial crescent.

542

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 530-542

Notes

Curlews on stubble

Bryan Sage asked recently whether Eurasian
Curlews Numenius arquata typically avoid
feeding in stubble fields or whether this habit
is simply poorly recorded (Brit. Birds 105:
38). In the East Neuk of Fife, a few hundred
birds spend the winter along some 20 km of
coast between Elie and Fife Ness. Since 2007,
1 have taken regular note of the birds I see
when walking over stubbles in the area. On
36 walks in five years, I encountered Curlews
on the ground on seven occasions. On one
occasion 120 were roosting in stubble at high
tide, but I omitted to notice whether they
were feeding; on six other occasions I found
between two and 12 birds feeding in the
stubbles between November and February, in
all weathers from mild to snowy.

After reading Bryan Sage’s note, 1 drove
out along the coast road between Elie Ness
and Fife Ness for five days in succession,
between 10th and 14th January 2012, to see
where the wintering Curlews (some 200-300
birds that winter) were feeding. I found them
feeding on 16 different fields over the five

visits, of which four were stubbles, six were
pasture and six were winter cereals. None was
seen on bare plough, golf-course greens or
oil-seed rape. Most of the available fields
were either bare plough or winter cereals,
with less than 5% being pasture and possibly
10% stubble.

One stubble field at St Moans, used on
three days, held 58 birds on one day and 55
on another; this was the largest single flock
encountered in any habitat. Curlews in this
field were probing into the relatively light
soil, as in pasture and cereal fields, not simply
picking from the surface. The three other
stubbles used held 1-3 birds and were each
used on a single day only. Pasture feeders
averaged 14 birds per field over this period
(max. 25) and cereal feeders 18 (max. 36).

This seems to be conclusive evidence that,
at least in this area, wintering Curlews make
regular use of stubbles, but normally as a
subsidiary habitat to pasture and winter
cereal.

Chris Smout, Chesterhill, Shore Road, Anstruther, Fife KY10 3DZ: e-mail christopher@smout.org

Editorial comment We also received correspondence from John Durrell, pointing out that
J. A. Baker’s book The Peregrine, first published in 1967, contains the following statement
(relating to his observations on the Essex coast, this particular one on 11th November): ‘Fifteen
curlew were feeding in stubble near the brook, among large flocks of starlings and house
sparrows’. In addition, Ian Kerr commented that Curlews on Holy Island, in Northumberland,
frequently feed on stubble in small groups during the winter. These observations support Chris
Smout’s suggestion that this behaviour is poorly recorded rather than genuinely rare.

Red-backed Shrike larders in central Italy

Short-term food storage (for later consump-
tion) is most conspicuous in certain shrikes
(Laniidae) (e.g. Donovan 1929, Applegate
1977, Yosef & Pinshow 2005). Compared with
raptors, shrikes do not have strong talons or
feet, and do not use the legs during manipula-
tion of prey; instead, they typically impale or
wedge prey items for dismembering and
dividing later. This behaviour could also play
an important informative role, signalling the
quality of the territory or territory owner;
impaled prey items may also serve as land-

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 543-544

marks for territory demarcation (Sloane 1991).

In this note, we present the first docu-
mented observations of this behaviour for
the Red-backed Shrike in central Italy, where
the species breeds mainly in agricultural
landscapes (Morelli 2012). The study was
carried out in central-eastern Italy, in the
foothills of the Apennines, in the Northern
Marche region (43°49’N 12°26’E). From mid
April to mid June 201 1, a mixed-farming area
occupied by breeding Red-backed Shrikes
was searched for caches, using a constant

543

Notes

Table 1 . Prey composition of Red-backed

Shrike larders in central Italy, spring 2011.

Prey items

n %

Lepidoptera

4

Coleoptera

5

Hymenoptera

7

Rhynchota

2

Orthoptera

4

invertebrate subtotal

22 73.3

reptiles

4

birds

2

mammals

2

vertebrate subtotal

8 26.7

sampling effort (Bibby et al. 1997). Occupied
territories were initially surveyed every three
days to locate larders (mating and incubation
are the best periods of the breeding cycle for
detecting larders; Antczak et al. 2005). The
general habitat in which the larders were
found was described, along with plant species
and characteristics, prey type and the spatial
pattern of the cache (height, means of fixture
and concealment level).

In total, 28 Red-backed Shrike larders
were recorded. The larders were found
mainly adjacent to paved roads (37%) and
uncultivated areas (30%). All stored prey
items detected were placed on natural sup-
ports (plants) and the most commonly used
shrub was Blackthorn Prunus spinosa (mean
shrub height 2.5 m ± 1.2 sd). The percentage
of vertebrate and invertebrate prey items
stored was 26.7% and 73.3% respectively, and
the items recorded are shown in table 1. Prey
items were fixed mainly by means of
impaling (93.3%) but also by wedging in
branch forks (6.7%). The mean height above
ground of the cached prey was 1.35 m ± 0.4
sd. The degree of concealment of the prey (in
relation to plant foliage) was not correlated
with prey type (Spearman correlation P >
0.05) and almost 60% of prey items were
completely exposed.

Our preliminary results showed a varied
prey composition, typical for an oppor-
tunistic hunter. Prey composition in the
larders was dominated numerically by inver-
tebrates, and in terms of biomass by birds,
snakes and lizards. Some prey items were
particularly large in relation to the body mass
of a Red-backed Shrike, and included a
Green Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus , a
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla chick, a European
Serin Serinus serinus chick and two Wood
Mice Apodemus sylvaticus. We also recorded
one highly conspicuous lepidopteran species,
Six-spot Burnet Zygaena filipendulae, a poi-
sonous day-flying moth that contains
cyanogenic glucosides (Zagrobelny et al.
2007); this species’ presence in a shrike larder
may relate to the role of the larder in terri-
torial behaviour and communication.

Acknowledgments

We should like to thank Maria Balsamo, Yanina
Benedetti, Vincenzo Caputo, Cristian Cavalieri, Adriano
De Faveri, Niki Morganti, Mina Pascucci, Luciano
Poggiani, Riccardo Santolini and Mario Zunino.

References

Antczak, M„ Hromada, M., & Tryjanowski, P 2005.

Spatial temporal changes in Great Grey Shrike
Lanius excubitor behavior: from food caching to
communication signs. Ardea 93: 101-107.

Applegate, R. D. 1 977. Possible ecological role of food
caches of the Loggerhead Shrike. Auk 94: 391-392.
Bibby, C. J„ Burgess, N. D„ & Hill, D. A. 1 997. Bird
Census Techniques. Academic Press, London.

Donovan, H. E. 1 929. Larder of Red-backed Shrike.

Brit Birds 23: 96.

Morelli, F. 20 1 2. Plasticity of habitat selection by Red-
backed Shrikes Lanius collurio breeding in different
landscapes. Wilson J. Orn. 1 24: 5 1-56.

Sloane, S. 1991 .The shrike's display advertising. Natural
History 6: 32-39.

Yosef, R., & Pinshow, B. 2005. Impaling in true shrikes
(Laniidae): a behavioral and ontogenetic
perspective. Behavioural Processes 69: 363-367.
Zagrobelny, M., Bak, S„ Olsen, C. E„ & Moller B. L.

2007. Intimate roles for cyanogenic glucosides in
the life cycle of Zygaena filipendulae (Lepidoptera,
Zygaenidae). Insect Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology 37: I 189-1 197.

Federico Morelli and Fabio Pruscini, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell' Ambiente,
Universitd di Urbino ‘Carlo Bo’, Campus Scientifico ‘Enrico Mattei’, loc. Crocicchia, 61029
Urbino, Italy; e-maz7federico.morelli@uniurb.it

Maurizio Saltarelli, Centro di Recupero Animali Selvatici, localitd Ca’ drone, 61029 Urbino, Italy

544

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 543-544

Reviews

Petrels,
Albatrosses Sc
Storm- Petrels of
North America

Steve N. G. I low

Petrels, Albatrosses and Storm-Petrels of
North America: a photographic guide

By Steve N. G. Howell
Princeton University Press, 2012

Hbk, 520pp; 975 colour photos and illustrations, 66 distribution
maps

ISBN 978-0-6911421-1-1 Subbuteo code M2 1247

£30.95 BB Bookshop price £27.50

Tubenoses, the Procel-
lariiformes, are fabu-
lous birds, which some people consider to be the
only ‘proper seabirds’. Here, for the first time, is a
modern photographic guide covering all taxa
recorded in North America (from Panama north-
wards). This amounts to about half the world’s
total of 140 or so tubenose species.

If you can resist the temptation to dive straight
into the species accounts, the introduction is well
worth a careful read. It is informative, thought-
provoking and sometimes amusing. The overview
of ocean habitats, poorly understood by most of us
but key to understanding tubenose distribution
and occurrence patterns, is fascinating. Sections on
phylogeny and biogeography are of great interest
and topicality. Various tubenose forms, previously
treated as subspecies or in some cases not yet for-
mally recognised at any taxonomic level, are here
elevated to species status based on new studies of
genetics and vocalisations. Howell does not follow
AOU taxonomy (which he describes as ‘particu-
larly anachronistic’) but uses his own judgement
to pick a more progressive course through various
taxonomic papers. The end result is probably a
more realistic treatment, though the uncertainty of
some decisions and identifications is acknowl-
edged. It seems as though cryptic tubenose species
are being discovered all the time and these, such as
those within the Band-rumped (Madeiran) Storm-
Petrel Oceanodroma castro complex, are treated as
fully as currently possible. The field identification
section runs to 23 pages and covers ageing, sexing,
geographic variation, flight, and of course appear-
ance and topography. A well-chosen selection of
images illustrates points such as the effects of
lighting and the angle of view on the appearance
of the bird. Given the author’s expertise on moult,
it is not surprising that this section is excellent.
There are useful tips on how to enjoy (or possibly
endure) a pelagic and a final section on conserva-

tion, threats and the value of tubenoses as barom-
eters of the health of our oceans.

The meat of the book, some 450 pages, com-
prises the family and species accounts, which are
grouped into sections such as large shearwaters
( Ardenna and Catonectris), small shearwaters
( Puffinus ), and Atlantic and Pacific gadfly petrels.
Each group has an introductory section giving
common features of the group, key things to
concentrate on for identification to species and
comparative photographs of them side by side on
the same pages. Some particularly tricky sub-
groups, such as the Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus
Iherminieri complex (here including Audubon’s P.
Iherminieri , Boyd’s P boydii and Barolo P. baroli
shearwaters), are given additional mini overviews.

The species accounts also cover taxonomy and
nomenclature, which is interesting but inevitably
becomes repetitive for species within a genus
( Pterodroma means ‘winged runner’ - with 18 taxa
covered in this genus, I should now remember
this!). Status and distribution is covered at some
length including breeding areas and migration
routes, with the greatest detail concerning the
status in North America. This detail is summarised
in clear maps that show migration routes and sea-
sonal distribution in North America, covering sig-
nificant parts of the northern Atlantic and Pacific
oceans for relevant species. Field identification is
summarised in a short paragraph at the start of
each account with a much more detailed treatment
including habits, behaviour, ocean-by-ocean com-
parisons with similar species, and moult. There is a
mass of well- referenced information here, and it
repays close study. The numerous photographs are
a key part of the book, of course, and many
readers will go straight to them. The number of
images per species is usually around 10-15 but
with as many as 27 for the polytypic and polymor-
phic Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis. A
handful of taxa have fewer: five for Zino’s Petrel

The BB Bookshop, brought to you by Subbuteo Natural History Books
www.wildlifebooks.com/bb. and see our list after Recent reports

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 545-548

545

Reviews

Pterodroma madeira (but 13 for Fea’s P. (fea)
fea/desertae); five for the distinctive but extremely
rare (in the region) Hornby’s Storm-petrel O.
hornbyi; and none for just one species. The last is
the Critically Endangered Mexican endemic
Townsend’s Shearwater Puffinus auricularis , which
instead has a lovely plate by Ian Lewington com-
paring it with Newell’s P. newelli , Manx P. puffinus
and Black-vented P. opisthomelas shearwaters. The
great majority of photos are good to excellent.
Usually fairly closely cropped, they show birds in a
variety of positions and from various angles.
Nearly all species are also shown on the water, as
they will often be encountered on a calm pelagic.
Smaller images of the birds in the context of a
seascape or alongside likely congeners are included
for most species. In total they convey as good a
sense of what the bird must look like at sea as is
possible from still images. The fact that such a
high proportion of the photos were taken by the
author is a testament not only to his photographic
skills but also to his massive at-sea experience
accrued over many years. Captions are beautifully
concise, the uncharacteristic error on that for fig.
120, Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis,
where ‘thick’ should presumably be ‘thin’ is one of
very few mistakes I have been able to track down.

Having seen only just under half the birds
covered, I am unable to comment on the detailed
accounts of many of them, but for those I do know
they are accurate in technical detail with eloquent
and evocative descriptions of flight actions. In a
British context almost all species that might be
encountered are covered, with the notable excep-
tions of Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus and Yelk-
ouan P. yelkouan shearwaters. The accounts of, for
example, Scopoli’s Calonectris (diomedea)
diomedea and Cory’s C. (diomedea ) borealis Shear-
waters (with a total of 24 images); Fea’s/Desertas
and Zino’s Petrels; and Barolo Shearwater should
prove most useful. Cape Verde Shearwater C.
edwardsii, which has occurred as a vagrant off
North Carolina, is also treated in full and should
perhaps be on our radar.

The author’s knowledge and love of his subject
are reflected in a superb book, which will hope-
fully inspire more people to get out on the oceans,
learn about these magnificent birds and contribute
to their conservation. For around £30 it is very
reasonably priced - anyone with an interest in
seabirds will want to buy it and then start planning
their next pelagic!

John Martin

The Reed Warblers: diversity in a uniform bird
family

By Bernd Leisler and Karl Schulze-Hagen, illustrations by

David Quinn

KNNV Publishing, 2012

Hbk, 327pp; many colour plates and illustrations
ISBN 978-90-50113-91-5 Subbuteo code M21194
£59.99 BB Bookshop price £53.99

The Acrocephalidae,
including the ‘true’
reed warblers Acrocephalus and the related genera,
Iduna and Hippolais among others, are the arche-
typal small brown jobs. Given the lack of obvious
plumage features of many of them, even quite dis-
tantly related species can present significant iden-
tification conundrums, and it is difficult to explain
to non-birders why birders get so excited about
them. Maybe non-birders should read this book.

In spite of what we might politely call the mor-
phological subtlety of the birds themselves, this is
not a field guide: it is a visually stunning survey of
their lives. The authors are scientists and the level
of detail is impressive - graphs, figures and maps
in abundance - but this is a long way from being a

dry science text. Starting broadly from the fact that
reed warblers and their close relatives tend to look
very similar to each other, a series of 15 chapters
starts to explain the fascinating ways in which they
are different, leading the reader through their sys-
tematics, niches and habitats, migration, ecology,
breeding biology and behaviour. There are partic-
ularly interesting sections covering aspects of
habitat preference, showing how different species
are adapted to life in different vegetation struc-
tures and, for example, explaining such issues as
the specific requirements of Aquatic Warblers A.
paludicola. The reed warblers don’t exist in a
vacuum, of course: they form part of a guild of
insectivorous reedbed passerines (think of
Eurasian Reed Warblers A. scirpaceus sharing their

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British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 545-548

Reviews

habitat with Bearded Tits Panurus biarmicus ) and
there are no acrocephalid warblers in the Nearctic,
so there are chapters comparing their competitors
and ecological equivalents in scrub and reed habi-
tats worldwide. The Acrocephalus warblers in par-
ticular have a spectacular history of colonisation of
island habitats - it is this aspect that may be less
familiar to British Birds readers, and the relevant
chapter is well worth a close read.

The knowledge and enthusiasm of the authors
comes through clearly, and this represents acces-
sible writing at its very best - clear explanation of

sometimes quite complex subjects, with minimal
jargon and statistics. The danger is that this book
will not get the exposure and profile that it
deserves - it seems to have evaded the attention of
the online bibliophiles - which would be a crim-
inal shame. Both content and presentation are of
the highest quality; it deserves the widest possible
readership and must be a contender for Bird Book
of the Year.

Martin Collinson

Silent Spring Revisited

By Conor Jameson
Bloomsbury, 2012
Hbk, 288pp

ISBN 978-1-4081-5760-2 Subbuteo code M2 1 126

£19.99 BB Bookshop price £15.00

This is a difficult book
to review because it
falls into several cat-
egories. Part history,
part review of the
demise of so many of our bird populations, part
tirade against the evils of industrial-scale agro-
chemicals, part autobiography, part flag-waving
for the RSPB. It is laid out as a historical docu-
ment, working through each of the years from the
publication of Rachel Carson’s original (Silent
Spring, Houghton Mifflin, 1962) to the present
day. The author describes the events of each year
as they relate to the struggles to get concerted
action to protect the natural environment from
vested interests in the forestry, development and
agrochemical industries and, latterly, those who
deny the effects (or even the existence of) climate
change. The lack of effective action by national
and international governments adds to the
depressing mix, yet it makes for an interesting tale
- reminding me of many events that I had half-
forgotten! A constant theme is how many and dra-

matic are the changes in bird populations (usually,
but not always, for the worse), with numerous
quotations from RSPB luminaries. Interleaved are
anecdotes from the author’s personal life, which
give speckles of charm in what at times tends
towards a chronicle of doom. The serious reader
will find little biological detail: for that you must
go to books like Silent Summer (Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 2010; edited by Norman MacLean
and surprisingly not in the list of suggested further
reading) or more technical reports from
researchers in the BTO, the universities, and
national and regional conservation agencies.
Science this is not, but then I guess that Conor
Jameson did not set out to write such a book. It is,
however, an easy read, and a clear and concise his-
torical overview of the failures and successes of the
conservation movement since the 1960s; and it
will rightly find a place on many a conserva-
tionist’s bookshelf.

David Parkin

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547

Reviews

Eagle Days

By Stuart Rae

Langford Press, 2012

Pbk, 195pp; many colour photographs

ISBN 978-1-904078-44-9 Subbuteo code M21339

£18.99 BB Bookshop price £17.00

This is the first book in
a new series with a
theme of ‘Birds and
People’. The book is
taken up mainly by a
series of evocative descriptions of the author’s
exploits in the field over many years of searching
for and monitoring Golden Eagles Aquila
chrysaetos in Scotland. There is a focus on the
breeding season and the annual quest to pin down
the locations of breeding pairs and monitor the
outcome at nests that are found. The extent of the
effort involved in collecting this information comes
across strongly. Some sites require several hours of
hard walking over difficult terrain just to reach the
breeding area and because the birds roam over
such huge distances there is no guarantee that one
will be seen during a day’s fieldwork. Add in the
vagaries of the weather, swarms of biting insects
and the need to scramble over rocky slopes or wade
through treacherous bogs in order to reach poten-
tial nest-sites and it quickly becomes apparent that
eagle monitoring will not be for everyone. It clearly
does appeal to Stuart and his enthusiasm for this
work and for the bird itself shines through on every
page, even under the most testing of circumstances.
Indeed, Stuart’s involvement in eagle monitoring
almost came to an abrupt end when he attempted
to cross a particularly challenging piece of terrain.

The book is largely descriptive with a broad
coverage that encompasses the landscape visited
and the diverse range of wildlife that it supports.
But there is no shortage of information about the
eagles themselves and there are detailed accounts
of many fascinating aspects of eagle behaviour
based on first-hand observations. Each of these
are, to some extent, chance encounters and
moments of good fortune but, of course, are only
possible because of the long hours spent in the
field, hunting for eagles. New technology such as
the use of satellite transmitters will certainly help
to improve our understanding of eagle movements
and habitat use in future but, for certain aspects of
eagle behaviour, there will be no substitute for
direct observations. The need for fieldwork of the
type described in this book will, thankfully, remain
for many years to come.

The book is superbly illustrated with the
author’s own photographs, some of the eagles
themselves, but many showing the wide range of
other animals and plants that may be encountered
when off the beaten track in the Highlands.
Reading through the book was certainly a very
pleasant way to while away a few hours indoors, at
the same time firing an enthusiasm to spend more
time outside watching wildlife at first hand.

Ian Carter

Finding Birds in Mallorca

By Dave Gosney

www.easybirder.co.uk, 2012

DVD (72 mins) and 37-page booklet

ISBN 978-1-907316-39-5/978-1-907316-38-8

Subbuteo code V60068/M 10378

BB Bookshop price £20.00

Twenty years ago, when the previous edition of the
booklet was published, Mallorca was one of the
most popular foreign destinations for UK birders.
As global travel has become easier, fewer birders
are now choosing Mallorca, yet this is still a great
place to watch migration, with the bonus of a
number of key specialities thrown in for good
measure. On top of that, Mallorca is a beautiful

island (away from the tourist fleshpots) and a rela-
tively cheap and easy destination to get to. This is
the most up-to-date guide to all the key sites,
including the magnificent s’Albufera, and you can
help to keep it up to date via the free app ‘Finding
Birds: the latest gen’, available for any computer
and most smartphones via the apps page of the
easybirder website (see above). RR

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548

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 545-548

News and comment

Compiled by Adrian Pitches

Opinions expressed in this feature are not necessarily those of British Birds

Black-browed Albatross increase

At last, some good news about albatross popula-
tions. A new report indicates a healthy increase in
the numbers of Black-browed Albatrosses Thalas-
sarche melanophris breeding in the Falkland
Islands.

The Black-browed Albatross is currently classi-
fied as Endangered by BirdLife. Over two-thirds of
the global population breed in the Falklands, so
the status of this population has significant
bearing on the global conservation status of the
species. Ian and Georgina Strange have conducted
aerial photographic surveys of colonies in the
Falklands since 1964, with archipelago-wide
surveys in 1986, 2005 and 2010. Members of Falk-
lands Conservation have carried out ground- and
boat-based surveys of the Falklands population in
2000, 2005 and 2010. Up until 2005 these initia-
tives reported contrasting population trends. The

aerial surveys indicated a population increase
between the 1980s and 2005 whereas surveys on
the ground showed a decline between 1995 and
2005.

However, the aerial and ground-/boat-based
surveys conducted in 2010 both revealed an
increase in the population between 2005 and 2010
of at least 4% per annum. Dr Cleo Small, from
RSPB/BirdLife’s Global Seabird Programme, said:
‘When 17 out of the world’s 22 species of albatross
are listed as threatened with extinction, it is hugely
encouraging that Black-browed Albatross colonies
in the Falkland Islands are now known to be
increasing. There is still some way to go - with the
UK Overseas Territories’ other major population,
on South Georgia, continuing to decline. But this
result gives us great hope for turning around the
fortunes of other albatrosses.’

Seabird feeding frenzy in Cardigan Bay

In late July and early August a wildlife spectacle of
almost unparalleled proportion in Britain comes
to Cardigan Bay, when tens of thousands of
seabirds arrive to feed close to the shore at Borth
and Ynyslas, Ceredigion. Manx Shearwaters
Pujfinus puffinus and Northern Gannets Morns
bassanus appear in huge numbers to feed on
shoaling fish, while Sandwich Terns Sterna sandvi-
censis and gulls, plus the occasional skua, are often
present. Estimates of up to 50,000 Manx Shearwa-
ters have been made in the
Borth, Ynyslas and Dyfi River
estuary area, but in reality the
numbers of Manx are virtu-
ally impossible to estimate;
there are literally tens of thou-
sands. Typically, they are
feeding or streaming north
just off the beach between
Borth and Ynyslas, the closest
birds being less than 100 m
offshore, and estimates of
13,000 birds passing in 45
minutes have been made.

Beyond these closer birds
there are rafts and rafts of
Manxies sitting on the sea,
and out towards the horizon
they are everywhere, flying

just like swarms of midges. For a taster of what to
expect, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbJK_
3kUIWY and www.youtube.com/watch?v=
l8Mlp3orqe0

This feeding concentration has been devel-
oping for some years but these huge numbers have
been apparent only in recent years. Travelling out
to sea at this time of year has revealed that the
main area of activity is concentrated from Sarn
Cynfelyn, just south of Borth, to the Dyfi estuary

3 I 2. Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus and Northern Gannets
Morus bassanus off Ynyslas, in Cardigan Bay, August 2012.

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 549-551

549

Janet Baxter

News and comment

and usually does not extend much more than
about 5 km out to sea. It is believed that the
seabirds are here for an abundant food supply.
Under favourable conditions with a relatively calm
sea, vast shoals of small fish including whitebait,
clupeids, sandeels Ammodytes, and occasionally
Mackerel Scomber scombrus , which are also feeding
on the small fish, provide an abundant food
supply.

More than half of the world’s Manx Shearwater
population breeds in Wales, with the islands of
Skomer and Skokholm in Pembrokeshire being
home to approximately 135,000 breeding pairs
(Stone et al. 1994), and there are a further
10,000-16,000 pairs on Bardsey, Caernarfonshire.
In this context, such numbers are perhaps not so

surprising. Gannets presumably originate from
breeding grounds on Grassholm, which is home
to about 40,000 pairs and is the third-largest
gannetry in the world.

This is a spectacle not to be missed, and is
readily combined with a visit to the nearby Osprey
Pandion haliaetus watchpoint overlooking the Dyfi
River, and the RSPB Ynys-hir reserve (home to
Springwatch) .

Stone, C.J., Webb, A„ & Tasker M. L. l994.The

distribution of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus in
north-west European waters. Bird Study 4 i (3):
170-180.

Contributed by Janet Baxter

Forty million Starlings disappear

New figures show that 40 million Common Star-
lings Sturnus vulgaris have disappeared from the
EU, including the UK, since 1980. In the UK, the
RSPB has launched a research project to discover
why this species’ population is in freefall. In 2002
the Starling was added to the UK Red list because
its population had halved during the previous
three decades.

There is evidence of a decline in the number of
Starlings visiting Britain in winter, and this could
be linked to the decline elsewhere in Europe. For
example, the numbers recorded in winter by the
RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch have fallen
by 80% since 1979, and by nearly a third in just ten
years. Richard Gregory, head of RSPB’s Species
Monitoring & Research section, said: ‘Our records
show that we have lost more Starlings across
Europe than any other farmland bird.’ Dr Will

Peach, who is leading the research into the Starling
decline in the UK, said: ‘It is figures like these
which have convinced us of the need for action,
which is why we are launching a research pro-
gramme to unravel the mystery of this bird’s dis-
appearance.’

Several theories have been put forward to
explain the Starling’s decline. In parts of Europe
these include the loss of grassland through con-
version to forestry land and the growing of crops.
But these changes haven’t affected the UK in the
same way, so the reasons for the rapid contraction
in the UK are not understood. In Somerset and
Gloucestershire, RSPB researchers will be working
with farmers to examine whether there is suffi-
cient food, particularly cranefly larvae (leather-
jackets), and nesting sites for Starlings in livestock
areas.

more declines in breeding waders

Lapwings hit new low

The latest figures from the Breeding Bird Survey
(BBS) show that four of our breeding waders have
reached their lowest levels since the survey started
in the early 1990s. Numbers of Oystercatcher
Haematopus ostralegus , Northern Lapwing
Vanellus vanellus, Common Snipe Gallinago galli-
tiago and Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata were
particularly low during the spring of 2011.

These birds breed on wet grassland and upland
habitats throughout the UK, where they rely on
earthworms and other invertebrates for food, and
previous declines have been blamed on habitat
loss, land drainage and potential increases in pre-
dation pressure. All four species, however, saw
sharp declines between 2010 and 2011: 19% for
Oystercatcher, 18% for Lapwing, 40% for Snipe

550

and 13% for Curlew, which may have been due to
unfavourable weather conditions during the
period exacerbating long-term declines.

‘The spring of 2012 has seen the wettest
April-June period on record, and it’s likely that
populations of these ground-nesting waders would
have also been hit hard this year. Flooding at
several key sites has seen hundreds of wader nests
washed out, including 600 at the RSPB’s Ouse
Washes reserve in Cambridgeshire,’ said the RSPB’s
Grahame Madge.

The BBS produces annual population trends
for over 100 of our widespread bird species. While
many birds are thriving, ten species have declined
by more than 50% since the start of the survey in
1994, including the Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur,

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 549-551

News and comment

which has declined by a staggering 80%.

Since the start of the survey we have lost more
than half of the following ten species:

Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur -80%

Willow Tit Poecile montana -79%

Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix -65%
Whinchat Saxicola rubetra -57%

Grey Partridge Perdix perdix -55%

Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos -52%

Yellow Wagtail Motacilla jlava -50%

Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca -50%

Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata -50%
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris -50%

This list emphasises declines in farmland and

woodland birds, and of migrants; all but three of
the birds in this list (Willow Tit, Grey Partridge
and Starling) migrate to Africa for the winter.

Mark Eaton, Principal Conservation Scientist
at the RSPB, said: ‘These results highlight the
alarming declines in our summer migrants, which
make the long journey from Africa to brighten up
our springs, but in ever decreasing numbers. These
species may face difficulties on their African win-
tering areas, their European breeding grounds, and
along the routes back and forth between the two;
more research is urgently required to pinpoint the
problems.’

Tracking ‘BB’ to Africa

The British Birds- sponsored Cuckoo Cuculus
canorus1 BB’ arrived in Chad at the end of July.

BB was satellite-tagged near Loch Katrine, Stir-
ling, on 17th May, as part of the BTO Cuckoo
project. On 18th June he was the first of the Scot-
tish-tagged Cuckoos to leave the UK when he
headed southeast over the North Sea to the Fries-
land Islands in the Netherlands. This is the first
time that BTO researchers have tracked or seen
such a long sea crossing by one of ‘their’ Cuckoos.
It’s not possible to say for sure where he started his
sea crossing but it was probably somewhere
between Edinburgh and Berwick-on-Tweed - this
would make the crossing about 550-600 km long.

‘BB’ then passed through Germany and the
Czech Republic before arriving in northeast Italy
on 5th July. Despite taking a much more easterly

route than fellow tagged Cuckoos Mungo and Iolo,
‘BB’ ended up in the same area, the Pordenone
region. After feeding up for three weeks, ‘BB’
crossed the Mediterranean Sea and made it to
Egypt. His tag transmission on 25th July showed
him close to the border with Libya. This is the fur-
thest east a BTO-tracked Cuckoo has gone and the
first to transmit from Egypt.

‘BB’ continued his movement south and suc-
cessfully completed his desert crossing during the
early hours of 28th July, reaching southwestern
Sudan by the time his tag stopped transmitting,
becoming the first of the tracked Cuckoos
recorded in that country. By the morning of 30th
July he had moved 193 km (120 miles) due west to
a location just over the border in Chad.
www.bto.org/cuckoos

Cley Marshes looks to expand

The world-famous Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve
of Cley Marshes will surely be familiar to almost
every BB reader. This reserve is not only a fabulous
place for birds, but is where The Wildlife Trusts
movement began, in 1926. There is now an oppor-
tunity to increase the size of the reserve by one-
third, encompassing another 60 ha of reedbed,

grazing marsh and freshwater, and thus securing
for conservation the ‘missing link’ in 8 km
of coastal nature reserves from the tip of
Blakeney Point (see pp. 520-529) to Salthouse
Marshes. NWT needs to raise £1 million.
Please help. To find out more, visit
www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/

Correction

‘The changing status of the breeding birds of Inner
London’, by Ian Woodward and Richard Arnold,
Brit. Birds 105: 433-457. On p. 434, there is a
mistake in the caption to fig. 1 - the grid squares
in that figure are at 5-km intervals, not 10-km
intervals, as stated. In addition, the text stated on
p. 448 that ‘there are no longer any rookeries in

Greater London’. In fact, a small number of rook-
eries persist within the Greater London boundary,
including sites within the outer London Boroughs
of Hillingdon and Sutton, and especially in the
more rural areas of the London Borough of
Bromley. We apologise for these errors. Eds

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 549-551

551

Manyn Wilson Simon Stirrup

Recent reports

Compiled by Barry Nightingale and Harry Hussey

This summary of unchecked reports covers early July to early August 2012.

Headlines In this traditionally quiet period, waders and terns, plus an impressive passage of large
shearwaters off southwestern coasts diverted birders from Olympic distractions. Most of the
gold-medal contenders were waders, notably Black-winged Pratincole in the Outer Hebrides,
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Orkney and Stilt Sandpiper in Northumberland, although a Fea’s Petrel
in Co. Cork (where the seawatching was best) and a Scottish Roller competed well too.

Fea’s Petrel Pterodroma feae Mizen Head (Co.
Cork), 16th July. Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris
diomedea Impressive numbers off southern Ireland
in early August, the following all in Co. Cork:
1,002 Galley Head, 227 Cape Clear and 334 Bally-

cotton on 2nd August, and 464 Galley Head, 332
Cape Clear and 267 Seven Heads, 3rd August. Else-
where, 120 St Agnes (Scilly), and 115 Porthgwarra
(Cornwall), 3rd August. Great Shearwater Puffinus
gravis In Co. Cork: 14 Mizen Head, 31st July, 38
Galley Head 2nd August and 90
on 3rd, 70 Old Head of Kinsale,
3rd August. Wilson’s Storm-
petrel Oceanites oceanicus From
pelagics off Scilly, three on 12th
July, singles on 16th and 19th,
and two 2nd August; elsewhere
singles off MV Scilloniati
(Scilly/Cornwall), 16th July;
Galley Head, 22nd July; off
Newquay (Cornwall), 25th July.

Night Heron Nycticorax nycti-
corax Bandon (Co. Cork), 26th
July; Pennington (Hampshire),
3rd-9th August. Cattle Egret
Bubulcus ibis Terrington Marsh
(Norfolk), 21st July. Great
White Egret Ardea alba Records
from Cheshire & Wirral, Essex,
Hampshire, Kent, Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, Somerset, Worcester-
shire and Yorkshire. Purple
Heron Ardea purpurea Stod-
marsh, 25th-29th July and 7th
August, others Oare Marshes,
30th July, and Grove Ferry (all
Kent), 2nd-6th August; Coombe
Hill Meadows (Gloucestershire),
28th-30th July; Ouse Washes
(Cambridgeshire), 30th July to
6th August. Black Stork Ciconia
nigra Bignor Hill (Sussex), 17th
July. Glossy Ibis Plegadis fal-
cinellus Long-stayers in Pem-
brokeshire to 9th August, Suffolk
to 16th July, Sussex to 20th July
and Co. Wexford to at least 4th
August. Additional records came
from Carmarthenshire (six), Co.

■flu*

3 1 3. Wilson’s Storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus, off Scilly, July 20 1 2.

3 1 4. Purple Heron Ardea purpurea, Stodmarsh, Kent, June 20 1 2.

552

© British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 552-554

Recent reports

Cork (two), Essex,
Hampshire, Kent, Co.
Kerry, Somerset and
Co. Wexford.

3 I 5. Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus, Slimbridge,
Gloucestershire, July 2012.

Black-winged Pratin-
cole Glareola nord-
manni Lewis (Outer
Hebrides), 2nd-6th
August. Semi-

palmated Sandpiper
Calidris pusilla Tyning-
hame Bay (Lothian),

29th— 3 1 st July.

White-rumped Sand-
piper Calidris fuscicollis
Frampton Marsh,
long-stayer to 25th
July, another Kirkby-
on-Bain GP (both
Lincolnshire), 14th
July; Grimley (Worcestershire), 14th July; Snet-
tisham (Norfolk), 22nd July and 5th August;
Havergate Island (Suffolk), 22nd July; Cley
(Norfolk), 24th July; Brownsea Island (Dorset),
31st July; Tyninghame, 1 st— 4th August; Cunnigar,
Dungarvan (Co. Waterford), 4th— 5th August; Tiree
(Argyll), 6th August. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Calidris acuminata Westray (Orkney), 20th-23rd
July. Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus Low
Newton-by-the-Sea (Northumberland), 5th— 9th
August. Buff-breasted Sandpiper Tryngites subrufi-
collis Frodsham (Cheshire & Wirral), 28th— 30th
July. Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus
scolopaceus Slimbridge (Gloucestershire), 21st July
to 9th August. Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus
Shoreham (Sussex),

24th July. Spotted
Sandpiper Actitis mac-
ularius Ballinclamper
(Co. Waterford), 5th
August. Greater Yel-
lowlegs Tringa
melanoleuca St John’s
Loch (Caithness),
long-stayer again,

25th and 27th July,
and 1st August.

Lesser Yellowlegs
Tringa flavipes Carness
(Orkney), 30th— 3 1 st
July. Red-necked
Phalarope Phalaropus
lobatus Lewis, 10th
July, then two 25th
July; Mistley (Essex),

16th July; off Armagh
Head (Co. Mayo),

25th July; Frampton Marsh, 26th July.

Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus Impressive gather-
ings at Hornsea (Yorkshire) included 5,700 on
27th July, a total of 6,720 offshore and at roost on
4th August, and 5,250 on 8th August. Bonaparte’s
Gull Chroicocephalus Philadelphia Add Estuary
(Argyll), 1 st— 5th August; Eastbourne (Sussex),
4th-6th August. Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon
nilotica South Uist (Outer Hebrides), 25th July;
Ynyslas/Dyfi Estuary (Ceredigion), 2nd-6th
August; Bloody Foreland (Co. Donegal), 4th
August. Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia Strump-
shaw Fen, 1 7th— 1 9t h July, also Buckenham
Marshes and Breydon Water (all Norfolk),

3 1 6. Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, Borth, Ceredigion, August 20 1 2.

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 552-554

553

Steve Young/ Birdwatch Gary Thoburn

Bill Boston

Recent reports

317. White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus, Alton Water,
Suffolk, July 2012.

1 8th— 19th July; Minsmere, 25th July. White-
winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus Lodmoor
(Dorset), long-stayer to 10th July; Frampton
Marsh, 25th July; Minsmere, 28th July; Staines
Resr (Surrey), 28th-29th July; Alton Water,
29th-30th July, Orford Ness (both Suffolk), 29th
July; Cresswell Pond (Northumberland), 29th July,
same Saltholme, 30th July to 2nd August, also
Dorman’s Pool (both Cleveland), 1st August; Gar-
retstown (Co. Cork), 4th August. Common Tern
Sterna hirundo Spurn (Yorkshire), 4,500 on 5th
August.

Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus Termon Hill, the
Mullet (Co. Mayo), 1 4th— 27th July; St Kilda (Outer

Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator
Cemlyn (Anglesey), 12th July.
House Crow Corvus splendens
Cobh (Co. Cork), long-stayer, to
at least 21st July. Short-toed
Lark Calandrella brachydactyla Blakeney Point
(Norfolk), long-stayer, 1 2th— 1 4th and 26th July.
Western Bonelli’s Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli
North Ronaldsay (Orkney), 24th July (same bird as
1st July). Iberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus
Porlock (Somerset), long-stayer to 29th July. River
Warbler Locustella fluviatilis Fair Isle, long-stayer to
1 1th July. Paddyfield Warbler Acrocephalus agricola
Fair Isle, long-stayer to 11th July. Rose-coloured
Starling Pastor roseus Ynyslas, 9th July; Dungarvan,
1 9th— 24th July; Lewis, 6th August; Hillswick (Shet-
land), 6th August. Arctic Redpoll Carduelis horne-
manni Fair Isle, 14th July. Black-headed Bunting
Emberiza melanocephala North Ronaldsay, 5th-8th
August.

Hebrides), from about 16th July
to 30th July; Arranmore (Co.
Donegal), 1 8th— 25th July. Alpine
Swift Apus melba Portscatho
(Cornwall), 31st July; Sher-
ingham (Norfolk), 1 s t — 6 1 h
August. European Bee-eater
Merops apiaster Titchfield Haven
(Hampshire), 28th— 29th July.
European Roller Coracias gar-
rulus New Pitsligo (North-east
Scotland), 12th- 15th July, same
Finstown (Orkney), 26th-30th
July.

3 1 8. European Roller Coracias garrulus, Finstown, Orkney, July 20 1 2.

554

British Birds 105 • September 2012 • 552-554

David Edgar

British Birds
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