Wildlife news, views, comment and opinion - December 2009

Greenland White-fronts at sunset

A Very Happy, Healthy and Exciting Wildlife New Year to all our readers, their friends and their families. In last months Wildlife news, views, comments and opinion I, for some reason, mentioned Gloom and Doom – well there really isn't very much one can say to top that is there? And as to the weather, well we could have had a reprieve…. After all we had one of the wetter Novembers with 242.4 mm, couldn't we have been allowed a chance to dry out just a little bit? No, not at all December, had 165.6mm ( 6.52 inches) – so what is next? Well maybe some even lower temperatures – coldest Ground Temperature on the North Slob in December, was minus 4.5^oC on both the 25^th and 26^th – so how will January perform…. No comment…….

Black Redstart male

WILDLIFE RECORDS: Our thanks to those that provided the wildlife records for this month's wildlife summaries for County Wexford. They were communicated by phone to Wexford Wildfowl Reserve on 053-9123129 or received 'On Line' at www.wexfordnaturalists.com. Records can also be submitted to W.N.F.C., c/o Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, North Slob, Wexford or by email to info@wildside.ie. These records are all collated and saved to enhance the knowledge of our County's biodiversity.

Black Redstart female

WEXFORD NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB: Founded in October 2004 the WNFC is supported by a membership subscription.  Membership is open to anyone over the age of 18 with an interest in the natural history of Co. Wexford and application forms are available from The Secretary, Wexford Naturalists' Field Club, c/o Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, North Slob, Wexford. The annual Subscription, currently now due for 2010, is €25. As of December 2009 the number of members stands at 144. Facilities for meetings are kindly provided at the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, North Slob, Wexford, by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. An indoor lecture is held at 8pm on the first Thursday of each month in the Pumphouse at the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve and an outdoor field trip is organised for the second Saturday of every month. Details of these events are set out on the annual printed programme. The Objectives of the Club are: To promote the enjoyment of all aspects of the natural history of County Wexford among members; To increase members' awareness and knowledge of local natural history and its place in relation to the country as a whole and the wide world: To collect and record information regarding the natural history of County Wexford; To organise lectures and field trips; and To act on behalf of, and in the interests of, Club members. Are you interested? Would you like to meet like minded people? Why not come along to one of the lectures – 1^st Thursday of every month, 8pm at the Pumphouse, Wexford Wildfowl Reserve – You will be very welcome.

WILDBIRD OF THE MONTH: This month's 'bird of the month' is Black Redstart  (Scientific name: Phoenicurus ochruros – meaning: ochre-coloured redstart. Irish: Earrdheargan dubh) and comes about due to the current numbers, of this particularly attractive passerine species, in the county (Passerine being a member of the Passeriformes Order – meaning perching birds). These delightful and distinctly marked dark coloured birds, with striking rusty red tail are similar in size to our Robin. This bird, considered scarce if not rare in Ireland does, however occur in southern counties whilst on autumn migration, though usually in very small numbers (maybe ones or twos). The odd individual may turn up in the occasional spring. However, as can happen, during this last autumn there were excellent numbers noted around the county and some have remained on through December. Currently an excellent place to catch up with this pretty looking bird is Rosslare Harbour where there are at least four 'hanging around' the rocks adjacent to the beach near the Ferry Terminal. Of those four birds present in the harbour, one is a male, obvious by the black face and upper breast, pale grey top to the head and back and striking white patches in the wing. The rusty red coloured tail, which gives the species its name 'redstart', is pretty obvious because of the bird's lovely habitat of regularly flicking its tail. Females are brown in colour, though also have the lovely rusty coloured tail. Black Redstarts breed in Europe with a few pairs in the south-east of England. They predominantly winter in southern Europe and North Africa.  Breeding takes place in amongst boulders and in industrial areas, old town wasteland areas and around docklands. The nest is often built in a hole in a building. I remember may years ago, watching a male, breeding just ten metres from Tower Bridge in London, standing and flicking its tail on this famous landmark and singing at the top of its voice whilst literally thousands of people passed directly underneath, commuting into the City in the morning and returning in the evening - not one person looked up to see what was making the loud, distinctive and unusual rattle type song. Quite honestly their loss! Another interesting anecdote, was when visiting Cape Clear Bird Observatory on Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork, one evening, and walking into the outside washroom to find at least six of these birds, enjoying this safe area to roost, just above the sinks.

DID YOU KNOW: A Honey Bee's wing beat at 11,400 times 'per minute'.
That's 190 wing beats a second -no wonder they buzz.....

LONG LINING NOW AFFECTING BIRDS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC: A recent article by Michael McCarthy http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-bycatch-downed-by-industrial-fishing-1828765.html reported on a statement by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) about concerns growing into the huge number of seabirds being killed by fisheries in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As we have reported here in previous issues of the Nature Diary there has been considerable fears about the number of  seabirds in the Southern Ocean dying on long-lines, notably albatrosses (100,000 birds dying annually) and other seabirds (200,000 birds dying annually). However this problem in northern fisheries has not previously been highlighted to the same extent. Apparently the RSPB estimate that 200,000 seabirds are being killed in fisheries in European waters every year, with one species, the Great Shearwater, suffering an exceptionally high annual by-catch rate of 50,000 birds in the Spanish long-line hake fishery to the west of Ireland. Also Europe's rarest seabird, the Balearic Shearwater, which is critically endangered with a population of just 2,000 pairs, is predicted to become extinct within 40 years if losses continue. Up to 50 individuals have been caught on hooks on a single long-line. The Cory's Shearwater is also believed to be suffering with an annual by-catch rate of up to 10 per cent of the population in long-line fisheries off Malta - this according to Maltese fishermen. The RSPB spokesman Grahame Madge said "Europe is incredibly important for seabirds, with some species occurring nowhere else, and this is a situation that Europe must tackle urgently". I would be most interested if anyone has more information on this situation, and if so, could they please let me know on: infoATwildside.ie

Tree rings picked out in frost

2010 IS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF BIODIVERSITY: The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species are threatened with extinction. BirdLife International is the Red List Authority for birds and released the 2009 update for birds earlier in the year, listing 192 species of bird as Critically Endangered, the highest threat category, a total of two more than in the 2008 update. For their full report please look at http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/12/round_up.html. However the report does highlight some successes, including the down listing of Lear's Macaw from Critically Endangered to Endangered, as a direct result of targeted conservation action.
Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife's Director of Science and Policy, said "In global terms, things continue to get worse – but there are some real conservation success stories this year to give us hope and point the way forward". Of the world's 9,998 bird species, 137 are Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, with 192 Critically Endangered, 362 Endangered and 669 Vulnerable.
The results of the full Red Data List update reveals that 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, 12% of birds, 28% of reptiles, 37% of freshwater fishes, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates assessed so far are under threat. Jane Smart, the Director of IUCN's Biodiversity Conservation Group, says "The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting - January sees the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity. The latest analysis of the IUCN Red List shows the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met. It's time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it's high on their agendas for next year, as we're rapidly running out of time."
Of the world's 5,490 mammals, 79 are Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, with 188 Critically Endangered, 449 Endangered and 505 Vulnerable.
There are now 1,677 reptiles on the IUCN Red List, with 293 added this year. In total, 469 are threatened with extinction and 22 are already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild. Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. says "The world's reptiles are undoubtedly suffering, but the picture may be much worse than it currently looks, we need an assessment of all reptiles to understand the severity of the situation but we don't have the $2-3 million to carry it out."
The IUCN Red List shows that 1,895 of the planet's 6,285 amphibians are in danger of extinction, making them the most threatened group of species known to date. Of these, 39 are already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, 484 are Critically Endangered, 754 are Endangered and 657 are Vulnerable.
Of the 12,151 plants on the IUCN Red List, 8,500 are threatened with extinction, with 114 already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild.
But it's not all doom and gloom, conservation does work and there are some great examples in this year's Red List. In Brazil, Lear's Macaw has been down-listed from Critically Endangered. This spectacular blue parrot has increased four-fold in numbers as a result of a joint effort of many national and international non-governmental organisations, the Brazilian government and local landowners. In New Zealand, the Chatham Petrel has benefited from work by the New Zealand Department of Conservation and has consequently been down-listed from Critically Endangered, and in Mauritius the stunning, Mauritius Fody has been rescued from the brink after the translocation and establishment of a new population on to a predator-free offshore island. It has now been down-listed to Endangered. http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/11/iucn_red_list.html

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT GARDEN BIRD FEEDING IS CONTRIBUTING TO EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE: A recent report in the New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427374.700-british-birdfeeders-may-be-splitting-species.html has highlighted an interesting piece of research taking place by Martin Schaefer, with colleagues, at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Their work has been concentrating on Blackcaps in which they have been measuring the genetic variation between Blackcaps in two German sites 800 kilometres apart just after the birds have returned from their winter grounds on the Iberian peninsula and in the UK. Both groups return annually to the same forest in Germany, where they live for six months of the year. Fifty years ago, most German blackcaps flew south to Spain or Portugal for the winter. But since the 1960s, a growing number of the birds have started migrating to the UK. Martin Schaefer said that "After world war two, the British started to put out far more food for the birds than they did before, as a result, those that accidentally migrated north thrived rather than being killed off, leading to the evolution of a whole new lineage." Joe Tobias of the Edward Grey Institute at the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford in the UK, says that "This may be the first example of human behaviour generating a new ecotype or lineage of an animal". To Martin Schaefer's teams surprise they found that Blackcaps that spend their winter in Spain share more genes with those that live 800 kilometres away but also overwinter in Spain than they do with Blackcaps that live in the same forests but overwinter in the UK. This suggests that despite living side-by-side for half of the year, the birds no longer breed together. The team also found that German Blackcaps wintering in the UK possess browner plumage on their backs, rounder wings and pointier beaks than Blackcaps that migrate south. Martin Schaefer stated "The bird food that the Blackcaps rely upon in Britain is powdered, so there is no longer selection for the broad beaks that allow the bird to eat large fruits such as olives on the Iberian Peninsula". He also said that the two migrating populations are less likely to breed together because those that overwinter in the UK return to Germany earlier than those that go to Spain.
Now I know one of the reasons and some of the answers to the 'Winter Colour Ringing Blackcap Project' that Irish and UK Bird Ringers took part in, in the 1970s and 1980s.