RSPB
Winter/Spring 2026
Chief executive Beccy Speight enjoys the “gentle purring” of Turtle Doves in Italy and takes from it a call to action and Yellowhammers are on the rise at RSPB’s Hope Farm. In both cases a primary factor in downturns has been intensive agricultural practices leading to a decline in wildflower seeds on which the birds rely.
Good fieldcraft practices of course include keeping your distance, knowing when to walk away, being less visible and quiet. These seem obvious but too often I’ve seen these basics ignored at reserves and even on guided tours. As the author of the piece Hep Cairnswood says, “let nature come to you.” That’s my mantra with all animals and indeed children. No photograph justifies disturbing its subject.
A guide to geese is useful. Greylag and Barnacle I can manage, and Canada and Egyptian for that matter, but not Pink-footed, Brent, White-fronted and Tundra Bean. White-fronted are distinguished by a white patch on their faces, their ‘fronts’ are not white at all. When the weather stops being quite so cold and miserable I hope to head down to the south coast for geese along with a visit to Ham Wall for the Starling murmuration. If I plan the latter right, I might be able to witneşs both the sunrise and sunset spectacles. I definitely need some nature therapy to help stave off the January blues. Recent correspondence with an old friend and colleague made me realise how much I miss my animal rescue work. But the RSPB’s fine idea of rolling out locally focused Nature Prescription booklets should help.
Shrinkage of certain organs by animals at times when they are least needed is quite common, but Dennel’s Phenomenon, exhibited by Moles, Common Shrews and Weasels, involves shrinkage of their brains in winter and regrowth in the spring, without long-term damage. This makes sense in terms of economising on energy requirements but it is not yet understood how it is achieved.
A feature on Eider Ducks (as on the cover) by Charlie Elder, those robust birds with the unusual head profile, is wonderful. I learn that they dive up to 20m for Blue Mussels, swallowing them whole since their tough gizzards crush the shells. They must be very tough. The drakes are easily distinguishable by their distinctive black-and-white markings, the females are brown like Mallards but with the same striking head shape as the males. We are treated to photos of Common and Velvet Scoters, Goldeneyes, Smews, a Long-tailed Duck and a Red-breasted Merganser to boot. There are illustrations of the dabbling Scaup and Wigeon.
All of the sea ducks are amber- or red-listed for all the usual reasons. We also need to be extremely careful where we site our wind farms, laudable though they are in principle. Some 200,000 seabirds die in Europe every year through entanglement in fishing gear, gillnets being a particular problem for diving sea ducks. Research is ongoing as to how best to mitigate this, but the use of ‘scarecrows’ around gillnets is showing promise.
Nick Williams writes about mudflats which are of course full of life, spectacle and drama, like the Knots at RSPB Snettisham below, but also under threat and in need of protection, not least from rising sea levels, inappropriately placed tidal barrages and agricultural and industrial runoff.
There are many success stories from the RSPB’s great work told to celebrate. A member’s letter about seeing a Bittern reminded me of our guide Nick Acheson, at Cley in Norfolk, standing up in the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visitor centre’s busy café and shouting “Bittern!” as he spotted one in the distance. He was rather embarrassed about it but I thought it was extremely cool.
I thought I had spotted an erroneous caption for a photograph of a House Sparrow, female not male surely? But checking informed me that the males’ plumage is quite different in winter.
Members are urged to change their subscriptions to digital to save paper and money for the RSPB and gain more content but for me, as an old-fashioned bookseller, print and paper and letterbox delivery cannot be surpassed.
BTO
Issue 357, Winter 2025
The British Trust for Ornithology has a Capercaillie on the cover of this issue. I always worry about the effects of ringing on birds, both the trauma of the event and in the long term. Using coloured collars on Greylag Geese does not seem right to me. Something on the leg might be relatively easy to ignore but around one’s neck? It must be irritating at least. Long-tailed Ducks get a mention in this publication too. I would love to see one but they do not come this far south.
Will Rose’s stylish illustrations continue to delight but otherwise there is too much about data, sampling techniques and so on at a level which is beyond my interest parameters. Although of course science and data are what the BTO is all about.
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