Session 1 - 27th September 2012

Great Crested Grebe at Pennington Flash - Martyn Jones

Today was the first session of the 2012-13 academic year for the very popular 'Birds And Their Habitats' course run by Peter Baron in Bury at Whitefield, Prestwich and Ramsbottom Libraries.

The Whitefield class was attended by 10 people including myself, for whom it was the first ever session.  Most of the other members seemed to know each other from previous years and at least one person had joined this class from one of the partner groups. They're a friendly bunch of people, so that's a good start.

After the initial formalities of signing the learning agreements, reading the aims of the course and other general course administration, Peter began the session by talking about the weather, a very topical subject due to the adverse conditions the UK has been experiencing over the last week, if not the whole 2012 summer.

No wonder we're depressed !

This week there has been a very deep depression over the country (not only in people's minds!) and this has brought heavy rainfall and flooding to many parts of the country.  Here in Manchester however, we have got away with it on the whole, as we were at the centre of the depression or anticyclone where things are fairly calm.

In particular he talked about how weather conditions and affect birds and bird sightings. In a low pressure system (depression or anticyclone), the winds move in an anti-clockwise direction this bringing birds in from the Atlantic Ocean on to our western shores and sometimes inland.

In a high pressure system or cyclone, the winds move in a clockwise direction and thus bring birds from the North Sea on to our eastern coastlines.  Therefore it is very important to watch the weather when trying to predict what may be seen in a specific area.

From this discussion we went on to have a short quiz about two birds Peter saw recently in Mallorca - this was an exercise in using the field guides to match descriptions and localities.  The two birds were both named after people: Auduoin's Gull and Eleonora's Falcon. This work came under the title of 'Birds in History and Culture'. Click the links above for a summary.

After reading through some handouts on habitats and discussing the best places to observe birds in autumn and winter, we went on to examine the shape and structure of the five species of Grebe that can be seen in the UK, a summary of which can be found here.

Marsh Tit - RSPB Website

Finally, the session finished with Peter giving us some homework on finding out the similarities and differences between the Marsh Tit and the Willow Tit, both of which are very similar and quite hard to tell apart, especially for an inexperienced birder.

Willow Tit - RSPB Website

This is an example of what Peter calls 'twin species' and which an underlying theme of all the sessions this year. Other examples include Greenshank and Spotted Redshank


A very informative and enjoyable session with a group of friendly and sociable birders whom I hope to get to know better over the coming months.

Birds and Weather

Some people say that because of the tremendous variability of the weather we get in this country, we don't really have a climate a such - we just have weather and we're always talking about it!

The weather systems we experience have an effect on birds too. Strong to gale force westerlies emanating from the Atlantic Ocean in autumn can bring the birdwatcher bonuses in terms of scarce species blown off course onto our shores and occasionally inland on to larger areas of water, such as reservoirs.

Similarly, easterly winds from Asia in autumn can often mean that numbers of scarce birds can end up on the east coast of Britain due to being blown off course.

During the coming months we will look at the varied weather systems which may result in scarce birds being deposited on our shores.

(c) Peter Baron 2012

Birds in History and Culture - Eleonora's Falcon

Eleonora of Arborea (c1350-1404)

This remarkable falcon bears the name of a remarkable princess.  Eleonora of Arborea is the Sardinian islanders' greatest heroine. She was not only a military leader who led her troops into battle, but also a politician and legislatress responsible for the Carta di Logu - a code of laws.

The falcon was named after her by Giuseppe Gene the zoologist who wrote of he in 1840, "Her admirable wisdom in the century of barbarities in which she reigned to protect the honour, the life and the goods of the people".

She also protected the hawks and falcons of her dominion by prohibiting the taking of young from the nest.

Birds in History and Culture - Audouin's Gull

Jean Victor Audouin (1797-1841)

During his short academic career Audouin became well-known in scientific circles for his entomological studies, but he also contributed to several other branches of natural history including ornithology.

He was one of the leading French entomologists of his day and also worked on the fauna of Egypt after Napoleon had invaded.

In 1826 his friend B. C. Payraudeau published the first scientific description of a gull which inhabited rocky mediterranean islands and it was he who named the gull after his 'excellent ami' M. Audouin.

Today Audouin's Gull is the rarest gull in the world with only 5000 breeding pairs.

Birds in Focus - Grebes

There are five Grebes that can be found in the UK during the Autumn and Winter:

But which Grebe is which?

• Great Crested Grebe - largest Grebe with distinctive head plumage in summer
• Red-necked Grebe - second largest Grebe and the clue is in the name
• Slavonian Grebe - middle-sized Grebe with contrasting black and white winter plumage
• Black-necked Grebe - second smallest Grebe with a 'powder puff' rear end
• Little Grebe - smallest Grebe with a 'powder puff' rear end

The two most common grebes are the Great Crest Grebe and the Little Grebe. It shouldn't really be possible to confuse these two birds, being at opposite ends of the size scale and quite different in shape and colour. However, the other three Grebes are a lot scarcer and a little more difficult to distinguish, especially when in winter plumage and from a distance.

The two smaller Grebes (Little and Black-necked) have characteristic 'powder puff' rear ends, whereas the other three are more sleek at the rear. The two largest Grebes (Great Crested and Red-necked) have dagger-like bills.  In winter plumage we should concentrate on:

1. Bill shape and colour / pattern
2. Head shape and colour / pattern