Having been tipped off by fellow member of the group, Trish, about a tawny owl setting up home in a kestrel box on Lindow common a few months ago , I decided to check it out for myself. Armed with my bins and scope , I went along one evening and sure enough there was the adult bird comfortably ensconsed in the kestrel box, either unaware of the rather nice owl chimney on a nearby tree or displaying the kind of stubborness one finds in certain members of our own species. I hoped to return a few weeks later and witness the appearance of the young but I obviously mistimed things as when I returned the box was empty and there was no sign of any young in the nearby trees that I could find.Tawny owl was ticked off my list and that I thought was the end of the matter. A week or so later I was at Cotterill Clough, a woodland reserve near the airport, where I am a volunteer warden for the Cheshire Wildlife Trust . Busy trying to saw branches from a tree that had fallen across the path I was unaware that I was being watched .When I had finally finished and was taking a much needed breather and drink, I looked up to see a young tawny owl , all covered in its downy feathers , watching my every move. I rushed back to where I had left my rucksack , containing my camera and was able to get a reasonable shot before the adult bird made its presence known and I thought it wise to retreat ! Steve.
Steve, You must have been thrilled to see your Tawny fledgling. How wide a territory do these owls normally cover? Barbara
Thanks Barbara, yes it's always a thrill when you come across young like that when you weren't expecting it. The owls had bred before in that part of the clough, and a couple of years ago had used the owl chimney we had erected but this year it was empty ,so they had obviously used more traditional accomodation.I am not certain what the normal size of the territory is but suspect its fairly small depending on the food availability. Tawny owls tend to pair for life and are loyal to the same territory which they defend all year round. Once the young have fledged the parents will support them for two to three months and then from August to November they then depart to find their own territories. In the case of Cotterill Clough which covers about 14 acres I should think the woodland is big enough to support at least one maybe two pairs, and there are definately more birds across the road in adjoining trees and over the field at nearby Sunbank wood. Steve
Well Steve you've worked your Tawny Owl magic here. We were eating our meal this evening (6.15) when a Tawny Owl flew across the garden and landed on a tree next door about 6 feet outside our boundary. It remained in view for about 5 mins until Gruffalump disturbed it trying to photograph it. What an absolute thrill - it's many many years since I've seen one. Needless to say our meal went cold - but who cares! Could this possibly be the Lindow Common bird? This did however look like a full adult - there were no downy feathers at all. Has anyone else seen a Tawny Owl around Wilmslow recently? Barbara
Well that’s the sort of tabloid headline guaranteed to get every twitcher in the UK beating a path to our door but like all such headlines its vital to read the full story to avoid a misleading impression. So all you "listers" out there, don't panic, you haven't just missed the local ornithological event of a lifetime, but unless you were at the Wilmslow show on Sunday you did miss the chance to see this magnificent bird in flight at close quarters.
The falconry centre, Gauntlet, based near Knutsford put on a couple of displays at the show and whatever your view of keeping birds of prey in captivity i think few of us would fail to be thrilled by the site of a Bald eagle, with its huge wing span, flying over the showground and coming into land just a few feet above your head. Apart from the bald Eagle there were also flights by a Lanner Falcon and Harris Hawk but perhaps the stars of the show were the two Vultures. These two birds one a Griffon and the other a Hooded spent most of the time running around the arena until the larger Griffon, flew over the fencing, taking a worrying interest in some-ones small dog.
The commentary was informative and i was encouraged to hear just how interested and involved the staff were in Vulture conservation projects. They told us that the Gyps genus of Vultures in Asia has seen a 95% crash in its population in the last ten years, and whilst the cause has been shown to be the anti inflammatory drug Diclofenac the outlook for the survival of these birds in vast areas of its former range is poor. Despite a ban in Nepal, India and Pakistan the drug is still being used in remote areas and so conservation projects which the falconry centre is supporting, has a lot of work to do in education and re introduction projects. In our media obsessed world it maybe glib to say that the Vulture has an image problem, at least when it comes to rousing the wider public to support its conservation. It is doubtful the Vulture would win through to the qualifying round of the bird equivalent of a beauty contest; nor would it rank very highly in most peoples favourite bird species, yet it performs a useful roll, and the loss of any species on such a huge scale is worth fighting against. Steve.
What is it about the drug Diclofenac that causes the deaths of vultures? How do the vultures encounter the diclofenac?
Diclofenac has apparently been introduced for veterinary use in India and Pakistan. Vultures appear to have been exposed to the drug while scavenging livestock carcasses.
It's good to hear about the birding experiences of Bird Group members outside the UK. I will post copies of emails about Peter's recent trip in case it is of interest to website visitors. The emails were on the 21st and 23rd May.
Bob P.
I have just finished a birdlist of what I identified on our cruise to Central America and the USA (Miami & Los Angeles). This is attached in case it is of interest to members who might consider doing something similar!
Although we did go on a couple of short birding guides led excursions, most of the time I found these birds just by keeping my eyes open (and my bins, field guides and camera handy), when we were doing other things. It was a fantastic trip in all respects - not just because of the birds - some of which were amazing - but they very much added to the whole experience.
If the attached is not really the sort of thing you would want to put on the site, I will understand.
Hi Peter - thank you for contacting me via the website. I am certainly interested in using your input in the BG website. Since you have identified yourself to me I will contact you shortly via my personal email.
Thanks again, Gruffalump.
Hi Peter – thank you again for contacting the website. I use the gmail address to screen messages to my various websites.
I am sure you must have really enjoyed your trip – your bird list is impressive – birding on the Tarcoles River in Costa Rica is one of my life-time best experiences. As regards input to the website it can be handled in a variety of ways depending on your wishes, level of interest and expertise.
Obviously the checklist table on its own would not arouse much interest – our members like to see pictures. If you just want to put in a bit of text about the birds you have seen it could be handled in Forum. I can help you to do this or you can email it to me and I can put it in on your behalf.
If you are prepared to put photographs in to accompany text Your Pages module in the website is the best way. I could open “Peter’s Page” on your behalf. You would not be committed to making any other input if you did not wish to do so. If you did want to do more I could make you a member of the website which would allow you to put things in and edit them yourself. Current members are most of the BG committee and include Nelson from New Jersey, USA who would be very interested in your input.
I don’t want to push you to do anything more than you wish to do so I will await your response. If you do want to put images in perhaps you can email one photograph, ideally in jpeg format, so that I can check for any problems.
Bob P.
Thanks for responding.
I have just updated my "lifer" list. Because there was a huge (for me) number of new species, I found 3 errors. So here is an updated checklist of what I saw. Same total number of species seen, but slightly less "lifers". Please ignore previous version.
I have a lot of photos of course if some would be of interest - though there was again such a big volume, I haven't yet been through them for editing. Nor listed the other wildlife seen (crocs, alligators, etc.)
Await to hear further from you.
Further, and hopefully last, update to my birding list. Added is a list of the other creatures seen in the wild, plus, for some strange reason, going thro my photos, I found that I had omitted the USA's second largest bird (in terms of wingspan-9 feet, height 4 feet, and weighing about 2 stones) - the magnificent white pelican. We saw flocks take off in the Everglades (photo attached).
Also attached are a few other sample photos from this early part of our trip - alligator and green heron.
Peter M.
Peter - as you will see I have copied our email discussion into Forum. This achieves your first objective of drawing it to the attention of website visitors and Birds Group members in case they are interested. I have not so far included your checklist - we don't usually put them in because, on their own, they are not very meaningful. If people ask for your checklist either you or I can email it to them.
I liked your images and I would be happy to include some in "Peter's Page" (I can't put them in Forum) if you wish. If that is what you would like to do I would need a bit of text to go with the images. Perhaps something about what the habitat was like or what they were doing. We don't put images on their own because they add nothing to what you would see in a field guide.
Bob P.
Thanks. Just had a look at forum. Didn't get your email of 11-11 on 25/5 as it went to the forum presumably.
I should be pleased to try to do some sort proper trip report with images. I quite understand your comments. I would be very happy to be enrolled as a member as you suggest. That said, perhaps we should delay how best to deal with my input until I have provided the trip report - and you can judge how best to deal with it? Also there must be around 100 decent images related to birds (though maybe only half are close-ups)- and only halfway thro editing. So you will need to let me know how many I should aim to upload.
Peter - what you suggest sounds like a good plan. If you look at some of the pages which other people have put in you should get some ideas about layout. My aim is that the pieces should tell a bit of a story about the bird or how you found it - rather than just a bare image and name.
I suggest you start with a short piece with no more than 6 images and you send text and images to me. I will open "pages" for you and will create a file for your images which Wikidot can access. I will then put the first "Peter's Page" together so that you can look at it and comment as you wish. No rush - it's better to take it slowly. Once you are happy with the process I will enroll you as a member so that we can then work on any future pieces together.
Bob P.