Bird Conservation - Page 9

The reason for the abrupt exit is a rise in water levels of as much as 2 metres to a high last experienced over 60 years ago. As water levels increase, the salinity of the water is reduced, which in turn reduces the abundance of algae.

I don’t know what unusual super power ‘meadow’ would suggest, but collectively pipits do seem to possess the power of invisibility: the phrase ‘little brown job’ may well have been invented to describe pipits.

Chris Foster gives us his latest in the A to Z of British Birds series. This week… Owls.

The jarring from which they take their name, more commonly referred to as churring – an eerie, mechanical sort of noise that’s straight out of a science fiction film, and possibly the strangest noise I’ve ever heard coming from a bird.

In 1982, the population numbered just 22 individuals, but now that figure has risen to around 400, thanks to captive breeding and release programmes.

Chris Foster talks about the Mandarin Duck and Mistle Thrush as part of his A to Z of British Birds series.

What hadn’t been apparent to me was how much of a difference ringing can make to your abilities as a fieldworker and as a biologist, and what an impressive addition the training (or better yet a full license) can be to a CV or application.

Not only are they uncommon in much of England and Wales (and absent entirely from Scotland and Ireland), but they’re hard to find even where they do occur, being secretive birds that can range over large areas.

Groups such as the RSPB welcomed the decision, especially since buzzard populations were once so low in this country.