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Posts tagged ‘CWAG’

Mar 3

I wish I was special

Treecreeper on tree trunk
Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris © Derek Griffin

During our weekly bird survey, Steve Wilson a fellow member of the Conservation and Wildlife Action Group (CWAG) spotted this lovely Treecreeper Certhia familiaris resting on the trunk of a tree, just a few yards from where we were gathered. It’s not often you get the opportunity to see one this close up, they’re usually much higher up in the canopy.

The somewhat ‘mouse-like’ Treecreeper uses its long stiff tail feathers for added support as it creeps its way up a tree trunk looking for insects. Starting low down on the trunk it works its way to the top in a spiral. It then floats like a feather* to the next tree and starts the process again. We got lucky when we found this one at the start of its climb. Spotting us it froze momentarily, giving photographer Derek Griffin the opportunity to capture this terrific image.

It brings back memories of when I was learning to be a bird-ringer. My ever-patient and aptly-named trainer John Swallow would ask that we check each one thoroughly just in case we’d found a vagrant Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla. It’s tricky to separate the two species as plumage differences are very slight and measurements overlap but there are consistent differences in the pattern of the wing. I believe our native Treeceeper is also warmer and more spotted above, whiter below, has a shorter bill and a whiter stripe above the eye (the supercilium). Of course much of this is subjective and wasn’t much use to a somewhat nervous novice ringer like me. However, the ratio between the hind claw and bill is diagnostic which meant I had to carefully measure the length of these, something I remember the bird strongly objecting to.

* With apologies to the magnificent Radiohead and their fabulous song Creep

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Feb 5

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Squealing in the reeds

water_rail

Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus © Alexis Lours

Although as a child birds were my first true love and I spent many many hours drawing them obsessively. As an adult l’m only an ‘every now and again’ sort of birder. Insects, particularly beetles, have well and truly taken over. Yet recently my interest has been somewhat rekindled courtesy of the local RSPB branch and their Conservation and Wildlife Action Group (CWAG). Every Wednesday morning I help them out with their weekly bird surveys on behalf of the Box Moor Trust.

Anyway… I mentioned to fellow CWAGer Axel Kirby that my bogey bird* was the Water Rail Rallus aquaticus. I’ve heard its distinctive pig-like squeal many times but an actual sighting had so far proved elusive. ‘You should have been here five minutes ago’ or ‘we were knee deep in them yesterday’ a familiar refrain from somewhat smug birders. Axel then rubbed the salt in by showing me a photo on his camera of not one, but two, he’d photographed just a few days earlier at a Local Nature Reserve. Armed with his local knowledge the following Friday we arranged a visit to this charming four acre reserve managed by the Watercress Wildlife Association. Literally five minutes after our arrival I saw my very first Water Rail.

Smaller and slimmer than the Moorhen, the Water Rail is a highly secretive inhabitant of freshwater wetlands. It its easier to see in Winter when they become more numerous and widespread.

*A bird that although fairly widespread has required more time and effort than anticipated to see. Read more