The Standlake Birder

Caspian Tern   At Last? Persistently, or some might say more correctly, stupidly, I finally succeeded in getting the Caspian Tern and a life tick at Frampton on Tuesday at the third attempt.  The bird has been at Frampton Marshes RSPB in Lincolnshire on and off for the past couple of weeks but it has the habit of disappearing off somewhere for extended periods, sometimes for the whole day, presumably to feed. My past two visits have coincided with its longer absences.  So with more hope than expectation I set off from home at 05:30 on Tuesday morning and arrived at Frampton just after 08:00. I had a quick unsuccessful look for it from the visitor centre by the car park and then set off on the 10 minute walk to a viewing hump on the north side of the reed-bed lagoon.  There were a couple of birders already there and they pointed the bird out to me siting in a distant flock of Godwits fast asleep – on this occasion it was as easy as that! Caspian Terns are the lar

There can be little doubt about the star bird in the UK at present, Britain's second ever Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture which has taken up residence in the peak district, pulling in admirers from far and wide. It is a bird of mountainous regions and is one of Europe’s most endangered birds. At the beginning of this century there was a small residual population in the Pyrenees but they had disappeared from their other previous stronghold in the Alps. Dedicated individuals ran a longstanding reintroduction program in the Alps from 1986 to 2015 with over 200 birds released hence re-establishing a viable population. The largest remaining population world-wide is in Ethiopia where there are believed to be some 2,000 birds The origins of our visitor are unknown. It is unringed and hence wild born presumably from the original Pyrenees birds or the reintroduced Alps population. DNA analysis would probably tie this down but obtaining a specimen could be, to say the least, tri

Balearic Shearwater The Balearic Shearwater is a red listed critically endangered bird with a total remaining population of approximately 6,000 birds.  They breed in the Balearic Islands and winter out at sea but some enter the Atlantic in mid to late summer reaching the south coast of England.  In common with many Shearwaters they mainly nest in burrows and are hence very vulnerable to predation by man introduced rats and cats.  Tourist development in and around their nesting sites is also a major issue and they are rapidly being driven to extinction. It is sadly estimated that the population is decreasing by approximately 10%/year. At the current rate of decline they will be extinct in 40 years. Yet another example of how well we are looking after our planet for all its residents! In the past week of so small flocks of these birds have been reported along the south coast. I have never seen a Balearic shearwater and hence needed no further motivation to visit Portland Bill on