Seychelles part 1

We'd always wanted to go to the Seychelles so started exploring possibilities lat year. We decided on Praslin Island as the hotel we stayed at, the Constance Lemuria, has a championship golf course and the island has a number of endemic species and its easy to access Cousin island (home to endangered Seychelles Fody, Black Robin and Warbler). The trip coincided with Jan's birthday and she took her clubs whilst  I tagged along driving the golf buggy with my camera ready to hand.

The resort is beautiful with fantastic beaches and sunsets. The hotel pride themselves on their environmental credentials and many parts of the grounds are part of a nature reserve. They even employ a 'Turtle Manager' as one of the beaches is used by nesting Hawksbill Tortoises and they're part of a captive breeding programme for Alhambra giant tortoises.

Judging by the noises coming from the tortoise enclosure the breeding programmes going well! 

All turtle nests are monitored and signs put up warning people to stay away. We were lucky enough to  see a turtle one morning but it didn't come ashore immediately but later that day we found where it had hauled out and lay its eggs.

Grand Anse Kerlan Beach where the turtles nest

Unfortunately the three commonest birds around the resort were introduced species - Madagascar Fody,  Barred Ground Dove (Zebra Dove) and Madagascan Turtle Dove. The native Seychelles Turtle Dove is now so interbred with the Madagascan species that there thought to be no genetically pure Seychelles Turtle Doves left in the wild.

Female Madagascan Fody

The male Madagascan Fodys are extremely photogenic whereas the females are much duller. We had two pairs nesting in front of the balcony to our room so I got into the habit of sitting out with a mug of tea most mornings enjoying the sights and sounds of the birds around me. On one occasion I even found a rare yellow morph Madagascan Fody.

Madagascan Turtle Dove

Barred Doves were probably the commonest species we saw and even landed on breakfast tables to steal crumbs.

Barred Ground Doves bathing during a short shower of rain

What really surprised me me were the number of waders that I'd normally associate with the northenr hemisphere either feeding on the golf course or on the muddy edges of the numerous water hazards around the course. Birds such as Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Common, Curlew and Wood Sandpiper's and Turnstone. 

Bar-tailed Godwit

Grey Plover

Greenshank

Curlew Sandpiper

The Curlew and Whimbrel were taking advantage of the numerous Land Crabs that made their home around the golf course - albeit the smaller ones! 

Several species of Heron also inhabited the grounds and it was slightly incongruous to see a juvenile Striated heron fishing on the edge of the hotels infinity pool.

We also saw a few adults fishing around the pools and a Black-crowned Night Heron as well as several Grey Herons.

Before we came away I'd checked eBird and found that Praslin was a good area for the endemic Seychelles Blue Pigeon. Unlike other pigeons, who pass viable seeds in their droppings, the Seychelles Blue Pigeon had a muscular gizzard which breaks down the seeds to aid digestion so no viable seeds are passed so they rely on other intervention where there aren't enough of their natural food plants growning. I also noted that this strange looking endemic pigeon had been seen at our resort. Once really rare and endangered as they were hunted for food and killed to protect crops the species is now relatively easy to find The Seychelles Blue Pigeon has a red wattled patch of orbital skin giving it a distinct look. They feed high up in the canopy and never feed on the ground so can be quite hard to see. I'd reserached the call before we went and ended up hearing birds before I actualy saw any. The first birds I saw were three that flew past high as we were having breakfast. A couple of days later we were lucky enough to come across two sat in a tree as we drove round the gold course.

Seychelles Bulbul was another endemic that was harder to see than heard. Gangs of them roamed the thick woodland around the resort but gave frustratingly brief views.

The spectacular 16th tee looking down over the forest to the 16th green with Anse Georgette to the left. Several balls were lost here! 

Typical Blue Pigeon and Bulbul habitat

Looking towards Cousin Island

At the highest point in the grounds of the hotel on the hunt for Blue Pigeons

The stunning Snse Georgette beach wehre White-tailed Tropicbirds circled overhead.

Two other endemics frequented the resort with the commonest being Seychelles Sunbird. Extremely active and quick and hard to photograph  I spent ages trying to get any half decent shots.

Seychelles Kestrel i another endangered species with approximately 800 left in the wild. Recent conservation efforts are reversing the trend though. It was once extinct on Praslin but was reintroduced in 1977 but is still extremely rare with the last census in 2022 revealed only 4 pairs. The smallest of the kestrel family it rarely hovers and hunts by dropping on its prey from a perch in a tree or on a rock.face. I'd seen one fly past whilst we were on the golf course but was hoping against hope to get a better view. Walking back down from the view point, where I'd been searching for Blue Pigeon, I decided to cut across the golf course and walk back down the track from the 17th hole, alongside the 18th and to the clubhouse. I'd seen lots of Seychelles Sunbirds here and was hoping for a better view. It was here I'd also seen the flypast Seychelles Kestrel.

My attention was drawn to what was obviously a raptor calling high up in the trees but I couldn't trace the source. Moving slightly I suddenly spotted a pair of Seychelles Kestrels partially obscured in the canopy. Eventually one bird moved into a position where I could rattle off a few record shots whilst the second bird disappeared into a hole in the tree. I couldn't believe my luck. I'd actually found a nest site for this mega rare falcon.

I marked the location and sent a photo and dropped pin to Robert, the Turtle Manager, who confirmed this was a very significant find. Not only for the hotel complex but for the island.

Stone Curlews, Nightjars and Woodlarks. More memories from my teenage years in Suffolk.

Harking back to again to my teenage years spent birding in Suffolk under the tutelage of good friends. In those mid seventies years species such as Stone Curlew, Nightjar and Woodlark were still relatively scarce breeding species in the UK. The Brecklands of Suffolk and Norfolk were the best place to see these birds. Nightjar and Stone Curlew were considered summer visitors whereas Woodlark could be found throughout the year but were easier to find when they were singing.  Even then the Woodlark population probably didn't exceed 50 pairs and their preference for clear felled areas of the coniferous forests planted in the Brecks, by the then Forestry Commission, meant it was a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack

The song of the Woodlark gives it its latin name of Lullula arborea with a sweet descending  'lu, lu,lu,lu...' A beautiful song and one that instantly takes me back to those early years in Suffolk. 

About the only place to see Woodlark in the UK at that time was in the Brecks. The same with Stone Curlew. East Anglia and the Brecks in particular were their UK stronghold and probably the best place was the Norfolk Wildlife Trusts reserve at Weeting Heath. 

If my memory serves me well it was the very hot summer of 1976 that I first went to Weeting heath and saw my first Stone Curlew in a terrible heat haze and sweltering heat. Touring the Brecks we walked miles in the blazing sunshine before eventually finding a singing Woodlark. 

Since then I've seen Woodlark and Stone Curlew numerous times and they're both on my Cheshire list courtesy of a Stone Curlew found by Mark Turner at Leasowe in April 2009 (see here) and three Woodlark i na stubble field near Congleton on the same day I twitched a Pied grebe at Hollingsworth Lake, Greater Manchester in Novmeber 2010! (see here)

Stone Curlew, Lleasowe 2009

At least it was cooler when I saw my first Nightjar. I remember getting bitten alive by midges waiting, as dusk fell, outside the perimeter fence of some M.O.D land listening intently for that first 'churr' follewed by birds in flight and wing clapping. Who'd have thought in those early days that Nightjar would expand their UK range so much and now breed only a few miles away from where we live in Cheshire. Indeed, back then , as a trainee bird ringer at Wicken Fen, I couldn't imagine I'd ever get to ring one. Something I was fortunate enough to do a couple of years ago.

Although Woodlark and Nightjar are currently doing well in the UK and have expanded their breeding range another Breckland speciality has been lost as a regular British breeding bird. The Brecks were the last stronghold of the Red-backed Shrike in the UK and their nesting sites were a closely guarded secret. I was lucky enough to see several pairs during my time birding in Suffolk and saw probably the last Breckland pair in 1988 when a pair bred in the car park of  the St Helens picnic site at Santon Downham Country park near Brandon. At that time my parents still lived nearby and I remember rocking my young daughter in her pram with one hand whilst holding my binoculars in the other watching the shrikes who'd nested in a large bush in the car park and protected by red and white tape! 

Female Red-backed Shrike at nest in Santon Downham copyright of http://santondownham.org/Archive/2016/redbackedshrike.html

Bird ringing at Wicken Fen

A recent obituary to Chris Thorne in the latest edition of the BTO's Lifecycle magazine evoked memories of my early ringing career as a trainee, and later C, permit ringer at Wicken Fen as part of the Wicken Fen Groupof which Chris was 'Ringer in charge'

My ringing career started in the winter 0f 1976/77when I was birding my usual local patch in Suffolk and found a birds leg with a metal ring attached. Sending off the details to the British Museum it came back as having been a Greenfinch ringed locally. It turned out the ringers lived in nearby Lavenham and I was able to contact them. Mike & Margaret Smith allowed me to join them in some of their ringing sessions in their garden and also in Lineage Woods where I'd found the ring.  I was soon enrolled as an official trainee and joined the Wicken Fen Group where they did most of their ringing. 

The ringing hut was a simple garden hut located in an area not open to the public known as Adventurers Fen. A routine developed where John & Margaret would pick me up on their way through to Wicken in their long wheelbase Landrover and we'd spend the day ringing. During the warmer lighter months early starts meant camping overnight and I'd get picked up after school on a Friday evening, with enough food for a couple of days,  and returned Saturday night. Sometimes we'd do a Swallow or Tree Sparrow roost on a Friday evening and I remember seeing my 1st ever Glow Worms outside my tent and the panic trying to  get an errant Shrew out of my sleeping bag! 

I loved it and was in my element. I remember getting my 1st Ringers Manual and reading it from cover to cover along with my red covered Svensson. I still have the Ringers Manual but the Svensson was given to a friend several years ago.

My original Ringers Manual partially revised in 1976

I can remember being asked the latin names of species I'd ringed and learnt many of them off by heart. My 1st ringing pliers were bought on my behalf by my trainers at the annual BTO conference. Even then some pliers were better than others and they tested several pairs before getting through pair of Lambourne ringing pliers I still own.  I also still use the original 120 mm wing rule and pesola balances (no digital balances then) and spent ages making my own ringing cones and trimming them to get an exact weight that could be deducted when using them to weigh birds. Unfortunately I mislaid my No. 2 ringing pliers years ago but wish I still had them as they're much better than the newer ones.

In those days nothing was computersied so ringing schedules had to be posted to the BTO. I had to note everything I'd ringed or processed and keep my own notes. I've still got my old records and some of the hand written scraps of paper noting what I'd ringed on a specific day. 

The ringing list makes interesting reading. Note the Turtle Dove on the 1st sheet above. They were still relatively common in the mid / late 70's and my records show I ringed a total of 4 between 1977 and when  I went to University in 1979! Yellowhammer and Nightingale are also on that list of birds ringed at Wicken Fen along with 10 Willow Tits.

My list shows I only ringed 1 House Sparrow and 1 Starling at Wicken Fen. In those days rings were free but you had to pay if you ringed 'common' species such as House Sparrow and Starling! People ask why we still ring common garden species such as Blue Tits and I point out that if we'd ringed the former two species back in the 70's, when population began to decline,  we would have picked this decline up much sooner and possibly been able to take action.  

As the names suggests Wcken Fen was predominantly fen with large phragmites beds but some areas of scrub. Reed and Sedge Warblers predominated in the summer months and these two species, along with another reed bed dweller, Reed Bunting, make up the three most common species I ringed after Blue Tit and Great Tit.

Bearded Tit was still a rare British breeding bird at this time but Wicken Fen used to get small numbers wintering and we used to make an effort to try and catch them using an old reel to reel tape player to play their call through speakers in the reed bed to attract them into the net. My old notes show I got to ring one! If my memory serves me correctly I think Wicken Fen also hosted two Dutch ringed 'beardies' which gave us a very strong clue as to where these wintering birds were coming from.

As well as ringing we used to carry out surveys and one particular favourite was the night time Owl surveys. We'd be positioned at different locations within the reserve and mark on a map any owls we heard 

One of my old owl survey sheets fro mWicken Fen

Great times and I got my C permit in 1979 and was then able to ring by myself in our local woods! I went to University in the autumn of 1979 but was lucky enough to be at Wicken in the spring when a Savi's Warbler set up territory.

A late autumn day on Hilbre

Fresh back from Shetland and with no immediate jobs that needed sorting at home I spent the day at Hilbre manning the Obs over the tide. Arriving in pouring rain I seriously began to regret my decision and even toyed with the idea of leaving before the high tide but decided to stick it out. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a beautiful Autumn day.

A quick round of the heligoland traps revealed there were a handful of Goldcrests on the island along with a couple of Robins and a ringed Chiffchaff presumably ringed the previous day by Steve). With the wind dying right down I put a mist net up in the Obs garden and between this and the heligoland traps managed to ring two new Goldcrests - a male and a female.

Male Goldcrest

Female Goldcrest.

A real surprise was a male Stonechat that appeared at  the north end of the island over the high tide and promptly disappeared down the east side where it probably relocated to Middle Eye.

A couple of Skylarks anded briefly on the island in the middle of the pond and a Snipe made an unexpected landing over the high tide on the Landrover track before relocating to the pond. With a few Chaffinches overhead, several Goldfinches on the island and a small passage of Meadow Pipits 'in off' as well it made for a lovely day.

Goldfinch

Wren

Robin

Wader numbers are slowly building up and good numbers of Redshank and Turnstone roosted on the old walls in Niffy Bay. Still no Purple Sandpipers yet though.

A seal that hauled put on the rocks below the SK heligoland had me questioning my identification later when I reviewed my photos on a larger screen. I was expecting Grey Seal but it was actually a Common Seal. Scarcer than the Greys on Hilbre and rarely seen around the island.

As the tide receded far enough for me to drive off I managed to photograph one of our colour ringed Rock Pipit, CCB,  which  we hadn't recorded since August this year. Two Little Egrets fishing in the channel were seemingly unfazed by the Landrover and allowed me to approach quite close.

From a less than promising start the day turned out to be quite good and it continues our coverage for the year.