Bird Watch early January 2016

Steve from Dol reports:

Blue tit. Photo Steve Jones Blue tit. Photo Steve Jones

I have been out bird watching a couple of times but a little disappointing. Made the mistake of going out on the 6th January.

Hunters everywhere and not a bird in sight. Came over on the back road from Vrbanj to Jelsa yesterday as the land promises much but once again very quiet. I managed to get two poor pictures of the Hooded Crow, both these and Buzzards are very flighty. Even photographing from the car they take flight at the slightest movement.

My Blackbirds which I thought were nest building due to all their activity are not. I noticed yesterday morning that 4 males were all eating the berries on the ivy on a ruined building next door.  My garden list for 2016 stands at 7 species which have touched down, my garden in the UK would generally hit 15 species by January looking back at the last 2 years, I am putting this down to just natural food sources. I keep looking for Brambling here amongst the Chaffinch but it's just wishful thinking it seems.

Steve Jones, Dol 9th January 2016

Crows on posts. Photo Steve Jones

Comment from Eco Hvar

Sundays and Wednesdays are hunting days during part of the winter - roughly October 15th to January 15th, although the dates may be subject to change each year. Officially hunting should stop at 2pm, maybe 3pm (it seems to vary according to who you ask), but the hunters sometimes stay out longer, at least round here. Very tedious, as I have to go down to my field to feed the dogs in the afternoon, and it's a bit scary. I don't think I look like a rabbit or pheasant, but I'm wary in case they shoot on sound rather than sight, especially if they've had a few rounds of wine with their lunch!

Dol: roadside herbicide. 6th January 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

Your garden birds may be suffering rather than simply dining elsewhere. I was in Dol on Wednesday, dining at the (extremely fine) Stančić restaurant, and saw that just outside their property someone has sprayed Cidokor (Roundup) liberally over some fields of vines and olives, also over a bit of land on the edge of the woodland abutting the road. Presumably the last bit was to use up what was left in the spray canister. Any birds around during the spraying would have been poisoned at least to some degree, their habitats and ground feeding possibilities eliminated.

Herbicide in Dol, 6th January 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

Sadly, the spraying has started early this year, possibly because of the fine weather up to New Year. We (Eco Hvar) are organizing a seminar in February about organic agriculture, with the aim of pointing up the hazards and detriments of pesticides, and the alternative ways of controlling unwanted plants and insects which are more environmentally friendly. The message will take a long time to percolate through.

VG 9th January 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

You are here: Home Nature Watch Bird Watch early January 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • The 1,274-hectare Bradford Pennine Gateway links eight nature sites and includes landscape that inspired sisters

    The sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Brontë sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England’s biggest nature reserves.

    A huge new national nature reserve, to be called the Bradford Pennine Gateway, is being announced by the government on Tuesday. It will give Bradford, one of Britain’s largest and most nature-deprived cities, easier and more protected access to green space

    Continue reading...

  • It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my life

    There was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.

    It broke my heart. From that moment on, I became obsessed with seals and protecting them from the dangers of plastic flying rings.

    Continue reading...

  • Bioplastics, heralded for supposedly breaking down more quickly, can cause similar health problems to other plastics

    Starch-based bioplastic that is said to be biodegradable and sustainable is potentially as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, and can cause similar health problems, new peer-reviewed research finds.

    Bioplastics have been heralded as the future of plastic because they break down quicker than petroleum-based plastic, and they are often made from plant-based material such as corn starch, rice starch or sugar.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Andrew Bowie says Kemi Badenoch could pull UK out of Paris climate agreement

    The Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.

    Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not based on science”.

    Continue reading...

  • Hitchin, Hertfordshire: We have a local speciality here, the rue-leaved saxifrage, poking up in street cracks and wall crannies. It’s worth lying on the pavement for

    I’m a proud member of Happy (the Hitchin association of pavement plant yokels), so-called by my friend Phil, a fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll find us roaming the town centre, scanning brick walls and peering into paving crevices on the hunt for the tenacious species that thrive in these oft-overlooked habitats. I had my pavement epiphany a couple of years ago outside the chemist on Hitchin high street when I saw a little lass bending down, scrutinising the paving stones. Her dad soon whisked her away and I went over to look. She’d noticed a community of self-seeded plants growing in a semicircular crack. The diversity of the miniature garden astonished me: mosses, meadow grass, goosegrass, common whitlowgrass, sow thistle, fleabane, and there, among the annual plants and perennial cigarette butts, a seedling with trilobed leaves – a Hitchin speciality – rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites).

    Now it’s early May and this three-fingered rock-breaker’s tiny white flowers have opened in the sun, the foliage blushing redder the drier and sunnier its location. Looking closely, you can see sticky hairs lining the fleshy leaves and stems – but be prepared for funny looks if you lie prostrate on the pavement to examine this low-growing annual.

    Continue reading...

  • Sustainable farming initiative is part of payment package that replaced EU’s common agricultural policy

    Ministers wrongly refused nature funding to 3,000 farmers in England when they shut the post-Brexit subsidy scheme, the government has admitted.

    There was anger earlier this year when the environment secretary, Steve Reed, suddenly paused a key post-Brexit farming payments scheme with little information about what would replace it and when.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Campaigners call for energy profits levy to be made permanent to enable ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels

    Making permanent the UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas producers would generate enough cash to enable North Sea workers to move to green jobs, research has found.

    Cutting current subsidies to fossil fuel producers would free up yet more funds to spend on the shift to a low-carbon economy, according to the report.

    Continue reading...

  • ABC’s The Kimberley showcases rare footage by a crew working alongside Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists

    The Kimberley’s winding ochre gorges, coral sunsets and celadon crocodile-filled rivers feature in a new ABC documentary series about one of Earth’s last great tropical wetlands.

    Filmed on cinema-grade cameras in the remote and vast north-west Australian region, The Kimberleycaptures an intimate portrait of its ancient landscape and offers ecological and cultural insight across three episodes.

    Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

    Continue reading...

  • Under pressure from Reform and from the former PM, Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policy

    Populist politicians are striking a chord with the public in their attack on “the green agenda” because they are right – climate policies are elitist. So says the man standing to be the next leader of the Green party in England and Wales.

    “We should all be angry about net zero,” argues Zack Polanski, currently the Greens’ deputy leader. “The poorest people in our society are being expected to step up to tackle the climate crisis. But it’s the government’s fault, not the people’s fault.”

    Continue reading...

  • On the remote Channel Islands, a draw for researchers and divers, preservation has transformed the ecosystem

    Just 14 miles (23km) off the southern California coast lies a vast underwater paradise.

    Giant sea bass the size of grizzly bears and schools of sardines glide together through swirling strands of golden kelp, whose long stalks preside over a world exploding with life and color. Playful harbor seals dance into the depths of undulating pink, green and orange plants, alongside spiny crustaceans and vibrant sea stars that embrace the volcanic rock that slopes to the sandy seafloor.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds