Eco Hvar

April Bird Watch, 2016

Steve Jones from Dol continues his study of the island's birds. Anyone who is seeing or hearing anything of interest in the bird world is invited to contact him at: Ova e-mail adresa je zaštićena od spambota. Potrebno je omogućiti JavaScript da je vidite.

Wheatear Wheatear Photo: Steve Jones

April 8th 2016: As no doubt most have heard, the Nightingale is singing most of the time now.

I saw another new bird for me - Corn Bunting, once again picked up by its call, as one I wasn't familiar with. It has been in for a couple of weeks but I hadn't been close enough to see it.

Corn Bunting. Photo Steve Jones

Went up to Sv Nikola earlier in the week to see what was about, and very disappointing on the bird front. A solitary Kestrel, a Wheatear and a couple of Chaffinches singing but not seen.

Sveti Nikola, the island's highest point. Photo: Vivian Grisogono
10th April 2016: Just got back from a 90 minute wander ............... heard two Cuckoos - so another arrival - and one Hoopoe calling, although saw neither.
Cuckoo, April 28th 2016. Photo: Steve Jones

Also to be added is Linnet - I thought I had been seeing/hearing them for a while, but needed more confirmation, and I managed to get my telescope on one this morning.

14th April 2016: I have been going to appointments in Jelsa all week. I was a little bit early today and went for a stroll - thought I heard Bee-Eaters, wasn't 100% but am pretty confident so you want to keep your eyes peeled. Heard a Cuckoo in Dol yesterday .... still not seen a Swift which is a surprise to me, I suspect they might be making appearances in the UK anytime now.

15th April 2016:  Just came back from Jelsa and had a definite sighting of Bee-Eaters so my hearing was good yesterday.

Bee-eaters. Photo: Steve Jones

Eco Hvar comment: I also saw the bee-eaters in a little flock above one of Jelsa's back roads a couple of days ago. They seem to have arrived right on cue, to judge by past years. Many are having to find new homes, as a large nesting place just opposite the Bagi petrol station on the main road was dug up a couple of years ago, exposing their warren of nesting holes as pitiful relics of the past.

Bee-eaters nesting holes exposed to predators and the elements, April 2015. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Bee-eaters' nesting holes ruthlessly exposed to predators and the elements, April 2015. Photo: Vivian Grisogono 

21st April 2016: As I barely visit a town for any period of time I am still not hearing/seeing any Swifts. Are they in in Jelsa now? I was in Split yesterday and they are everywhere, I thought I heard one in Stari Grad this morning, maybe they are just arriving. Interesting, as they would only be arriving just about now in UK, For some reason I assumed things would be earlier here.

Eco Hvar comment: Yes, the swifts have arrived in Jelsa, and just today they were extremely busy renovating their nesting places under the eaves of the buildings on the main square. A diligent and co-operative crowd!

Swifts preparing their nests on Jelsa's square, 21st April 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

22nd April 2016. Picked up the Nightjar "churring" last night so another recent arrival.

23rd April 2016. Another long awaited  .................. Vuga/Golden Oriole I hear calling this morning and it certainly wasn't yesterday.

Sunday 24th April.2016: Went out for 90 mins or so early this morning, wondering if the low cloud, mist and rain would have any influence on things. It was very quiet, even the singing had gone quiet apart from the dawn chorus - who can blame them?

Keep hearing Cuckoo, but long distances away and not lucky enough to have seen one here. I still wonder what their host bird would be if they breed.

Anyway, as I was driving along the airport road I chanced upon a Woodchat Shrike, all over in a few seconds. I had seen one here on Hvar a couple of years ago on holiday albeit elsewhere on the island.

Woodchat shrike (c.2013). Photo: Steve Jones

Also saw a good number of Swifts in Stari Grad - so interestingly it wouldn’t be much different to UK arrivals.

Eco Hvar: Saturday and Sunday, 23rd and 24th April 2016 have been very rainy, with some thunder and a lot of low-lying clouds. The birds seem to lie low during the heaviest rains, and then emerge in full song as soon as calm is restored. It's quite a contrast to the previous period of hot sunny weather, but welcome refreshment for gardens and fields - also for dust-covered cars.

Rain clouds hanging heavy over Pitve Church. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

© Steve Jones 2016

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

Srodni sadržaj (po oznakama)

na vrh članka
Nalazite se ovdje: Home Okoliš Novosti iz prirode April Bird Watch, 2016

Novosti: Ekologija.hr

  • Angry Labour MPs urge leadership not to overrule energy secretary on Rosebank

    Exclusive: Backbenchers voice alarm over ‘intolerable position’ faced by Miatta Fahnbulleh over oilfield decision

    Furious Labour MPs have been lobbying the prime minister and chancellor not to overrule the energy secretary should she decide to block the Rosebank oilfield.

    MPs say they are alarmed at the cabinet splits that have emerged over the issue after sources told the Guardian that Miatta Fahnbulleh was minded to refuse environmental permission for the field.

    Continue reading...

  • Queen of Spain butterfly invades Britain – but will it become native?

    This year thousands of the golden-coloured butterfly have arrived in Britain in what one expert calls ‘a bold attempt at colonisation’

    The Queen of Spain has invaded. The enigmatic British visits of this gorgeous golden-coloured butterfly with distinctively shaped, squared-off hindwings have been recorded by lepidopterists for four centuries. Usually there are barely a handful of sightings each summer of a butterfly that is widespread across continental Europe.

    This year, thousands have flown in, some from France and Spain that have reached the south coast, and others from the Netherlands, which have fluttered into East Anglia.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A new chapter for the farm – we’re going organic | Andrea Meanwell

    Tebay, Cumbria: Historically it’s been a tricky thing for hill farms to do, but we’ve always run ours on organic principles, and now we’re fully converting

    From 1 November we have change happening on our farm. We have decided to become an organic farm and have started the two-year conversion process with the Soil Association. We’ve always run the farm on organic principles, but now, with our small shop selling our beef, lamb and pork, we’ve decided that we will convert, prioritising soil health and biodiversity without the use of chemicals.

    It has historically been tricky for hill farms to go organic because many are on commons with shared grazing and no physical boundaries between “hefts”, and with shared routes to and from the fell. Now the certifiers are keen to be flexible and adapt, so we have decided to give it a go. The process is funded by the government’s sustainable farming incentive scheme, which we were lucky to get into this year as so many farmers missed out.

    Continue reading...

  • Rosebank oilfield would not breach UK emission targets, say government insiders

    Emissions from exported oil would not count against carbon budget, insiders say – reasoning likely to draw dismay from climate campaigners

    The giant Rosebank oilfield can be approved without breaching the UK’s emission targets, according to government insiders, in a boost to those in the cabinet who are pushing for it to be given the go-ahead.

    The Guardian revealed last week that Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, was leaning towards rejecting the project, but her position has put her at loggerheads with cabinet colleagues, including the chancellor, John Healey, who are lobbying for an approval.

    Continue reading...

  • How rising seas transformed dry land into Venice lagoon

    Scientists uncover ancient hills and swamps that disappeared as sea levels rose across northern Adriatic

    Venice is famed for being a floating city, but research shows the land it sits on once lay many miles inland. Dramatic changes in sea level over 10,000 years have reshaped the northern Adriatic coastline, with much of the land that our ancestors roamed now lying beneath the waves.

    Samuele Ongaro, at the University of Southampton, and colleagues combined seismic data with sedimentary cores from the coastal basins of northern Italy, Slovenia and northern Croatia to model changes in sea level across the region and reconstruct past landscapes over the past 10,000 years.

    Continue reading...

  • The climate crisis will destroy our economies – we learned this 20 years ago. When will we act? | Fiona Harvey

    The radical Stern report showed that a low-carbon future is also good economics. But it seems that capitalism needs a reminder

    Saving the only planet we have makes good economic sense. There is, after all, no money to be made on a dead Earth. There may be costs involved now, but they are worth paying to protect our children from certain destruction.

    These propositions seem self-evident now. But two decades ago, mainstream economists had very different ideas. They had proved that the climate crisis would be a mere economic blip, easily absorbed by growing economies and therefore not worth spending money on. In their accounting, they considered ice caps and glaciers functionally worthless, that trees only add to GDP when they are cut down, and that a livable climate shouldn’t even merit a line on a spreadsheet.

    Fiona Harvey is an environment editor at the Guardian

    Continue reading...

  • Slovenia mourns loss of glacier on its highest peak after scorching summer

    Extreme heat accelerated disappearance of Triglav glacier from mountain revered as a symbol of Slovenian identity

    The final ice patch has vanished from Slovenia’s Triglav glacier, the latest Alpine casualty of Europe’s scorching summer.

    The once mighty ice mass lost 93% of its surface area between 1983 and 2003, shrinking to cover less than a hectare of overheated rock, but went on to surprise researchers who feared its imminent demise, clinging on to the mountain for two more decades.

    Continue reading...

  • When the weather is frightful, you don’t need to be: everything we love to stay cozy during cold months

    Here are some of our writers’ best ways to stay toasty and occupied, even during cold weather, from teas to pajamas

    When the weather starts to take a turn for the brisk, the impulse to stay inside and hibernate is nothing new – but there are ways to optimize your time spent inside for maximum coziness and pleasure.

    From a limited-edition candle to a plush, furry comforter that does double duty, here are some of the ways our writers stay toasty even when the weather outside turns frightful.

    Continue reading...

  • Snail ate your mail? Why gastropods munch paper – and how to stop them

    In wet weather, garden snails can seek shelter in letterboxes – and find a feast there waiting for them

    We’ve all heard of snail mail – a term popularised since the advent of electronic mail – but who knew that snails eat mail?

    We have it on good authority from the ecologist Simon Mustoe – who said snails ate his letter from Sir David Attenborough – a BBC report announcing the closure of a Northumberland Royal Mail postbox because of snails “munching the mail”, and desperate people on the forums of the Australian hardware chain Bunnings claiming snails have “a real appetite for postal letters” and can “eat a whole letter in two days”.

    Continue reading...

  • I struggled to come to terms with my mum’s death. Then I swam in the sea and suddenly felt connected to her

    My mother was a keen swimmer, and she lived with depression. I wonder if she found the same respite in the water that has helped heal me since she passed away

    It was early morning in late September, off the coast of Kaş in Turkey. Watching the slightly choppy sea from a boat, the last thing I felt like doing was embarking on another 5km (3-mile) swim. Mind fog had sapped my energy, and my mood was decidedly Eeyore-like. But as I pulled on my cap and flippers, adjusted my goggles and took the plunge, something shifted.

    Head in the water, the knotted feeling in my throat began to loosen. Breathing came properly. There was respite.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. Sva prava zadržana. Developed by Orion Informatika.