The Barn Owl Project Ringing

Dawn 18th May

The Blue Tit and the Wolf

In January 2013 I was privileged to travel to Sweden to present 3 programmes for BBC Radio 4.  The week before my visit the temperature around Stockholm had been almost constantly -15 to -20 degrees centigrade, but when I arrived it was a mild -2.  The snow was deep everywhere, except the roads, pavements and runways which were kept efficiently clear so that life could carry on uninterrupted.  I was to record 2 full programmes for the Living World Series; one being about birds of the Taiga Forest and the other about tracking large carnivores, as well as a short piece for the Saving Species series.  The stories seemed very different, yet they would ultimately come together, highlighting the unexpected links between species and proving that nothing lives in isolation.

  

The producer for this trip was Mary Colwell, we started in the county of Vastmanland, which is roughly the same latitude as the top of Shetland.  I was in awe as our guide WWF Sweden's Tom Arnbom pointed to the south and said “there you can see the last Oak tree, now look north and this is the start of the Taiga forest”.  The Taiga (also known as the Boreal) Forest is a band of coniferous trees that circles the globe just beneath the largely treeless tundra of the far northern hemisphere. It runs through Canada and Alaska, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Japan, and makes up 29% of the world's forest cover; making it the world's largest land biome.  It was obvious that any wildlife surviving here all year round needed to be tough, and I was astonished by how many species were not only surviving but thriving in this forest.  

As we set out our wolf tracker guide informed us that we were in the heart of Swedish wolf territory, and that there were several packs in the area.  Grey Wolves have made a good recovery in Sweden after being shot out completely in the 1960’s, the first Wolves only returned in 1983, and there are now around 170-200.  A pack of Wolves in Sweden only contains family members; 2 adults and their pups, so not the extended family that most people are familiar with from North America.  With great excitement and help from our Swedish wolf tracker we found our first Wolf track.  With recent snow fall we had to uncover the footprint from just beneath the fresh Snow, and as we moved on our tracker, Pierre, a local ranger, informed us that we were following two wolves.  

Further on into the trees we found obvious signs of wolf territorial markings where both adults had been marking against trees in much the same way that that dogs do.  After a few miles it became noticeable that the tracks were becoming very much clearer, and there was no need to move fresh snow from the prints any more.  Pierre informed us that these tracks were only an hour or so old.  We measured the prints and they were 11cm long (I compared it to my Lurcher cross Doberman dog at home whose print is 7cm long!).  Amongst these very fresh wolf tracks we could now see other tracks.  A Mountain Hare appeared just in front of one of the wolves, and then Pierre pointed out that something else was following the wolves.  The tracks were familiar to me, it was a Fox.  Slightly further on we found a great disturbance in the snow, not a kill but perhaps a close shave.  It was obviously Wild Boar moving off the path at speed followed by an enormous 3-4 meter leap from one of the Wolf….and still the Fox was following.   Pierre explained that when the wolves make a kill (usually wild boar or moose) there will always be left overs, and this is why the fox was following them.  He explained that foxes aren’t the only animals that do this.  Wolverines and even Pine Martens are known to follow wolves too.  Throughout our time tracking the wolves we saw many different species of bird, including the Nutcracker and the magnificent Crested Tit.  One big surprise for me though was seeing lots of Blue Tits.  This bird is so familiar to us all, and is one we worry about during our cold spells in Britain, yet here it was in Sweden where the night temperatures can be as low as -25 to -30.  As I marvelled at the sight of these birds in such harsh conditions Tom Arnbom mentioned that they also follow the wolves.  He explained that once all the predators have had their fill great flocks of these small birds will descend upon the Wolf kill and strip clean any leftover meat and fat.  This is what gets them through those cold Swedish nights, which of course is no different to us at home putting out the fat balls.  This all just shows how delicate the balance of nature is, and how many species would be affected if the Wolf was removed from its environment. 

If you missed both The Living World programmes from Sweden, you can listen again to both Taiga Birds go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qkx9w and Wolf Tracker go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qsr8j  Both Programmes were produced by Mary Colwell and are a BBC Natural History radio production. Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Special thanks to WWF Sweden's Tom Arnbom.

Somerset Barn Owl Project. The farmer that gave up a field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t_tblrlQcY

Somerset Barn Owl Project. The farmer that gave up a field.

Somerset Barn Owl Project 200th

Uploaded videos (playlist)

The Living World - Wolves.mov

Exmoor Owl Box Project

http://www.youtube.com/user/strigidae001/featured

BBC Autumnwatch Webcams From WWT Slimbridge

Picture I took today on a very overcast day at WWT Slimbridge with BBC Autumnwatch webcams is of 2 Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) roosting. Did 2 interviews today hope you enjoyed them, the webcams are back live tomorrow (Mon) at 10:00 till 16:30, and I have 3 interviews on Monday. 1st at 12:00, 2nd at 14:00 and 3rd at 15:00 GMT. Even though it was very dark and overcast the pictures coming o...ut from the webcam were just brilliant the BBC team are working very hard getting the best of live action. You can watch the webcam from anywhere on Earth by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/uk/webcams/ Please do leave questions and comments on the BBC Aut-Watch webcam messageboard you never know I might read out your question or comment. Hope you are enjoying it so far. The webcam runs until Sunday 27th.

And I could not leave it there without the star of the show, so here is a profile picture of a Bewick Swan (Cygnus columbianus) taken from the Rushy Pen at Slimbridge. 

Green Hay process the final chapter now for the monitoring

Green Hay Part 3 Spreading with a dung spreader

Green Hay process to Shapwick Moor Part 2

Green Hay Process Hawk and Owl Trust NR Shapwick Moor PT1

This video marks the launch of the new Raptor project, which is a joint project between The Hawk and Owl Trust and The Mendip Hills AONB.  This project has its own Facebook page and website which are interlinked.  The main emphasis of this project apart from partnership working, is to raise the awareness for raptors within the AONB area, this is done by allowing people to participate in surveys, sending in sightings and most of all to let them take ownership of these special birds whether they live within, or close by, or work within the AONB.  Already its proving popular with many sightings coming in, and also lots of bookings on our night time Owl survey walks and daylight raptor walks.

Hawk and Owl Trust Yellow Rattle Collection for Shapwick Moor

Two Public Talks coming up

Two public talks coming up that are a part of on going projects in the Mendip Hills AONB area and with Exmoor National Park.

Date: Tuesday 15th March



Time: 7.30-9pm


Venue: Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin, Mendip Hills.


Cost: Free


Title: Barn Owl conservation on the Mendip Hills.


Speaker: Chris Sperring MBE


Booking: Required (through Chris Sperring) due to small venue



Date: Friday 18th March



Time: 7.30-9.30pm


Venue: Dulverton Town Hall


Cost: Free


Title: Owl Conservation on Exmoor


Speaker: Chris Sperring MBE


Booking: Not required

Hawk and Owl Trust Nature reserve Shapwick Moor (Water Vole)

BBC Radio 4 Saving Species Tuesday 11th Jan at 1100hrs GMT

Don't forget to tune into BBC Radio 4 Tuesday 11th Jan, at 1100hrsGMT to hear me talking about the great series of books from the early 1960s "Ladybird books".  This time producer Mary Colwell and myself are after Brown Rats and Tawny Owls.  I won't say anymore as not to spoil the programme. You can listen live or listen again at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x95h4 enjoy the programme, its been real fun being part of it.
BFN

Happy New Year to all. Portishead Celebrates The New Year .

Happy New Year to all my friends where ever you are on the Earth!  I hope everything you wish for and would like to do in 2011 comes true for you.  For me 2011 marks my 20th year working as Conservation Officer for the Hawk and Owl Trust.  It will be probably be the hardest year yet because of the austerity measures our U.K government is implementing. But then for everyone in wildlife conservation and the wider community its going to be very tuff indeed.  I will be working on Barn Owls and Tawny Owls through the latter stages of winter, hopefully some of these projects will be able to spill across into spring when the main nest checking season starts.
The media work will continue as well, with some possible interesting projects coming in mid to late 2011.
So once again happy new year to you all, and I will leave you with these pictures I took of the town of Portishead in North Somerset, England, celebrating the stroke of midnight that ended 2010 and brought in 2011.  BFN