@PatchBirding - First two patch visits of the year

This is the report that I emailed into Patchwork Challenge Send us Some Content. It details my first two patch visits of 2013.

Morgan's Hill, North Wessex Downs - Nick Self
The morning of 3rd January 2013 dawned to reveal Morgan's Hill resplendent in the glory of murk, low cloud and light rain. It was not what I had been hoping for, but I was fairly certain that this was what I was going to get. Most winter days on the Downs are like this. Everyone knows that birding on the Downs during winter is hit and miss, however, I wasn't going to let a little light murk put pay to proceedings. Off I went to explore my favourite nooks and crannies, confident that I could turn up some good birds despite the weather.
This year I will be concentrating on the farmland bird '10 most wanted' (as I do every year); grey partridge; lapwing; tree sparrow; corn bunting; yellowhammer; linnet; turtle dove; yellow wagtail; skylark and reed bunting. To be honest I'm not worried about finding rare birds and I've never, ever, been twitching. I rarely go birding outside of Wiltshire and that's the way I like it. I guess I just love my home to much.
Anyways, on to the birds. I have also made a patch visit on 7th January and between the first two visits I totaled 41 species for 42 points. I am reasonably happy with this given the awful weather. The two point bird was a female merlin, which was pleasing. All the others were 'common' but included some that made me personally happy. I made the first 2013 sightings of tree sparrow, grey partridge, corn bunting, skylark, linnet and yellowhammer. The latter being quite numerous. I also struck a little piece of #patchgold, but before I name the species I would like to refer back to a previous post where someone said that they had seen golden eagle and hen harrier, but hadn't seen anything unusual and that they were going to look for an elusive blue tit. It just goes to show how different places have such different birds and the amazing diversity of our great country.
I expect that you are itching to know my #patchgold species? Ok, here goes........................little grebe.
And last year I spotted a cormorant. How amazing is that?

@WiltsWildlife - Give as you Live

Today I have signed up to Give as you Live. This site is a great idea; put simply, you spend money on the internet and a percentage is given to the charity of your choice. It's win-win for everybody; doesn't cost anything to use and your charity gets extra cash. The charity I have chosen is Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and my first donation should be going through shortly. I encourage everybody to give it a go, you only need to sign-up, then download a little app, everything else is done for you. Simple, great, and helps out the Trust.

@PatchBirding - Morgan's Hill - Wiltshire Chalk Downland

I have now completed the map of my patch and present it here in all its glory.

Morgan's Hill - Patchwork Challenge Map - Centred on SU0267 Wiltshire

I've been able to enlarge my usual route to include a small village, Calstone Wellington; a small lake, chalk stream and sewage treatment works; a couple of patches of woodland; a golf course; and of course more chalk downland.

This should enable me to up my count by a reasonable amount by including any water, woodland and village birds that I find in the northern section. There is also much more unimproved downland and arable land that is observable, up and down slope, from within the patch boundaries, which should enable me to get a few more sightings that I otherwise wouldn't. In this category will go most raptors, owls and the farmland wading birds. Plus hopefully a few rarities.

I'm all ready. Can't wait for 1st January now. Let's get this on!

@PatchBirding Morgan's Hill - Patchwork Challenge

Morgan's Hill is nationally important for the quality of its chalk grassland and the diversity of fauna and butterflies. However, Morgan's Hill (and the North Wessex Downs in general) is not widely appreciated for its avifauna. 

I intend to show that this is a misconception and that, in fact, the North Wessex Downs is a great place to go birding, and maybe (with a little luck) see something unusual. 

To this end, I have taken up the Patchwork Challenge. Essentially I will record all the birds that I see in an area of 3 OS grid squares roughly centred on Morgan's Hill Reserve (SU0267). A score will be given, based on each species rarity, and then a yearly total is established. Highest yearly total, of all competitors, is the winner.

Now, when you compare my area with some of the other entrants, you can see that there is a high chance of coming last. I'm not going to be seeing many water birds; I'm not going to be seeing many waders; I'm not going to be seeing many sea birds; in fact I may not see anything particularly 'rare' at all. What I will be seeing is mainly farmland birds and birds of open country.

All the birds on the Farmland Bird Index are present, including tree sparrow, corn bunting and turtle dove. Then there will be species such as tree pipit, raven, stonechat, ring ouzel, redstart and cuckoo that turn up at various times. Raptors are in abundance; peregrine, merlin, hobby, red kite have all been seen. Owls; short-eared, barn, tawny. Then you have the 'hit the jackpot' types such as great grey shrike and dotterel. I'll be breaking out the bubbly if I see any of them though.

Have a look at 11. Marlborough Downs for a little more in-depth look at the wider area. The link takes you to the Wiltshire Ornithological Society website, which is well worth perusing.

As usual I will be uploading all my records to BirdTrack and WSBRC .

So, there you have it. Check out the Patchwork Challenge blog, to see what I'm up against (gulp). I will shortly be providing a map of my patch area. This shows the area around the reserve, from which I will make my patch of roughly 3 grid squares.

@WiltsWildlife Morgan's Hill BTO Cuckoo in the Congo

In this, the first BTO cuckoo update in a while, we can see that Lloyd, the Welsh cuckoo that flew over Morgan's Hill back in the summer, is now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is the most southerly of the remaining cuckoo's being tracked, of which only a handful remain. Many have been lost along the way.

Check out Lloyd's progress here and see how he and the others are getting on. Bear in mind that updates are few and far between now that Lloyd has reached his over-wintering destination. This is because the satellite tracker only sends signals when there has been significant movement.

@WiltsWildlife - Information and contact

If you have any photos, wildlife sightings or queries regarding Morgan's Hill, please either send them to the Trust, or directly to me on nick.self@virgin.net. I am particularly interested in bird sightings from the grid reference SU0267 and the surrounding 1km buffer zone. Thank you.

Wildlife sightings can be reported here at the Wiltshire and Swindon Biological Records Centre.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust can be contacted directly here.

@WiltsWildlife - View of North Wiltshire from Morgan's Hill

The stunning view from the scarpe slope of Morgan's Hill, looking north over the Wiltshire countryside. Cherhill down and Lansdowne monument are at far right, Calne is out of view to the left. This photo was taken by Stephen Lord during September, from the old Roman road between Smallgrain picnic area and Morgan's Hill reserve.

@Wiltswildlife - Morgans Hill Nature Reserve

Morgan's Hill is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and a nature reserve owned by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It is predominantly a chalk grassland site, important for it's wildflowers, orchids and butterflies. There is also a rich range of bird-life present on the reserve and the adjacent farmland and grassland.

Download a copy of the reserve map here.  Or view an online Ordnance Survey map here.

Further details on the reserve and Trust can be found here. The reserve is managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and the reserve wardens are Tony Coultiss and Nick Self. I can be contacted about the reserve for any reason on the following email address: nick.self@virgin.net

EU Proposes massive cuts to UK's agri-environment schemes - Step up for Nature #RSPB

As a warden at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Morgan's Hill reserve, I see first hand the benefits to the countryside that are implemented and sustained by money from the UK's agri-environment schemes. It is a life-line, not only to farmland birds, but biodiversity as a whole.

Later this month we could very well see large cuts in this funding, if proposed EU plans are approved. Find out more information about the benefits of agri-environment schemes here, and more information about the proposed cuts and farmer's reactions here.

If you have a minute, please Step up for Nature, farmland birds and agri-environment schemes with the RSPB by emailing a letter to David Cameron here.

Thank you.

Lloyd - BTO Cuckoo Update

First post for a long old while. A lot of the BTO cuckoos have moved on and into Africa, but Lloyd is lagging behind, with a few others. He's currently going round in circles along the Mediterranean coast of Italy and France. He's probably building up his strength for the sea crossing. Check it out here.