1
RSPB HITCHIN AND LETCHWORTH LOCAL
GROUP NEWSLETTER
Editor: Martin Johnson October 2012: No 11
Committee
Group Leader
Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Indoor Meetings
Publicity/Raffle
Campaigns
Member
Member
Member
Member
Martin Johnson
Malcolm Ingram
Penny Chatfield
Laura McLellan and Kevin
Taylor
Janet Southwood
Colin Hawkins
John Byrne
Jean Crystal
Jill Shayler
Gary Taylor
Group Leader Welcome
Welcome to another newsletter. This issue is our first
for almost a year: I would like it to appear more
regularly than that, but we do have our problems…..
see the editorial. I hope that you enjoy the mixture of
news, travel and natural history features and images
contained in this publication, which is circulated not
just to our members but also to other Local Groups in
our region.
newsletter is becoming the straw that breaks this
particular camel’s back! I am therefore looking for
somebody to take over from me as newsletter editor.
Word processing and networking skills, internet
access and a decent command of the English language
are the main requirements: you don’t necessarily have
to be on the committee. If you are interested in taking
on this role please let me know; if I don’t find a
replacement it could be a very long time before the
next newsletter appears!
Finally an apology to Colin Hawkins who, contrary to
what I wrote in the last newsletter, is not a paid RSPB
employee, although he puts in many hours of his time
each week as an unpaid volunteer!
Editorial
Well, we’ve eventually got another newsletter out!
Lots of pleading has resulted in a fine selection of
travel features. Close to home, Helen Lumley tells us
about her stay on Ramsey Island as an RSPB
volunteer, whilst further afield Val Thompson was
lucky enough to view the Northern Lights and some
spectacular birds in Iceland and Juliette Hatt takes us
on an intriguing journey into deepest Madagascar. My
photographic encounters with some of New Zealand’s
many endemic birds are also mentioned: we do get
about, don’t we! Many thanks are due to all the
contributors. Waiting for articles is one reason for the
delay in publishing: the other is lack of time due to all
my other RSPB responsibilities (Group Leader,
chairman, outdoor meetings, trip leading, web site
etc. etc.). I do have other commitments (a
photography degree course for one), so editing the
Snipe, Titchfield Haven NNR, March 2012 (MJ)
News
We are delighted to welcome two new members onto
the committee: Laura McLellan and Kevin Taylor are
going to “job share” as they take over from Gary
Taylor as indoor meetings secretary. Their first job will
be to organize next season’s (2013-14) programme;
thanks are due to Gary for organizing and running
several excellent programmes of talks, including the
one for this season (2012-13). Meanwhile, Gary will
be taking over the organization of our spring walks
outdoor meetings.
2
Last season our membership rose to 111 (including
one junior member), the highest figure for many
years. We hope that those of you who are new or
relatively new members will continue to enjoy your
membership for many years to come; we believe that
the annual subscription of £10.00 offers excellent
value for money!
hope that you will come along to both enjoy the talk
and participate in our 40th birthday celebrations!
Fundraising
100 Club
By the end of the year our “100 Club” will have raised
over £1650 for the RSPB. We hope that you will
continue to support the club and hopefully be a
winner in 2013!
Collections
For a variety of reasons we are having difficulty
organising collections in supermarkets, etc. at the
moment. However, this still remains a potentially
lucrative method for raising money: as soon as we get
any positive news we will let you know at our indoor
meetings.
Tea Towels
Spotted Redshank, RSPB Titchwell, March 2012 (MJ)
We ran stalls in spring 2012 at both the Letchworth
Food and Garden festival (May) and the Letchworth
Festival (June). Although the stalls were intended
mainly to publicise the Local Group’s activities we
managed to make a small profit through the sale of
plants, etc. Many thanks are due to those who helped
with the running of the stalls.
We established a new record on our visit to
Lakenheath Fen this August. No, we didn’t see a
record number of birds but Ethel Westoby became, at
the tender age of 91, the oldest person to go on one
of our trips! Ethel was a founder member of the Local
Group 40 years ago (see below) and has been an
active supporter ever since. We owe her an enormous
debt of gratitude, and look forward to her sharing in
our 50th birthday celebrations!
In 2012 the Local Group celebrates its 40th
anniversary. We believe that we are one of the oldest
RSPB Local Groups in existence. No special activities
are planned, but the event will be marked by the talk
given by David Lindo (“The Urban Birder”) on 7
December. As part of this celebration we are
encouraging members to bring along cakes to the
meeting, so we can have a good old “nosh-up” at the
interval! Cakes can be home-cooked or bought; we
Penny still has some tea towels, featuring her own
“Local Group” design. These are on sale at £4.00 each
at all our indoor meetings and would, for example,
make excellent Christmas presents.
Raffle
Janet is always on the lookout for raffle prizes; if you
have any suitable candidates (perhaps an unwanted
present from a distant relative) please get in touch
with her.
Heath Fritillary, RSPB Blean Woods, June 2012
Second-hand Books
3
We recommend a minimum donation of 50p for each
book taken. If you have what you believe to be a really
good book that you wish to donate, have a chat
beforehand with myself or another committee
member and we can keep it separate and establish a
minimum fee for this item.
Talks
the birds and wildlife of our towns and cities and
“brown field” sites. He is an excellent speaker,
although sadly this may be his last talk as he is forced
to concentrate more on his other activities. Add in the
fact that his visit coincides with our 40th anniversary
celebration (see above) and this is one talk definitely
not to be missed!
I am always adding new titles to the list of talks that I
am prepared to give to local clubs and societies. The
latest is of a wildlife and general interest tour of New
Zealand’s North Island. The fee is £35: all money goes,
via the Local Group, to the RSPB. If you know of any
local societies that are in need of a speaker please let
me know!
At the AGM we agreed to donate £1200 of the funds
raised (up from £900 last year) to the RSPB to support
woodland habitat, whilst the “100 Club” money
(£230) was allocated to the “International” priority for
Local Group funding. Hopefully we can raise even
more money for the RSPB during the current year!
Indoor Meetings
Once again and for the final time, Gary has produced
a cracking programme of speakers for this season’s
indoor meetings. It is somewhat unfair for me to pick
out highlights, but I feel that I must mention two.
Goldfinch, RSPB Titchwell, March 2012
On 7 December 2012 we are fortunate to have David
Lindo as our speaker. David has become very wellknown over the last few years, both for his television
appearances and for his columns as “The Urban
Birder” in publications such as RSPB “Birds” magazine
and “Bird Watching” magazine. David concentrates on
Goosander Family, Tittesworth, May 2012
On 1 March 2013 Chris Gooddie visits us to talk about
his adventures whilst trying to see every one of the
world’s 32 species of Pitta in a single year. Chris is a
(the?) leading expert on this family of attractive, rain
forest ground-dwelling birds: his talk promises to
provide great entertainment.
Outdoor Meetings
By the time that you read this newsletter our season
of events will be well under way. As usual, we have
arranged nine coach trips to reserves far and near and
we are pleased to be sharing three of these visits with
RSPB Stevenage Local Group. We try to choose a wide
mixture of habitats for these visits and, although birds
are the dominant focus of our attention during the
winter months, we try to fit in at least one site that
will be of interest to the general naturalist during the
spring and early summer. This season, on 17 February
2013, we are going to visit the Slimbridge Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust reserve for the first time in over
20 years! We will be travelling a long way, but we
think that this will be well worthwhile! Other, more
familiar venues for us include the RSPB Dungeness,
Frampton Marsh and Minsmere reserves as well as
Rye Harbour on the Sussex coast. For full details of
our indoor and outdoor meetings see the 2012-13
programme and/or visit our Local Group web site at
www.rspb.org.uk/groups/hitchinandletchworth.
4
Last season’s programme produced many highlights,
both in the form of rare birds or just common birds
and other animals, seen well and producing
interesting behaviour. My thanks to Val Fullforth for
providing the following article, which relates to an
incident on our final (June 2012) coach trip of last
season. Here’s to seeing more great wildlife in the
current season!
A Surprise Stowaway
(By Val Fullforth)
After an enjoyable day at the Stodmarsh Reserve,
near Canterbury, we stopped off at RSPB Blean Woods
in the hope of seeing heath fritillary butterflies. We
were not disappointed. After a short walk we came to
a woodland area of coppiced mature sweet chestnut
trees, which had healthily regrown. Amongst these,
patches of Cow-wheat (the food plant for the heath
fritillary) had become established. We virtually
stopped in our tracks on seeing two or three
butterflies among the Cow-wheat and grasses and on
progressing along the path through the coppiced area,
we counted some 30 specimens. None of the
butterflies seemed worried by a number of
photographers getting close-ups [see image on second
page – Ed.] and most posed whilst some great photos
were taken.
A green woodpecker was seen in this same woodland
area, where a number of huge wood ant hills were
noted which I am sure gave the woodpeckers a readymade larder.
Female Azure Damselfly (MJ)
We returned to the coach and settled down for the
journey home, only to have more excitement when a
damselfly was seen flying around the fan-light of the
coach roof, above the leader's head. The cameras
came out again and the driver patiently went slowly
whilst the photography was in session. Concerned
that this fragile creature would not survive the
journey to our next stop at Thurrock, a lunch box was
produced and our stowaway was caught. After close
inspection and interrogation, it was identified as a
female azure damselfly. So, after the usual afternoon
doze, we arrived at Thurrock and picked some
greenery to make our extra passenger more at ease in
her confined box, to the point that she started
ovipositing. On reaching Hitchin, a new home was
found in the plants and reeds surrounding my pond,
so this story ends quite happily.
Some Unusual Local Bird Sightings
(By Martin Johnson)
Great Grey Shrike in Flight, Royston, Feb. 2012 (MJ)
Winter 2011-12 brought large numbers of raptors,
particularly short-eared owls and hen harriers, into
the UK and our region did not miss out.
Up to a dozen short-eared owls patrolled the spur of
the Chilterns between Baldock and Barkway, with at
least four in the Royston area. The influx followed an
exceptional breeding season for these magnificent
day-flying birds, which in turn was occasioned by a
boom in the lemming population in their Scandinavian
heartland. These boom years only happen
occasionally, so it is advisable for bird-watchers to
make the most of their opportunities. Sadly, two of
the Royston birds died during the winter; perhaps
these were young birds, inexperienced at hunting,
which perished during January’s very windy weather
(short-eared owls find it very difficult to hunt during
5
windy weather, relying heavily on hearing to detect
prey). Let’s hope that the remaining birds made it
back to their breeding grounds in the summer.
At least three hen harriers were also in the Royston
area during the winter. These were all “ringtails”
(females or juveniles): indeed, none of my many
sightings of this species in the local area have been of
the beautiful, silvery adult males. Unlike short-eared
owls, hen harriers have a cosmopolitan diet which
includes many bird species. I suspect that they found
the local partridges (both red-legged and grey) very
much to their liking!
The best sighting, however, was of a great grey shrike,
the first to winter in our area for many years. Initially
discovered near Therfield in the autumn, the bird
disappeared for a few weeks, only to be re-discovered
in December just off Therfield Heath, less than a mile
from my home. Although the bird was very mobile it
stayed in the area until early April 2012, doubtless
picking off a few members of the local linnet flock
which numbered up to 750.
The first week in June has arrived and it is time to
head off for my fifth time as a Residential Volunteer
on Ramsey Island. This is a wild and beautiful island
just off the Pembrokeshire coast near St David’s.
Ramsey has high sea cliffs, large seabird colonies and
the largest grey seal colony in Wales. There are also
stunning views across Ramsey Sound to the mainland.
One essential planning detail is to take enough food
for the week, plus a bit extra, in case the winds are
high and the boats can’t run so we can’t get back
when planned. Then the food, plus all other luggage,
has to be carried down lots of steep steps to the little
harbour – one good reason to only take essential
items!
These birds attracted good numbers of bird-watchers
and “twitchers”, including Lee Evans, to the Royston
area, who in turn reported sightings of other rare
birds including merlin and lesser spotted woodpecker.
In addition to the linnets a flock of up to 150 corn
buntings toured the area. However, unlike in the
previous winter not a single waxwing was seen!
Juvenile Peregrine on Ramsey (Lisa Morgan)
A week as a Residential Volunteer on Ramsey Island
RSPB reserve
(By Helen Lumley)
The accommodation (HL)
On arrival at Ramsey, Greg and Lisa Morgan (the
warden and assistant warden) plus their dog, Dewi,
are there to greet me and the other 3 volunteers for
the week. We stay in a small hunting lodge which is in
the lee of the second highest peak on the island. For
the remainder of the arrival day we are free to walk
around the island, enjoy the sights and spot chough,
peregrine, guillemot and razorbill, to name but a few
of the species here. Bluebells and foxgloves are still in
flower, red deer and Welsh ponies, along with lots of
sheep, graze the island and the views from the cliff
top paths are stunning.
Jobs for the week are varied. The main work is helping
with visitors: meeting boats in the little harbour,
serving teas and coffees in the small shop and
chatting to visitors. Even cleaning the compost toilets
6
is more fun than it sounds due to the nesting swallows
in the toilet building. There are lots of bird-related
jobs. A chough count is done once a week and I get
the job of surveying the southern part of the island,
walking the perimeter path and looking for any
choughs flying, feeding or beak wiping. The sun is
shining, the sea is shimmering and everything looks
beautiful. I even spot a few choughs.
Chough (Ed M Hoffman)
For the first couple of days we are lucky and have
glorious weather. The sun brings lots of visitors so it is
‘all hands on deck’ greeting the boats, making lots of
teas and working with my fellow volunteers. Visitors
are in luck as one of the peregrine pairs has nested in
a spot on the cliff where a telescope can get great
views, so one of our jobs is to man the ‘scope and
show this to visitors. Seeing the adults coming in with
prey (including a wheatear and an oystercatcher) and
feeding their three chicks is amazing. Ramsey has a
good population of wheatears (the many stone walls
provide good nesting habitat) and family groups are
everywhere: fluffy chicks hopping about being fed by
their parents.
The other big bird attraction for me is the Manx
shearwaters that nest in old rabbit burrows around
the island, including near the lodge where we sleep.
The experience of lying in bed and hearing the weird
yelping cries of the shearwaters coming in at night
and circling round the building is something that I will
never forget. They come in at night to avoid being
picked off by the predatory black-backed gulls. One
job is to help with shearwater surveys. This involves
playing a tape of the male’s call to the mouth of rabbit
burrows: if a male is nesting and in residence, it will
often reply with its call. Hearing that strange call
coming back from what seems like the bowels of the
earth is a real thrill.
Absolutely the best job of the week for me is to do a
one hour chough nest watch, which involves
scrambling along the edge of the cliff to a small rocky
promontory just above the nest site on the south
coast. I sit amongst wild flowers, the sun shines and
the sea crashes on the many small offshore rocky
islands. I watch seals swimming past below me and
monitor the choughs flying back and forth to their
nest, calling and soaring, and feeding on grassy areas
nearby.
Unfortunately the weather deteriorates rapidly for
the rest of the week. Torrential rain and high winds
mean no visitors. We have to be careful not to get
blown off the cliff by the gusts of wind. We do
manage to check on the buzzard nest one evening: by
holding onto a wall we can peer over the cliff and
directly into the nest. We are relieved to see that the
adults (an experienced pair) have built a cosy blanket
of rabbit carcasses round the edge of the nest, and
the two fluffy chicks are nice and snug and protected
from the wind. They also have dinner on hand.
It is such a joy to spend time on Ramsey, away from
the hustle and bustle of everyday life and surrounded
by nature. Greg and Lisa are always so welcoming and
willing to share their knowledge. I’m already planning
my trip for next year.
A Short Break in Iceland
(By Val Thompson)
The flight touched down at Keflavik International
Airport on time and Malcolm, our guide, was awaiting
our arrival. We had three hours to explore this
northern capital, visiting the harbour where we saw
several common eiders and admiring the new opera
house. We stopped at a café for coffee and my friend
noticed one of the specials on the menu: puffin, shag
and minke whale. We weren’t tempted to try it! As
we walked back to board the coach, we heard a
blackbird and found it singing from a tree in a garden.
Back on board the coach it was just a five minute
7
journey to the domestic airport for the 40 minute
flight north to Akureyri. After supper we had a short
walk to the harbour for some instruction on
photographing the northern lights. Although light
pollution from the city was very noticeable, we did
see a little auroral light.
After a leisurely post-breakfast stroll to the harbour,
we found more common eiders and lots of purple
sandpipers on the rocks. This morning we travelled
towards Lake Mývatn, which was our base for the
next three nights. We stopped at Goðafoss to enjoy
this spectacular waterfall before arriving at the River
Laxá and seeing Barrow’s goldeneye. We had a picnic
lunch by the river bridge, where we saw our first
harlequin; what a stunning little duck. We continued
on a journey around the lake, ending up back at the
River Laxa, and we had panoramic views overlooking
this important conservation site.
Harlequin Ducks (VT)
After dinner we left the hotel at 9:00pm and drove
the short distance to Dimmuborgie, its elevated
position giving extensive views across the landscape
and sky to capture the aurora, but it was also the
windiest place I have ever been to, worse than the
Norfolk coast in winter. We didn’t have a long wait
before it all started to happen at 10:15pm. Auroral
light soon filled the sky with a green tinge and rays of
magenta, red and yellow appeared amongst the stars.
We took advantage of the coach to act as a windbreak
and to warm up between performances.
The next day we returned to the River Laxá and from
there we took a leisurely drive around the southern
shores of the lake, in search of gyr falcons. We took a
pre-lunch stroll around Hofði. Walking through the
birch woods we managed to find ptarmigan, which
were very obliging and allowed a very close approach
as they pecked birch seeds from the snow. We also
managed to add common redpoll and wren to the
bird-list.
Lunch was by the fissure at Grjotagja, before we
visited the Namaskardi area. The terrain is dotted
with numerous holes of gurgling, bubbling grey mud
and hissing, steaming fumaroles. Before we were
allowed out onto this unique landscape Malcolm
insisted on our fitting plastic bags to our boots, not
because the mud was acidic or because the claggy
earth might soil our clothes; more to do with keeping
the bus clean!
Retracing our route back to the hotel we saw a large
white falcon flying low, so we followed as best we
could until the bird was thought to have perched
some distance away. We arrived at the location
where it was last seen, but despite extensive
searching we could not re-find the falcon; it had
disappeared into thin air! That evening we did the
bird log and our blackbird from the first day was
greeted with surprise, but we did manage to convince
Malcolm that we do know a blackbird when we hear
and see it!
By the time we had walked across the road to the
observation point the Northern Lights were very
obvious. Green rays arced through the sky where
colourful curtains of magenta, red and yellow
shimmered. This was really something very special
and much more extensive than the previous night’s
show. The whole night sky was alive with auroral
colours, a truly magical moment and one to cherish
for a lifetime. I headed off at about 1.00am but still
kept watching from my room; there was always
something more appearing so it was hard to turn
away.
On our last full day we headed down the Laugar Valley
and followed the coast road to Huśavík. Just outside
the town we turned off the main road and drove
down a cinder track to the sea, where several
glaucous and Iceland gulls were feeding by an outlet
pipe. Further out at sea we could see many small
groups of long-tailed ducks and common scoter
amongst the flotillas of common eiders. Our next stop
was by the fish processing plant outlet pipe, where
again many fulmars and common eiders were feeding.
8
We toured the harbour and found a small group of
harlequin ducks and a king eider.
Whilst we ate our lunch Malcolm pointed out some
piles of feathers. These were the remains of a gyr
falcon’s lunch. Some of the group made a visit to the
Culture House Museum in the afternoon, but I
decided to stay at the harbour and try to find the
falcon. As the feathers were white, I guessed it was
picking off the fulmars. Eventually the gulls and
fulmars went up in alarm and in came the gyr falcon.
It did a circuit of the harbour before heading towards
the hills in the background. By this time I had met up
with a few of the group who had not gone to the
museum, so five of us saw the bird. We also found a
common guillemot with a deformed beak – a very
strange looking bird.
long-tailed duck, Barrow’s goldeneye, red-breasted
merganser, goosander, gyr falcon, ptarmigan, purple
sandpiper, redshank, black-headed gull, common gull,
kittiwake, herring gull, glaucous gull, Iceland gull,
greater black-backed gull, common guillemot, wren,
blackbird, redwing, starling, raven, common redpoll,
snow bunting.
Madagascar!
(By Juliette Hatt)
We returned to the shores of the lake via the road
over the high mountain plateau, where the Apollo
crew allegedly trained for their moon landing. This
evening was to be our last at the hotel and the
weather outside was not looking good for any sighting
of the northern lights, so after the bird log we all
retired to pack and to prepare for departure in the
morning.
Although our time in Iceland was brief, memories of
gyr falcons, Barrow’s goldeneye, harlequins and the
incredible mesmerising experience of the Northern
Lights will last a life-time!
The magnificent Northern Lights (VT)
Val’s Iceland Bird List:
Fulmar, cormorant, whooper swan, graylag goose,
mallard, common eider, king eider, harlequin duck,
Madagascan Fody (Wikipedia)
Mention Madagascar to most people and they will
either think of the recent animated films by Dream
Works or of David Attenborough’s series. Yet how
many people realise that Madagascar is the fourth
largest island in the world (2½ times the size of Great
Britain), that it is located in the Indian Ocean just off
Tanzania, and that worryingly only 10% of its original
rainforest remains. It is an island that is filled with
magic and many taboos or fadys, which vary from
place to place. For example, the Merina tribe believe
that it is fady to hold a funeral on a Tuesday or there
will be another death, whereas the Tsimihety believe
that it is fady to work on a Tuesday. Many fady
benefit conservation by prohibiting the killing of
certain animals and ensuring that pockets of forests
around a tomb are left undisturbed. Birds also feature
strongly in Malagasy folklore: there are birds of
fortune and birds of ill omen. The birds of fortune,
such as larks, warblers, some sparrows and snipes, are
9
believed to have alerted people to danger and
consequently to have saved their lives. Therefore it is
fady to eat such birds. The presence of kestrels is seen
as a good thing near a village as they catch mice and
rats. The fady concerning the kestrel says that anyone
who kills a kestrel will be cursed with abnormal
children, beaten by their foes and outcast. It is also
fady to destroy the nests of big birds, as they
symbolise the family home and to destroy a carefully
built nest may result in the destruction of your own
home. White egrets eat the leeches and flies that
pester the zebu and also serve as a marker for the
herdsman to enable him to find his cattle in long
grass. My fascination with the island started thanks to
the John Cleese film “Fierce Creatures” back in 1997,
which featured ring-tailed lemurs, and his subsequent
documentaries on the plight of the lemurs in
Madagascar. Some fifteen years later I finally
managed to spend a couple of weeks exploring a small
part of this fascinating island in the capable hands of
Exodus and our excellent guide Sol.
Ring-tailed Lemur (Wikipedia)
We flew overnight to Nairobi, Kenya and then onto
Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of Madagascar, for
late morning. As we flew in over the island it was
possible to see how the recent cyclones had resulted
in significant soil erosion, as the orangey-brown soil
was clearly visible out to sea. However, very few roads
or major areas of habitation were visible. Tana is a
mixture of a few modern high rise buildings amongst
brightly coloured houses and rice paddies, where zebu
(local cattle) drawn carts mingle with modern cars.
Flocks of cattle egrets and great white egrets stalked
the paddy fields and the beautiful red Madagascan
fody darted from bush to bush (this bird seemed to
have an amazing ability to stay still for just long
enough to focus the camera on it before flying off just
as the shutter was about to be pressed).
Red Bellied Lemur (Wikipedia)
After a brief exploration of Tana we headed off the
next morning on National Route Seven (RN7), south
across the highlands of Madagascar for a couple of
days in the Zafiminary wood carving region. The
amount of land which has given way to rice farming is
staggering. We passed through miles of hillsides, all
terraced for rice growing, the terracing emphasizing
the contours of the land. According to the guide
books, the Malagasy eat more rice per head than any
other population, including the Chinese. As if erosion
isn’t doing enough harm to these once fertile lands,
the desire to make a quick buck, in the form of gold
panning, is having a devastating effect. As in Tana, we
saw egrets and the fody as well as hammerkop
amongst the rice paddies, but also stonechats and
Madagascan wagtails around the lodge where we
were staying.
Next we had a couple of days in the town of
Ranomafana, whose name means “hot water”, and
which was once famed for its thermal baths. However,
we had come to visit this small pocket of rainforest in
the hope of having our first encounters with lemurs.
Our first sighting, whilst walking along the main road
by the edge of the rainforest, was with the redfronted brown lemur. Not surprisingly it did rain in the
rainforest and we experienced some heavy showers.
However, this didn’t deter us from venturing out after
dark in a bid to see one of the nocturnal mouse
lemurs. Darkness occurred at about 6pm and, with
rain bearing clouds around, it was truly dark. Yet we
10
did get to see a number of chameleons and,
eventually, one rufous brown mouse lemur which, as
the name suggests, is about the size of a mouse. The
following day we had a guided walk through the rain
forest, where we saw groups of red fronted brown
lemurs, red bellied lemurs, golden bamboo lemurs
and the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka. Generally the lemurs
seemed unbothered by all the pairs of eyes watching
them and continued to groom, feed and snooze from
the safety of their treetops.
Our journey continued back onto RN7, to Andringitra
National Park for four days of trekking and camping,
including the ascent of Madagascar’s second highest
peak, Pic Boby. As someone who is used to
backpacking, this was pampered camping with porters
to carry all your stuff, put the tents up and cook for
you. However, the long drop toilets aren’t something
that I will miss! Guides escorted us along well marked
paths, lending a hand across some of the more
slippery expanses of granite slab that we had to cross,
adding extra stones to make river crossings easier and
pointing out the weird and wonderful wildlife
including snakes, lizards, chameleons, Madagascan
buzzards and kestrels as well as medicinal plants. A
kingfisher stopped to fish awhile at the river beside
one of the camps. From the top of Pic Boby you could
only see a huge expanse of numerous granite
outcrops in every direction. In places the water had
worn the granite into a series of little rock pools,
giving the rocks a dragon like appearance. In other
places the granite had been worn into almost perfect
spheres littering certain areas of the plateau.
We returned once more to our minibus and continued
along RN7 to Anja National Park to see ring-tailed
lemurs, of which there were plenty, as well as a few
sunbirds drinking nectar from the flowers on the edge
of the rice paddies. After a night in a hotel and the
chance of hot running water (!) we reached Isalo
National Park for three days of trekking amongst the
sandstone canyons. Here we enjoyed seeing ringtailed lemurs close to camp, as well as grey-headed
love birds, Madagascan fody and a number of stick
insects and scorpions as well as a praying mantis.
From Isalo we followed the RN9 to Tulear and then a
minor road to Ifaty, on the coast amongst the spiny
forest. Here we had good views of a hoopoe,
Souimanga
sunbirds,
Madagascan
kestrel,
Madagascan magpie robin, common mynah and the
extremely large Madagascan swallowtail butterfly.
After a fairly easy day in Ifaty we had an early start the
next day (breakfast at 3am) in order to get the flight
from Tulear back to Tana (highlight of which was a
nightjar flying along the road in front of our minibus).
Despite our guide’s reservations about the efficiencies
of “Mad Air” we arrived at Tana on time and had the
chance for some last souvenir shopping as well as a
trip to the Lemur Park to get our final fix of lemurs.
Although some of the days were very long, with lots
packed into the itinerary in a bid to make the most of
the mere 12 hours of daylight, it was an amazing trip
and I can’t wait to return to see a bit more of this
fascinating island.
Notes on some of New Zealand’s Endemic Birds
(Words and images by Martin Johnson)
Madagascan Buzzard (Wikipedia)
In October and November 2011 Helen and I spent 15
days touring the length and breadth of New Zealand’s
North Island, having previously visited South Island in
2002. Although this was not a bird-watching holiday
there were, inevitably, some opportunities to observe
the island’s wildlife and I came back with a bird list of
74 species, about par for a morning’s visit to RSPB
Titchwell but pretty good for a country where the
record day list is just 50 bird species! Whereas South
Island bird-watching is heavily influenced by penguins,
albatrosses and other seabirds, a wider selection of
passerine species occurs on North Island.
11
What New Zealand lacks in quantity of birds it more
than makes up for in quality and, not surprisingly for a
country marooned several hundred miles away from
its neighbours in the Pacific Ocean, many of these are
endemics. Here are brief notes on some of the more
charismatic endemics that we encountered: note that
it is not permissible to photograph the flightless,
nocturnal kiwi (New Zealand’s most famous endemic
bird) in the wild at known viewing sites……and
anyway, the only live kiwis that I have ever seen have
been captive birds in nature reserves!
Tui
Looking like a large, rather obese purple gallinule (or
pukeko, as the gallinule is known in New Zealand,
where it is quite common) the flightless takehe was
believed extinct until a tiny population was discovered
in 1948 in a remote part of Fjordland on South Island.
Now, following a successful captive breeding
programme, it has been re-introduced in a number of
specially protected areas, including Tiritiri Matangi
Island, where this individual was photographed.
Despite its rather fierce appearance the Takehe is
incredibly tame and docile, although it will snaffle
your picnic sandwiches if you leave them lying
around! Undoubtedly it was the arrival of man that
almost led to the demise of this tame, flightless bird,
but thankfully it did not go the way of the dodo!
Variable Oystercatcher
Arguably the most abundant and certainly the most
widespread of New Zealand’s endemics, the tui, a
member of the honeyeater family, is noisy and fairly
tame. Easily identified by the two white tufts under its
throat, the tui occurs in any habitat that can provide
trees bearing nectar and fruit. Slightly larger than a
blackbird, the tui mixes a selection of coughs,
wheezes and snatches of other birds’ phrases with a
beautiful, melodic song. Definitely one of my favourite
NZ birds!
Takehe
Considering the abilities of wading birds to fly long
distances on migration, it is perhaps surprising that
New Zealand has no fewer than eight endemic wader
species, including two species of oystercatcher! One,
the Chatham Island oystercatcher, does not occur on
the mainland but the variable oystercatcher, whose
plumage varies from black to pied, is an uncommon
resident of the coastline around North Island. The
photograph shows a little of that plumage variation,
with the bird in the foreground being almost black
whilst the other bird is pied. Despite their variable
appearance, the feeding and breeding habits of this
species are very similar to those of our own
oystercatcher.
12
Kaka
for me to take one decent photograph before it
disappeared into the mountains: a very satisfying
encounter!
New Zealand Dotterel
This large bird is a typical member of the parrot
family: highly intelligent but very noisy! We saw good
numbers of kaka at the Zealandia (Wellington) and
Pukaha Mount Bruce reserves, where they readily
came to feeding stations and had become quite bold
in the presence of people, but their population is
declining and giving cause for concern, mainly due to
habitat loss and the destructive effects of introduced
predators such as possums.
New Zealand Pipit
Now here is a real birdwatcher’s bird! The New
Zealand pipit occurs in open habitats on both North
and South Islands, but is uncommon, quiet and
unassuming and rather dowdy (although it does have
a rather smart white eyebrow). I persuaded Helen
that we should take a trip up to a local ski station in
the mountainous Tongariro district of North Island.
Although the resort was about to close for the
summer there was still snow on the ground when we
arrived. Apart from us there was no other sign of
life…except for one New Zealand pipit! The bird
hopped about on rocks and posed just long enough
New Zealand is full of exotic waders, from the
exceptionally rare black stilt of South Island to the
wrybill, the only wader in the world with a sidewaysbent bill. I had distant views of the latter, but perhaps
the bird-watching highlight of the holiday for me was
finding not one but two pairs of the incredibly rare
(estimated population: 500 pairs) New Zealand
dotterel. This bird is about as rare as the spoon-billed
sandpiper although, to be fair, it is largely sedentary
and so found over a much smaller area. Like our
dotterel this bird will breed on mountain tops (in this
case on Stewart Island), but most birds breed on
beaches around river mouths and estuaries on North
Island, especially the Coromandel peninsula (where
this bird was photographed).
There is so much more to New Zealand than its birds:
stunning scenery, a huge variety of outdoor sports
and activities (and they are always inventing more!),
good food and great, home-produced wine. South
Island is the more scenic island, but North Island has a
lot going for it including a warmer, drier climate, the
thermal pools and geysers of Rotorua and a lively
capital city (Auckland). If only it wasn’t on the other
side of the world!