BIRDING ENGLAND by Alana and Greg Dare

[Music] we're off to England in May for some northern hemisphere spring birding it's cold but sunny and in the heart of London there are plenty of birds we thought we'd left the land of parents but ring-necked parakeets are now very well-established in London and have become the most northerly breeding parrots in the world these plump pigeons are one of the most common woodland birds jackdaws the smallest of the crows inquisitive intelligent birds like most corvids the adaptable opportunistic Magpies are also very common as is the carrion crow which shares its characteristics probably the UK's favourite bird the Robin is found in woods parks and gardens where there is shrubby vegetation [Music] this far south greylag geese probably derived from human introductions although the Icelandic population over winters in the far north of Scotland what elegant breeding can reach almost any well vegetated body of freshwater holds a population of more hen the most common of the British cracks and rails but this spectacular mandarin duck took us by surprise it looks incongruous ly flamboyant on the banks of the serpentine Egyptian goose cosmopolitan London indeed a familiar duck for Australians the ubiquitous Canada goose Tufted Duck give us beautiful views especially the handsome male inbreeding foolish the next day we meet our guide from nature trek Toby Colette and head northeast 2mins Muir in Suffolk one of the longest established and best bird reserves in Britain 1,000 hectares of carefully managed diverse habitats the charming village of weselton is a handy base with proximity to men's Muir and whistles and Heath by evening we're at mins meal and observing a tiny inconspicuous tree creeper spiraling jerkily up the trunk of a large tree in search of insects and spiders in contrast Chaffin trees are conspicuous common and clearly loud wow that sounds promising maybe a good starts of the day parts of many are managed with the aim of restoring the threatened UK bitten population the hides are beautifully set up to maximize viewing opportunity swaying about on a reed is a male reed bunting in striking breeding plumage we can hear that boom boom again and the reeds are rustling a clearing and the bitten flies across giving thrilling views of this large endangered bird wandering through the woodland we can hear one of the many Warblers the nondescript but impressively tunefully garden Warbler another of the inconspicuous Warblers the chief chef is often heard but very difficult to see in 6 spring foliage a shy wooden wanderer muntjac deer [Music] we're trying a difference hide for charts at Marsh Harrier which has been successfully reintroduced here whoops just went down we'll try the feeders for small passerines good views of marsh tit almost identical to willow tit but a little more common and we have Toby with us or we'd never know the difference here's the Robin again picking up scraps from the feeder is the sparrow like donek an unobtrusive ground feeder often called a hitch sparrow Communists of the tits blue tit which lays up to 16 eggs at a time and great tit the biggest and boldest of the family a male pheasant an introduced bird bred in captivity then loosed for hunting wren a tiny bird with an incredibly loud song which pinpointed in the dense understory it serves us out of the woodland and into Bera habitat we've spotted a wood lock no to extremely difficult to see as they're so camouflaged on the bare ground that has been specially created to provide perfect habitat for this threatened species red-legged partridge and introduced game bird and behind it field fair a wintering thrush which we're lucky to see this late in spring [Music] concentrating to see a distant bird stone clearly on its preferred bare stony ground another recovery success this a white throat may be just arrived from Africa amazing mins mere bounded by a nuclear power plant and the sea but with such an abundance of habitats and species the winds horrendous now but it can't drown the lovely song of the limits a species which likes coastal areas male stone chats and the irrepressible chaffinch yet another habitat a vertical sand wall with breeding Sand Martins they've just arrived from Africa and tunneled up to a meter into these walls to nest now into another hide one of five overlooking the scrape an area designed to replicate a natural say line lagoon water and salinity levels are carefully controlled to provide optimum habitat for both breeding and migrants birds regular management provides ideal conditions for the various freshwater aquatic and soil invertebrates that form the basis of the food chain and the results can be seen with the abundance of species making use of this area the black-headed gold chick is almost as big as the ever set [Music] next morning we can't resist another chance for a bitten on the way into the hide we enjoy an even closer view of breed bunting there are some lovely water birds to entertain us while we wait for the star we've been told it's nesting to the left of the hide so we're concentrating on that area [Music] suddenly it flies up out of the reeds and gives glorious flight views Wow after dropping to only one booming male in the 1990s careful water level management has led to around a dozen males being present annually and the application of techniques pirate means me has led to a national revival of this species the beautiful expanse of weselton Heath is close to men's Muir and we're looking for the rare Dartford Warbler one of Britain's resident Warblers no similar colors but another stone chat this is it Dartford Warbler found only in the South of England its numbers can crash during a harsh English winter next morning it's a beautiful sunny spring day and we're leaving the weselton district and heading north to the pen ions on the way we'll call into Frampton Marsh on the Lincolnshire shore of the wash which is the UK's most important estuary for wildlife this bird reserve is being developed with varied and dynamic habitats as it's a crucial place for both migrating and breeding waders and as a bonus our guide toby is warden here a welcoming visitors center with great viewing facilities first we get on to a duck we haven't seen before pot chard the male with Rufus head the finches are at the feeders as usual and we can enjoy unobstructed closed views and here's another new duck for us Shoveler with its capacious flattened bill adapted for filter-feeding this reserve is being managed to offer close views of the birds with minimal disturbance in spring this salt marsh makes ideal nesting habitat for Lapwing a much smaller plover rings plover is busily feeding while the elegant Avocet nests nearby the emblem of the RSPB the Avocet represents the achievement of bringing a bird from extinction in the UK to a locally common breeder on bird reserves the red shank is easily recognized by its red legs another salt marsh breeder [Music] Wow an incredibly close view of nesting great crested grebe compared to our usual views far out in deep water we've reached the eastern wall of France and marsh it's a great vantage point to see waders like this God which [Music] on the other side of the extensive marsh is the estuary leading into the North Sea cattle are grazing here and also the dark bellied form of Brent's goose the smallest goose still not departed to their breeding grounds in Arctic Siberia a chunky large billed corn bunting is clinging on in the fierce winds as this once widespread species itself clings on and reserves like frampton changing farm practices have greatly reduced food availability for this little bird oh it's a relief to head out of the wind into the shoulder of a hide beautifully set up to to optimize viewing these Canadians are everywhere well Toby spotted something the scarce and secretive duck we've been searching for a beautiful male Gargan e [Music] thanks wild and wonderful French and Marsh we're calling in at a very new reserve with a lovely expanse of fresh water created from an old cold mine and we score our first goodwill at another fairly nondescript Warbler willow Warbler [Music] then it's a long drive Northwest to the beautiful old village of Ronald Kirk in Teasdale which will be our base for exploring the pinions we're greeted by church bells and some thrush a next morning we drive through the lovely little Yorkshire villages up into the glorious vistas of the pen ions with their scattered sheep farmhouses and dry stone dikes [Music] snipe perched in the open instead of being accidentally flushed from cover amazing another Warbler male black cap these moorland hills are home to both black and red grouse red grouse is endemic to Britain it's an extremely fast flier and is adept at a last-minute swerve so unfortunately for the bird it's the most valued game bird in Europe for those whose idea of sport is to blast it out of the air red grouse are not bred in captivity and released like pheasants so we can enjoy watching this family in its natural habitat off to look for a black grouse lek [Music] breeding red shanks often perch on posts in these hills we've spotted a distant lek of 17 male black grouse the polygamous males gather in spring on traditional arenas to display and fight the females on the fringe mate with a dominant male who after mating takes no further part in family life a closer view of a male with his grumbling call strutting his stuff and showing his spectacular display of tail feathers several other species breed in his upland more environment golden plover [Music] curl you with its huge beak off its blown its reputation for weariness and secrecy the largest of the waders its haunting flight score is evocative of this sweeping lonely habitat we're setting out to find the rockier habitat favored by renewal passing a herd of builted Galloway's and encountering breeding lapwings which are noisily protective of their chicks [Music] [Music] these rocky slopes look promising for Ozel and we tears like them to perfect dipper habitat were on the lookout a nesting pair of oyster catchers noisily protesting our presence and stopped off sheltering quietly out of the wind aah Toby's spotted uzl the upland counterpart of Blackbird but much rarer what a lovely thrush down into the valley and into deep tail wood looking for nuts hatch it's here but too high to fool much easier to see in a meadow on the way out grey partridge the only English Partridge is now much rarer than the introduced red-legged Partridge cuckoo is calling the River Tees tumbles down at high force waterfall and there is plenty of wildlife along the riverbanks of the three pivots found in Britain meadow Pipit is the most common this shallow tumbling rock strewn water is the preferred habitat for several species the ubiquitous common Sandpiper with it's constantly bobbing tail [Music] the boldly contrasting black and white of male Pied wagtail [Music] tipper at last one of our favorites birds and very specific to this habitat hopping along the rocks and sometimes plunging into the fast flowing water to feed [Music] and the confusingly named grey wagtail the mail especially always looks more yellow than gray to me [Music] next morning we head over the Pennines leaving behind the beautiful yorkshire dales we're heading northeast to see houses on the coast of Northumberland this is the embarkation point for a boat trip to the far islands and we're pretty excited about it owned and protected by the British trust these islands host a hundred thousand pairs of breeding seabirds including over 23 species as well as a large graze seal colony the islands are enticingly quiet with bird droppings were lucky despite a ferocious wind the trip is on and as we approach we start to see swimming birds [Music] [Music] amusingly these seals don't want to get splashed then a big moment our first puffin an abundant summer visitor but seen only in these offshore breeding colonies where they missed on the coastal cliffs the noise of thousands of birds is incredible as we disembark and brave the climb past the nesting Arctic Terns wear a hat they'll swoop to protect their young the very similar Comintern is distinguished by a black tips bill in summer and is less numerous the puffins nests are burrows on the grassy slopes all members of the orc family except one our colonial nesters puffins coming in from the sea with a big full of small fish for their young are mobbed by waiting black-headed gulls trying to make them drop their catch it's a fraught run to get into their burrows safely with her catch and attacked these burrows excavated by the birds are 1 to 2 metres long and are often used again in other years after feeding their chicks there's time to loaf around to recuperate before heading out to sea again [Music] thousands of sea birds nest on the cliff edges in the Guillemette colony space is at a premium sharks spend most of their time at sea so it's wonderful to have this close view of feeding kittiwakes to spend their entire life at sea except for breeding another orc raiser bill which like all orcs can fly underwater as well as in the air but we can't resist spending more time with the puffins they're nicknamed sea parrot comes from their huge laterally flattens blue yellow and red stripes bill which is notched so that they can dive in open mouths down to sixty metres not losing their catch and holding up to ten fish at a time yep we're pretty thrilled to see these wonderful little birds and reluctant to depart from this special place past the female eye to duck on her nest while other riders including males are on the water past the black-headed gull with her chicks close enough to see that her head is really chocolate brown rather than black in color this is the Communists the most widespread girl in Britain and regretfully with no time to explore this Islands fascinating history going back to some cuff bird in the 7th century because now we're on our way north again [Music] crossing the border into Scotland and what a surprise it's raining we're spending our last night in Mesaba on the coast of the Firth of Forth hoping for another chance for more seabirds [Music] no surprise that oystercatchers gathering dros at muscle bro and the knots are finding plenty to read to but close view of the largest British turns the lively and noisy sandwich turn in breeding plumage what a trip rainbow weather and fabulous birds in a country that really cares for its birds [Music]

Channel: greg dare

Views: 8,498

Rating: 4.8980894 out of 5

Keywords: Alana and Greg Dare, Double Dare Productions, Birdwatching, Birding Britain, Minsmere, FRampton Marsh, Farne Islands, Puffin, Bittern, Grouse, Yorkshire birding, Seabird colonies, Pennines, Birding Scotland, London, Snipe, Curlew, Ring Ouzel, Warbler, Avocet, Parrot, Partridge, Goose, Duck, Razorbill, Shag, Grey Seal, RSPB, Birding UK

Id: SsYZAE1pt5I

Length: 24min 56sec (1496 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 12 2019