The Doldrums

 The seasons create an ebb and flow of life. In late august we are currently in the midst of what I term the doldrums. Robins haven't quite begun to sing their autumn song but things are heading that way. The berries are starting to ripen and the number of bird species are falling.

It is during this time that the summer visitors leave Britain for warmer climates. For my patch the Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers have gone and the number of singing Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps have dropped to the odd one or two. Whereas in spring and during summer an hours visit to my patch would return a bird species list of between 25 and 30 I am now struggling to see more than 15. Those birds that do remain are starting to flock together. The fields have been harvested, tilled and ploughed which has attracted groups of up to 60 Jackdaws. Elsewhere the family of Long-tailed Tits have picked up some friends as juvenile Great Tits and Blue Tits have joined them. These mixed species flocks will grow throughout autumn and stay together as a loose group over winter.

At the same time the number of butterflies and dragonflies is starting to drop off and one might get quite dejected at the lack of things to watch but that is the beauty of nature and indeed of patchwork. There is always something to focus on. Out on my walk today I looked out for other invertebrates. The grasshoppers and crickets are still in abundance although today disappointingly I could only find Roesel's Bush Crickets. These are smart chunky crickets with a consistent churring call but seem to have come to dominate my patch. They are an indicator of climate change their colonisation of the UK from the continent is steadily moving northwards.

Other than the orthoptera I looked for other insects to try and improve my species list. A small bug caught my eye. I took a snap and looked forward to identifying it later. My first guess was a Dock Bug, but cursory examinations of my books made me think twice. The antennae had two pale marks and the abdomen lacked the distinctive wind edges. So off to the net I went and after some research I found out that it was in fact a Dock Bug in its last instar. Instars are larval stages. The Dock bug 4 instars prior to its adult form. Like most insects they grow by shedding their skin periodically revealing a new form, this process is called ecdysis.  The dock bug is not a rare species and I have probably seen it before on my patch but now I have recorded it and have a photo. What could have been a dull uninspiring day turned out to be an interesting one.

The ID Handbook of European Birds - A Book Review

I am an absolute sucker for a beautiful hardback book with amazing images and the two-volume edition of The ID Handbook of European Birds just released as an English translation by Princeton University Press certainly meets that criteria.

The books are written by renowned Dutch ornithologist Nils van Duivendijk with images supplied by Marc Guyt and Agami (images) and are exactly as described, a handbook, a detailed guide to the identification of the birds of Europe. The extensive and impressive work has necessarily been split in to two volumes as is becoming traditional for detailed reference material regarding the birds of the Western Palearctic. The first volume covers non-passerines and the second the passerines.

There is a tradition dating back to the earliest days of ornithology and in fact all aspects of zoology and botany that identification plates and images were the work of talented artists. These highly skilled observers of physiology were able to accurately portray the subtle nuances of a species identifying features. Skilled artists were able to draw together different plumages and stages of life cycle into a series of line drawings  or illustrations. Such images were works of art in and of themselves.

With the advent of digital photography and its exponential increase in the quality of images produced means that photographic images now  provide a more realistic view of the subject in question.

Van Duivendijk has gathered together an incredible range of 5,500 images of 733 European species of bird. All the images are of exceptional quality  both of colour and clarity with perfect lighting and contrast. The accompanying text teases out the key morphological features and details differences between seasonal plumages.

Rather than focus on a single image of the bird the handbook presents a series of images from different angles to highlight the key points. Each bird is cut out to remove the clutter of the background and allows the reader to focus on the salient features. Care is taken to explore easy to confuse species although there are better books out there for this purpose such as The Helm Guide to Bird Identification.

 

The handbook focuses entirely on identification leaving texts like the Birds of the Western Palearctic to cover the information on species distribution, population size, ecology and behaviour. The books know their place and fulfil their role admirably.

The books themselves are well bound with a sturdy spine and solid hard back. Good quality paper helps do the images justice with the page backgrounds contrasting with the birds well. I do feel however the 2 volume set would have benefitted from a slip case but this is not a deal breaker and would have pushed the reasonable price higher.

The Collins Bird Guide will always be my go to identification guide but this handbook will most definitely augment it and it is a book I will lovingly go through looking at every page and will flick through with regularity. 

The ID Handbook of European Birds is available from all good bookstores.

An exploration of Roe Deer on my patch.

 Roe Deer have become one of the regular mammals on my patch and one of the most endearing. The data thus far collected illustrate a pattern that reflects the general  national increase in deer numbers over the past 10 years.

My patch has been consistently monitored since 2008 and has been under Trail Camera observation since 2014 it is with some confidence then that there were little to no Roe Deer using the site up until their first appearance in 2017.

The Saxon Mill region is good Roe Deer habitat with a mixture of farmland, rough grassland and ephemeral shrub and wet woodland. Quiet stretches of habitat run along the riverbank from Rock Mill northwards and intersects with a railway line that offers excellent connectivity throughout the area. The railway in particular is of great value to dispersing deer and was the primary route for a Roe Deer doe being spotted in Warwick Town Centre in Priory Park in 2023.

Roe Deer Abundance

The index shown above shows how numbers have increased steadily over the years with the greatest increase in abundance occurring  between 2020 and 2022. Otter Cam, a second trail cam set up in 2021 whilst designed to monitor Otter populations actually covered a well liked rest spot for Roe Deer.

This increase in abundance from 2020 reflects an increase in productivity.

Roe Deer Productivity

Relative abundance increased as a direct result of consistent breeding from 2021 which included a set of twins born in both 2022 and 2023. 

Year	Number of kids born	Date Kid first seen (Week Number)	Relative Abundance Index
			Main Cam	Otter Cam	Visual
2018	0	-	0.0001	-	0.11
2019	1	1st April (Week 14)	0.0000	-	0.05
2020	0	-	0.0004	-	0.00
2021	1	24th May (Week 21)	0.0001	0.93	0.14
2022	2	17th July (Week 28)	0.0004	1.71	0.47
2023	2	3rd July (Week 27)	0.0015	2.07	0.76
2024	1	10th June (Week 26)	-	1.71*	-

* to date

This years doe with fawn

Originally sightings were of a lone female doe or buck moving through the site. Numbers increased from 2019 when they became a breeding pair. 

The best observations were made during 2022 and 2023 when the resident doe and her young became quite acclimatised to my presence and allowed some useful behavioural observations to be made.

Identifying individuals can be quite hard to do from year to year however this year one can identify a number of individuals.

Breeding Doe - This years breeding doe seems smaller than the one seen in 2022 and 2023, it is possible she is one of the four daughters she had in that time or a new individual.

Dominant Buck - Impressive Buck with large antlers this year with 3 tines., one of which is more spatulate. Often seen following the Doe

3 tines Buck

Sub-Dominant Buck - Smaller in stature and size, more flighty and less assured as the Dominant. Has antlers with just 2 smaller tines.

Young Buck - This individual is seen less often, always solitary. Has just a single short tine to his antlers.