Raven- Beddington Farmlands

Did a lightning tour of the farmlands this morning with Kojak (who had to get back for 1pm) . Ebird list HERE. 

Highlight was a Raven which we first picked up on call and then performed brilliantly overhead in the sunny conditions. Also a first-winter Caspian Gull, 3 Chiffchaff including a rather drab and contrasting looking one , one Tree Sparrow and a couple of Green Sandpipers. 

 Raven vs Carrion Crow . Following 12 records before 2018 and 7 records last year alone, this is the 20th record of this locally increasing species 

 Chiffchaff (above and below) Would have been interesting to hear this bird call and also see it in less contrasting light. The bird also seems to have rather long primary projection? 

 First-winter Caspian Gull.The plumage details look spot on for Caspian but the bill length rather short and head profile rather soft, perhaps a female or perhaps not an entirely pure bird.  

At least five foxes today 

Little Oak Environmental 2019 Report

Here's a few stats from our Little Oak Group 2019 Report. 

A week in local eco-politics

Tuesday night was Extinction Rebellion Sutton meeting, Wednesday night was the bird group AGM and Thursday night was an Extinction Rebellion London meeting with very busy works days at Little Oak in between and also discussions with local councillors about implementation of the neighbourhood plan and the revival of the Hackbridge Forum and Neighbourhood Development Group. 

Discussions in Extinction Rebellion were centred around strategy for 2020 and the Bird Group AGM was focused on the future of 100 acre and south east corner, the annual reports and a new composition for the executive committee. 

Our new local conservative MP Elliot Colburn is doing a speech about incinerators in the Commons this Tuesday. He campaigned on better air quality monitoring around the Beddington incinerator which got him elected so hopefully he will deliver on his pledges. 

 View from the Beddington obs this week- campaign and work in 2020 will focus on mitigation for the 300,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted from the incinerator, improved air quality monitoring in the local area, monitoring the progress of the restoration ahead of reporting back to the six monthly HEB committee meetings, pushing forward the objectives of the Hackbridge Neighbourhood Plan (including visitor facilities for the reserve), preparations for the arrival of the new warden and continuing with the biodiversity monitoring and streamlining reporting systems. 

 The theory of change discussed at the London Extinction Rebellion meeting. The objective of the group is to tackle climate change and repair ecosystems, so Beddington Farmlands with its 300,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year and important highly stressed and declining ecosystem is an excellent regional case study. There are effectively two main strands to the XR strategy- one of winning over supporters, by appealing to elites and people in power to adopt change, to develop mainstream appeal and to grow the movement and achieve it's aims of addressing climate change and halting biodiversity loss through not co-operating with business as usual and taking action through regenerative culture, connectedness and self organising society to deliver solutions. The other main strand (which attracts much of the media attention) is achieving that shift through making it more costly to carry on with business as usual by the use of disruption (check out the 12 person lock on device below hanging around the meeting room!). Our local XR group focus/strategy is to appeal to people in power to adopt change and with such a well developed local network of environmentalists, community groups and ecological expertise  that change is highly facilitated.   

Extinction Rebellion were hoping to meet with the Pennon CEO to discuss a way forward to address biodiversity loss, mitigation measures for the negative impact of the incinerator on the local area and carbon emissions at Beddington Farmlands but news broke this week about Pennon selling Viridor (and it's obligations at Beddington Farmlands) so that will have to be put on hold until we find out who the new owners will be. On the market for £4 billion the buyer will presumably be someone with a few billion in loose change so it seems most likely that such a buyer won't be too familiar with our local concerns but should have the money to deal with them. 

Black-throated Thrush

Took the family to Whipsnade Zoo and stealth twitched the thrush- all done and photographed in less than a minute before back to the muppet line. 

Bulgaria, January 2020, Done Deal

Currently at Varna airport, in time to get my flight back to London after a hectic day running around Bulgarian bureaucracy. I had to go to Dobrich, the district centre today to get a registration number, then back to the notary to pick up the notary deed before filing it at the Town Hall with a declaration before checking out of the hotel and back to the airport. All went as well as hoped thanks to emergency assistance from Dimiter and my translator after the registry office wouldn't release the number without the notary deeds (I thought it was going to be another incident like the autumn where we fell foul to Bulgarian bureaucracy HERE). However this time an electronic version was allowed to be sent and everything went through and I am now the very proud owner of a tiny bit of the Via Pontica Migration Flyway.  Very excited about returning in the spring to launch the 'pop up' Black Sea Observatory.

Between Dobrich and the notary office I managed to sneak in a short session photographing the town centre Long-eared Owls.

 Long-eared Owls

 Dobrich above- something very evocative about these ex-communist town centres 

You can just about see the owls in this photo

 What the area lacks in jaw dropping urban design is more than made up for in the natural heritage of this area- the cliffs at the end of my road (above) and our local beach (below)

Bulgaria January 2020, Local Birding

I had the day off today while the notary draws up the final documents. It gave me a chance to visit the land I've bought in Kamen Bryag and explore the immediate area in winter (a time I probably won't be visiting much) and in the afternoon I visited Shabla Tuzla and then did the harrier roost at Durankulak. 

Ebird list of all sites HERE 

Tomorrow is going to be a work day with three meetings (with the listing office, notary and then the municipality)  to finalise all the paperwork before getting the plane back. I'll be back here in April to start work on the land and set up the recording systems. 

Had about 40 Marsh Harriers (above) and 10 Hen Harrier (below) come into the roost. Also had a Long-legged Buzzard go over. 

I was glad to see these White-fronts pass over the land we bought- on the garden list! Also had Fieldfare and Reed Bunting- birds that might be difficult in the spring and autumn (which is the time of year I'll be mainly visiting). Within a short walking distance I had Black-throated Diver and Hen Harrier too which will presumably be more difficult in spring and autumn,  I also had a good look in the nearby woodland for woodpeckers- not a single pecker but did have Woodcock and Red Squirrel. There was Syrian and Green woodpecker in the garden/land.

Corn Buntings in Kamen Bryag- I was quite surprised how few birds there were in the area (ebird list HERE ). It might be because it's been such a mild winter. The geese that we saw in Romania earlier in the week are usually here in mid-January but are a good 80 miles to the north. The geese staying north mirrors what's going on with White-fronts, wild swans and Smew in UK too- presumably due to global warming. 

Amazingly I had the Great Bustard again which decided to do a fly by 

and here's what the land looks like at the moment 

Bulgaria January 2020, Day in the office

We spent most of today in the notary office doing all the paperwork which hopefully should all be finalised by Friday. I got up early and went down to the harbour at Kavarna, had a few Black Redstarts on the sea front, Black-necked Grebe and a few Yellow-legged Gulls. On the way to the notary office there were four Long-eared Owls in Birch by the cafe, more or less in full view- will go back when I can with the camera to get some pics. 

After we finished work this afternoon I went to lake Darankulak to see the harriers coming into roost but the fog was so dense I couldn't see anything. There's a birding group in the same hotel as me and they went to the site Dimiter and I recced out yesterday but unfortunately today was think fog bank all day and they could only hear the birds. 

Hopefully the fog clears tomorrow as I've got the day off so planning on birding all day. 

 Male (above) and female-type (below) Black Redstart

White-fronts in the fog