Wildlife in Stevenston

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iain
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Sea Buckthorn growing near Africa House. Although it’s native (to the east coast), it is still very invasive and dominates large areas near Africa House. The berries, which are very sour, are not extremely popular with birds. However, the Sea Buckthorn near Africa house has been attracting lots of different species for weeks: Fieldfares, Song Thrushes, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches and Chaffinches.

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John Donnelly
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Hi Iain,

As usual, brilliant pics. I'm pleased to hear that birds are being attracted to the buckthorn bushes.
We rarely see any birds here in the garden. It's been like that for a good few years now.
Buckthorn is plentiful here in Holland, in the dunes, of which we have LOTS.

JD.
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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A Sparrowhawk sitting after a failed attack in a garden in Stevenston recently. Following a steep increase in population during the late 20th century, its population growth has largely levelled out, perhaps because there's now a sparrowhawk in every suitable bit of woodland! In Stevenston, they nest in most of the sizeable woods, such as Auchenharvie, Ardeer Quarry and the Black Powder, and I recall them nesting at Kerelaw a few years ago.

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John Donnelly
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Hi, Iain.

Could the large numbers of sparrowhawks be one of the causes of the decrease in songbirds in our gardens.
i would have thought that when the songbirds were plentiful, the hawks would do well, but when the numbers of songbirds decreased, so would the number of hawks.
Seems like a bit of a conundrum to me.
Do you have an explanation?

JD.
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Hi JD, The research that has been done suggests that the increase in Sparrowhawks is not linked to the decease in garden songbirds. The main culprits are agricultural intensification, habitat loss, desertification caused by global warming (i.e. the Sahara is bigger and so more difficult to cross on migration) and Cypriots, Maltese etc. shooting millions of songbirds on migration to and from Europe.

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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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A Woodpigeon during the recent cold spell in Stevenston. They’ve become much more common in Britain over the past few years. Locally, this seems to be the case too: in Stevenston, I see many more than I did 30 years ago.

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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Iain, We seem to be getting inundated with images of swans around the beaches and harbour at Saltcoats. I suppose there is a reason for this - perhaps locals feeding them? From what I recall growing up in the fifties and sixties in the three towns, swans only resided in the local fresh water dams. Is there any other reason for the changes that we are seeing?
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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I had heard several stories about crows stealing the sandwiches from the pockets of golf bags which are left unattended while their owners are taking a shot.
It happened to me this morning. I was just in time to see the wee plastic bag blowing away across the next fairway and one of the b****rs swallowing the last of my piece.
The flap over the pocket was not zipped shut, but was closed over. The crow fished the bag out of the pocket, fished the piece out of the bag and left the bag to blow away as litter across the course. :( :( :(
Like a good wee boy, I collected the bag, - after chasing it in the breeze for 50 or 60 yards, and put it in the bin at the next tee. 8) 8) 8)

A hungry JD.
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Hi Hughie, These large Mute Swan congregations are non-breeding flocks. They’re composed mainly of youngster in their first few years of life, who are too young to breed. Since your childhood, Mute Swans have become much more abundant. This is probably because of a decrease in lead fishing tackle (which killed many swans) and milder winters, which again results in fewer deaths. More Mute Swans means you’re now more likely to come across a non-breeding flock, such as the one that’s at Saltcoats, than you were in your youth.
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Hi JD, Intelligence is perhaps one of crows’ few redeeming features! I always found it a bit strange that sci-fi films and TV shows frequently depict intelligent alien races as being reptilian, mammalian and even insectoid, but you rarely if ever see intelligent aliens depicted as bird-like.
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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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Thanks, Iain. We only see black swans here - these from along the coast near where we are in Oz:

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Re: Wildlife in Stevenston

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iain wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:38 am Hi JD, Intelligence is perhaps one of crows’ few redeeming features! I always found it a bit strange that sci-fi films and TV shows frequently depict intelligent alien races as being reptilian, mammalian and even insectoid, but you rarely if ever see intelligent aliens depicted as bird-like.
Yes, ineresting that. As a bit of a science-fiction fan, I understand it to be because birds have no hands and fingers.
In science-fiction, the two essentials for developing innate intelligence into further developed society and civilisation is always assumed to derive from dexterity and manipulative ability, and the other is vocal communication.

JD
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