Well, just yesterday (9th October) a fair few Redwings and some Fieldfares had started to invade parts of the UK. These birds coming over from the more unusual direction of Germany and Belgium, due to suitable weather conditions both there and here. More tracking of the migrants can be undertaken via the Trektellen website.

Other news. Just the other day I read an enthralling post on hoslist, a forum to which I subscribe. The hos bit, signifying Hampshire Ornithological Society.

The post was from a chap called Michael. My fascination came from his account of raptors and their interactions with corvids. On many occasions, I, myself, have seen Kestrels, Red Kites, even Barn Owls, all coming under insistent bombardment from Magpies or Crows. However, as Michael suggests, if you take the viewpoint that the “nuisance” corvids are preventing the Birds of Prey (raptors) from hunting, then the prey on which they feed, are being spared from a near certain death. Apart from the aforementioned, certain raptors such as Kites, are on the whole, just wanton scavengers but there are some, such as Sparrowhawks or Goshawks who kill many individual bird species. However, if confirming Michael’s rather rose-tinted view (his words, not mine) then the episodes illustrated above, widely witnessed by us each and every day of every year, indicates yet another event of natural selection taking place.

Cheers

Tony

Images courtesy of BWPi