Food Glorious Food

I'm sure many of you reading this feed the birds in your garden (if not you should). But have you ever stopped to think about the wider importance of doing this? 

Food from gardens contributes to the diet of many species of birds, particularly in urban areas. Studies suggest up to 75% of households provide food for birds at some point during the year. In 2011 there were approximately 26.5 million households in Britain, so this is a staggering amount of food and an important resource for birds to utilise. 

A Male House Sparrow
 (P. domesticus)

A Starling
(S. vulgaris)

The impacts of food provision can be huge. It has been shown that density of bird communities correlates with amount of food provided and that over large areas this food can affect the status of a bird population. Putting out food in your garden can also help species which are declining, such as the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Both these species are common in gardens with the House Sparrow being the top bird in the 2015 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and the Starling coming in second. However both are UK Red List species undergoing declines of 77% and 66% respectively. Currently the cause of these declines is uncertain; however use of feeders means that gardens will be a big part of the solution. 

Male Blackcap
(S. atricapilla)

Evidence suggests that widespread feeding of birds has led to a change in the behaviour of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). This smart little warbler was, until the 1960's, a summer visitor to our shores. However the number of birds wintering in the U.K has risen rapidly. Ringing recoveries show these birds come from Germany and Austria, coming here for are relatively mild winters instead of migrating to the Mediterranean (why go all that way when you don’t need to?). Interestingly this behaviour is genetic. Research undertaken by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) using data form the BTO Garden Birdwatch scheme showed the winter distribution of Blackcaps is driven by climate and strongly by food provision. It also showed that over a twelve year period the occurrence of Blackcaps became increasingly associated with supplementary food. This example shows the power of human activities to effect animal behaviour. 

Feeding the birds is a
simple but important way to
support wild birds 

So the big question: what to feed birds and when? Typing this question into Google will give you about 87,000,000 results. There is a lot of information on this subject; most of it is very helpful. Basically it boils down to a few key things.  All birds have different food requirement so providing a range of options encourages more species into your garden. Good foods to start with are peanuts, sunflower hearts and fat balls/treats these are all high in energy and easy to get hold of. Make sure food is provided in a suitable feeder. Birds can be fed all year round and it can help them if you do, however key times for feeding are winter and spring when birds have the least natural food available. Finally remember to keep your feeders clean and always try to provide a bird bath for them to drink and wash in. 

So feeding birds is in itself a very fulfilling thing to do. However if you have had a poke around my blog you may have guessed I'm a big fan of recording the species you see; garden birds are no exception to this. There are a few ways you can record you sightings the RSPB runs the very popular Big Garden Birdwatch each year in January, its quick and easy to do and gives you a chance to record a snapshot of the species visiting your garden. However having a bit more time to spare means you can get involved with the BTO Garden Birdwatch Scheme. It involves weekly counts of garden birds to give an idea of long term changes and seasonal variation. As ever remember to submit any records to your Local Environmental Records Centre. 

So, as in turns out there is a lot more to feeding the birds than meets the eye. To find out what you can do to help House Sparrows click here or here and for Starlings click here. For more information about wintering Blackcaps click here.

Plight of the Pochard

A Male Pochard (A. ferina)

The Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) is winter visitor that is familiar to many. They are a diving duck, closely related to the Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) and the Greater Scaup (Aythya marila). Males have a rufous head and grey back, the female has a brownish head and patchy grey body. The diet consists mainly of aquatic vegetation and invertebrates. Pochard live in habitats with well-vegetated marshes, lakes or slow-flowing rivers combined with areas of open water.  

In the U.K there are around 38000 wintering individuals. Ringing recoveries have shown that these birds come mostly from eastern Europe and Russia. Some U.K ringed birds have even been re-found in eastern Siberia; showing just how far some individuals journey to reach us. Birds will depart our shores from late February with the breeding grounds reoccupied from early March in the south becoming progressively later the further north they breed, with the Siberian breeding grounds being reached in early May. There is also a small resident breeding population in the U.K of around 500 pairs. 

Unfortunately the numbers of Pochard have declined rapidly in recent years. There has been a 21% contraction in wintering range within the U.K, which is reflected in an overall decrease in numbers (the largest drop in numbers being 76% in Northern Ireland). This is not just restricted to the U.K; across the whole of its range the Pochard is declining. These changes in population status have resulted in the IUCN upgrading the species threat level from ‘least concern’ to ‘vulnerable’.

We currently have no clear idea as to what is driving this decline. There are a range of threats known to effect Common Pochard. These include: disturbance, urban development, habitat destruction and agricultural run-off into water. Furthermore adults can be poisoned from ingesting lead shot and drowning in fishing nets. If this wasn't bad enough they are also hunted in   several countries across their range. Regardless of the specific factor (or combination of factors) the decline will be due to a decline in either survival or productivity (i.e. more birds are dying or less young are being produced). 

Female Pochard

The first step is to identify which of these factors is causing the decline. One way to do this is to look at the survival of females, as it is possible that this is an important factor in these population changes. Pochard exhibit differences in wintering grounds based on sex; something shown by many wildfowl species. This occurs as the more dominant males leave the breeding ground first essentially ‘filling-up’ the suitable habitat further north first. This means when the less dominant females come to migrate they have to travel further to reach areas that can sustain them. Consequently the more strenuous migration of the females, plus the increased predation rate whilst incubating mean that the population sex ratio becomes skewed towards more males; despite it being almost exactly equal upon hatching. 

Thankfully there is hope for the Common Pochard. Things are being done to help understand why it is declining and to reverse it. One key piece of this effort is undertaking a widespread count of all Pochard across the European and African wintering grounds. This will look at numbers of birds as well as the ratio of males to females on the wintering grounds across the whole wintering area. As well as looking at distribution of birds these counts can give a basic idea of how the population is changing.

This project is really easy to get involved with. All you need to do is find somewhere that Pochards winter and count them in at some point in January 2016. Once you have done this submit your findings here. You can carry out counts at as many sights as you want to, wherever they are. I am going to Tenerife in January on a field trip and I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for any Pochard. 

Getting involved with this gives you an easy opportunity to contribute to a project that is helping to protect and conserve this special duck.

More information about Pochards and the project can be found here. The link also has more information about where and how to undertake the counts.