For first time since Middle Ages, Common Cranes have raised young in Scotland, on a farm whose precise location has been withheld.

The striking wading birds have successfully raised two chicks within the last two years in North-East Scotland, said the RSPB, indicating conditions could be right for the species to recolonise Scotland.

Small but increasing numbers of the migratory birds, which spend summer in northern Europe and winter in southern France and Spain, have passed through Britain in recent years and a small breeding population became established in Norfolk in 1979, with further breeding in Suffolk. However, these are the first confirmed successful nests north of the border for hundreds of years.

Common Crane once bred regularly in Scotland but died out about 400 years ago, primarily due to being hunted for mediaeval  tables. Habitat loss and a slow reproductive cycle may have also contributed to the species' disappearance.

The species, which favours large wetland areas such as lowland peat bogs with an abundance of pools, appears to be benefitting from farming methods in the area which provide plentiful invertebrates, grain and other foods, as well as the right conditions to breed and successfully raise chicks.

Stuart Housden, Director of RSPB Scotland said: “We are stunned and delighted to see that Common Cranes have bred successfully in Scotland. These charming, elegant birds have a strong place in our myths and history and are a delight to see, particularly during the breeding season with their 'dancing' displays. They undertake regular migrations and small numbers have turned up on the east coast of Scotland in recent years, raising hopes of a recolonisation. Last year a pair reared one chick, followed by a second chick in 2013.

“Thanks to the co-operation of farmers in the area, the conditions appear to be right for cranes to take up residence and it is possible that more will choose to re-establish themselves in the country in future.

“We have been working with local farmers, landowners and the community to monitor these fantastic birds. Despite their size and flamboyant breeding displays, cranes are secretive birds and are very sensitive to disturbance and  we ask that they be given space and peace so they may establish a breeding population in Scotland.”

To minimise risk of disturbance, the exact location of the nest site has not be revealed. The British breeding population stood at 17 pairs in 2011. In addition to natural re-colonisation, a re-introduction project began in 2010 on the Somerset Levels, the result of a partnership between RSPB, WWT, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits.

RSPB’s Loch of Strathbeg nature reserve, a major coastal wetland near Fraserburgh, is visited by cranes on spring migration and offers the best opportunity to see them doing their ‘dancing’ displays. 

Quarries throughout the UK are great places for birds of prey, a recent study has shown. Teaming up with the building materials company CEMEX in its national partnership, the RSPB asked quarry managers to complete a survey of the birds of prey they see at their sites.

Although the two most commonly reported species have not changed since the previous survey, Buzzards have overtaken Kestrels to take top spot; both were reported at more than half the sites. Red Kite and Hobby sightings remained fairly constant, being seen hunting at 15% of the quarries, while the occurrence of Sparrowhawks has increased to 46%. There was also good news regarding Barn Owls and Peregrines, populations of which have been under pressure in recent years, with both species recorded at over a third of sites.

All the species observed are fully protected in the UK and experts are excited to have them using these reclaimed habitats. Sam Tarrant, RSPB quarry restoration advisor, said: "Due to their scale, quarry sites offer usually large open spaces with a good range of habitats suitable to these magnificent birds: from rocky ledges, ideal nesting sites for peregrine falcons, to rough tussocky grass, just the sort of habitat for the small mammals hunted by Kestrels and Barn Owls. The sites can also provide a great range of other habitats including woodland, reedbeds, grassland, heathland and ponds. Historically, restored sites have provided many amazing places for wildlife in the UK. The CEMEX/RSPB partnership is a great example of industry and conservation working together to benefit wildlife."

Being one of the largest building materials companies in the UK, and owner of the sites, CEMEX is proud they are giving nature a home on their sites. As part of CEMEX UK's commitment to increasing biodiversity awareness within the company, a poster has been provided to all our quarry sites to highlight the importance of quarries to birds of prey.

Andy Barber, a CEMEX quarry manager, says: "I have been working for [the company] for the past 20 years. I love to see the different species that visit the quarry. Over the years we have thought about our method of working and restored areas to accommodate some species, particularly Sand Martins and Little Ringed Plovers. I have seen a large and welcome increase in the Buzzard and summer visitors include Hobby which often hunt the Sand Martins. We also had a visit from two Red Kites this year which was exciting."

To find out more about wildlife on quarry sites and the RSPB's partnership with CEMEX UK visit the RSPB/CEMEX web pages.

The safety tens of thousands of swans and geese in the UK could be improved by new research into collisions with power lines, which started this week with the installation of more than 150 special bird diverters in Lancashire.

Flying collisions are the most commonly recorded cause of death for swans, whose size means they have poor manoeuvrability in flight. Bird diverters are special attachments to the lines that help make them stand out to birds in flight. For the first time, a partnership between Electricity North West, Lancaster University and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is studying the efficiency of different types of diverter, alongside agricultural, weather and landscape factors that affect birds' flights. The study area around WWT Martin Mere in Lancashire is the winter home of 30,000 Pink-footed Geese and 2,500 Whooper Swans and has been identified as a sensitive area for collisions.
Dr Eileen Rees, Head of UK Waterbird Conservation for WWT, said: "Tens of thousands of migratory geese and swans make the UK's wetlands their winter homes. Collisions with power lines are a major cause of death for them, so WWT is delighted to be working with Electricity North West to make Lancashire, and the UK as a whole, a safer place for them. Through this innovative partnership we aim to gather evidence for solutions that work in our modern landscape. As well as reducing the risk to swans and geese, the results of the study should help electricity suppliers throughout the UK provide their service with fewer unnecessary interruptions."

Steve Cox, future network manager for Electricity North West, added: "We hope that the diverters and our subsequent research will go on to help birds and electricity customers across the UK. By working closely with WWT Martin Mere we discovered this was a sensitive section of the network as it was located in a known flight path and we are delighted to be able to help protect these wonderful birds. By limiting the chances of any collisions, the special diverters will also reduce any possible impact on customer power supplies."

Dr Ian Hartley, a Senior Lecturer at the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and a behavioural ecology expert, commented: "This is a great opportunity and we are very pleased to be working with new partners on a project of such high calibre which is going to have a large impact on the area around where the geese and swans winter. One of our Master's students will work on the project for a year and our input will be to add knowledge on the analysis and geographic information systems aspects."

Throughout this winter, the study will closely observe the flight behaviour of geese and swans in and around WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. It will determine the importance of features such as tree lines, the choice of crops and the wind direction on the birds' choice of flight line and height.

For more information about Electricity North West please visit www.enwl.co.uk, and for further information about WWT see www.wwt.org.uk.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is appealing
  for information after a Red Kite was found with severe injuries in South
  Lanarkshire, having been shot, while the RSPB in Northern Ireland is calling
for  witnesses after a dead bird was discovered in the Castlewellan area on 14
  August.
Scotland's animal welfare charity was alerted on 8 August when a
  member of the public discovered the bird in the village of Leadhills.
  Unfortunately, the juvenile female Red Kite was suffering to such an extent
that  the kindest and only humane option was to put it to sleep. Post-mortem
results  confirmed that the bird was shot.
Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said:  “This bird was caused a great deal of pain and suffering as a result of being  shot. Sadly, she was so badly injured that she would not have been able to make  a recovery.
"As well as being cruel, injuring a wild
bird is a criminal  offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and we
are very keen to  speak to anyone who has information about this
incident.”
Anyone with  information is being urged to contact the
Scottish SPCA Animal Helpline on 03000  999 999. Calls are treated in the
strictest confidence and information can be  left anonymously.
The bird in Co Down is the fourth killed there this  year, representing 30 per cent of the total breeding population in the province.  The bird's body has been
submitted to the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute  for a post-mortem. 
It is strongly suspected that it, and the other birds, fell  victim to
poison.
Of the four deceased birds, two were breeding males,  one was a
breeding female and one was a juvenile. Sadly, the female was found  dead in the
nest where she was incubating two eggs, meaning the chicks inside  also
perished.
Adam McClure, Red Kite Officer for the RSPB, said: All  birds
of prey are protected under the law, but unfortunately this doesn’t always  mean
that they are safe from poison.
“We do not know what caused the  deaths
of these four birds as yet and are eagerly awaiting the post-mortem  results
dating back as far as January. However we suspect that they did not die  of
natural causes.”
Anyone who has information about the deaths of the
  birds is asked to contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 0845 600
  8000 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Red Kites were  once ubiquitous across Britain, but were hunted almost to their total loss as a  breeding species, with just a handful of pairs left in South Wales by the 20th  century. Successful reintroduction programmes have seen numbers increase across  England and Scotland, but the species still suffers from persecution and remains  vulnerable in Northern Ireland.

Birds might be paying more attention to road speed limits than some humans: a
new study has found that some European birds factor in average traffic speeds
when determining when they need to take off to avoid oncoming cars. In the
study, published in this week's issue of the journal Biology Letters, scientists tested whether European birds standing on the side of the road
altered their escape distances in response to how fast an approaching car was
moving or to road speed limits. The abstract can be found below:

 Behavioural responses can help species persist in habitats modified
by humans. Roads and traffic greatly affect animals' mortality, not only through
habitat structure modifications but also through direct mortality owing to
collisions. Although species are known to differ in their sensitivity to the
risk of collision, whether individuals can change their behaviour in response to
this is still unknown. Here, we tested whether common European birds changed
their flight initiation distances (FIDs) in response to vehicles according to
road speed limit (a known factor affecting killing rates on roads) and vehicle
speed. We found that FID increased with speed limit, although vehicle speed had
no effect. This suggests that birds adjust their flight distance to speed limit,
which may reduce collision risks and decrease mortality maximizing the time
allocated to foraging behaviours. Mobility and territory size are likely to
affect an individual's ability to respond adaptively to local speed
limits.
Study co-author Pierre Legagneux, a biologist at Canada's University of
Quebec in Rimouski, said the idea for the experiment occurred to him while he
was commuting to his lab in France. "I found [the commute] very boring so I had
to do something while driving, so I started to record birds flying away,"
Legagneux said. Using only a stopwatch and a notebook, Legagneux measured the
reaction times of birds that he spotted on the edge of the road while travelling
in regions where the speed limit ranged from about 12 to 70 miles per hour (20
to 110 kilometres per hour). "When the birds flew away, I started my timer and I
fixed the point where the birds were standing. And when I passed over this
point, I stopped my timer," Legagneux explained. "So I had the time elapsed, and
because I also recorded our vehicle speed, I also had the distance."

 Legagneux and his colleague, Simon Ducatez of Canada's McGill University,
found that the birds — mainly Carrion Crows, House Sparrows and Blackbirds — took flight earlier after spotting
their car in areas where the speed limit was higher. Curiously, the birds did
not seem to pay attention to the car itself. "They reacted the same way, no
matter the speed of the car," Legagneux said.

 The scientists speculate that some combination of two things might be
happening. First, it may just be a case of natural selection in which
individuals that failed to take off quickly enough are killed. As a result, only
those birds with traits that help them successfully escape oncoming traffic go
on to reproduce. Another possibility, Legagneux said, is that the birds are
actually learning to adapt to different traffic speeds. Daniel Blumstein, a
biologist and bird behaviourist at the University of California, Los Angeles,
said he could easily see how learning might be taking place. Imagine, he said, a
scenario in which a bird is foraging next to the road and a truck drives by. "If
the truck is moving fast, the bird is going to get knocked around by the
vortices coming off that truck" said Blumstein. "So the bird, if it survives, is
going to learn very quickly that the truck produced a very adverse experience...
One or a few trials of getting knocked around may be sufficient for the bird to
learn that cars are approaching faster on certain roads than other roads."

 But why did the birds seem to ignore the speed of the scientist's car itself?
It's possible, Legagneux said, that the birds might have just learned that it's
simpler to react the same way for any given section of road. "This way, they are
not spending a lot of time being vigilant by looking at the speed of each car,"
he said. Legagneux added that the findings have implications for making roads
safer for wildlife. "If you have different speed limits for similar roads in
similar landscapes, it could be dangerous for birds because they hardly have any
cues of those changes."

Critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper fledglings have increased
in number by a quarter in 2013, after conservationists intervened to hand-rear
chicks. As few as 100 breeding pairs remain in the wild, rearing just 60 young
between them each year on average. The 16 additional hand-reared young from this
year are a significant boost for the species, which is on the verge of
extinction.

WWT Conservation Breeding Officer Roland Digby commented: "The breeding
season in Russia is short and brutal for Spoon-billed Sandpipers. Each pair is
lucky to get even a single chick as far as fledging. Normally, that's life, but
right now the Spoon-billed Sandpiper needs a lifeline to keep them from going
under."

 Experts from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust worked with Russian scientists
to source eggs from breeding pairs soon after being laid. Taking the eggs
prompted each breeding pair to lay a further clutch, which they were left to
rear themselves. One pair produced a total of six fledglings this year — no less
than ten times the average.

The tiny fledglings now face their first 8,000-kilometre migration to Myanmar
and Bangladesh. Along the way they will struggle to find undeveloped coastal
mudflats to rest and feed, and on arrival they risk being trapped in nets.
Birdwatchers in Asia are being asked to report any sightings of Spoon-billed
Sandpipers. All hand-reared birds have a tiny coloured flag attached to one
leg.

 Intervening to increase breeding productivity in wildlife like this is known
as headstarting. It is a short-term strategy and Tim Stowe, RSPB Director of
International Operations, said: "Having been part of an expedition to look for
additional Spoon-billed Sandpiper breeding sites, I can appreciate that giving
these amazing birds a helping hand through headstarting will help deliver
short-term conservation benefits."

Conservationists are tackling the problems of illegal trapping and habitat
loss along the species' flyway. It is calculated that headstarting Spoon-billed
Sandpipers will increase the number returning to breed as problems are
addressed, allowing the population to stabilise and recover more quickly.

For a fuller account of the expedition to Chukotka and for details of how to
support Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation, visit www.saving-spoon-billed-sandpiper.com.

A study spearheaded by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University
of Minnesota has shown that the world's largest owl — and one of the rarest — is
also a key indicator of the health of some of the last great primary forests of
Russia's Far East.

The study found that the rare and spectacular Blakiston's Fish Owl relies on old-growth forests
along streams for both breeding and to support healthy populations of their
favourite prey: salmon. The large trees provide breeding cavities for the
enormous bird, which has a two-metre (6ft) wingspan. And when these dead,
massive trees topple into adjacent streams, they disrupt water flow, forcing the
gushing river around, over, and under these new obstacles. The result is stream
channel complexity: a combination of deep, slow-moving backwaters and shallow,
fast-moving channels that provide important micro-habitats critical to salmon in
different developmental stages.

 The study appears in the October issue of the journal Oryx and is
currently available online as a
PDF. The authors, including Jonathan Slaght of the Wildlife
Conservation Society, R. J. Gutiérrez of the University of Minnesota, and Sergei
Surmach of the Institute of Biology and Soils (Russian Academy of Sciences),
studied the foraging and nesting characteristics of Blakiston's Fish Owl in
Primorye, Russia, where they looked at nesting habitat over 20,213 square
kilometres (7,804 square miles). They found that large old trees and riparian
old-growth forest were the primary distinguishing characteristics of both nest
and foraging sites.

The authors say that management and conservation of old-growth forests is
essential for sustaining this species because they are central to the owls'
nesting and foraging behaviour. Moreover, conservation of Primorye's forests and
rivers sustains habitat for many other species, including eight salmon and trout
species that spawn there; some of the 12 other owl species found in Primorye;
and mammals such as the endangered Amur (or Siberian) Tiger, Asiatic Black Bear, and Wild Boar. Listed as Endangered by IUCN, Blakiston's Fish Owl is restricted to riparian areas in Russia, China, Japan and possibly North Korea.

"Blakiston's Fish Owl is a clear indicator of the health of the forests,
rivers, and salmon populations," said lead author Jonathan Slaght. "Retention of
habitat for fish owls will also maintain habitat for many other species
associated with riparian old-growth forests in the Russian Far East."

Friends of Red Kites (FoRK) have released the latest figures regarding the species' success during the 2013 breeding season in the North-East. For some
reason — probably the loss of kites to illegal persecution in winter when they wander around — the population is failing to expand on the pattern of other reintroductions.

 Kites were widespread early in the season and monitoring work identified 27 potential breeding territories being held by pairs or displaying males. However, the nesting season that followed proved disappointing, with a high failure rate and only limited evidence of breeding (two pairs) outside the core area in the Derwent Valley. The very cold conditions of March and April may have had some impact on the fitness of birds at the start of the season.

 FoRK are concerned that the population is not expanding as it should. This is
the third consecutive season where there has been no apparent increase in
breeding pairs. Comparisons with other regional release programmes, made after
the same interval following the release of kites, show that the North-East has a
significantly lower breeding population. If the national trend had been followed
we could have expect a population by now of upwards of 50 breeding pairs. This
problem is to be discussed with the RSPB and others.

 Twenty nests were found and 17 pairs went on to produce eggs. Two of the
other nests were built by unmated males and the third by a young pair that did
not go on to lay eggs. The final results showed that, worryingly, nearly half
the nests failed despite, in sharp contrast to 2012, the weather then being
favourable from hatching until the fledging period. The nine remaining closely
monitored pairs went on to fledge at least 18 young, compared with 13 pairs
fledging 22 young in 2012. The fledging total was the absolute minimum as the
outcome at two further localities was not known. In one area of mature woodland
where an early nest appeared to have been abandoned during incubation,
alarm-calling adults late in the season may have indicated the presence of
young. Two of the successful pairs fledged broods of three young; five pairs had
two young and the remaining two fledged single chicks.

 Once again all but two of the nests found were in the Derwent Valley. The
exceptions were one in the Causey Gill, and one at a site near Wylam, close to
the Northumberland boundary, which was used for the first time in four years and
which produced at least one chick. Birds were also prominent during the season
around the Derwent Reservoir, Blanchland, Edmundbyers, Muggleswick and the
Derwent Gorges but once again, despite extensive searching, no nests were
found.
 2013 was the fourth year in which responsibility for monitoring was
undertaken by FoRK, the organisation made up of former volunteers with the
Northern Kite project that released 94 birds from the booming Chilterns
population over a three-year period. Ringing, wing-tagging, the completion of
BTO Nest Record Cards and liaison with the Rare Birds Breeding Panel was also
undertaken.

In the Derwent Valley, several sites used regularly in recent years were
unoccupied indicating that previous 'tenants' may have perished, but several new
sites were found, one of them in a garden just 25 yards from the back of a
bungalow. During June and July, 12 chicks at six nests were ringed by Keith
Bowey, Ken Sanderson and Ian Kerr, aided by our regular climbers. Ten of them
were wing-tagged with the normal Northern project tags of pink on the left wing
and the 2013 year tag of yellow with black lettering on the right wing. Two of
the ringed young were too small to tag. Other nests had young that were too
large to handle safely and one was not found until the young had fledged.

An analysis of the seven failed nests showed that one was predated when it
contained two young. Nest lining had been ripped out and was hanging over the
edge. Another nest, predated at either the egg or small chick stage, showed
similar damage and was just 30 yards from a successful Carrion Crow nest, perhaps a clue to the culprits. The cause of failure at the other seven was not established.

 Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the start of the Northern Kites
reintroduction project. FoRK is planning to increase the size of its monitoring
teams in an effort to ensure that all potential areas are fully covered. The aim
will be to recruit volunteers from the Durham and the Northumberland and
Tyneside bird clubs, RSPB and other groups to 'adopt' potential areas and survey
them for displaying birds in February and March and for evidence of breeding in
April and May. This will aim to build on a one-day survey carried out during
March 2013 when, despite appalling conditions with freezing winds, icy roads and
heavy snow in upland areas, more than 30 volunteers turned out to search for
kites.

 For more information on FoRK, visit the Friends of Red Kites
website.

The RSPB is issuing its first objections to fracking proposals over concerns that the controversial drilling technique will harm wildlife and the climate.
The charity has lodged a letter of objection with Lancashire County Council to a proposal by Cuadrilla at Singleton near Blackpool (Lancashire). The drilling site is close to an internationally important protected area for Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans, and could cause disturbance to the birds. The RSPB is also officially objecting to the contentious plans to explore for oil and gas at Balcombe (Sussex) on the grounds that no Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out, and because increasing oil and gas use will scupper our chances of meeting climate targets.

 Harry Huyton, RSPB head of climate and energy policy, said: "Balcombe has hit
the headlines as the battleground in the debate over fracking. The public there
are rightly concerned about the impact this new technology will have on their
countryside. These are not just nimbys worried about house prices — there is a
very real public disquiet about fracking. We have looked closely at the rules in
place to police drilling for shale gas and oil, and they are simply not robust
enough to ensure that our water, our landscapes and our wildlife are safe."

 "Cuadrilla boss and former energy secretary Lord Howell claims that when he
made his much-publicised howler about fracking the 'desolate northeast', he
actually meant the northwest. Singleton in Lancashire is right in the heart of
the northwest and is on the doorstep of an area which is home to thousands of
geese and swans who will arrive from as far away as Siberia to roost and feed
next month and stay for the winter. There may not be as many local residents as
in Sussex, but this area is protected by European law because it is so valuable
for wildlife and Cuadrilla has done nothing to investigate what damage their
activities could do to it."

The RSPB has called on Lancashire County Council to ensure Cuadrilla has
carried out a full Environmental Impact Assessment before it goes ahead with any
work. The charity has also joined with other wildlife and environment groups to
call on the Government to rethink its shale gas policies.

 Mr Huyton added: "Government figures show that in the north of England there
is potential for 5,000 sites and a total of up to 100,000 wells. The idea that
these will not have an impact on the countryside is very difficult to believe.
Fracking is technology largely untested in the UK and we really have no idea
what the impact will be on our wildlife. We do know, however, that concentrating
our resources on extracting fossil fuel from the ground instead of investing in
renewable energy threatens to undermine our commitment to avoiding dangerous
levels of climate change."

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