"Breaking The Law, Breaking The Law", January 3rd

Priceless stuff this folks and definitely one for the memoirs ! Unlike that Mr. Von Meinertzhagen chappie everything you read on this blog is absolutely true. Last year's nonsense at Forest of Birse will have to wait for the official biography but here is the exclusive scoop on this New Year extravaganza.

Saturday 3rd January - fabulous day, no work schedule, no breath of wind. Perfect sound recording conditions. So off up Deeside we go to a site near Ballater that is good for Scottish Crossbills. On arriving there conditions were perfect - bright sunshine, snow lying and very cold. Great potential for birds singing as they are getting a bit frisky just now.

On parking the car out comes recorder and parabola, on goes boots. Meantime my missus goes off to photograph some scenery. Just as I was getting the camera out of the car a police Landrover crawls past with the occupants having a 'good look' at me. Ok, maybe thought I was a bit dodgy - dressed in green gear (but not camo) , calf boots, typical 'ringer look' which is, well, dodgy. So I kept getting my stuff together and assembled the parabola. Police Landrover now comes back down the road and this time pulls up. Two PC's get out one female the other male. The female officer started a conversation along the lines of :

"Allright, Sir ? What are you up to ? "

"Birdwatching" is my reply.

Female PC pointing at parabola - " Quite a lot of kit. What is that for" ?

Me - " for recording birdsong, I am recording crossbills in the nearby woods".

Male Police officer - "How far away can you hear with that".

Me, and I paraphrase - " It can pick up a gnats fart at 200 yards".

Them - "Oh" !

Then I was subjected to a full Police check - Car Reg, full name ( including my middle name), mothers name, address, place of birth, favourite band, etc. The male cop radioed all my details back to base awaiting result. I also had to give full details of what I was doing there eg. studying crossbills. They also had a real good look in the boot of my car.

Now, I am a tolerant guy, believe it or not, but this was beginning to wear a bit thin with me and I was just about to say "look I am not going to answer any more questions until you tell me what this is in relation to" when -

Female PC - " You will understand sir why we are doing this ".

Me - " No, to be honest I have not got a clue".

Female PC - " Well, this is clearly a very sensitive area".

Me, in surprise - "What, recording crossbills in Deeside ?"

Female PC - "No, it is sensitive in terms of who might be here".

Me - " Ah, the Royals ?". "I can assure you I am not remotely interested in recording them !".

Female PC - no answer.

Male PC to Female PC " Check has come back a clean slate".

Well that is reassuring at least. I am who I said I am.

I was then advised it would be best if I wasn't still there at 1.15pm and that it would be really nice of me if I did not take the parabola with me. Or my camera ( which had a 18-70mm lens on !). I asked if I could take my bins. Yes was the answer. Well thanks a bunch ! Of course I complied as things can be made very difficult if you don't, and whilst I later felt somewhat 'mugged', I have been told I handled it well. Or, at least as well as you can. To be fair the Cops were actually okay and were clearly only doing their job, however at one point I had visions of me in an orange boiler suit and leg shackles on a Cuban annexe all for being in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' armed with a Telinga parabola.

So, I had my walk and somewhat predictably, and thankfully, I never saw or heard a single crossbill. Nada. Nicht. So, there was some poetic justice ! Hopefully our future heir to the Kingdom enjoyed his walk. Makes me laugh that my missus avoided all of this - talk about perfect timing.

Now, moral of the story: remember the words of the song "If you go down to the woods today......".



Happier times, recording and watching 3 Scottish and 1 Parrot Crossbill with 1 Common Crossbill near Banchory....a Royal free zone apparently. That is frost on the parabola BTW !

Cones Glorious Cones !

Whilst you serious 'real' birder types are out chasing rare LBJ's around our coasts I, as you know, tend to be in the pine woods chasing crossbills about. Nuts ? Absolutely. Weird ? Of course. In need of 'help' some time very soon ? Yes you are. Well I am afraid for me it gets worse. I am not just obsessed by the Crossbills themselves, or even the sounds that they make, how deep their bills are, how long their wings are etc. You see, I am obsessed by all things crossbill. This includes what they eat, and that gentlemen, and gentle lady persons, is these:

The above image was taken in upper Deeside in mid November. It is clearly a green Pinus sylvestris, and the crossbill has opened the closed scales to get at the seeds inside. Now, if you do this long enough you can, with some degree of confidence, tell the species that depredated the cone. In this case I can go one better ( is thata Tap'ism ?) and say that it was a Scottish Crossbill male that I call Brian who has feasted on this cone. I joke, of course I don't give all them names. That would mean I really was crazy.

Here are some more from last week, notice that the cones are semi-open. It should normally be February before this happens, though I suspect it was a freak tree:

These cones above were created by an interesting mixed group including a Parrot type female (call and visual ID). Only 25 miles from Aberdeen as well ! Got some amazing behavioural stuff from this group, the kind of stuff you can only get by watching them closely in the field or 'arsing it' as the late DNT used to say.

This sample on the other hand, were all created by the same crossbill type, on calls and appearance:



These are closed cones again that the crossbills have had to prise them open. On a cold frosty day as it was this is hard work - it was hard work recording and observing them I nearly passed out with the cold due to hypothermia.

What are the crossbills in your area feeding on ? This, in my opinion, is more important than the type of call they are giving, this year at least.

It's Official - Bird Forum Admin Read Loxia Fantastica !

Well, well. I have just been emailed by a regular LF fan (there is at least one) that those lurvely chaps and chappess's at Bird Forum Admin have deleted the link to this blog from all of my posts on their site. Nice touch - keep all my posts ( and pictures, which I will be contacting you about in the New Year as you do not have my permission to display them) but delete the link to my blog cause you're scared someone might read something negative about you ! Owww dibins.

I can only take it then that Bird Forum Admin actually do read this fantastic blog before you. Good ! I hope some of the reality of your actions and your blatant bias hits home, though I sincerely doubt it will though. Just a thought - in my opinion Bird Forum seems to be dying of death these days - there are fewer posts by the 'old school' that were very prolific on there a few years ago. Maybe more people are writing blogs which I think on the whole is much healthier - there is no agenda or biased moderation that is rife on Bird Forum. What you see is what you get, and if you don't like it you don't have to read it.

Strength is the ablity to be capable of listening to criticism, and when necessary, take it on the chin. It appears Bird Forum isn't strong and can't take any criticism. It panders to the whimsical rantings of certain members that they are 'chummy' with to the detriment of others.

No more BF criticism from now on I promise - lets just let it (BF) die of death in peace.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE ! 2009 is going to be a mega crossbill year and er...if its not then it will be 2010 !

The Dangers of Bird Forum

Here is a priceless gem of a piece of journalism, and I use that term loosely, by reporter Vicky Collins and many reasons why you should watch what you say on that orcale of birding knowledge that is Beginner Forum, and I suppose on blogs too ! She was such a good journalist that when she was given the task of writing a piece on Britain's only endemic the Scottish Crossbill she apparently only used Bird Forum as her primary source ! If you haven't read this please do and have a good laugh. At the time I had to delete all my posts so she didn't use them in her article. She was also emailing me asking if "I was affiliated with the RSPB" so she could get some dirt. As you all know I am not. I did warn the RSPB and being such nice guys they probably didn't tell her to just go and forth and fornicate as I would have - jeez it's great not to be moderated !

Here it is, enjoy !

"Feathers Flying Over Scottish Crossbill: is It a Unique Species? Ornithologists' Dispute Rages on the Net"

Posted on: Friday, 4 November 2005, 09:00 CST

By VICKY COLLINS ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT

ITis a pastime usually associated with quiet hours spent observing nature, but now a bitter row over Scotland's only unique species is dividing the world of bird-watching.
Ornithologists are questioning the very existence of the Scottish crossbill, which was officially identified as a separate and endemic species only four years ago.
Arguments about the status of the bird, which is virtually identical to the common crossbill except for a slightly higher and less staccato call, have been raging on one of the biggest internet birdwatching sites. Birdforum. net, which has more than 33,000 members, features heated discussions about the Scottish crossbill, with many claiming it is not a separate species and has been designated as such only because of its usefulness to conservation bodies.
There are three crossbill species in the UK: common, which is widespread, the slightly larger and far rarer parrot, and Scottish, whose size is midway between the other two.
They all rely on pine trees for their food, with the Scottish crossbill said to live exclusively in Scots pine forests.

It was declared a separate species four years ago after research by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) found it did not breed with the other two species.
So far, DNA tests have shown no differences between the three.
However, many Birdforum members are highly sceptical about its existence. Michael Frankis, from Newcastle, argues the Scottish crossbill's status has less to do with scientific evidence than it does with the need for a flagship species that can be used to attract funding for the preservation of Caledonian pine forests.
"The more interesting the species, the more likely it is to get funding (politicians being what they are! ), " he writes.
"Which one? Capercailzie - what, a re-introduced species that is also common in two other EU countries? - No, sorry. Red Grouse? - Endemic, yes, but not a pine forest species. No, won't work. Aha - invent a crossbill! That does the job just nicely.
"Of course the official UK ornithological bodies will strenuously deny all of the above because, if they don't, the funding might get stopped."
Everyone contributing to the online argument admits the near impossibility of identifying a Scottish crossbill, and two members of the forum claim the call associated with the species has been heard at least twice in Kielder Forest, in Northumberland.
Another contributor, jpoyner, lives in Strathspey, the heartland for Scottish crossbills. He reports several sightings of mixed pairs of crossbills in the forests there and questions whether the Scottish species may in reality be a cross between them.
An RSPB spokesman said:
"RSPB Scotland has carried out a detailed research project.
The results have yet to be published, but at this stage the indications are that the Scottish crossbill should still be regarded as a separate species."
THE THREE UK VARIETIES
COMMON CROSSBILL
Description: chunky finch with large head and bill
Length: 16.5 cm
Wingspan: 27 to 30.5cm
Plummage: mainly red with dark wings and tail
PARROT CROSSBILL
Description: large, powerful finch with deep parrot-like bill and sharply forked tail
Length: 17.5 cm
Wingspan: 30.5 to 33 cm
Plummage: orange to red with dusky wings and tail with dark wings and tail
SCOTTISH CROSSBILL
Description: chunky, thick-set finch with large head and substantial bill
Length: 16.5 cm
Wingspan: 27.5 to 31.5cm
Plummage: mainly red with dark wings and tail
Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

Rather than highlight the list of absolute howlers and gross inaccuracies that Miss Collins has written regarding the species let's just look at what the BF's said. Michael Frankis used to be on BF and appeared to be a very knowledgeable guy. But, maybe it is just me, he really comes out of this sounding, well, quite silly ? Yeah, I can just see the RSPB having a Black Op's unit to invent a species for funding the preservation of the Caledonian Pine Forests ! Believe me the RSPB can do this themselves. The argument also falls flat when we take into consideration that scotica also thrives in non-native and mixed plantations of the type that Forestry Enterprise own !

As to JPoyner's "mixed pairs" how does he know they are mixed pairs ? Based on calls, which as far as I know none of the Speyside guides know anything about (even though, and I quote, "they are working with scientists to obtain the technology" to do this ! )? Based on apparent bill sizes, when in reality there is overlap and variation within species ? Nope, thought not.

Two things come out of this:

1) Bird Forum (and the web at large) is full of misinformation and faulty information and opinions that have no basis or peer validation. There is some really good stuff, but......

2) Most journalists are idiots who don't know the meaning of 'research', or certainly doing their own !

Be careful out there people !

The Danger Of Sonograms ?

Cracking day up here in NE Scotland today. Prime site visit today so hopes were high.

Arrived at around 11.30am a bit later than hoped but just as the remaining fog had been burned off by the sun. The woods (native pine) were pretty quiet save for a few coalies and the odd Siskin and a parties of Redpoll sp. over.

I picked up (by ear) a small group of crossbills flying down the valley from me, distance around 200 to 250m hence faint sonograms:

These reminded me of sonograms of a suspected Parrot at Potarch posted on Bird Forum (arggh) last year, or earlier this year, I forget which. Are these Parrot Fc2's and if so why ? Discuss. Come, on the blog is getting more interactive and lets get it onto Crossbills ! The black 'noise' BTW is not because my DAT mic has packed in but is in fact white noise from a stream that was behind where the birds were flying. Like all parabolas this high frequency stuff is really pronounced.

Here is another one from the same recording at around 17 secs:

Same birds ? Different type ? Tune in later for my synopsis and thoughts, which might just hopefully make you all stop trusting sonograms at face value. It's all in the evidence I supplied above.

And that was it for the day. I got excited later when I saw pine seeds floating down from a Scots Pine ( ladden with perfect cones for crossbills BTW) but no falling cones made me suspcious - these should be affling every 1 to 2 minutes per bird. And there he was, a Red Squirrel munching away of Pinus sylvestris.