Life Through A Lens - Musings from the RSPB’s Roseland Team
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Listless Listers
I recently had my sanity called into question. And in true ‘Catch 22’ style, it was me that had reason to query it. The reason for such personal uncertainty was my overly competitive response to a colleague having told me he had just seen a Smew (for anyone wondering, an uncommon but beautiful duck). My jealousy was not reserved for him out of personal dislike. Nor was it due to the extraordinarily striking bird, which I have seen previously. Indeed, I would have been equally envious had it been any number of other species. What drove me to such disdain was that he had seen it this year, and I had not!
Before you label me a petty and childish fool, please read on as I attempt to dig myself from the self-inflicted pit of misery that I currently inhabit! You see, in 2010, I am ‘year listing’. Year listing is a birdwatcher’s checklist of all the species of bird he or she has seen in the entire calendar year. Most birders (what we generally call ourselves!) have one list or another; life (or world) lists for everything you’ve ever seen, garden lists for those species you’ve identified on (or from) your property, a UK list for birds seen within our national boundaries, or county lists for those more local still. We keep a ‘Roseland’ list for everything we have found on ‘our patch’. For many birders the patch list is the most important one, as it usually represents those species that you have found yourself, and correctly identified. For many birders, this is the most rewarding and satisfying aspect of our addiction.
I do not use this term lightly, as there are people for who this obsession becomes dominant
over and above everything else. I have read several excellent books about Listers*, and the recurring theme seems to be that, at its most extreme end, the pursuit of new species (‘lifers’) has been responsible for marriage break ups, family hardship, job losses and bankruptcy. Why would anyone put themselves, or those they love, through such an ordeal? What is it that drives someone to the far ends of the earth in search of birds? Without going into a lot of detail, or plagiarising much of the excellent literature available on the subject, I simply can not answer that.
Instead, I can try again to explain how I found myself in the shameful position of ‘list envy’ that I’ve now grown accustomed to. I was invited to take part in a year listing competition by two friends. These are fellow RSPB employees, and, like me, they gain pleasure from seeing a variety of avian fauna. In order to improve their knowledge, and encourage themselves to venture into the great outdoors more frequently, they have taken on this challenge. As a bonus, a bit of witty banter and friendly rivalry has been passed among us. But what started as a small and select band of amateur enthusiasts has grown exponentially into a feverish mass of birding knowledge, with more and more competitors flooding in. We now have a huge range of abilities taking part, from ‘newly fledged’ to ‘experienced’, and it is hard not to feel left behind by some of the more serious birders taking part. I have even had other birders tell me that they’ve heard on the birding grapevine that I’m year listing! Where previously my motivations were personal, now the competitive spirit has been awakened.
Ultimately I think it is this competitiveness that drives me, my colleagues, and the listers mentioned above, to such extremes. In some cases this can be detrimental, but in others it can be controlled and focussed in positive ways. For example, in order to maintain parity with my friends, I now carry my binoculars with me more frequently, and have taken the time to go for more walks than I otherwise would have done. Equally, by knowing what other people have seen, I have studied these species to be sure that I could identify them if I were to stumble across them myself. I now know that a cattle egret has a shorter bill than a little egret, and that the bill is yellow instead of black – a useful fact to know when I saw them side-by-side recently! Despite my colleagues and I being in direct competition, I have also ‘shared’ a number of birds with them, which one or other of us would not have seen had the other ‘suppressed’ the sighting. A male Garganey (a small duck, unusual to see in winter) and a beautiful Short-Eared Owl were two recent highlights – added to both the year list and to our ‘Roseland’ list!
Therefore, I make no apologies for my strange obsession. It has, at its worst, resulted in me being slightly too competitive. However, at its best, it has caused me to expand my knowledge, to help others develop theirs, to get out into our beautiful countryside, to keep fit, and to follow a rewarding career path where I truly feel happy to get up to work every day. If I manage to see something new for the list then so much the better!
Nick Tomalin
Notes
*I’ve enjoyed several books about listing, but the three below stand out:
‘To See Every Bird On Earth’, by Dan Koeppel, depicts the reality of living with a world lister. Dan’s father, Richard, has seen over 7,000 of the 10,000 known species of birds on our planet. In doing so, he pushed his son away, ruined his marriage, and damaged his career. Ultimately this book is about understanding the obsession and learning to live with it.
In ‘Around the World with 1000 birds’, Russell Boyman narrates his own mid-life crisis, and how he escaped it by birding. In the midst of a stressful job, with failing relationships, he decided to pack it all in and spend months travelling in search of 1000 species of bird. This is less obsessive and more escapist, as the target is actually quite modest, but it was a personal challenge he felt he needed to reach.
Personal challenges do not come much bigger than ‘The Big Year’, by Mark Obmascik. A ‘Big Year’ is a year list in North America. Mark Obmascik tells the story of three men who attempted this challenge in 1998. Each had their own style, each followed their own path, and each one knew they faced stiff competition from the other two. A series of fortuitous circumstances, including an El Nino climate event, and galvanised by the hunger of the three men, culminated in the greatest ‘Big Year’ of all time, and set a target that may never be beaten again.
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In the first of Roseland Online's RSPB’s features, Nick Tomalin (The RSPB's Cirl Bunting Project Officer) talks about the effect the cold snap has on the Roseland’s birds, and what you can do to help them out. (All Photos by Nick)
Fat Birds and Aggropansies
The possibility of taking the day off was slim, as the commute to work involves a less than perilous four-yard dash across the landing to the office. For those of us lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) to work from home, the snow earlier in January represented a mild annoyance, and not the total bedlam that seems to have befallen the rest of the country. In such cataclysmic times we find ourselves ill-equipped to cope with even a few days of below-freezing temperatures, as unnecessary journeys are curtailed, pipes cement themselves together, and snowball fights become an essential part of the national curriculum.
Having scoured the back of the cupboards for the last of anything edible, I finally ventured north in search of provisions, and found myself staring at empty shelves where once there was bread. Fresh fruit and vegetables were in short supply, and the last of the milk was whisked away before my eyes. This ‘every man for himself’ mentality seemed like some kind of primeval urge, and I had to resist the urge to yell, “Run for your lives!”, and start a stampede. Yet it mirrored the natural order, or lack of it, that I was seeing in my garden at the same time. We provide a veritable hamper of snacks and treats for our more common birds, but suddenly the numbers swelled as more and more of our feathered friends arrived to seek out sustenance uncomfortably alongside one another.
Blue tits hit double figures, and dared each other to steal in between the larger great tits and chaffinches. Coal tits zipped back and forth from the tree like flies, and parties of long-tailed tits arrived with increasing frequency, ignoring their usual rigid timetables. These tiny birds remind me of a flock of teaspoons, chattering as they leapfrog each other through the trees. Our magnetic peanut feeder saw ten stuck to it at one point. Periodically, one member of our greater-spotted woodpecker family would arrive and usurp the feeder, 
driving the other birds away; only the bravest or stupidest blue tit risked a swipe from the powerful bird. Even our resident robins found the neighbours muscling their way across the border in search of the rich pickings. The four redbreasts spent longer chasing each other around than feeding, despite the plentiful supply of food on offer. I call them ‘aggropansies’ – a word that I invented to describe someone or something that is unnecessarily aggressive! (Incidentally, the term was first developed after hearing Sir Alex Ferguson moaning incessantly about refereeing decisions that went against Manchester United!).
Many of our less familiar birds arrived on mass in the surrounding fields and hedgerows, and even in urban parks and gardens. Winter thrushes were more common than pedestrians on the pavements in Truro, as well as on the Roseland’s fields. Fieldfare and redwing are winter visitors, but blackbird and song thrush accompany them on their crossing, adding to our resident population. Squadrons of other northern visitors had us craning upwards as they called overhead, with numbers of lapwing and golden plover well up. As Ian Bennett mentioned earlier in January, these waders are not common on the Roseland, only appearing during very cold spells. They added to the cocktail of wading activity that we have seen on the beaches, in the creeks, and off Portscatho in the last few weeks.
The cold period will undoubtedly be having a bad affect on many bird populations. Insectivores like chiffchaff will have had a tough time, and waders like snipe that probe the soil with their specialist bills will have struggled to break through the rock hard ground
. Seed-eaters like cirl bunting should fare better so long as there is not a continual blanket of snow burying their lunch. Many species will end up in people’s gardens, where they can take advantage of the more accessible and varied food source. The desperation of these birds also brings out their tolerant side. Cold periods are great for bird watching, as the continual battle to find enough resources forces the birds to spend more time indulging their appetite than worrying about ending up on the menu themselves. Our robin appeared in the house when the back door was left open, seeking out crumbs on the kitchen floor. He has previously made it as far as the lounge, where he saw his reflection in some glass and started singing to warn himself off!
With so many birds struggling through their own nutritional recession, it is crucial not to disturb them, as taking flight will use up more of their limited energy, and reduce the time available to feed or rest. The best thing you can do is make sure there is a continual supply of food and water available for them, and to provide a range of food if possible. Many of 
the smaller birds will go for high protein peanuts instead of seed during hard times. Kitchen scraps can be good, including fat, which can be collected from the grill pan or oven trays and left to solidify into a block; life-affirming stuff if you’re a small bird! I usually mix nuts and seed into it to tempt them into taste testing this unappealing mushy blob. Some fruit and vegetables will be popular, especially apples for the thrushes. Fresh water is not just for drinking, but so the birds can bathe and keep their feathers in good condition – all the more important to keep them toasty during the big freeze. Small birds will use nest boxes to roost in, sometimes in large numbers, so keep these up and available as overnight hostels. It is worth taking care of the birds in your garden during these harshest of times. After all, if you are stuck at home you may find yourself spending an increasing amount of time watching them!
With that in mind, the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch is coming up on the weekend of 30th/31st January. All you have to do is spend one hour over the weekend counting the birds in your garden. You have to tot up the highest number of each species you see at any one time and send in your results. Last year more than 6000 people in Cornwall took part, and house sparrow was the commonest garden bird in the county, with an average of 4.2 per garden. For more information go to Pictures (Top to bottom): Golden Plover, Redwing, Robin, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit and Blue Tit.
