Winter takes its toll on kingfisher numbers

Like many birdwatchers I have been looking in vain for one on a stretch of the River Aire where I might have expected to see two or three.

It looks as if the coldest winter for 30 years has taken a heavy toll on numbers and British Waterways is trying to establish just how much they have suffered.

They are asking the public to report all sightings on www.waterscape.com/ wildlifesurvey.

Kingfishers normally start to pair up in January but this year many will have been more concerned with finding even a small stretch of ice-free water in which to fish.

Some will have gone to the coast but even there life will have been a struggle. With few, if any, perches to fish from they have to hover above the sea.

By now any surviving pairs will be excavating a nesttunnel into the soft earth of a river bank for one and a half feet or more with a chamber at the end. After their brood is hatched the parents are kept busy catching up to 115 fish a day. As a result the nest burrow and chamber become a putrid mess of rotting fishbones and guano.

Kingfisher numbers have risen steadily in recent years and they have returned to many stretches of water, some in city centres, where they have not been seen for years. They have been helped by efforts made to clean up waterways and, until this year, the run of milder winters.

Kingfishers have suffered severe setbacks before, notably the harsh winter of 1962-3 when between 85 and 90 per cent of the population are thought to have been wiped out.

But numbers will recover quickly as they can rear broods of up to ten young. And this autumn young kingfishers will have much less of a struggle to find new territories of their own.

The Fairburn Ings reserve near Castleford has always been a good place to look for kingfishers and this year staff are asking visitors to report sightings to try and discover if they are actually breeding on the reserve.

Spring migrants began to be seen in the region towards the end of last week with the first sand martins at many sites and some swallows, with three perched on wires at Yeadon, West Yorkshire last Friday morning.

Little ringed plovers are also back with six at Wombwell Ings, South Yorkshire while a green sandpiper was at Thrybergh Country Park.

The first ospreys were passing through on their way to Scotland with one at Barden Tower, North Yorkshire and one over the Tophill Low reserve, East Yorkshire.

Gaganey ducks, the males easily picked out by their broad white headstripes, were seen on the Lower Derwent Valley Nature Reserve between York and Selby and Broomhill Ings, South Yorkshire.

Up to 19 avocets were back at the Blacktoft Sands reserve near Goole while 16 were at Greetham Creek, on the Tees, two at the Nosterfield Nature Reserve, North Yorkshire and two at Potteric Carr, South Yorkshire.

Singing Cetti's warblers have been heard near the Singleton and Ousefleet hides at Blacktoft, best listened for in the mornings. A bittern has been giving good views at the Tophill Low reserve East Yorkshire while three woodcocks have been seen under the feeders at the visitor centre.

There have been some roosts of corn buntings in the region this winter with over 100 at Bempton Cliffs and up to 110 at Melbourne in the Lower Derwent Valley.

Twenty of the latter have been fitted with colour rings and Yorkshire birdwatchers are asked to look out for these as the birds perch to sing this spring and report sightings to Natural England's office at York on 01904 641000.

All birds have a metal BTO ring on the right leg above a red ring showing the bird has come from the LDV. There are also two colour rings on the left leg to identify each individual.

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