Wader Quest at the Northern England Curlew Festival: Bolton Castle 2nd - 4th June 2017

Britain's first festival dedicated to the Eurasian Curlew, which has declined disastrously in recent years, will take place at Bolton Castle on the 2nd and 4th of June 2017.

It will be a fun packed long weekend with a serious intent, and that is to highlight the problems that Curlews are facing across the UK and in Ireland. 

Wader Quest will of course be there for the whole event with a stand in the Great Chamber and we will be giving a short overview of Conservation of the world's waders at 15:45 at the castle.

Remember a lot of the events you may need to book, so get in early although there will be things to see and do for those who just want to drop in. Come to the Wader Quest stand and say hello or get your collection of Wader Quest pin badges started!.

We'd be delighted to see any Friends or Sponsors of Wader Quest there if you are in the region or fancy a great day out in the glorious North Yorkshire Dales. 

Other charities including the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology will also be there.

For a full list of talks and activities go to Bolton Castle Curlew Festival programme of events.

To book places on any of the activities, please email tom@boltoncastle.co.uk or call Bolton Castle on 01969 623981. For enquiries relating to the art exhibition please email Karen Lloyd at info@karenlloyd.co.uk. 

Organised by Karen Lloyd and Mary Colwell, hosted by Tom Orde-Powlett. 

AWSG Whimbrels getting close to breeding ground!

Over the past week, our two Whimbrels KS and KU have made significant progress towards breeding ground.

After staying for 10 days in Panjin, Liaoning Province, on 17 May, KS first made a north-east flight to the east coast of Sakhalin, Russia in a single flight of nearly 2,000km in 2 days with an average speed of 45.1km/h. On 21 May, signals from the transmitter show us that KS had moved again to a lake called Ozero Tungar near the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. But it had only stay for a very short while, maybe for an hour or so, before it continued to head inland in a north easterly direction.

Fig 1. Migration route of KS after leaving the Yellow Sea

Just a day after KS departed, KU made its move as well. On 21 May, KU first made a stop near Qiqihar City in Heilongjiang Province before crossing the China-Russia border. In two days’ time, KU again flew for another 1,650km with average speed of 35.1km to land in an area east of Yakutsk in Sakha Republic. From the maps (Fig 2) we could see KU had been utilising wetlands all along a straight line from China to Russia. It will be very interesting to see if its final destination in the breeding ground falls on the same straight line!

In one or two weeks’ time we would also hopefully be able to find out where they nest, which is one of the main objective of this satellite tracking project. Another very interesting question would be: Will KS and KU reunion again at the breeding ground?

Fig. 2 Migration route of KU from China to Russia

 We are now quite certain that JX would stay in Palawan, the Philippines. Nevertheless, it is still giving us valuable information as NW Australia leg-flagged Whimbrels have not been resighted in South-east Asia before.

Today also marks the 100th day since we deployed transmitter on LA, we do hope our Whimbrels and transmitters stay strong for another 100 days or more for us to understand more of their magical journey!

Photo 1: LA at Eighty Miles Beach on day one. Photo: Prue Wright

As of 23 May 2017:

Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:

Migration summary on our Whimbrels

Katherine Leung

23 May 2017

AWSG satellite tagged Whimbrels Update 3

Reunion at the Yellow Sea

It has nearly been a month since our three Whimbrels departed Broome. Their journeys so far clearly show us that, when it comes to migration, individual bird of the same species has different strategy but yet could still show some similarities.

KS and KU were our Whimbrels that were caught in the same flock, fitted with satellite transmitters and released together on the same day (24 February 2017) at West Quarry Beach, Roebuck Bay, Broome. Back then, they were at similar stage on moulting their wings (moult of the outer most primary feather nearly finished), and were at similar weight (KS – 357g, KU – 399g). It was therefore very reasonable for them to start migration on almost the same date.

Six days later, both KS and KU reached their first stop-over sites on migration which are 280km apart. However, both sites were estuarine area with intertidal mudflat for foraging. Since then, their journeys deviated. 

Fig1. First stop-over location for KU and KS after 6 days of migration

KS adopted a “hopping” strategy by staying at different sites over very short period of time, so it was really lucky for it to be found and photographed. Overall it had stayed in Taiwan for only 6 days before moving on its next leg of migration.

KS in Taiwan. Photo Lin  Jer An

On 30 April, KS departed Taiwan and flew 1747km to the Yellow Sea. It first took a very brief stop for a day on 4 May, in the south-west corner of Liaoning Province, China, and then continued to fly another 143km east to where it is now in Panjin, an important wetland area in northern Yellow Sea for migratory shorebirds, breeding Saunders’ Gull and Red-crowned Crane.

Fig 2. KS movement in the Yellow Sea

 On the other hand, KU used a different strategy to stay long for re-fuelling in Xinghua Bay, Fujian Province, China. It has stayed for 11 days in total and departed for Yellow Sea on 4 May. First, it made a very short stop in Shandong Province on 6 May, where it utilised artificial lake and natural estuarine before moving on for another 446km north to Liaoning Province.

Fig 3. KU movement from Fujian to the Yellow Sea.

It is a very interesting “coincident” for KS and KU to reunion in the Yellow Sea area. They are now less than 50km apart after 20 days of migration and they are utilising very similar habitat: paddy field. Rice is a popular local product for Panjin area since the 1980s due to its highly fertilised soil and suitable temperature. May is the time when rice farmers transplant rice seedlings to the paddy field, so a wetland habitat with perfect water depth for shorebird is created!

Both KS and KU have been staying in Panjin for over a week, they might probably stay until late May before departing for their breeding grounds. Let’s see which one will reach their breeding ground first!

Fig 4.Both KS and KU in paddy field in Panjin

Meanwhile, JX has stayed in Malanut Bay, Palawan, the Philippines for 20 days now. A closer look into the satellite image shows that it is utilising some shallow reef area. In the evening on 10 May, JX flew north-east for about 10km as if it will start to migrate but then return after 2 hours. It would be very interesting to see if JX would finally migrate to breeding ground in a month's time.

Fig 5. JX in Malanut Bay

Life for LA seems to be much more relaxing at Eighty Mile Beach. In May, its movement is highly confined to a 5km x 2km area along the beach and it occasionally flew over the sand dunes to the inland marshes. We do hope the satellite transmitter could stay on LA for another year and finally track its migration in the next season.

Fig 6. LA movement in May at 80 Mile Beach.

As of 14 May 2017:

Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:

Migration summary on our Whimbrels

Katherine Leung

14 May 2017

World Migratory Bird Day...

... passed us by on a busy domestic day with little time to spare for birding. 

However, during the day, we did see the local Common Swifts screaming over our suburban English garden, not long since returned from Africa, a couple of Barn Swallows likewise chittered by and somewhere in the distance a Eurasian Blackcap was chortling away. But perhaps the biggest symbol of the day's events was the completely unexpected garden fly-past by a singing cuckoo, one of Europe's most famous migrants and one, like so many others, that is in decline.

Reminding us of the importance of World Migratory Bird Day the cuckoo got us thinking about our beloved waders.

Breeding grounds are vital, as are non-breeding grounds, but, in the case of migrants, equally as important are the stop over points, the refuelling and rest stations of the birds who spend part of their lives in each of two places and almost as much travelling in between.

Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa.

For long distance migrants among the waders, this very often means the inter-tidal zone, that portion of an estuary or beach that lies between high and low tide. This flat and often stark looking zone deceives humans into thinking that it is barren and unproductive, a wasteland that would be much better used being turned into some facet of human life that will, in the end, result in someone getting richer.

The Dee estuary as seen from Hilbre Island.

But that flat, grey-brown expanse is anything but a barren wasteland, it holds a vibrant community of life only a very small proportion of which is visible to us and that, by and large, is the waders.

An inspiration of waders, a visual clue as to what lies beneath the surface.

The waders are not there because they like to get their feet dirty like a preschool child in his or her first pair of flowery yellow wellies, they are there for the very serious business of getting fat. What we cannot see they instinctively know is there. They search for it using a variety of methods; some probing with sensitive bills deep into the mud, others watching and plucking prey from the surface, some will use their chisel like bills to hack at hard shelled molluscs while the dainty Wrybill will tip its head to one side sifting the mud seemingly forgetting that there are no stones under which they need to insert their unique bills.

... seemingly forgetting that there are no stones under which they need to insert their unique bills.
Wrybill Anarhynchus frontalis.

The mudflats of the world are alive with birds at this time of year with many millions of them heading, with a rising sense of excitement, to their breeding grounds in the north. Others in the south will be relaxing with a more staid northerly movement, their breeding duties done. Not one of these millions of lives has the slightest idea what the next hour, let alone the next year will bring, they live from moment to moment, harming no-one (except a few molluscs and other mud dwelling critters) and yet, they face a barrage of obstacles stacking such massive odds against them that it is bewildering that they have evolved to partake in such folly.

In the greater scheme of things, migration has been, over the millennia, a strategy that has worked, but now the playing field is not as level as it once was.

Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica.

We, the human race, supposedly (by our own pronouncement) the most intelligent animal on earth, are making life ever harder for these birds; reclamation (can we reclaim something that was never ours?), coastal development for industry or tourism, pollution and altering of river flows are all affecting our inter-tidal zones across the world. While a few folk soak up the new money derived from such destruction, many thousands more stand idly by, unaware of, or unwilling to see, what is going on. A few doughty souls stand as a thin line of defence against this (excuse the pun) tide of destruction and stand up and give voice to those that have no voice other than the beautiful piping, trilling and warbling that they make that provides a wonderful aural backdrop to some of our most isolated places.

Giving voice to those that have no voice. Photo: Elis Simpson

It is time that the lives of these tiny wanderers were considered more highly than hitherto, and it is time that the world woke up to the fact that these creatures provide so much more than fun for a few birders, photographers and gunners. They are the very heart and soul of this glorious blue planet, the pulse of their movements is the steady breath of the world and without them our own lives will be forever desolate and ultimately perhaps unsustainable.

Welsh Curlew Conference next January - call to arms.

We have just received this missive from Mary Colwell who devotes her life to reversing the decline in Eurasian Curlews Numenius arquata across the British Isles having set up conferences in Ireland and England. 

Eurasian Curlew; Numenius arquata. A species in trouble.

She now has her sights on doing another conference, this time in Wales, but she cannot do it alone, so she is after a little help... read on.

Welsh Curlew Conference – 24^th January 2018

Call for information and interest

Curlew used to be common throughout Wales, thousands bred on the mountains, fields and valleys and were part of Welsh life. From the 1980s numbers of breeding birds plummeted and a recent estimate puts breeding pairs at around 600.

On 24^th January 2018, a day conference will be held (venue to be confirmed) which will bring together people who have an interest in Curlew – farmers, landowners, conservationists, politicians and bird watchers. We will explore what work is being done for Curlew in Wales and what practically needs to happen to bring them back.

For those in Wales I would be very grateful if you could let me know the following: 

Is anyone in your area working on Curlew?

·      Do you have members that would be interested in attending this conference?

·         Do you have historical records of the numbers of Curlew that bred in your area, and the present situation?

I would be very grateful for your help and please reply to:

mary@curlewmedia.com

Mary Colwell

Mary is a producer and writer on nature and the environment.  In April/May 2016 she walked 500 miles across Ireland, Wales and England to raise awareness about the decline of the Eurasian curlew, a much loved and endangered bird. The walk resulted in two curlew conferences.  Ireland in November 2016, which resulted in the setting up of a Curlew Task Force, and Slimbridge in February 2017, from which the Southern Curlew Forum was created.  Her website: www.curlewmedia.com

Irish Curlew Conference, Higginstown 2016
(Mary Colwell pictured centre front in grey)

Slimbridge Curlew Conference 2017
(Mary Colwell pictured standing centre front in blue, flanked by the Wader Quest delegation.)

Watch out for migrating Whimbrels! If you're in the East-Asian Australasian Flyway that is.

It is migration time and our satellite-tagged Whimbrels have set off as well! Three of our Whimbrels departed Australia between 16-20 April and they are now in the northern hemisphere.

KS was the first bird to depart Broome on 16 April. The last signal transmitted from Broome was on 16 April at 1am. By the time the satellite transmitter switched on again to transmit data to the satellite on 18 April morning, KS has already flew nearly 2,000km to cross the equator. 

Photo 1. KS photographed in Yilan County, Taiwan on 26 April 2017 (Photo by LIN Jer An)

After 3 days, on 22 April, it decided to land on Xihcao wetland in Tainan County, Taiwan, a nature reserve set up for the protection of Black-faced Spoonbill and shorebirds. Habitats there include tidal mudflat, mangrove and saltpan. There has previously been a few resightings of NW Australia flagged Whimbrel in the west coast of Taiwan but not from this area.

The real surprise comes 4 days later (26 April) when KS was resighted and photographed at the north-east coast of Taiwan in Yilan County, even before the satellite signals transmitted through to reveal its movement. KS was observed foraging with a flock of seven other Whimbrels in one of the river channels in Xiapo wetland, which is a popular farmland area for waterbird watching among local birdwatchers.

Excellent photos taken by Mr. LIN Jer An (above) show KS with its satellite transmitter intact on its back. In AWSG’s previous shorebird satellite tracking projects, we had faced problems with satellite transmitters ceasing to function when a bird was part way through migration. Knowing that both the bird and the transmitter are both in good condition two months after deployment and that they have made a long flight >4,500km is a REAL delight.

Fig 1. Movement of KS from west to east coast of Taiwan

KU was not too far behind KS and departed Broome just a day later on 17 April afternoon. Within a four-hour period, KU has made a 200km flight with average speed of 50km per hour. The long flight continued until 23 April when KU landed in coastal area in Xinghua Bay, Fujian Province, China, an extensive mudflat area with a peak count of 16,000 waterbirds (China Coastal Waterbird Census, 2007) whichis yet to receive any protection status.

Fig 2. KU landing location in Xinghua Bay, Fujian Province, China.

JX was our last bird to receive a satellite transmitter and is also the last bird to start migration, departing Broome on 20 April. In 4-day time, JX travelled over 3,000km with an average speed of 31km per hour and reached Malanut Bay in Palawan, the Philippines. 

Photo 2. JX photographed in Roebuck Bay on 26 March 2017. Photo: Jack Winterbottom

Fig 3. JX migration to Palawan, the Philippines.

Looks like KS, KU and JX will all stay for a while where they are for replenishing after their long flight, and will depart again for their next leg of migration hopefully in a few days time.

Last, but not least, LA, our 2-year old Whimbrel, is still around 40-50km south of the Anna Plain beach entrance at Eighty Mile Beach. Now, we are almost certain that it will stay in Australia in its second year of life.

Fig 3. LA movement at 80 Mile Beach.

As of May 1st.

Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:

Table 2 Migration summary of our Whimbrels

Katherine Leung

1 May 2017

Marvellous Milly wing threads fundraising update.

The Wing Threads: Flight to the Tundra crowdfunding campaign came to a close yesterday having reached over 25% of our target for a final total of $18,215! In our last week, we received an extra $4268! Thanks to your generosity, we are 3643km closer to the Arctic tundra. It is incredibly heartening to know that so many people believe in this project and thanks to your help, we are one big step closer towards making it a reality! 

We hope you have enjoyed the cartoons and films for the campaign as much as we enjoyed bringing them to you! If you missed some of the videos on social media, you can check them out and subscribe to the Wing Threads YouTube channel. We'll be continuing to bring you more cartoons and videos in the future. You can stay up to date by subscribing to the Wing Threads blog at www.wingthreads.com.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be organising incentives and getting them ready to ship to your eager hands! We're aiming to have them all sorted and sent by the end of June. If you're sad that you missed out on some awesome 'Meet the Shorebirds' magnets or a rad as 'Stints are Rad!' t-shirt or tea towel, never fear, as we'll be setting up a store on the Wing Threads website in the near future. All proceeds from sales will go towards the flight. 

Following on from the success of the crowdfunding campaign, I am now going to apply for funding through other sources to make up the difference for a microlight aircraft and other costs for the Wing Threads adventure. During this time, I will also continue planning for the flight and focus on flying solo for my pilot certificate to work towards obtaining my passenger and cross-country endorsements. As such, other than a few public presentations, I will be off the radar for the most part for the next six months or so, but will provide updates when there is exciting news!

Last, I just wanted to give a special shout out to say thank you to all the organisations and folks who donated perks to the crowdfunding campaign - BirdLife Australia, the Bitterns in Rice Project, Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, Sky Sports Flying School and to fellow artist, Kate Gorringe-Smith. I'd also like to say a special thank you to The University of Western Australia for hosting the campaign and to Wild Melbourne for volunteering their time to produce the promotional film and support on social media. You're all totally awesome! I cannot thank you enough.

Ok, that's enough gushing from me! Thanks once again for your amazing support of Wing Threads: Flight to the Tundra and I look forward to continuing to share this journey with you.

Ciao for now!

From Milly and the Wing Threads: Flight to the Tundra team