Vultures! Misunderstood and in need of conservation.

Vultures are a bird that many people find repulsive due to their "ugly" appearance and scavenger feeding behaviours, but they are a vital part of many ecosystems and play an important role in stopping the spread of diseases.

White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus)
[ Old World Vulture ]

Vultures will never hunt live prey, instead scavenging on dead animal carcasses. The rapidity that they are attracted to a new corpse has led to them sometimes being mistaken for killing livestock. The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) was a victim of this, on occasion being witnessed feeding off of cattle carcasses. This led to persecution and the strong opposition to conservation programmes to reintroduce them to areas as people feared they would kill their livestock.

The acid in a vultures stomach is key to making them such an effective scavenger, and it is this that helps them to be so important in reducing diseases in the ecosystem. The acid is highly corrosive and can digest diseases such as cholera, anthrax and rabies, removing them and so preventing the spread to other wildlife and people. This acid can also be used as an effective defence mechanism, vomiting at predators in order to drive them away.

California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
[ New World Vulture ]

The two groups of vultures are named "Old World" and "New World". New World Vultures, i.e California Condor , are generally found in the Americas and are characterised by their unusually good sense of smell. The Old World Vultures, i.e White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus), are more widespread, found in Europe, Africa and Asia and rely on their sight to find food.

On a trip to South Africa a couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to visit a wildlife rehabilitation centre called Moholoholo, which among numerous different species would also rescue vultures, unfortunatly often persecuted in this part of the world. The vultures would be released back into the wild but supported by the centre for a short while after by feeding them every so often through putting out an animal carcass.

Photographs I took of the vultures feeding at Moholoholo.

I saw many vultures on this trip, a huge bonus for me as I find them particularly fascinating. On safari I saw critically endangered White-backed vultures and vulnerable Lappet-faced vultures (Torgos tracheliotos). These species work hand in hand together in the African wilds. When an animal dies and the vultures descend, the Lappet-faced vulture uses its specially designed beak for tearing open the thick skin and outer flesh, opening up the carcass for the White-backed vultures to get inside. Without this the White-backed vultures would not be able to penetrate the carcass and do their vital clean up job.

The photographs below are ones I took at Moholoholo of rescued birds, showing the differences between their beaks, it is very easy to see how they are shaped in order to carry out specific roles.

<-- Lappet-faced vulture, with its bigger, sharper, hooked beak.

White-backed vulture, -->
with longer reaching beak, designed for eating inner parts of the carcass.

A while back I watched a programme on vultures called "Vultures - Beauty in the Beast" which was aired on the BBC as part of the Natural World series. This show gave a wonderful representation for a quite poorly understood animal, and was educational as well as entertaining. 

It helps to highlight the need for greater education on this highly important and misunderstood animal and conservation efforts to protect them, as unfortunately the majority of vultures in the world have decreasing population trends and are classed as near-threatened if not already critically endangered in some cases, such as the White-backed vulture and the California Condor.

More information on Vultures - Beauty in the Beast can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03sfvhd and I would highly recommend watching it, it's a great programme! 

To find out more about Moholoholo and the great rescue and rehabilitation work that they do in South Africa, their website is : http://www.moholoholo.co.za

One of my favourite photographs from my South Africa trip,
vultures captured resting at sunset.

World Migratory Bird Day! - Remembering Blakeney.

This weekend celebrates World Migratory Bird Day. This is an annual event held in the second weekend of May to raise awareness about migratory birds and highlight the issues faced and the need for conservation of the birds and their habitats. The event brought back a great memory of when I went to study little terns (Sternula albifrons), a migratory species to the UK, for my Master's degree thesis.

The poster for 2015's World Migratory Bird Day, with the theme "Energy".

It was last summer that I spent a month living and working at Blakeney Point, which is located on the north Norfolk coast in England. The area is a reserve and is currently owned and managed by the National Trust.  The location is renowned for being a great wildlife hotspot for a variety of species, but particularly its migratory birds. The little tern is one of the many species of migratory seabirds that can be found here alongside others of the tern family including the sandwich (Sterna sandvicensis) and common tern (Sterna hirundo). As a result of this, Blakeney Point has been designated as one of the most important sites in Europe for ground nesting terns.

One of the many signs surrounding
the colonies at Blakeney.

The Point received its Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designation in 1954 and is now also protected under UK law as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and is also a RAMSAR site. 

Little Terns have been a regular summer visitor to Blakeney Point since records began and nest in colonies at a few locations spread out up along the beach as well as sharing colonies with other terns at the tip of the point. Currently the biggest threats to the birds are high tides, natural predators, dogs and human disturbance. Some of the colonies have previously been lost due to being washed away and destroyed due to storms and high tides that lead to flooding, a threat that will increase in severity with the challenges associated with climate change. 

My study, "Sternula albifrons sheltering behaviour and preferences; is there potential for artificial shelters to increased productivity at Blakeney Point?" gained purpose due to a storm and tidal surge that occurred in the winter of 2013 which caused heavy damage to the shingle ridge that is commonly used by colonies of little terns. This left the ridge barren and void of foliage, which the terns rely upon for shelter. As a result it was decided that they may benefit from artificial shelters being put into the colony to reduce the impact of the loss of foliage. This has been carried out in the past in other countries and locations with varying success, and my study was going to discover whether this could be a viable technique to increase little tern productivity here and lessen the impacts of any more extreme weather events.

My home for the month,
the old lifeboat house owned by UCL.

In order to cause less disturbance, I visited Blakeney in the spring, to put out the shelters before the birds started to arrive. Fences and signs were put up around the usual colony locations to stop the public from walking through and disturbing the nesting birds or treading on and destroying eggs and nests.

Out every day to get data,
no matter what the weather is like!

Research began in June, once all of the terns had arrived, started nesting, and chicks were beginning to hatch. It was important to monitor if the chicks were using the shelters to hide, as this was key to my research. Little tern chicks rely heavily on their superb camouflage during their early stages of life to protect them from predation. This tends to be reasonably successful, but it can make your life very difficult if you are trying to keep track of numerous chicks at the same time and monitor their behaviour!

 

My view, monitoring the colony.

For the first part of the study, I was observing 6 chicks in the colony where the shelters were placed and towards the end of the study, unfortunately only one was left. This tern chick was affectionately named "Beast" due to its aggression towards neighbouring nesting ringed plovers (Charadrius hiaticula), consistently facing up to bigger birds, perhaps the reason for its success. 

Little tern chick being fitted with coloured leg rings.

The project also involved placing camera traps in the colonies, to attempt to catch footage of birds using the shelters. This gave some good entertainment, with inquisitive starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) and oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus)  poking around in front of the lens. Towards the end of my time there, some members of the RSPB turned up during research and we were able to be involved in the catching and ringing of chicks in the larger colony so that their migration and success can be monitored.

My study learnt that little tern chicks spend the majority of their time in some form of shelter but this slowly decreases in time with age. Nearer to their time of fledging, chicks spent on average 15% less time sheltering than they did post-hatching. Unfortunatly, strong conclusions could not be drawn on whether the use of artificial shelters would increase the productivity of little terns due to the small sample size and the fact that only Beast fledged successfully from this colony, the same as the previous year with only one successful individual.  The whole trip was a once in a lifetime experience, though i'll definitely go back there if I can.

Little terns on the beach.

I would recommend Blakeney Point to all bird enthusiasts or anyone who enjoys beautiful locations and interesting varieties of wildlife. For more information about the Blakeney National Nature Reserve and planning trips there, visit the National Trust website at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blakeney/

Protecting plants from cats entering your garden.

When growing vegetables or flowers in the garden, it is often the same offenders that keep coming in to damage beds, uproot seeds, dig holes and defecate. So how best to deal with a problem like free roaming cats? In the area around my partners home this has been a big issue for us as there are huge numbers of domestic cats in the surrounding area.

Here are some ideas and options available, most have been tested by me, with a couple of other ideas that I am potentially going to try in the future.

1. Strong smells.

1.1. Coffee and Orange. An option that has been recommended is using orange peels and coffee grinds as they are smells that cats hate. Many people have said that they did not find this works, and I am reluctant to be putting food  in the garden like this due to potentially attracting foxes which could be as much of a nuisance as the cats! These also need to be replenished often, especially after rain, so it is not a particularly long term or sustainable option for most people.

1.2. Fragrant Plants. We tried this using Lavender plants for a double purpose of attracting bees to the garden as well as keeping the cats away and haven't found it to be particularly effective for the latter. It has been said that plants such as Lavender, Geranium, Pennyroyal and Lemon Thyme can be good for deterring cats, whilst the top option and believed to be the most effective is Rue, which we have not tried out yet.

One of the newer lavender plants added to the garden.

 2. Netting over beds.

If you have a raised bed, which is a good idea to have when growing vegetables in particular, placing garden netting or chicken wire over the top can directly protect seedlings and small plants whilst they become established. This has worked well for us in the past, but once the plants grow large enough, it needs to be removed so no longer offers protection.

Our raised bed ready for planting, but also potentially an oversized litter tray in the eyes of a cat!

3. Direct barriers.

 The single most effective way I have found of protecting the beds was using garden wire and fairly lightweight fencing to construct a temporary fence around the edge of the bed. This is not a cheap option but will definitely keep your plants safe from animals looking to dig a toilet. Furthermore it can be re-used each season if you create a mobile fence that can be lifted off and placed back down when required.

4. Uneven surfaces.

It has been said that cats dislike walking on uncomfortable and uneven surfaces. Placing bush clippings such as brambles, rose bush branches and the like around the planting patch could stop cats from coming any closer. I have not tried this out myself but it seems that this is definitely a viable option, although it could be a bit untidy, so it depends on your preferences!

Thorny clippings.

5. "Cat Repeller."

I have been looking at the motion sensor repellents that use a high frequency sound that is only able to be heard by cats as it is off the spectrum for most people. With a motion sensor rather than a continous sound, it is hoped that a cat will be less likely to become desensitised to the noise which can occur if they notice that the noise is just random and not associated with them entering a particular area. I am going to research these further to find out more about them and to be sure they are not going to effect any other wildlife. If I am confident it will not have any negative impacts, I will buy one and write a review on its effectiveness in the future, so watch this space! :)