Wader Quest - an introduction by Rick and Elis Simpson

Wader Quest is a charity that aims to encourage more people to get involved in Community Wader Conservation projects by highlighting the need for such projects and for those that can’t get directly involved, to do so indirectly through Wader Quest.

I have been a birder nearly all my life - some 50 odd years, in that time life has become less tolerable for birds and not least among them the waders. While I have been alive 60% of the intertidal zone in the Yellow Sea has been destroyed, Lapwings have tumbled by 50% in the UK and now 48% of all known wader populations are in decline. The realisation that all is not well with the waders is a relatively new one, we watched from the sidelines as the Slender-billed Curlew slipped through our fingers, only reacting when it was too late.

Northern Lapwing 50% decline in the UK in 30 years

It was the Spoon-billed Sandpiper that brought everything into sharp focus, it became an iconic symbol of all that was, and is, going wrong and in looking at the threats which were nudging it ever closer to extinction, we realised that the same threats were also having a devastating effect on other previously common wader species.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Thailand.

If you were to go out into your local high street and stop 100 passers-by and ask them to name a natural environment that was being destroyed at an unsustainable rate, of those that would have the slightest notion of what you are talking about (such is the disconnect between people and the environment these days) I can almost guarantee that 100% of them would cite rainforests in one form or another.

The chronic problem that rainforest face is unrelenting, it has been going on all my life, it has been widely publicised and has been given much attention by conservationists with varying degrees of success, however the same cannot be said of the intertidal zone and other, mostly wetland habitats, upon which our favourite birds depend. For many years, these have been swallowed up piecemeal, the cumulative effect of which has been devastating and it all happened under the radar. Only now, due to one little enigmatic bird, when the problem has become acute and pivotal, has it come to our attention; hopefully though it is not too late.

It’s easy to turn people onto forest conservation, not so easy when you are trying to save mud! Photo: Elis Simpson

With the aim of widening awareness about these issues, Wader Quest devised and created, with the support of Birdwatching Magazine, the Wader Conservation November initiative. This is a series of events designed to draw attention to the plight of waders around the world and what better way to start it off than a world-wide event?

On the 7^th and 8^th of November this year we are inviting people around the world to go out and look at waders. We then ask them to let us know what they have seen. For our part we will compile a list of the waders seen around the world and participants will have their name published on the Wader Quest website in a roll of honour. They will also be entered into a Prize Daw, the prize of which is a wonderful signed Lars Jonsson wader poster and a set of Wader Quest wader pin badges.

Does it matter if you don’t see a huge number of species? Does it matter if you just see common species? Not one bit of it, a contribution containing a single abundant species is just as valid as one with several exotic species and this is because it is the taking part that is important, by doing so you are saying ‘Yes! I care!’

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Hooded Plover  and Magellanic Plover; our three main projects so far. Photo: Elis Simpson

We also have initiated the first ever wader festivals in the UK at two locations, the Wirral Wader Festival (14^th and 15^th November) and the Wash Wader Festival (28^th and 29^th November); both are celebrations of areas of immense importance to waders in the UK and it would be fantastic to see some NGB members there to help us celebrate.

As young people you will want to believe that as you get older there will still be places such as these to celebrate, Elis and I are passionate about our waders and will continue to fight for their collective survival for as long as we can and we hope that you will also want to do the same so that, when you are our age, you will still be able to share the swirling flocks of waders and the huge high tide roosts they settle down to become with the next generation of birders that will follow behind you.

We must not let this become a thing of the past.

Becoming a Friend of Wader Quest costs just £5.00 a year; we hope that this low rate will make anyone who wants to, feel they are able to be part of our growing community of wader loving friends. Wader Quest is totally voluntary and 100% of all donations and Friends’ fees are used to assist lower budget wader conservation and research projects.

WADERS NEED LOVE TOO

Skokholm Bird Observatory 2015 - Trip Report

Skokholm Island, situated on Pembrokeshire’s south-west tip, has to be one of the most stunning places that Wales has to offer. The island is surrounded by rich seas supporting a wealth of marine wildlife and thriving populations of seabirds. During the breeding season, thousands of Manx Shearwaters and plenty of European Storm Petrels call this beautiful island their home, often swarming in at night to feed their hungry chicks under the cover of darkness. Skokholm also plays host to a wide range of migrant birds during the autumn that often stop for a period of respite. During August, six lucky NGB members were offered the opportunity to spend the last week of the month on this idyllic island assisting the bird observatory with its daily counts and log, as well as being given the chance to take on another team of NGBs at the infamous Bardsey Island Bird Obs in a bird race over the same week. How could anyone resist such an experience? The following is an account of the week’s sightings and events… 

The six eager NGBs (Craig Reed, Sophie Barrell, Kirsty Heiner, Jake Gearty, Michael Murphy and Drew Lyness), to become known as team Skok for the week, first all met together at Martin’s Haven on the mainland all geared up for what adventures day one would bring on the Island. For a few of us, this was to be our first ever visit to an island based bird observatory. After forming what was the first of many chain gangs with the rest of the island visitors to get our belongings onto the boat, we were off. We had close views of Gannets travelling up the sound from their nearby colony at Grassholm Island, and also spotted on the crossing to Skokholm was a (actually notable) flock of six Mallard, however I can safely say this was not the highlight of the trip. We arrived at the jetty to be warmly welcomed by Richard and Giselle, the wardens, along with a very friendly group of volunteers, one of whom turned out to be an NGB too, and swiftly became a valuable member of team Skok.

Following an introductory meeting and a much needed cuppa in the obs, we were given a first class tour of Skokholm by Richard and treated to some very up close and personal views of Manxie and Stormie chicks (adorable doesn’t even cover it). On top of this, day one provided a variety of wader species for the team’s ever growing list. One interesting looking wader spotted flying in off sea was later relocated on north pond and turned out to be Knot, a good island record. Little Stint, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank were also among the wader species gained from the day. Sea-watching also proved productive with a minimum of 63 Common Dolphin being seen offshore including a pod of over 30 with calves.

Over the proceeding few days, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern and Common Scoter were all seen out at sea. Peregrine and Chough also became daily features for the species log, the latter of which reached numbers of up to 16 different birds! Although passage migrants, particularly passerines, still remained thin on the ground during the earlier part of the week, the team did manage to score Goldfinch, Tree Pipit and Reed Warbler. Plenty more wader movement was observed too with Dunlin and Ruff landing on the North pond. The aforementioned Knot also somehow managed to find itself a friend before swiftly departing with no assistance whatsoever from an over enthusiastic NGB. The effort put in by the team over these first few days was impressive and it seemed like very few birds passed through the island without at least one of us picking up on it.

The world’s largest Slow worms were also one of the main highlights of the trip. Being the only reptile on the island, it is known that these legless lizards lack a gut parasite which slow worms on the mainland are susceptible to. One particular individual measured in at 42cm long!

On the 27^th of August during an early evening sea-watch, I was lucky enough to have some fairly close views of a passing Balearic Shearwater off the south side of the island. This would have been the sea-watching highlight of the trip if it wasn’t completely overshadowed by literally thousands of Manx Shearwaters rafting half a kilometre or so out to sea every single evening. It was a true spectacle to behold when the rafts of manxies took to the skies during a spectacular sunset to circle the island waiting for the cover of darkness to fly in and feed their chicks.

Night time on Skokholm created an entirely new atmosphere compared to during the day. It was a very surreal experience to be surrounded by seabirds whirling low in the sky around you and singing on the ground from somewhere out there in the dark. The ringers among out NGB team were lucky enough to ring a manxie or two, caught by simply picking them up from the middle of the path. It really puts into perspective how poorly adapted shearwaters are for life on land and shows exactly why these birds choose to only come in land to feed their chicks during the night. However, there were always times where we could look up in the night sky to observe lingering silhouettes of Great Black-backed Gull lit up by the moonlight, just waiting for an unfortunate shearwater to cross their path. We also assisted with weighing the chicks as part of an ongoing study on Manx Shearwater feeding behaviour. 

We were very privileged to spend one night observing Storm Petrels going about their nightly business through a specialised night vision camera.  It was incredible to get such an insight into the lives of these secretive birds. As if things couldn’t get any better, we were also lucky enough to hold, ring and release some adult stormies during a late night ringing session. Such delicate and beautiful birds to see close up and certainly an experience we will not be forgetting any time soon.

As the week went on, we were gifted the chance to stay on Skokholm for an extra couple of days due to the tidal swell making it difficult for the boat to dock safely on the island. This worked to team Skok’s favour as the weather conditions were changing and the winds were switching to Northerly. This allowed the team to take full advantage of the increase in migrant birds and during the last couple of days a flyover Wood Sandpiper and a juvenile female Merlin topped the highlights. However the flock of 25 Golden Plover is also worth a mention as it was the largest flock to be recorded from Skokholm this decade! Finally passerines began to make a much appreciated appearance with Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest and Dunnock all being seen. A small group of 3 Grey Wagtail feeding around the jetty just before our team got on the boat to leave the island was also a very pleasant surprise.

After a very up and down boat journey back to the mainland our highly eventful trip was complete, and what an experience it was. Overall team Skok managed to rack up a grand total of 86 species in a single week. A valiant effort from the team and it is worth noting that not a single species was seen by someone else on the island and not a member of the NGB team. Although this was not enough to defeat team Bardsey, we should certainly all be very proud on what team Skok managed to complete in the time we had. For more information on what we saw and did visit - skokholm.blogsot.co.uk (24^th-31^st August)

I would like to end by saying huge thank you to Richard and Giselle for having us and say that we all thoroughly enjoyed our stay on Skokholm. The trip was really made complete by the friendly and welcoming atmosphere created by the islands volunteers and staff. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. Thank you so much and we all eagerly await our next visit.

Photo credits; Craig Reed (Godwit & Knot, Jetty Sign), Jake Gearty (Sunset panorama, Choughs, Wheatear), Kirsty Hiener (Weathervane Sunset), Sophie Barrel (Stormie Chick) 

-by Drew Lyness (the one in the hat)

Waders With The Power To Inspire - Oliver Simms

When people ask me how I got in to birdwatching, the honest answer is that I don’t really know. I sort of started for the sake of it when I was 13. I had always had an interest in animals and enjoyed seeing the larger, more spectacular birds but, struggling for things to keep me occupied in the summer holiday, I seem to remember starting to write down all the birds that I saw. One thing though is certain, two different days watching waders helped cement my passion for birds.

A few weeks after I started listing the birds, a family holiday in the Peak District gave me the opportunity to enhance my ever growing list. I can’t remember how but somehow I had heard that Old Moor RSPB near Barnsley was the best site in the area and I managed to persuade my family to stop “briefly” as we drove back from a trip to York. The “brief” stop lasted over two hours and the only reason I was dragged away was because the reserve was closing. I wrote down 83 species for these two hours, no doubt some of them farcical (Marsh Warbler certainly!), but it was the waders that really stood out for me.

Up until this point, I only really recalled seeing three species of wader (Lapwing, Curlew and Oystercatcher) in my life and all before I truly began birdwatching. For whatever reason, waders were a family that I had seen in my field guide, eye-catching species that captured my imagination and I was desperate to see more of them. Indeed, I had hoped that I would kickstart my wader list at Old Moor but nothing prepared me for the sheer variety of species. In the first hide, some local birder helpfully explained to me how to separate Common and Green Sandpipers, as these became the first new wader species of the day for me.

We then walked round to the “Wader Scrape Hide”, with the name alone causing me  no end of excitement. I was blown away. Amongst the thousands of Lapwing (exciting enough itself for me at the time) were Golden Plover, Dunlin, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Greenshank and, the real prize, a full summer plumaged Spotted Redshank, which an RSPB volunteer had helpfully pointed out to me. I seem to remember being quite disappointed when I was told it was a Spotted Redshank as I had been desperate to see a Redshank not a Spotted Redshank! It was only last year, almost 8 years later, that I saw my next pristine summer plumaged Spotted Redshank.

Redshank - Samuel Langlois

Dunlin - Samuel Langlois

7 months later and my birdwatching obsession had grown tenfold but I had not yet had a comparable experience with my beloved waders. I had visited several sites that I thought would be good for waders including Rainham Marshes RSPB, Rutland Water and WWT Slimbridge but only seen 3 or 4 species each time, though I had seen Redshank on each occasion! I had a free day in the Easter Holidays and decided that I was going to go somewhere by train. I decided on Rainham Marshes and I called them up to see if a 14 year old could join the RSPB without his parents present. An hour later they phoned back to say that I could but I would not be allowed in the reserve unaccompanied due to “open water”.  Furious, I set about finding somewhere else to go and I heard that Two Tree Island in Leigh was good for waders so I decided to go there.

I had never birdwatched in a saltmarsh or estuarine habitat so I did not quite know what to expect but I was hopeful of a couple of wader species. As I walked up towards the hide, I saw what I initially took to be a gull mobbing a Buzzard. I raised my binoculars and realised it wasn’t a Buzzard but a Carrion Crow so I was confused as why the “gull” was so small. The penny soon dropped, this was my first Avocet! As I got in to the hide, the excitement continued as the saltmarsh threw up more and more wonderful waders. There must have been 12 or so species of wader, I’d never seen anything like it! Highlights for me included my first Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel and Grey Plover. Looking back, if I had the same day now, the highlight would have probably been the Cuckoo singing outside the hide but, at the time, all I cared about was the wading birds.

Almost eight years since these first experiences, waders still capture my imagination. Whether the excitement of finding a Common Sandpiper on my generally waderless patch, a day on the Norfolk coast watching swirling flocks, twitching a transatlantic vagrant or enjoying Blacksmith Plovers in South Africa, I still take pleasure in these wonderful birds. Although I have seen rarities including Greater Yellowlegs, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher, one breeding species still eludes me; the Dotterel. I am determined this year to track one down!

Hopefully my story highlights the importance of protecting waders. It is essential not only so that future generations can enjoy them as much as I have but also because they have a special power to inspire a love for all birds and, as a result, a determination to conserve them. Those interested, feel free to the visit the WaderQuest website using the following link: http://www.waderquest.org/ 

Purple Sandpiper - Samuel Langlois

Oliver is a 22 year old Classics graduate from Durham University and, after spending his last free summer as a bird guide and hotel manager in Ecuador, now works as an auditor at the National Audit Office. He previously served as Trip Officer in the Next Generation Birders committee and is now a trustee of Wader Quest. When he is not staring at spreadsheets at work, he enjoys NGB trips to Spurn, hill walking and birding in the tropics.