Charting the decline of sparrows and starlings

There have been many changes in the wildlife in my garden over the years, perhaps the most dramatic being the recent disappearance of tree sparrows and starlings.  I have been submitting data to the BTO Garden Birdwatch since it started in 1995 and data from my garden are available online from 2003.  I was keen on graphs when I was at work, often using them to investigate changes over time.  So here's a graph.  It shows the number of weeks per year that I recorded a starling or a tree sparrow in 2003-2025.

Starlings were regular residents in the garden from when I moved here 37 years ago.  They nested in tree holes each year, disappearing after the chicks fledged and returning six months later. There were no nests in 2024 or 2025 and I haven't seen a starling here this year.

Tree sparrow was a very rare bird here until 2012.  Although I counted the nests in nest boxes they also nested in tree holes so I don't think the nest box numbers are all that useful but there were nine in 2016, only one in 2023 and none in 2024 or 2025.  You'll see from the graph they were here all the time for a few years and records fell precipitously since 2019.  I have only seen one once this year.

Both starlings and tree sparrows are in decline nationally and both are red-listed on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern although the national picture isn't quite as dramatic as the changes here.  The UK breeding population of starlings fell by 57% from 1995 to 2023.  During the same period the tree sparrow breeding population increased by 39% but that was after a catastrophic decline from the 1970s - numbers now are still only 5% of what they were.  I found couple of graphs on the BTO website that sort of mirror my experience but use different data on a different timescale.  This is their starling graph.

And their tree sparrows.

There have been two other major developments in the garden in recent years which may be related to these changes.  The first was the arrival of ring-necked parakeets that have been here every day since late 2022.  They are tree hole nesters and could potentially compete with starlings for nest holes but they don't nest in the garden and wouldn't fit through a nest box hole. Here's another version of my graph.

The second change, which is probably more relevant, has been a change in the status of American grey squirrels.  The first grey squirrel was seen here in 2005 and the last native red squirrel in 2016.  For 18 years I was part of a team exercising grey squirrel control locally in the hope that the red squirrels could be preserved.  However, the grey tide was unstoppable and I eventually gave up in early 2023 after everyone else had already done so.  Grey squirrels have been here every day since.  They also nest in tree holes and the nearest to the house is in what used to be a starling nest.  I suspect the starlings and sparrows may have seen the resident squirrels and decided otherwise go elsewhere.  On this version of the graph the grey box shows when grey squirrels were resident (and not persecuted).

The grey squirrels have a lot to answer for but there isn't much I can do about them.  After last week's post I haven't seen the stoat again and I think it may also have been put off by the squirrels.  Of course both the parakeets and the squirrels, or neither, might be involved.  It would be nice to think I might see starlings and tree sparrows nesting here one day.  Here's hoping.

Conflict on StoatCam

The stoat has been having a bit of bother with the neighbours recently.  A few weeks ago I posted a video of the stoat chasing a squirrel but sometimes it is the other way round.  A male stoat could kill an adult squirrel but a stoat of either sex is more of a threat to the squirrel's young.  Squirrels are nesting in the trees in the garden and I hope the stoat will nest in the wall so there is a very uneasy relationship at the moment.

I made a short video of some of the action on the trail cameras.  A lot is off camera and the views were a bit distant so the images are cropped with some loss of quality but you get the idea.

The stoat (I am assuming it is always the same one) shows up on the cameras regularly and I have had two very close sightings in the past week.  The first was through the window for a few seconds from about a metre away when it climbed up through a hedge.  The second about 10m from the front door was bit longer as it probably felt safer at that distance.  It seems to cope with me being around but I just hope the conflict with the squirrels doesn't put it off.  Here's brief video of the stoat with what looks like a field vole.

Weasels are still around in the garden but they are too small and too sensible to get involved with the squirrels.  Most times I see them dashing through the camera box but this one came out to play on the wall while the stoat and the squirrels weren't looking.

A new ladybird hotspot

In the last three years that I have been looking for ladybirds I have learnt that the best places to find them are on gravestones in winter and in small Scots pine trees in the rest of the year. Some ladybirds are generalists - found in many different habitats - but others are conifer specialists and Scots pine seems to be most favoured.  I have often noticed a group of small self-seeded pines close to the A189 north of Cramlington as I have driven past and I eventually got round to visiting them a few days ago.  It's a pretty unprepossessing spot inside a large traffic interchange and apart from the pines it mostly scrub and litter.  But the trees are what attract the ladybirds and they don't mind the surroundings.  This is the habitat,

and this is an aerial view.

It was immediately apparent that there were ladybirds everywhere.  Every branch of every tree seemed to have a 7-spot Ladybird and there were Pine Ladybirds on almost every tree. Altogether I found 10 species in a place with no previous records (because no-one had looked). There were lots of great pine aphids as well which is presumably why the ladybirds were there. 

The species I found were:

Pine Ladybird.  Despite the name it is found in many habitats.

Adonis Ladybird.  Another one that seems to turn up anywhere.

Larch Ladybird.  Mostly a conifer specialist.

2-spot Ladybird.  A generalist.

10-spot Ladybird.  Often in deciduous trees but can turn up anywhere.  I found two colour forms - decempunctata and decempustulata.

7-spot Ladybird.  The most ubiquitous ladybird and very abundant everywhere at the moment.

Harlequin Ladybird.  Also common and widespread but I found only two.

Eyed Ladybird.  Our largest species and another conifer specialist.  A real beauty.

Striped Ladybird.  Perhaps the prettiest of all and mostly found in or close to Scots pine. Usually hard to find but this was the most I have seen in one place.

Pine scymnus.  Really tiny (<2mm) and the only micro ladybird I found.

It was absorbing to find so many species in one small spot.  I expect it will be worth another visit in a few weeks time when there will be larvae to look for as well.

Birds on OtterCam

I rarely set my trail cameras for pictures of birds but birds trigger more recordings than mammals.  Most of the mammals are rats and mice and most of the birds are wood pigeons and moorhens but sometimes it is something more interesting.  Several Eurasian bitterns have been in Gosforth Nature Reserve all winter and at least one is still there - it is rarely seen but constantly heard as its booming call echoes through the reeds.  This one did me the honour of walking past my camera.

Another surprise was a cormorant, a common sight on the lake but not previously within range of a trail camera.

Next two little brown jobs.  Reed buntings are common enough and the singing males are very visible in spring.  Females are less showy but still very attractive and, like the bittern, beautifully camouflaged for life in the reeds.  Cetti's warblers are easily heard but rarely seen, which is a pity as they are also very attractive little birds.

Common birds tend to get overlooked but the trail cameras can give us an intimate view.  Here are a few recent ones that caught my eye.

Finally another surprise - a tawny owl trying to catch a rat.  Perhaps a bit optimistic but it may have misjudged the size of its prey in the dark.  The rat lived to tell the tale.

It's a smelly old world

We humans have a poorly developed sense of smell so it is difficult for us to appreciate how important it is for most other mammals.  Mustelids, in particular, use scent to communicate with others of their kind, marking their territories and advertising their presence and breeding condition.  With the exception of badgers, female and male mustelids lead separate lives, usually meeting only for courtship and mating.  As they have large territories, are thinly spread across the landscape and are mainly active at night, scent-marking is a vital way for them to tell who is about and who is available.

Otter cubs are already leaving their own scent marks and sniffing others by the time they first appear on the cameras at three or four months of age.  The first video, from late 2024, shows two young otter cubs exploring their world, much more interested in the scents than the sights or sounds.

Otters use spraint (otter poo), urine or anal jelly to leave scent marks, choosing prominent features such as rocks and grass tussocks.  This is a new spot I have only just discovered.  The very first night after I set up a camera an otter turned up.

The next video shows a popular sprainting spot which is very regularly visited by the dog otter and (separately) by the mother and cubs - there is fresh spraint almost every time I look.  It was interesting to see it marked by a badger as well on this occasion - a behaviour known as "musking".

Badgers' family dynamics are rather different from otters' but they use latrines to mark their territories and they scent-mark each other to reinforce the clan smell and maintain family bonds. Here's an example with a mother repeatedly making sure her cub smells like the rest of the family, using sub caudal glands under her tail - a process called "allomarking".

Polecats are notoriously smelly to our sensibilities (another name is foulmart) but it obviously works for them.  The next video shows a polecat using urine, scat and body rubbing to advertise its presence and sniffing to see who else has been around.

The smaller mustelids are the more elusive they become.  Tracking weasels and stoats is very difficult so less is known about their territorial behaviour.  Field signs are usually very few but this weasel left a message inside my camera box.  It was also scent marking by rubbing its body along the entrance pipe as it went in and out, something that happens nearly every time.

OtterCam on Channel 5

Oh dear.  It's happened again.  On Channel 5 last night.  People like otters and television people like to show pictures of otters but why they also need a mumbling old man as well is beyond me. My main aim in making all my otter videos is to be able to share them so of course I said yes but it wasn't a comfortable experience.  After Winterwatch a year ago I was hoping it would be better - at least I didn't wear my dreadful old hat this time. 

The approach came from Lonesome Pine Productions, an independent TV production company based in Newcastle commissioned by Channel 5.  The team above (R-L) was Simon Glass, who was also cameraman for Winterwatch (but soundman as well this time), Alan Fairholm, producer, and Bunny, assistant producer.  Brian Rutter took the photos in this post.

Most of the time all I had to do was walk towards tha camera (I am quite good at that bit).

Simon also took a lot of drone footage, much of it general views of the reserve and some of me walking up and down (again).

The interview is much harder than it looks, mostly because I talk too much.  The editors need very short sentences so they can cut up the copy more easily whereas I tend to talk in paragraphs.  Added to that I am always thinking three sentences ahead so I don't lose my thread but then I do.  Fortunately very little of what we recorded was used in the end.  (If you think it was bad you should see what they left out!)

The programme was no 24 in a series of 40 on Channel 5 called Love Nature.  If you want to watch it you can see it on the Channel 5 website here.  I suppose if I got more practice at speaking in front of the camera I would get better at it but I hope that's my television career over.

The trail camera footage they used was some I have shown before in posts here and here.    To bring you up to date here is a brief clip of the family last Sunday.  You'll see the cub with the poorly leg is still limping but is able to keep up with the others.

Adders

The weather in the North East has been resolutely depressing so far this year, often wet and nearly always cloudy.  I guessed the snakes would be fed up with it as well so spotting sunshine in the forecast on Tuesday I headed north hoping they would be out basking.

This early in the season you would expect that most of the snakes would be males (they emerge from hibernation earlier) but the first one I saw was large and brown, so more likely to be a female.

The snakes hadn't yet shed their old skins so the males were looking rather dowdy.  Once they have moulted they will be gleaming black and silver but this is how they are now.

Here's another with a slightly greenish tinge.

I read that adders don't eat after emerging from hibernation until they have shed their skins but this one has a suspicious looking bulge which might suggest it had a quick snack.

While I watched it was tasting the air with its tongue.

The snakes spent an hour or two sunbathing, readjusting their coils every now and then, before slithering back into the undergrowth.

The site I visit is getting more overgrown each year.  The snakes don't seem to mind but it makes it harder to get a clear view for a photo.

Grooming and suckling on OtterCam

This is amazing.  In seven years of watching otters on my trail cameras I had never seen a cub being suckled until just over a week ago.  And now it has happened again - twice, and with two different cubs.  The cubs are now seven and a half months old, nearly full grown, and they should be independent in perhaps about 10 weeks time.  Last time the cub with a foot injury was the one suckling and I wondered if it might be for comfort.  The next time it was the injured cub again and I think mother was more interested in grooming herself and the cub.

The latest episode was with one of the others.  Mother had been grooming herself for about a minute before the cub turned up and the grooming and suckling went on for another two minutes.

The injured cub sticks closer to the mother than the other two who are noticeably more independent.  It will be fascinating to see how things develop over the next few weeks.

An injured cub on OtterCam

I feared the worst at one stage but this may not turn out as badly as I thought.  The smallest cub, presumably female, was limping badly two weeks ago with an injury to its right back leg or foot. In the first video you can see it lagging behind the others, wanting to join in the play fight and then getting upset when it all got a bit boisterous and one of them presumably trod on its poorly foot.

Two days later the cub appeared on the cameras on its own and could barely drag itself up the bank - a video distressing to watch that I won't post here.  I thought if it didn't manage to rejoin the mother and the others and couldn't catch its own food it probably wouldn't survive.  Later that night there was a video of mother with the two fit cubs and no sign of the third.

Since then, however, it has rejoined mother and at least one of the others on the videos and seems to be managing, although it is still limping badly.  Here is the cub with mother and one of the others.  The first camera was very fogged up.

And then something I have never seen before.  Otter cubs are weaned by 14 weeks of age and these three are now seven months old and yet mother was letting the injured cub suckle. Perhaps she senses the cub's distress and this was for comfort rather than sustenance.

Some good news is that the dog otter has made a fairly good recovery from his leg injury although it has taken two months.  Let's hope the cub does the same.

Stoats and weasels

I rarely see a stoat or a weasel in the garden but I now have three trail cameras set up to look out for them, one on my "weasel wall", one in a camera box and a third watching the base of a dead sycamore and adjacent low wall.  Since the start of the year stoat visits have been regular but fleeting, enough to show there is one around but not enough to suggest it lives here.  It doesn't go into the camera box but appears on the other two cameras.  Last week it briefly checked the base of the dead sycamore and then ran up the tree, disappearing from view - something I have seen several times before.  This time, however, it came back down after only 15 seconds carrying prey, identifiable as a vole in slow motion.  There is an old starling nest hole about 3m up the tree which is probably where the vole was, but why and how it got there, and how the stoat knew, is mystery to me.

Not to be outdone a weasel appeared on the same camera, checking on a delivery van before running towards the camera.

Most of the stoat recordings are on the wall.  Here is one doing what stoats do, although quite why is another mystery.

Although weasel visits are less common, one also showed up on the wall last week, not quite as frantic as the stoat.

My hope is that one of these will decide that the wall is a good place to make a nest and raise young.