Welsh Journals

BIRDS WHICH NEED WATCHING* PETER J. PANTING With the approach of spring, it becomes more obvious to field naturalists generally-and ornithologists in particular- that certain of our native birds have increased to an alarming extent, particularly during the last decade. Most of these birds are of dubious character, and several of them can be regarded as constituting a real danger to the numbers of other useful or innocuous species. Those which I have in mind particularly are the carrion crow, magpie, herring gull and jackdaw and to a lesser extent, the rook and (locally) the greater black-backed gull. All of these constitute a more real danger to bird numbers than the normal predatory species, chiefly hawks and owls. The danger is based primarily on the intelligence of these birds. I have wide experience of the crow family as a whole, the members of which, in the main, constitute the peak of avian intelligentsia. Anyone who has possessed a really tame raven, crow, magpie or jackdaw cannot fail to agree with me. This intelligence is used to watch and harry nesting birds, and to steal their eggs or nestlings and also to drive them away from nesting sites. In the case of weaker, more nervous, or rare species both the latter types of interference are easily underestimated. The house sparrow and starling (neither, fortunately, common in this area) perform the latter disservice to smaller birds in many districts. woodpeckers, tits, house martins and other hole-nesting species being particular sufferers in having their nest-sites appropriated. Gulls, as is well known, steal the eggs and chicks of other seabirds, particularly the auks, in alarming numbers and their spread inland has led them to rob the nests of ground-nesting species. I have several instances of whole broods of domestic chicks and ducklings being devoured by herring gulls — often the semi-tame birds which have been encouraged around houses by scraps or garbage. In the last two years, while trying to encourage nesting birds by creating a sanctuary on my land at Drim Mill, Goodwick, Pem- brokeshire, I found the persistence of carrion crows and magpies has been particularly noticeable. Eggs taken by crows include those of domestic goose, ducks and poultry, moorhen, mallard, pheasant, lapwing and curlew, on my own or adjacent land. They have killed several newly hatched geese, but other young poultry have been penned to avoid this. Magpies, active particularly in early morning, have taken large numbers of small birds' eggs and nestlings, including three clutches of spotted flycatcher eggs from one site, which I found particularly disheartening. Unfortunately, having kept tame magpies and knowing their delightfully intelligent behaviour in this state, I am loth to destroy them.