A Ring Ouzel at Pitstone Hill

4th February 2020

I can't believe we are on our way to hopefully photograph a Ring Ouzel on the 4th February. Generally, Ring Ouzels breed in the north and are only recorded in the south on their migration in the Spring and Autumn. So what is a Ring Ouzel doing here in January and February? Well the simple answer is climate change!!

Over the last few years we have been having milder and milder winters and it is having a noticeable effect on our birds. When I was a boy we could have temperatures of -10C for a week during the winter, the frost never thawed for days, and icicles hanging from the gutter were 2 feet long!! And this cold weather, which was obviously a lot worse in Scotland and Scandinavia, sent thousands of birds south looking for a warmer climate and and more importantly food.

These were birds like Siskins, Redpolls, Bramblings and even ducks like Smew and Goldeneye. But these days, and this winter in particular, it has been much milder and the Siskins, Redpolls and Bramblings have only been present in smaller numbers. Also, although the Winter is not over yet, there have been no Smew at Amwell so far, possibly the first year this has ever happened, whilst 20 or 30 years ago they were regularly in double figures.

I think Goldeneye are also an indicator as when I use to go to Abberton in the 1960s and 1970s there were hundreds of these birds, but this Winter they would struggle to get into double figures. So basically, because it is so mild, birds don't see the need to travel south and stay where they are.

And whether by coincidence or not, our birds are acting in the same way. Back in the 1960s over-wintering Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were a fairly rare occurrence, but are now common-place, and we are starting to see other birds following suit. This winter we have an over-wintering Ring Ouzel at Pitsone Hill, a Swallow at Abberton and even a Turtle Dove at Valentine's Park in Ilford. Today we went to see the Ring Ouzel, but here are a couple of shots of the Swallow and Turtle Dove from Andy Johnson and Ian Plume respectively. I suspect this over-wintering of an increasing number of species will become more common over the next decade.

Photo: Andy Johnson

Photo: Ian Plume

The Ring Ouzel has been present for some time now on the eastern slope of Pitsone Hill and was quite easy to find. We managed to photograph it for 20 minutes or so in the sun, but then it decided it was full of worms and it retreated to the centre of a bush for the best part of an hour.

When it started to feed again the sun had gone in but the bird was now a bit closer. So now the shots were sharper with more detail, but less colour. Well, I suppose you can't have it always!!

And when you are concentrating on photographing a rare bird on a cold and blustery hillside, do you ever get that feeling you are being watched? Just saying!!

Well, that was very successful, and my thanks go to Andy and Ian for allowing me to use their superb photos. Very much appreciated.