Musings on the word 'birdy' and other vocabulary

Come on, admit it, all you patch birders know exactly what I'm talking about if I say, "Nothing new today, but it felt really birdy."  It's one of those phrases that shows precisely what the patch felt like, but is very difficult to put fully into words.  

What does the term 'birdy' actually mean?  What makes one day more birdy than another? 

It could be an increase in birdsong. It might be a greater flitting, seen in trees and bushes out of the corner of our eyes, or bigger numbers of birds flying overhead.  Or perhaps it's simply down to a change in the weather.  It can feel birdy at any time of the year, but I've noticed the term used far more during Spring and Autumn than at any other time. It's just a feeling I guess.  But, we all know there are also times when it should be birdy and it's very much not!  Those disappointing days when we wake early and grab our optics with expectation, then go home later, wondering where all the birds have disappeared to - a regular occurrence here in Warwick.

It's always a birdy day on Bardsey Island

As with any hobby, birding has developed its own vocabulary; some words and phrases used universally and understood by all, with some sticking to certain locations (it took me a while to be able to understand and respond to "Sin owt?" at Spurn.)

One of the most used and perhaps most amusing, to the immature among us, is the word jizz (or giss, if we want a slightly less questionable spelling).  Wikipedia describes it as the overall impression or appearance of a bird garnered from such features as shape, posture, flying style or other habitual movements, size and colouration combined with voice, habitat and location. It was actually used first in ornithology way back in 1921, by an Irish man by the name of T.A. Coward (according to a paper written by Jeremy and Julian Greenwood - yep, there's actually a paper on the word jizz!)  Mr Coward explained it perfectly:

‘If we are walking on the road and see, far ahead, someone whom we recognise although we can neither distinguish features nor particular clothes, we may be certain that we are not mistaken; there is something in the carriage, the walk, the general appearance which is familiar; it is, in fact, that individual’s jizz.'

Photo - Bridgeman Images

It's true, the regular birder can often identify a bird - even in silhouette, from some distance and partially obscured by branches - just by the way it is moving and with knowledge of the regular behaviour of certain breeds.  Green finches sit proudly at the tops of trees, siskins hang from the ends of branches, flycatchers dart out and back to their perches - they all have their individualities that can be learned and used, although not guaranteed, to narrow down what we are seeing.

The behaviour of birds brings out a whole plethora of vocabulary - I have no idea if there's a difference between 'flighty' or 'mobile', 'over' or 'passing through'. I've never heard the words 'elusive' or 'confiding' used more than in birdwatching.  Then there's the labels for the birds themselves.  We lazily shorten their names from meadow pipit to mipit, sparrowhawk to sprawk. Blackwit, barwit and some we even reduce to acronyms like GBBG, LSW and GWE.  We call birds plastic if they're not wild enough, migrant if they're moving and vagrant if they're lost.  

And then there's a list of other birding terms...  

We twitch a rare bird (especially if it's mega).  We dip if we can't find it.  We string if we pretend we did. Apparently, if we send a twitcher the wrong way on purpose, we're gripping them off.  We curse our bogey birds, we curse the togs that get too close to a bird and we celebrate when we tick a bird.

Lastly, there's that all important Boooom! This one depends on how special the bird seen is.  The number of Os, exclamation marks and whether the word is in bold or even capitals is the measure on this one.  

I'm sure there's many many more words and phrases I've still to learn, but now I'm going to dive into my copy of Mrs Moreau's Warbler, to read more about from where our lovely birds got their names.

Happy birding!

Lizzy

The origin of the birdwatching term ‘jizz’ | British Birds

Mrs Moreau's Warbler by Stephen Moss | Natural History Books | Faber

West Midlands All Dayer May '23

We are very lucky here in Warwick, to bird as a community.  Each new sighting in the Warwick 100 area gets reported on our WhatsApp group, followed by a flurry of responses from other team members; celebrating both the individual finder and the team's success.  This is usually then followed by a barage of jokes and mild insults - all part of knowing each other pretty well by now!  When the opportunity arises to join the entire West Midlands area as a community for a day, we jump at the chance.  

The West Midlands All Dayer, run by West Midlands Bird Club, is a fantastic, twice-yearly event that started as a bit of fun between friends in the 1980s.  Now, a significant number of birding teams - from Shropshire to Warwickshire, Staffordshire to Herefordshire - race to find as many species of bird as possible in 24 hours.  With such a geographical range, there is a huge diversity of sites inlvolved - from megasites like Middleton Lakes, Ladywalk and Belvide to small 'unbirdy' patches like ours.  For us, it is not a 'race'...we know we can never compete with the wetlands, pools and migration paths of some of those birding hotspots.  For us, it's a chance to get involved and feel part of something bigger, along with making the excitement of a day list come to life.  When spotting a sparrow is a 'boom!' moment, it has to be a good day!

Our All Dayer started with my being woken at 4.20am by a blackbird.  Number one ticked!  I thought I might as well get out and about, so made my way on my bike to our local barn owl's haunt just before dawn.  No luck with Barny this time, but I managed to notch up several regulars and had a list of 30 by 6.30am.  A lesser whitethroat made me smile, as it was our 100th bird for the year (hitting our target one day earlier than last year).  While I was taking a sound recording, a cuckoo called in the distance - a great record for Warwick, for the day and the year!  Off to the golf course, adding a few more locals like great crested grebe and buzzard, then to the Saxon Mill fields to see if any migrants had dropped.  Nothing doing, but I did get to see a wonderful young stag by the river.

Stag at the Saxon Mill fields

At this point, the rest of the team started to stir, with Steve, David, Rick and Alec all contributing with bullfinch, goldcrest and sadly, a dead red kite reported (which we obviously didn't count). 

I had some chores to do and a lunch date with my Mum (watching Charlie get his new hat) as the team hit the 50 mark.  Top respect to a couple of the group, who braved the worst of the weather in the middle of the day, to pick up canada goose, treecreeper and raven.  

Treecreeper - Alec Cuthbert

Full of coronation chicken sandwiches, I went out again, choosing Hopyards and the sewage works.  A huge flock of hirundines, including sand martin, and reed warbler on a local pool made it worth the trip, while records of willow warbler, nuthatch and sparrow hawk came in from elsewhere.  Meeting up with Steve, we took a stroll around the racecourse to see if the ellusive whinchat was about.  There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, although the skylarks were showing well.

hoards of hirundines

skylark at the racecourse

Even some of the ordinary everyday birds were notably absent today - grey wagtail, greylag goose, black-headed gull, kestrel or peregrine never made it to the list. 

Eventually we all decided to call it a day with a total of 64 bird species.   A brilliant result, with lots of conversation (including jokes and mild insults) on the WhatsApp, as well as keeping up with the #westmidsalldayer posts on Twitter.  A HUGE thanks to Phil Andrews for coordinating the event, we are already looking forward to the September one!

Lizzy

Here is the list...

blackbird
blackcap
blue tit
bullfinch SV
buzzard
Canada goose SV
carrion crow
chaffinch
chiffchaff
coal tit
collared dove SV
coot AC
cuckoo
dunnock
ferel pigeon
gadwall AC
goldcrest RT
goldfinch
great crested grebe
great spotted woodpecker SV
great tit
green woodpecker
greenfinch
grey heron
herring gull
house martin
house sparrow
jackdaw
jay
kingfisher
lesser black-backed gull
lesser whitethroat
linnet
little egret AC
little grebe AC
long-tailed tit SV
magpie
mallard
meadow pipit DM
mistle thrush SV
moorhen
mute swan
nuthatch DM
pheasant
pied wagtail
raven AC
Reed bunting
Reed warbler
robin
rook
sand martin
sedge warbler
skylark
song thrush
sparrowhawk SV
starling
stock dove
swallow
swift SV
treecreeper AC
whitethroat
willow warbler DM
wood pigeon
wren

Happy New Year!

 So here we are, the New Year is almost upon us and, for many birders, that also means a new notepad and a new Year List - when spotting blackbirds and robins becomes exciting all over again!

This is certainly the case for the Warwick 100 - a small group of enthusiasts who set an annual target of noting 100 species of birds within a two mile radius of St Mary's Church over a twelve month period.

Last year, we smashed it with 116 different species - a brilliant and memorable year with a visiting hoopoe the star of the show.

But the slate is now wiped clean, we are back to zero again and a new list can begin!  It is likely to be much more of a test this year, as our most prolific bird-finder will only be able to contribute on rare occasions, but we are ready to take on the Warwick 100 challenge once more.

Join us as we log and blog our way through 2022 and...bring on the birds!

End of Year roundup for 2021

This year has been another good year for our little area of Warwick and its 2 mile radius.  As a small group we managed to find 116 different species of birds in total making this our best ever year.   This is another great achievement considering 90% of the species found involved no car travel and the other 10% involved car journeys of less than 3 miles.  

We started the year off well with at least 8 Stonechats over-wintering at 4 different locations within the Warwick area, 1 Woodcock, 1 Brambling, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Merlin, our returning Whooper Swan and a Russian White Fronted Goose that only stayed for 24 hours.  We also had a record number of 5 Green Sandpipers at one location and our highest count of Common Snipe was a maximum of 25 birds.

Spring was quiet this year with just 2 Wheatear and 1 Common Redstart being the highlights.  Summer was also quiet but the Racecourse area had its best season of breeding Skylarks for several years with a small increase in breeding pairs.  Autumn, after achieving just 1 Whinchat was saved by our star bird of the year, a Hoopoe at IBM.

Hoopoe by Alec Cuthbertson

Winter is always our best season for recording species and this winter has had a promising start with at least 2 Stonechats overwintering as well as a Cetti's Warbler but no sign so far of our Whooper Swan yet.

We reached our target of 100 birds within the first 100 days of 2021 which is the first time we have managed to do that, with the 100th bird being a Yellow Wagtail found by Lizzy.  

The full list of species seen during the year can be found here.

Want to stay in Warwick and while here read about Warwick then look no further

If you are planning to stay in Warwick then look no further and take a look at The Secret Space.  It is centrally located not that far from Smith Street with its host of independent shops, restaurants and Cafes and is run by one of our Warwick 100 members who is a superhost on airbnb.

Before you come, take a look at some images taken in and around the town (instagram access needed).

Then while you are here, why not read all about our birds seen in one of our local parks.  Park Life is written by one of our other members and is available from here or Amazon, Waterstones etc.

End of Year roundup for 2019

2019 has been a great year for the number of different species we have managed to see within the Warwick 100 area with a few surprises and some species that we thought were guaranteed but just could not track down (Red-Legged Partridge in particular).

All sightings for the Warwick 100 area or nearby are my own unless specified otherwise.

There were firsts for Lizzy and Jack at the Saxon Mill, being Goosander and Golden Plover and they had a bumper day in November with 3 Woodcocks.  Lizzy’s highlight was being almost scared to death by a calling Barn Owl at the Warwickshire Golf Course and then finding 2 Bewick's Swans this past week.

Bewick's Swans at the Warwickshire Golf Course by Lizzy Bradbury

David found a Stonechat at Warwick Racecourse in November which was the first one we have had on that site for a couple of years (it turned out that there was a pair which I managed to photograph the following day).  Our local wintering Snipe roost had an impressive 26+ birds (and continues to do so currently).  Lizzy and Jack found a pair of breeding Spotted Flycatchers and I found another pair in a location not frequented by any of us normally.

My own Warwick 100 site had a bumper year with the following:-

In winter; I almost fainted when a Bittern flew directly over my head on 14/02/2019.  I had 2 over wintering Green Sandpipers seen together on 28/03/2019, 30/03/2019 and 01/04/2019.  I also had singles from 08/03/2019 to 22/04/2019.  2 Whooper Swans also flew low over my head on 06/01/2019 and singles were seen in other locations on 13/02/2019 and 06/03/2019.  There was a flock of Golden Plover containing about 50 birds and a smattering of Lapwing for a few days mid January.  A Great Egret was seen on 08/03/2019 and then again on 26/03/2019 (as was a Little Egret).  A Goosander flew down river on 15/03/2019 (possibly the same bird that Lizzy saw on a different date) and a drake Mandarin hung around from 30/03/2019 to 02/04/2019.

In Spring,  1 Wheatear on 01/04/2019 and 30+ Sand Martins on 02/04/2019.  Another surprise was a fly over Whimbrel on 21/04/2019 and 1 or possibly 2 Common Sandpipers seen from 17/04/2019 to 26/04/2019.  The rest of spring was relatively quiet with the only notable thing being a count of 40+ Swift on 06/06/2019 over the Stratford Road near to Aylesford School and the Severn Trent Sewage Works.

In Summer, there were maybe up to 3 Hobbys at 3 different locations (with the latest being recorded in the autumn on 30/09/2019) and a returning Wheatear on 21/08/2019.

In Autumn, 1 Common Sandpiper on 03/09/2019 and 04/09/2019, 2 Whinchats from 04/09/2019 to 13/09/2019 (and also 2 at Warwick Racecourse on 03/04/2019 and 04/09/2019) and 1 Stonechat from 27/10/2019 to 29/10/2019.   The drake Mandarin again on 07/09/2019, 1 Yellow Wagtail on 10/09/2019 and then 2 on 17/09/2019, 1 Spotted Flycatcher from the end of August to the end of September and then joined by another on 29/09/2019.  2 Greenshank flew over calling on 15/10/2019, 1 Green Sandpiper from 27/10/2019 to 12/11/2019 then 3 together on 17/11/2019, 1 on 18/11/2019 and 1 on 13/12/2019 and a Woodcock accidently flushed on 20/11/2019. After the prolonged rain, there was a "duckfest" from 30/10/2019 to 23/11/2019 with 2 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 10+ Teal, 2 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall and 1 possible juvenile Red Crested Pochard. The flooding also attracted large numbers of Gulls with 500+ Black-Headed Gulls recorded on 18/11/2019 and a Yellow-Legged Gull on 30/10/2019 and 31/10/2019.

For a full list of the birds seen in the Warwick 100 area please click here.

Welcome

Welcome to this new blog which will provide a list of species seen within the Warwick 100* area (2 miles radius of Old Town Square) per year or over all time (see the tabs above). 

*Our yearly challenge is to find 100 species within the area!