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2005 Photo Gallery
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Black Redstart
Photograph by Shane Wolsey
After a really poor spring for migrants pausing on the island, it was cheering to get a Black Redstart on 29th May. This species is really quite a rarity on Copeland, being not quite an annual visitor. This is the 19th to be ringed in 51 years. It is an interesting species breeding on mountainous terrain and screes in Europe and also on lowland industrial and city sites. Across its range it is mostly migratory. Small numbers winter in coastal Ireland, while most winter around the Mediterranean.
Passage through Copeland is mostly in late October and early April, but there is also a little peak in late May, of which this bird is one.
Stonechat
Photograph by Neville McKee
The bird of the spring?
This bird was caught in a Potter Trap within 10 minutes of it being set in the North Alley at the end of March.
This turned out not to be the bird of the spring after all. It is an adult female Stonechat. It was eclipsed by its cousin, a Black Redstart, pictured above the Stonechat. Stonechats are surprisingly rare migrants through Copeland.
Meadow Pipit
Photograph by Neville McKee
This is the continental type Meadow Pipit which is the typical version of the species over most of its European range other than near the Atlantic Ocean. It is cool coloured, Greenish grey on its back and white underneath. This form is comparatively scarce among the migrants on Copeland but occurs in east winds. In spring, sometimes large flocks descend on the island in stiff SE winds and many are of this form in these conditions.
Meadow Pipit
Photograph by Neville McKee
The Meadow Pipit exhibits clinal variation in colour across its range. The breeders in Ireland and Western Scotland are strongly coloured and sometimes referred to as race "whistleri". They are not so strongly coloured in the spring but still are a warm brown on the back and have a creamy apricot wash on the underside. Further east into Europe they are grey/green on the back and white underneath. There is a steady cline from west to east but the situation is still unclear. Even in the west, breeding birds fade to very pale. The bird above is typical of migrants on Copeland and is the western form.
Native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scriptus)
Photograph by Neville McKee
Dazzling native bluebells virtually cover the island in late April and May. The are also abundant on the slopes of big Copeland and on Mew Island. The rich dark blue drooping trumpets distinguish this species at a glance. Unfortunately, the native bluebells are under threat genetically from the Spanish Bluebell, which was introduced to Britain and Ireland by gardeners. It is planned maintain the genetic purity of the native bluebell on the observatory island by exterminating the introduced Spanish Bluebell. Note how the flowers all hang on one side of the stem instead of all round.
Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica)
Photograph by Neville McKee
Only in 2004 was a group of Spanish Bluebells positively identified in the front garden and the area surrounding the catching box of the main Heligoland trap. The whole area occupied by the Spanish Bluebells is about 20 metres in diameter. The outer edge of the zone is occupied by many plants of hybrid characteristics. It is not known who introduced Spanish Bluebells to the island, but older members are convinced that the sturdy-stemmed, light blue, short and wide trumpeted flowers have been there since long before the observatory began in 1954. An interesting difference between the two species is the colour of the anthers which are blue, cyan or green in the Spanish form and yellow in the native type.
Twite
Photograph by Shane Wolsey
The Twite is a fascinating species of small finch. There are several populations with distinct lifestyles in the British Isles. Some breed on mountains, others along the north-west coasts. They may winter on agricultural land (especially recent moving into wildbird fodder crops), salt marshes, or wild coastal country. A small flock may stay on the observatory all winter in some years, and they often call in on their nomadic winter wanderings during October and again in late March or early April. In 2005, a little flock of 11 arrived on 1st April and stayed until 9th April, enjoying our supplied niger, panicum millet and soaked wheat.
The Twite has a disjunct distribution across Eurasia with three separate populations in Caucasia, Tibet and NW Europe. It might be deduced that the species once was more widespread and is contracting currently, perhaps to eventual extinction, but not in our lifetimes!