May 29th Inner Marsh Farm

I decided to make a quick visit to Inner Marsh Farm this morning. It was a lovely morning and so plenty of warblers and reed buntings were about. The grassy banks at IMF are getting a bit overgrown and so birding was a bit harder as the birds were in the lagoon farthest away from the hide and hidden by the vegetation. The highlights were three spoonbills I got good views of them but I could not get a good enough photo mainly due to the heat haze. (I better not complain about that though has I!)

Below is a picture I found on the web!

Eurasian Spoonbill

May 28th Tanygrisau

The reservoir at Tanygrisau

I spent the day with John Small walking from a small village called Tanygrisau near Blaenau Ffestiniog along side the Ffestiniog Railway to Ddu Allt Station and back. We were very hopeful as we set off from Llandudno in bright sunshine but as we drove down the Conwy Valley and over the Crimea Pass to Blaenau we saw the weather change it was dull and over cast and our hopes of good birding seem to go with them.

However we were wrong we had excellent views of Whinchat and Redstart, we saw several Tree Pipits and Meadow Pipits and watched Willow Warblers taking food to a nest. We even found a Great Spotted Woodpecker Nest! I say found but the truth is we realised that the tree we were walking past seemed to be calling, of course it was youngsters in the nest demanding food from there parents.

The local train!

On the return Journey we even found a family of Stonechats a singing male, a proud mother and two youngsters! Also on the day that the news was full of bad news about cuckoo numbers we were privileged to hear 4 calling as we walked along.

On returning to the car we decided to drive round to the Glaslyn Osprey Project where we managed to see the Male and Female Ospreys looking after the youngster. Keen readers will have noticed that the I visited another Osprey nest project in Wales a few weeks ago. Sadly the female there has left the nest but a Glaslyn 3 chicks are now growing rapidly. If you are in the area it is well worth a visit.

Incidentally did you know that Osprey’s are in the bible. I will blog about them soon!

Swifts and Swallows

Barn Swallow

I thought that I should follow my previous post on the Sparrows by looking at the birds mention in two of the Sparrow verses which are swallows. So I went to crosswalk.com and searched there for Swallow or Swallows in bible. I got 19 verses which pleased and surprised me  but then I looked closer and realised that all but 4 of these references where to something being swallowed!

Things then got more difficult as I began to check out the for remaining passages. The first two which we have already encountered with the sparrows (Psalms 84:3 and Proverbs 26:2) are straightforward but the second two passages caused me a few more problems. These verses are:- 

Isaiah 38:14  Like a swallow or a crane I clamour, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security!

and

Jeremiah 8:7 Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the ordinance of the Lord.

For the the first set of verses the bird we know as the Swallow (or more correctly the Barn Swallow) fits the behaviour described. Swallows would nest in a similar place to house sparrows for example and the certainly flit from one place to another quite happily.  However when it comes to our second set of verses the behaviour described for example is not quite right. Particularly with the Jeremiah passage which refers to migration. In the UK Swallows and Swifts are both migrants but it appears that that is not so in Israel/Palestine. The Swallows there are in fact resident. So it makes little sense to have a verse talking about migrants which then refers to swallows.

Swift

The swift is however a migrant and it behaviour fits the Isaiah and Jeremiah passages in a much better fashion. Also it is clear that we are dealing with two different Hebrew words both of which have been translated as swallow but one which probably should be translated as swift. If you want to read up on this a bit more you could start at http://net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=swallow For me all this is a very timely reminder of the effect that translation has on what we read in the bible. Unless can can go back to the original language i.e mostly Hebrew and Greek then we have to rely on translators to translate the bible for us. (I have no knowledge of Hebrew and my NT Greek is ropey.) This is then made harder because of course somethings have to be interpreted as we the translation is made and of course there are some bible translation in which the translators have tried to interpret things a bit for us such as the Good News Bible which can be easy to read but sometime loses some of the meaning in the translation. For example in Psalm 23 the GNB says “you welcome me as an honored guest and fill my cup to the brim.”  This has a very different meaning to the idea that “my cup overflows”

Swifts are remarkable birds who spend much of there time on the wing. Indeed the only time you will see when they are not flying is when they are in the nest breeding. All other activities are done in flight including sleep! Once a juvenile swift has fledged they will not land again for 2 or 3 years.

Incidentally there is increasing concern about swift numbers apparently in Londonthere numbers have decreased by something like 50% since the 1970′s. Mainly it is suggested because modern building do not have the space for them to nest in. we like are homes to be well sealed against drafts etc and that means the swifts cannot nest.

May 20th Black Grouse Exist!

The view from the hide

I got up at 5:15 this morning with the intention of going back to Coed Llandegla to try see once more to see the Black Grouse. The good news was that the weather was pretty good it was cold but there was no low cloud and no sign of rain either. So I wrapped up warm and set off. What I hadn’t realised was that the climb to the hide via the public footpath was much steeper than the walk I had last week in the mist

last weeks view

When I arrived at the hide I was pleased to see to gents who had been with us on the walk on friday they had the good news that the grouse were present and showing well. What a relief! The grouse are beautiful bird with big white back ends and lovely red tufts above the eyes. I am very relieved to have seen them.

There were other great birds in the area including a Redstart two Redpoll and a couple of Garden Warblers.

I also visited Worlds End today where I had good views of a Tree Pipit.

A Black Tailed Godwit

My last visit of the day was to Inner Marsh Farm where I was please to find lots of Warblers and Black Tailed Godwits. The best bird hear was probably the Cuckoo that decided to sit on a fence for a couple of minutes.

The Sparrow

The House Sparrow

Having looked at the many references to birds in the bible I thought I should move on to be a bit more specific. So I thought I would start off by thinking about Sparrows.

Around the world there are many different sorts of sparrow. In Britain there are two sparrow species the House Sparrow and the Tree Sparrow. The Hedge Sparrow has since been renamed the Dunnock because it is not a member of the Sparrow family. In Israel/Palestine you might find the House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Dead Sea sparrow and possibly the Rock Sparrow. I suspect that when the Sparrow is mentioned in the bible it will be the House Sparrow that we should think about although it is worth mentioning that the Spanish Sparrow is very similar and often interbreeds with the House Sparrow.

There are four references to the Sparrow in the bible. The first come is found in Psalm 84:3  

“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. “

The Psalmist desires to be able to spend all his time in the dwelling place of the Lord i.e. the temple, close to God where even the sparrow is able to build it’s nest. The writer is almost jealous of the Sparrow because it can be so close to God. At this point I should note that Psalm 102 in some translations mentions sparrows but most modern translations just refer to a bird.

Also in the Old Testament we also find a reference to the Sparrow in Proverbs 26:2 

“Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.”

As in the Psalm here we find that Sparrows and Swallows are linked. I find this a rather enigmatic verse. John Wesley suggested that the constant movement makes the bird hard to catch likewise a curse will not land on the innocent. Matthew Henry suggests that a curse will not hit the innocent just as birds will fly overhead!

The last references to Sparrows come in the gospels, in Luke 12:6-7  and Matthew 10:29-31

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

The passages are very similar although the context is different. The saying appears in Matthew’s gospel in a section where the disciples are being warned to expect persecution but they are told not to worry because if God is aware of what is going on in the lives of cheap, almost valueless sparrows how much more aware will God be of them. The Luken version is similar but the context is more general. The point being made is that if God is looking after the Sparrow God will surely look after us and so there is no need for us to be afraid.

There is of course a small difficulty here with the phrase “Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Some translations insert the word will or knowledge so that it means that not a bird falls to the ground with out the will of the the father or his knowledge. Does this mean that God decides when sparrows die? Or even when they land or take off? Does that mean that God will one day decide when we will die. Does God go around saying your numbers up today come home? Does God do it for Sparrows as well as humans? (and what about spiders.)

May 18th Anglesey

I’ve literally just got in from a day birding on Anglesey! It is a great place to explore and it has this strange ability to have different weather to the mainland. As it looked like been wet in the rest of the country John Small and I headed off to the lovely Isle.

Our first call was the reserve at Cemlyn were we hope to see some Terns. We were not disappointed with Sandwich, Arctic and Common terns all on show along with lots of Blackheaded Gulls and couple of Dunlin. We also had a sea watch here which produced several Gannets and a good number of Manx Shearwaters.

Our second port of call was the RSPB reserve at South Stack.

South Stack Lighthouse

 

The cliffs at South Stack our full of thousands of breeding sea birds mainly Gulls Guilemots and Razorbills. It was great to see the thousands of birds clinging to the cliff edges. Our target birds were the puffins who also breed hear. Unfortunately they can be much harder to spot and it seemed to take hours to find any. After walking almost all the way down to the lighthouse we finally found just two swimming away. What you might not appreciate from the Photograph is that we had to contend with near gale force winds which meant walking down the steps was as hard if not harder than going up.

On the way home we popped into Holyhead Harbour to see the Resident Black Guilemots and we also found the Glaucous Gull which seems to be living just outside Menai Bridge!

Today we saw a total of forty four species of bird.

May 15th Black Grouse?

I got up this morning at half past four in order to go on the local RSPB trip to see Black Grouse. I have been looking forward to this adventure for weeks as I have not seen a Black Grouse before and knowing that on only one occasion this year have they failed to see any Grouse. Guess what it is now two times. The photo’s tell the story! Annoyingly the bird could be heard making quite a noise but we just could not see them!

Happy birding

This shows the visibility about 50m the Grouse were 400 away

Outside the hide the nearest I got to a Black Grouse!

May 14th An encounter with an Owl

I spent today birding on the Wirral. There were several good birds all was overshadowed by what was possibly my best ever birding moment. I was entering a wooded area (details are being kept secret for a reason!) When I noticed the a large ball of fluff in a dead tree. After a few moment of examination I realised it was a young owl recently out of the nest. I them continued along the path which went very closed to the tree the bird was in, at this point I noticed that there were two youngster sitting there one watched me and the other called for food! At this point I had know idea what sort of owl I was looking at. I suspected they were tawny but they could have been Little Owls. The path i was on returned me to the same point. I had another look at the bird but they took longer to locate as they had moved into a more leafy tree. I had another good look at them, then I noticed some small birds moving in the dead tree so I tried to look at these only to realise that a large adult Tawny Owl with a dead mouse in its mouth was looking straight at me. Probably wandering whether it was safe to approach the little ones. I moved away a bit further and the adult moved straight in to feed the youngsters. These moments don’t come along everyday I guess if I went back tomorrow everything would have changed and the birds will have moved. Remember as well that Tawny Owls are nocturnal, but then again when babies are awake they demand food!

Mind were fluffy than these this pic comes from wikipedia! (no camera!)

Other Highlights for today were my first ever Lesser Whitethroat in Britain and great views of Green Woodpeckers.

The use of Birds in the Bible

After discovering how many mentions there are of the words Bird and Birds in the bible I thought that I should read each reference and see if I could draw any conclusions.

Broadly speaking you can divide the references into several categories. The most obvious one being creation. The creation story of Genesis chapter one has 6 mentions of birds and chapter 2 has a couple. Also there are references in Psalm 104 to the state of creation and in Jeremiah 9. Connected to this is the idea of humanities dominion or stewardship of creation referenced again in Genesis 1 but also mention in Daniel 2.

There is also a lot mention of birds when it comes to the Law particularly to do with the cleanliness or the uncleanness of birds. Of course in Acts  10 and 11 birds are mentioned in Peter’s dream when Peter first realises that God no longer wishes the cleanliness laws to be followed by the Christian church. There are several discussions as you would expect in Leviticus 11, 14 and Deuteronomy 14. The place of birds within the sacrificial system is also mentioned at several point in Leviticus and there are of course many references to the use of Doves in sacrifice.

Punishment and Judgement seems to be a regular theme as well. For example in Deuteronomy 28:26 it says “Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away” It seems that a person who is some how at fault will have there corpse left for the birds to eat, either because not one is left to bury them or because the person is not seen as worthy of it! This is found in 2 Samuel, 1 kings, as well as the prophets Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Hosea. It should also be noted that the theme also comes up in the book of revelation.

Salvation is a theme as well as judgement and punishment. This is to be seen in Proverbs 6:5“save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler”  and in several other places in that book.

Covenant is another important theme particular at the end of the Noah story. (we should also note that the whole story of the flood mentions bird’s in several places.) In chapter 9 of Genesis God makes a covenant not only with Noah but all descendants and the creatures of the earth. There is also reference to this in Hosea 2:18.

The other major section of references to bird and birds is in the teachings of Jesus. There are four particular uses of birds (not counting the ones referring specifically to sparrows.) The first is one we have already mentioned in the sermon on the mount when we are told to look at the birds. The next is the comment of Jesus that “Foxes have holes, and birds  of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Birds also feature in the parables of the sower and the mustard seed.

It will be interesting to think a bit more about some of these categories, but I also want to look at some of specific species of bird which are mentioned in the bible, such as Sparrows, Ravens and Eagles.

Wed 13th May Marford Quarry

I took my weekly stroll around Marford Quarry this morning. I suppose that the main thing to report on is what I didn’t see. The Blackcaps all were very quiet if not absent and the Woodpeckers (Green and Great Spotted are known in the area) were not to be seen or heard either. It was however good to spot a Blue Tit nest and to see several Long Tailed Tit. I saw three separate groups of these small but noisy birds the largest group I think had juveniles in it! I also met a recently fledged blackbird on the walk.

I suspect that Marford has a problem because it is so popular with dog walkers so there is a great deal of disturbance especially as most dogs are off the leash. I understand why this is the case but sometimes I get rather annoyed when a dog is not only off the leash but not under the control of the owner. If they are disturbing me then they are probably also disturbing the wildlife. I certainly have come across dogs which have taken far to much interest in me and it is all very well the owner say they won’t bite because I am not worry about being bitten I am worried about my allergy to dogs though!