Durham Bird Club at 50

The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”

We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.

Bird of the Week - Week 24

Tree Pipit – Parachuting Songster of the Uplands

(Photo by Mark Harper)

One of the real delights of late spring and summer in upland County Durham is the Tree Pipit’s display flight. A slim, streaky bird perched high on a branch suddenly takes to the air, climbing with purpose before tipping into a fluttering, spiralling descent. All the while, it pours out a clear, cascading song - bright, cheerful, and unmistakable.

Tree Pipits are long-distance migrants, travelling between Britain and their wintering grounds in West Africa. In recent decades, populations have declined in many parts of the UK, particularly central and eastern England, not just due to changes in land use here but also due to pressures in their African wintering habitats.

That said, the species continues as a regular breeder in upland parts of County Durham, where the right conditions exist. Evidence suggests they are particularly dependent on very specific successional habitats: newly planted or regenerating woodland where tree growth has progressed enough to provide good song posts and where ground cover has established sufficiently for feeding and nesting but whilst still retaining an open nature.

In the County, they’re still a feature at places like Hamsterley Forest and upland areas west of the A68 - sites where patchy woodland edges and open glades offer the structure they need. They nest on the ground and return faithfully to suitable territories each year, periodically moving to new locations as suitable areas succeed to more fully established woodland.

That parachuting song flight is one of the great markers of spring in the uplands - easy to miss until you stop, look up, and let the song guide your eye.

Have you come across displaying Tree Pipits this year - or noted how habitat changes are affecting them locally? We’d be glad to hear your observations.

More information on Tree Pipits

E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk

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