Birds in Scrooby

Introduction
Equipment
Recognition
Common Birds
Bawtry Rooks

Ed Marshall

Talk given to Scrooby Gardening Club August 2008

You may see around sixty species of bird in a typical garden in Scrooby, with around one hundred species within a twenty minute walk diameter of the village.

We will cover:

Equipment which may help you
How to recognise bird species
Bird species commonly seen in Scrooby.

If you are interested in taking up bird watching, you should invest in a good set of binoculars. Binoculars with 42mm lens are ideal. Also, the binoculars should be marked Z. This denotes that the lens are further apart than your eyes, yielding the benefit that as the light is gathered to your pupils there is a slight stereoscopic effect which counters the foreshortening effect of magnification. Binoculars with around five times magnification ratio are ideal. Binoculars with greater than eight times magnification are too shaky to be used while held in the hand. Binoculars with less than five times magnification do not let enough light into the lens to enable identification of colour and markings.

To encourage birds to visit your garden, put out peanuts, loose seed, niger seed, and bread. It is not harmful to feed birds year round, as used to be thought. There is a general scarcity of wild food for birds.

There are four cues to recognition of bird species.

Size

When attempting to recognise a bird, size is the first cue. It is useful to think of relative size, rather than an absolute measurement. Try to peg the bird in relation to this scale of bird sizing:

Swan
Heron
Pigeon
Blackbird
Sparrow
Wren

Habitat

Is the bird a tree dweller, or a water bird, for example?

Features

Does the bird have a distinctive feature such as a bright yellow beak or a long tail?

Song

Bird song can be distinctive. Song is particularly common during the breeding season, when birds advertise for a mate, and defend territory.

Robin	The robin is the only bird singing in September, when it is already territorial in anticipation of next Spring's breeding season. It also sings through the night. It is a member of the thrush family. It is not possible to distinguish the male from the female on looks.
Collared Dove	The collared dove has been in the UK for around twenty years; its arrival and spread being due to natural expansion of the species' territory. The collared dove breeds year round.
Starling	A group of starlings can usually be seen at Hawk's Nest to the north of Scrooby around 4pm on December and January evenings.
Blackbird	Female blackbird if light brown, the male blackbird is black.
Greenfinch	Starts singing in early April.
Chaffinch
Dunnock	Female dunnock is dominant and has an unusual breeding pattern. The dunnock is not a sparrow, but is sometimes known as the hedgesparrow.
Wren	The wren is the smallest bird in the UK.
Wood Pigeon	The wood pigeon is also known as the rock dove.
Blue Tit	The blue tit can be encouraged into your garden with peanuts.
Great Tit	The great tit is recognisable by its black cap and throat. The great tit sings in January.
Coal Tit	The coal tit is recognisable by the white stripe on its neck and back. The coal tit will not stay on nuts, but visit and leave quickly.
Long Tail Tit	While other tits are usually seen in pairs, the long tail tit flocks. The long tail tit is currently becoming more common in Scrooby. The long tail tit constructs a domed nest from more than three thousand pieces of building material.
House Sparrow	There are around twenty-four house sparrows in Scrooby. The nesting sites of the house sparrow are increasingly threatened as house exteriors become tidier.
Tree Sparrow	The tree sparrow has a brown head. There are about fifteen tree sparrows in Scrooby.
Song Thrushes	The song thrush is doing well in Scrooby. The song thrush eats snails, breeds two or three times a year, and sings from halfway down trees.
Goldfinch	The goldfinch is recognisable by the red stripe across its eyes. The goldfinch is a flocking bird.
Siskin	Siskins are seen in Scrooby most winters. They are reminiscent of a small spotty goldfinch.
Rook	The rook is very common in Scrooby.
Pye Wag Tail	The pye wag tail is a fairly rare bird we are lucky to have in Scrooby.
Mistle Thrush	The mistle thrush is bigger version of the song thrush.
Mallard Duck
Greater Spotted Woodpecker	The male greater spotted woodpecker has red on the back of his head, while the female has none.
Sparrow Hawk	The sparrow hawk has a rusty coloured front and grey back.
Gull	Black head in summer only, white head in winter.
Heron
Magpie	The magpie eats wildlife such as frogs.
Jay	The jay is unusual in Scrooby, which is odd. More would be expected.
Egret	Egrets have moved into the UK in the last ten years. They can be seen on the wetland to the north of Scrooby, for example at Newington.
Night Jar	The night jar can be seen on the wetland to the north of Scrooby, for example at Thorne, and to the south west of Scrooby at Budby.
Nightingale	The nightingale is not a common bird in Nottinghamshire.

Winter Birds in Scrooby

Red Wing
Green Shank
Field Fair	The field fair is the same size as the mistle thrush, with a yellow spotted front. The field fair is seen in flocks.
Grey Wag Tail
Golden Plover	The golden plover is seen in fields, not gardens. There are around two hundred in the fields to the north of Scrooby beyond the Winz and to the south of Scrooby beyond the quarry. The golden plover relocates to the high moors in Summer.

Summer Birds in Scrooby

Sand Martin	The sand martin may be seen in the quarry to the south of Scrooby. They arrive around the last week in March. Scrooby Top quarry has the largest colony of sand martins in Nottinghamshire.
Chiff Chaff	The chiff chaff is the first arrival of summer. It may be seen on the Mill Field, along Mill Lane.
Willow Warbler	The willow warbler is nearly identical with the chiff chaff, except for its song.
Swallow
Yellow Wag Tail	Yellow wag tails may be seen in the quarry to the south of Scrooby.
White Throats	White Throats may be seen on the hawthorn bushes on and near the Winz in Scrooby.
House Martin	The house martin is blue with a white vent. The house martin nests under the eaves of houses.
Swift	Although common in Tickhill and other nearby villages, the swift is not common in Scrooby.
Spotted Fly Catcher	The spotted fly catcher can seen nesting in Mill House, Low Road during Summer.

Black Cap

Owls in Scrooby

Tawny Owl	The tawny owl is the commonest owl in Scrooby. The tawny owl has a distinctive loud hooting call. The owl hunts during the day.
Short Eared Owl	The short eared owl hunts during the day.
Barn Owl	The barn owl hunts at dusk on the grassland on the east side of the East Coast Mainline railway. The barn owl has a white face and front.
Little Owl	The little owl is around thrush-sized.
Long Eared Owl	The long eared owl hunts at dusk. The long eared owl is a big bird, without the white markings of the barn owl.

April 2010: The rooks have returned to their nests in the tree tops above Bawtry Hall. The rookery on South Parade in Bawtry is impressively large, busy and noisy. Pairs of rooks can be seen remaking and re-inhabiting the tangles of sticks of previous years, perched in the uppermost branches of the trees. Some nests are contentious; with paired rooks fighting brutally over the territory, dualling and tumbling through the branches to the ground.

History Since the Ice Age Romano-British Anglo-Saxon & Viking The Placename: Scrooby Scrooby Manor House William Brewster - Pilgrim Father Scrooby Seperatist Church Flight to Holland Usher on William Brewster 1664 Hearth Tax 1674 Hearth Tax Gravestones 1901 Census WW2 Evacuees An Evacuee in Scrooby

Landscape Scrooby Church Scrooby Chapel Scrooby Quarry Trees in Scrooby Birds in Scrooby Scrooby in Old Pictures 18th Century Fields The Ryton River Turnpike Road

Footpaths Green Lane Public Enquiry Mill Lane & The Winz

Events N Notts Ploughing 2008 Tree for Brenda Willis 2008

Parish Council

Did you know that minutes of Scrooby Parish Council are available on this site.

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Tree Planting on the Winz

Scrooby Garden Club have been busy planting Scots Pine, and hedging plants on the Winz.

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Visitors & Tourists

Loads of information for tourists visiting Scrooby: Historic Buildings, Walks, Contact Details, Guides to Print

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