Waiting for the frugivores

click photo to enlarge
The waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) doesn't seem to have made its appearance in Lincolnshire as I write this piece, but it can't be long before they do. Interestingly the first locations where these winter visitors are spotted are usually urban or suburban, often the superstore car-parks of Tesco, Sainsburys or Morrisons. The reason for this is the prevalence of large numbers of small, berried trees in these locations; trees such as the rowan. Waxwings are frugivorous, that is to say fruit eaters, and so they make straight for where fruit is available in large quantities.

Frugivorous is a word I came across for the first time only recently and it means "fruit eater". Autumn is a time when fruit in the form of berries or wind-fall apples is plentiful, and frugivores are quick to take advantage of the bounty. Today I saw a horse gorging itself on rose-hips, carefully avoiding the thorny stems to pluck off the ripe, red berries one at a time. That's something I've never seen before. I've seen horses eat apples from a branch or from the ground, but never rose-hips. Who would have thought they had a fancy for them?

The tree in today's photograph has lost almost all its leaves but still has a full complement of berries. I came across it outside the museum in Lincoln. As I took my shot, captivated by the way the silhouette of branches and the bright berries contrasted with the flecked brickwork behind, I wondered how much longer they would hang there before blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings or, perhaps, waxwings, descended on the branches and stripped the tree bare.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 36.3mm (98mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO:125
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Ring-necked parakeet invaders

click photo to enlarge

Walking along Rotherhithe Street in London the other day my ears and then my eyes were drawn to a ring-necked parakeet flying above me between the warehouse conversions and new flats that line the way. Its repeated raucous screech and its bright colours seemed out of place in that man-made canyon: a steamy jungle or baking sub-equatorial plain seemed more appropriate. And yet, a growing population of these birds can be found in London and in many other localities in western Europe.

The first recorded British breeding in the wild of this bird was in Norfolk in 1855, so escapees have long been known to survive in our colder climate. However, the next recorded occurence was not until 1969, in Kent. Thereafter colonies became established in south-east England, in the north-west (I saw them occasionally on the Fylde) and elsewhere. On the afternoon of the day I saw the Rotherhithe bird we went to Greenwich Park. Walking into the trees only a short way from the heavily peopled Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum found us surrounded by ring-necked parakeets. In that location they were as common as the carrion crows and wood pigeons, and much noisier. The berry-laden trees were clearly the attraction, and I managed to photograph this bird in the act of eating. My shot is fairly heavily cropped - I don't possess a lens capable of close-ups of birds.

On my return home I did a bit of digging concerning the spread of this species in the UK. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) estimates a resident breeding population of c.5000 birds, mainly in Surrey, Kent and Sussex. Other authorities judge there to be double that number, and it has become one of the 20 most commonly seen birds in London. In 2009 Natural England relaxed the legislation on this species and monk parakeets allowing their control (i.e. killing) in some circumstances. Whether the ring-necked parakeet is allowed to spread and increase further in numbers will doubtless depend on the impact it has on indigenous species and fruit growing. Will it attain the status of the little owl and the pheasant, birds that we no longer think of as non-native species, or will it be subjected to the sort of culling that has reduced the number of ruddy ducks from around 5000 to about 120?

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 300mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 500
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Sea Buckthorn

click photo to enlarge
"Popeye the Sailor Man" must have been on steroids because all those cans of spinach he tipped eagerly down his throat weren't responsible for the repeated thrashings that he handed out to Bluto. It's now fairly common knowledge that a scientist's misplaced decimal point was responsible for the belief that spinach had ten times more iron than other leaf vegetables. The original "superfood" turned out to be more of a 10 stone weakling than a muscle-bound hulk!

Today, food writers, nutritionists, scientists and supermarkets are keen to conscript new superfoods in the battle against obesity and to lure the shoppers' money. I've lost track of which is supposed to be best for you - it's either blueberries or broccoli, I think. However, doing a little research for the piece to accompany today's photograph I've come up with a new candidate - Sea Buckthorn! You'll be searching out the humble Hippophae rhamnoides and demanding that your local store starts stocking it once you've read about all the goodies that are packed into its bright orange berries.

Lets start with vitamin C: it has 695mg per 100g compared with 50mg per 100g in oranges! It's also rich in carotenoids, vitamin E, amino acids, minerals, saturated and unsaturated fats, and other beneficial elements. The berries can be consumed as juice, syrup or pulp, though they need to be flavoured to remove the astringency. The Indian Army provides the juice for its troops stationed in the Himalayas where its freezing point of -22°C makes it very useful. Left-overs from juice making can be used in the preparation of skin creams and liniments! Traditional medicine claims many healing properties for the berries, bark, leaves and flowers. And, if you fancy growing some yourself, its dense habit, tough branches and sharp thorns also make it a good, vandal-proof garden barrier.

Today's photograph is a detail of a bush growing in sand dunes on the Irish Sea coast. I particularly like this combination of orange and blue/green, and the way the lines of clustered berries formed a cross drew my eye and then my camera.

Addendum
Talking about my researches with a friend I discovered that sea buckthorn is not unknown in the world of celebrity chefs. Apparently Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (known as Hugh Burnley-Rawtenstall in my house - that's a joke for East Lancashire dwellers) has been known to use it when whipping up a menu based on found and foraged foods.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On