Hamerkop

The hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) has a number of alternative names, including hammerhead stork, umbrette, tufted umber and anvilhead. It is the only member of the Scopus genus and Scopidae family, although it has posed a problem over whether this family should be classed with the order of Ciconiformes (which includes storks) or Pelecaniformes (which includes pelicans and herons).

The hamerkop shows some stork-like features, such as flying with its neck extended and its lack of powder down, but its voice organs are heron-like and it has teeth on the outer edge of its middle claw, which is again a heron-like feature. The consensus appears to be that the hamerkop represents one of the missing links between storks and herons, so its status in terms of order remains in doubt.

The hamerkop is a wading bird that is found in many parts of tropical Africa, Madagascar and southwest Arabia. It inhabits wetlands that include rice paddies, irrigation ditches or roadside pools, and will migrate locally as suitable environments appear and disappear.

Hamerkops have gained a measure of protection from the superstitions and legends that have arisen about them in some parts of their range. It is widely believed, for example, that harming a hamerkop will bring bad luck. To the bushmen of the Kalahari region, the hamerkop is the “lightning bird”, and robbing a hamerkop nest will increase one’s chance of being struck by lightning.

Appearance and behaviour

The hamerkop is about 20 inches long and resembles a heron in its overall shape, but with comparatively shorter legs. It is brownish in colour with glossy purplish tinges on the wings and back. Its large head is set on a somewhat short and thick neck. The long, flat and slightly hooked bill, coupled with the prominent crest on the back of the head, give the bird its name, as the head is not unlike the shape of the head of a hammer (hamer kop is Afrikaans for “hammer head”). 

The hamerkop behaves in rather peculiar ways from time to time. A small group may dance around each other for no obvious reason, calling loudly, before they appear to bow to each other, pull their heads back and resume standing silently apart. 

Hamerkops have a varied diet, including water insects, worms, molluscs, small fish and amphibians. They are often most active in the evenings and can also be nocturnal.

Breeding

The hamerkop’s most remarkable feature is its compulsive nest building, which even takes place outside the breeding season. The nest is a vast structure, as much as six feet in diameter, that is a flattened covered dome with a side entrance. A pair of hamerkops can spend several months building a nest, which can comprise as many as 10,000 sticks in its construction, and when it is finished they may start work on another. Great care is taken in decorating the outside of a nest with objects found by the birds, much as a magpie might do to the inside, these items being anything that is highly coloured and takes the birds’ fancy.

When breeding, the female hamerkop will lay three to six eggs deep inside the nest and both partners will incubate them in turn for up to 30 days. Both parents will feed the nestlings, who can be left alone for long periods while the parents look for food, secure in the knowledge that the fortress-like nest provides excellent protection. The young birds are ready to leave the nest at around 50 days but will continue to roost in it for several months longer.

Unused hamerkop nests are often taken over by other bird and animal species, including snakes, and sometimes a bird such as an eagle owl will eject a hamerkop pair from their nest, only for them to return when the squatter has finished with it. 

© John Welford

Jaçanas

 

Jaçanas are tropical and sub-tropical waders of the order Charadriiformes, comprising eight species divided between six genera. They are found in central and southern America, southern Africa, south-east Asia and northern Australia. Their preferred habitat is freshwater pools and lakes, where they are skilled at walking on lily leaves and other floating vegetation, thanks to their exceptionally long toes and claws.

The name jaçana came originally from the Tupi people of the Amazon basin, but is now a Portuguese word pronounced “zhasana” with the emphasis on the first and last syllables. Other names for these birds are “lily trotters” and “lotus birds”.

 

Appearance

The American, or northern, jaçana (Jacana spinoso), which is found in Mexico, the West Indies, and as far south as Panama, is about 10 inches in length and cinnamon-red in colour with greenish-yellow flight feathers. The head and neck are black and the head has a bright yellow frontal shield. This shield, similar to that found on coots and gallinules, is typical of jaçana species, as is the sharp spur on the bend of the wing that is used for fighting.

Other species vary in size, from the African jaçana (Actophilornis africana – see photo) at 12 inches to the pheasant-tailed jaçana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus, from Asia) that is 20 inches long thanks to its tail that is the same length as its body. The latter is also the most striking in appearance, with a bronze-brown back, black underparts, white face and neck, yellow nape and white wing patches. Although male and female jaçanas are similar in colour, the females are generally larger.

 

Behaviour

In flight, jaçanas resemble gallinules with their necks stretched forwards and legs trailing behind.

They are generally quiet birds, having a variety of grunts and whistles. However, when arguing over territory they can be much noisier as they scold and threaten each other with wings raised.

Their confidence in being able to walk on floating vegetation has made them approachable to quiet close distances. However, when alarmed jaçanas will either freeze or swim away. They can even dive if they have to.

Outside the breeding season, jaçanas congregate in small flocks and can be seen seen flying low over lakes and marshes. When they land, a typical behaviour is to stretch the wings right over the back until the tips nearly meet.

Jaçanas feed on insects, molluscs and small fish.

 

Breeding

A jaçana nest is a loose floating mass of vegetation that can easily drift in the wind. The usual clutch is four eggs which take around three to four weeks to hatch, with the male bird doing most of the incubating. He is also more active than the female in caring for the chicks when they hatch.

© John Welford

Long-tailed duck

 

The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) is a distinctive but rarely seen duck because it usually keeps well out to sea. It winters in waters around the northern coasts of Britain from October to May, when it leaves for its breeding grounds in northern Scandinavia. However, it has also been known to breed in Scotland.

The plumage of the long-tail duck is brown and white. The male moults gradually throughout the year and by midsummer its head and neck are dark but the face remains white. The female has dark cheek patches. Only males have the distinctive long, upright tail. Males grow to 21 inches (53 cm) in length and females to 16 inches (40 cm).

Both sexes are recognised in flight by the absence of bars on their wings and by their unusual flying action, with shallow wing upstrokes but deep downstrokes.

The voice of the male long-tailed duck is extraordinary among ducks for its melodious, resonant and far-carrying quality. The variety of its calls is also remarkable – the calls of a displaying flock have been likened by some ornithologists to the sound of distant bagpipes.

The nest, a mere scrape in the ground sparsely lined with plant material and down, is usually sited in thick vegetation not far from water; occasionally it is in a rock crevice. Sometimes several broods may join together in a crèche.

Six to nine olive-buff eggs are incubated for about 3 ½ weeks. The young become independent after about five weeks.

Long-tailed ducks feed mostly on molluscs and crustaceans, which are gathered by diving. However, vegetable matter such as seeds and leaves is also eaten.

© John Welford

Starry saxifrage

 

Starry saxifrage (Saxifraga stellaris) is a common plant found on wet, stony ground in the mountainous areas of the British Isles. Its tough, penetrating roots exploit the natural cracks and crevices in the rock and anchor it so firmly that it has gained a reputation, like other saxifrages, of being able to carve out its own foothold by actually cracking the stone. This belief, still widespread though erroneous, is reflected in the origin of the plant’s scientific name Saxifraga, which combines the Latin words saxum, meaning ‘rock’ and frango, meaning ‘break’.

The plant grows up to 10 inches (25 cm) in height. It has a rosette of toothed leaves at the base, but the upper parts of the stem are leafless. The low-growing leaves are less exposed to mountain winds, and their closeness to each other help to conserve moisture. The leaves are short-stalked, toothed and hairy on the top surface.

Flowers appear between June and August. They are white with conspicuous red anthers. There are two yellow spots at the base of each petal. The sepals are bent back. The seed capsule splits to the middle or below when ripe.

Ancient medical lore often believed that a plant with particular characteristics that related to an element of human anatomy had been prescribed by God as a cure for ailments relating to that element. Thus a decoction of "stone breaking" starry saxifrage was applied to curing kidney and gall stones in the human body. A 17th-century medical textbook also recommended that saxifrage roots, mixed with wine and vinegar, would cure the plague.

© John Welford

Goldeneye

 

The goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is normally a winter visitor to the British Isles that breeds in northern Scandinavia and northern Asia. However, it has been known to breed in a small area of northern Scotland.

It is a small duck measuring up to 18 inches (45 cm) in length. The adult male has black and white plumage, its black head showing a green sheen. It has a white spot on each cheek. The female has brown and white plumage. Both sexes have rectangular white wing patches, high foreheads, short bills, and the bright yellow eyes from which they take their name.

Goldeneye in flight have the fast wing beats typical of diving ducks, but they take off more easily than most and the wings produce a pronounced whistling sound which is quite unmistakable.

Wintering goldeneye take to coastal waters, forming large flocks that are mainly of one sex. They rarely come ashore. However, small flocks are sometimes found on larger stretches of inland water.

Bill-raising and water-splashing have been noted as courtship gestures. Goldeneye prefer to nest in tree holes near a lake or river, but will also use rabbit burrows or specially provided nest boxes. It has been known for goldeneye to take over the old nest holes of woodpeckers.

The bottom of the nesting cavity is unlined, but may be insulated with greyish-white down and a few feathers. A typical clutch consists of 6 to 12 smooth, greenish-blue eggs. When they hatch, the young scramble out of the hole and fall to the ground, which can be a considerable distance. They take about eight weeks to fully develop their flight feathers.

© John Welford

Navelwort

 

Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris), otherwise known as wall pennywort, is often found growing on high roadside banks in western England, Wales, and western Scotland. It is much less common further east. It grows between stones in the banks and also in rock crevices and on sea cliffs.

The size of the plant varies greatly according to its position. Lush, branched specimens spring from moist and shady surroundings, whereas much smaller plants cling to dry walls or exposed cliffs. The plant can therefore vary from 4 to 16 inches (10-40 cm) in height.

Disc-shaped leaves, depressed at the centre, grow on long stalks. Numerous greenish-white bell -shaped flowers appear on tall, narrow spikes between June and August.

The plant ‘s common and scientific names all refer to the unusual shape of the leaves – pennywort from their supposed resemblance to an old penny coin, and navelwort to the central, navel-like dimple. The word umbilicus is Latin for navel, and rupestris means ‘a plant that grows on rocks’.

© John Welford

Shoveler

 

The shoveler (Anas cylpeata) is a handsome but uncommon bird, present all year round in most of England and southern Scotland and joined by winter migrants in south-west England, Wales and the Grampian area of Scotland.

The shoveler’s patchy distribution is governed partly by the availability of its habitat, namely marshy areas with pools, ditches and other areas of open water that have muddy shallows rich in food.

The shoveler grows up to 20 inches (50 cm) in length. The adult male has a glossy green head, like that of the mallard, but with a white breast and chestnut belly. The adult female has a brown head and body with speckled underparts. The wings of both sexes display a blue shoulder, white bar and green rear patch.

However, the most distinctive feature of the shoveler is the long, rounded, spade-like bill that gives the bird its name. The bill is used in the typical manner of dabbling ducks, sifting large volumes of water to filter out particles of food. This includes buds and seeds of water plants such as reeds and sedges, as well as algae and small molluscs. They will also eat crustaceans, insects, tadpoles and frogspawn. The inside edges of the bill have many comb-like teeth to trap food as water is forced through them.

The nest is a feather or grass-lined hollow in the ground, often in relatively open country but usually close to water. Between seven and 14 pale greenish eggs are laid in a clutch from April onwards. Incubation, performed by the female, takes between three and four weeks. The ducklings are led away from the nest as soon as all of them have hatched and are dry. They soon show signs of developing outsize bills. They can fly when about six or seven weeks old. Only one brood is reared each year.

© John Welford