Eco Hvar

Bird Watch early January 2016

Steve from Dol reports:

Blue tit. Photo Steve Jones Blue tit. Photo Steve Jones

I have been out bird watching a couple of times but a little disappointing. Made the mistake of going out on the 6th January.

Hunters everywhere and not a bird in sight. Came over on the back road from Vrbanj to Jelsa yesterday as the land promises much but once again very quiet. I managed to get two poor pictures of the Hooded Crow, both these and Buzzards are very flighty. Even photographing from the car they take flight at the slightest movement.

My Blackbirds which I thought were nest building due to all their activity are not. I noticed yesterday morning that 4 males were all eating the berries on the ivy on a ruined building next door.  My garden list for 2016 stands at 7 species which have touched down, my garden in the UK would generally hit 15 species by January looking back at the last 2 years, I am putting this down to just natural food sources. I keep looking for Brambling here amongst the Chaffinch but it's just wishful thinking it seems.

Steve Jones, Dol 9th January 2016

Crows on posts. Photo Steve Jones

Comment from Eco Hvar

Sundays and Wednesdays are hunting days during part of the winter - roughly October 15th to January 15th, although the dates may be subject to change each year. Officially hunting should stop at 2pm, maybe 3pm (it seems to vary according to who you ask), but the hunters sometimes stay out longer, at least round here. Very tedious, as I have to go down to my field to feed the dogs in the afternoon, and it's a bit scary. I don't think I look like a rabbit or pheasant, but I'm wary in case they shoot on sound rather than sight, especially if they've had a few rounds of wine with their lunch!

Dol: roadside herbicide. 6th January 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

Your garden birds may be suffering rather than simply dining elsewhere. I was in Dol on Wednesday, dining at the (extremely fine) Stančić restaurant, and saw that just outside their property someone has sprayed Cidokor (Roundup) liberally over some fields of vines and olives, also over a bit of land on the edge of the woodland abutting the road. Presumably the last bit was to use up what was left in the spray canister. Any birds around during the spraying would have been poisoned at least to some degree, their habitats and ground feeding possibilities eliminated.

Herbicide in Dol, 6th January 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

Sadly, the spraying has started early this year, possibly because of the fine weather up to New Year. We (Eco Hvar) are organizing a seminar in February about organic agriculture, with the aim of pointing up the hazards and detriments of pesticides, and the alternative ways of controlling unwanted plants and insects which are more environmentally friendly. The message will take a long time to percolate through.

VG 9th January 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

Related items

back to top
You are here: Home Nature Watch Bird Watch early January 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Two buses, three hours and 13 miles: how Americans in ‘transit deserts’ get groceries without cars

    As Covid-era funding dries up and bus services are cut, a food insecurity crisis is brewing from Tennessee to Rhode Island

    Zen’Yari Winters’ job, at a pet shop in East Memphis, Tennessee, should be a 20-minute trip from her house. She leaves herself three hours to get there. “The bus is always, always late,” she said – if it shows up at all.

    It’s not just her work commute that’s affected by the time-consuming guessing game that is riding with the Memphis Area Transit Authority (Mata). The only full-service grocer in the Chelsea-Hollywood area where she lives closed in 2025.To shop for food in person, she could take two buses for a 13-mile (20km) trip to Walmart. But she risks waiting at bus stops for hours with perishables – or shelling out about $24 for an Uber back.

    Continue reading...

  • More farming co-operatives could ‘unleash growth’ in UK, finds report

    Greater agricultural collaboration can improve food security and resilience to global crises, says policy paper

    Agricultural co-operatives could “unleash growth” in the UK and improve national food security in the face of crises such as the Middle East conflict by “improving the resilience of UK farms”, according to a report.

    The policy paper produced by the Co-operative party, which backs influential Labour MPs including Steve Reed and Jonathan Reynolds, calls for “a shift in perspective, not a doubling down of the status quo”. It says co-ops, which enable farmers to pool resources, share risk and invest collectively, can help “reduce exposure to volatile input markets”, such as fertiliser, fuel and animal feed.

    Continue reading...

  • Rescuers release humpback whale that was stranded off German coast

    Calf was transported by water-filled barge in operation deemed ‘inadvisable’ because of low chance of survival

    Rescuers have released a young humpback whale that became a national sensation after it was beached in shallow waters off the coast in Germany, although marine experts have said its chances of survival are low.

    The whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was released into the North Sea off Denmark after being transported there in a water-filled barge by rescuers.

    Continue reading...

  • Could Santa Marta climate talks mark ground zero in push to ditch fossil fuels?

    Colombia hosted nearly 60 countries at pivotal time on world stage for fight to transition to a clean energy future

    Looking out to sea from the grey sandy beaches of Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, it is never hard to spot evidence of the country’s thriving fossil fuel export trade. Oil tankers ride at anchor on the horizon and sometimes, locals say, lumps of coal wash up on the shore, blown off the collier ships that carry cargos from the nearby mines.

    It was here, on Wednesday evening, that the Colombian government took a bold step to shift its economy – and that of the rest of the world – away from dependence on coal, gas and oil and into a new era of clean energy. With the first ever conference on “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, the host joined nearly 60 countries determined to loosen of the grip of petrostates on the world’s future.

    Continue reading...

  • To give young people wings: The Lost Words duo reunite for book of birds

    Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane give the Guardian exclusive extracts as they aim to open eyes to the wonder of Britain’s declining and endangered species

    When the artist Jackie Morris collaborated with the writer Robert Macfarlane to celebrate the names of plants and animals controversially removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, they never imagined their book, The Lost Words, would become a cultural phenomenon.

    Grassroots crowdfunding ensured the book was bought and donated to more than three-quarters of primary schools in England, Wales and Scotland and to every hospice in the country.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: The farm is mourning Moss, 14 years old and alert to the end | Andrea Meanwell

    Tebay, Cumbria: While new life begins up on our hills, down at the farmstead I say goodbye to a dear companion

    Lambing is still in full swing here, and each evening I start my last rounds at 8.30pm, as by 9.30pm it will be too dark to see the sheep without the headlights of the quad bike. Our main flock of sheep lamb outside, and when the time comes they take themselves off away from the others, usually at dusk or dawn. I know that two sheep have gone up towards the railway line, so I drive along to check them as darkness falls.

    From up here I can see both north and south, with the lights of the trucks of the M6 reminding me that the motorway is there. I do not process the sound of the motorway any more, and during the daytime I forget that it is there. A train speeds past with lights on inside, and I think about the thousands of people who pass through this valley every day without stopping or thinking about our lives here.

    Continue reading...

  • Gen Z leads birdwatching boom as more Britons reach for the binoculars

    Birdwatching no longer niche, old-fashioned pastime, says RSPB as research shows 47% increase in hobby since 2018

    Birdwatching is the second fastest growing hobby for generation Z after jewellery making, according to a multiyear study of more than 24,000 people.

    Almost 750,000 gen Zers (16 to 29-year-olds) in Britain regularly enjoy watching birds, a 1,088% increase since 2018, according to research by Fifty5Blue published by the RSPB.

    Continue reading...

  • From neat lawns to wild havens: how No Mow May is transforming England’s gardens

    Cheshire villagers are letting lawns grow wild to improve diversity and reconnect with nature on their doorstep

    Ian Waddington was crouched in his garden last summer, inspecting loose paving, when he lifted a slab and spotted something extraordinary: a tiny field mouse nestled in a hollow, feeding four babies – each half the size of his little finger. “It was astonishing. Like life in miniature,” he says.

    After decades in the construction industry, the 86-year-old has found a new passion in retirement – nature. The discovery of the field mice made him realise his garden could be a thriving habitat for animal and plant life. This year, Waddington joined the No Mow May movement and allowed his garden grow wild through spring.

    Continue reading...

  • Under a cloud: the growing resentment against the massive datacentres sprouting across Australian cities

    Residents say AI factories with unknown environmental impacts are being rushed into development as proponents argue Australia must ride the data boom or be left behind

    When West Footscray resident Sean Brown takes his 19-month-old boy to the park, their walk passes an imposing new building cheerily spruiked as “Australia’s largest hyperscale AI factory”, a datacentre called M3.

    He hates it: the construction noise from its constant expansion, the looming towers and the insistent background hum, the exhaust from the growing array of diesel generators that can help power the ranks of servers inside.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘We don’t hear the frogs, we don’t see the birds’: government repeatedly delayed water to NSW wetlands, documents reveal

    Exclusive: A grazier has released emails that reveal the state’s environment and water department prioritised harvesting of winter cereal crops over wetlands

    The New South Wales government has routinely delayed environmental flows to critical wetlands in the state’s north-west in favour of farming, despite admitting it could harm the breeding cycles of frogs and endangered birds and damage local ecosystems.

    Two weeks ago, scientists had to scramble to rescue turtles after WaterNSW abruptly cut water flows to the internationally significant Gwydir region near Moree, after a complaint from a landowner.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.