They look like a blackbird with a white collar, they are very endangered, they like to make their nests low to the ground, often in crevices in rocks, one of their big breeding areas is the Peak District, and the qualities that make a ring ouzel look at a crack in a rock and think "ooh yes, I'll go for that" seem to be EXACTLY THE SAME as the qualities that make a rock climber look at a crack in a rock and think the same thing.
Two of their favoured breeding grounds are Stanage and Burbage, two extremely popular and busy crags. And what ring ouzels really seem to like is three-star classic routes at amenable grades.
This would not seem like a winning strategy for the ring ouzels.
But! In fact, the Peak grit has turned out to be a stronghold for the ouzel population, with the number of breeding pairs either staying stable or increasing every year over the last 15 years.
There has been a splendid team-up between the climbers and the bird conservationists. A team of mostly-climber local volunteers watch the birds, try to locate any nests a.s.a.p., then signpost them on the approach paths to let people know what routes and areas are off-limits (and then continue to monitor the nests, and remove the signs once fledglings have gone, or if eggs are eaten by predators etc.).
And climbers generally obey the signs!
(One year, I even got to report an ouzel sighting at an obscure crag where nobody'd noticed they were that year. It gives an idea of the general situation that, not knowing who to report it to, I posted about it on UKBouldering.com, because I knew that's where some of the hardcore ouzel people hang out.)
(Ouzels are among the very very few birds I can recognize -- apart from, say, parakeets -- and it's entirely due to the climbing community.)
There is regular reporting on the State Of The Ouzels by Kim Leyland at the Peak area BMC meetings.
no subject
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/ring-ouzel/
They look like a blackbird with a white collar, they are very endangered, they like to make their nests low to the ground, often in crevices in rocks, one of their big breeding areas is the Peak District, and the qualities that make a ring ouzel look at a crack in a rock and think "ooh yes, I'll go for that" seem to be EXACTLY THE SAME as the qualities that make a rock climber look at a crack in a rock and think the same thing.
Two of their favoured breeding grounds are Stanage and Burbage, two extremely popular and busy crags. And what ring ouzels really seem to like is three-star classic routes at amenable grades.
This would not seem like a winning strategy for the ring ouzels.
But! In fact, the Peak grit has turned out to be a stronghold for the ouzel population, with the number of breeding pairs either staying stable or increasing every year over the last 15 years.
There has been a splendid team-up between the climbers and the bird conservationists. A team of mostly-climber local volunteers watch the birds, try to locate any nests a.s.a.p., then signpost them on the approach paths to let people know what routes and areas are off-limits (and then continue to monitor the nests, and remove the signs once fledglings have gone, or if eggs are eaten by predators etc.).
And climbers generally obey the signs!
(One year, I even got to report an ouzel sighting at an obscure crag where nobody'd noticed they were that year. It gives an idea of the general situation that, not knowing who to report it to, I posted about it on UKBouldering.com, because I knew that's where some of the hardcore ouzel people hang out.)
(Ouzels are among the very very few birds I can recognize -- apart from, say, parakeets -- and it's entirely due to the climbing community.)
There is regular reporting on the State Of The Ouzels by Kim Leyland at the Peak area BMC meetings.
BBC Springwatch: Ring ouzels in the Peak District
https://twitter.com/kimleyland
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bill-gordon-awarded-british-empire-medal-bem
There are bird bans on routes to protect other birds too (e.g. kestrels), but we are all especially invested in the ouzels.