Abstract
THE biannual report of the Watchers' Committee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, issued privately, covers the 1935 and 1936 seasons at the Society's bird sanctuaries in thirteen English counties, three Welsh counties and four Scottish counties, and contains the scheme and appeal for the purchase of Dengemarsh, a stretch of shingle on the south coast of Kent that, with the adjoining sanctuaries of Walkers Outland and the Open Pits shingle, will form a continuous 1,281 acres sanctuary for terns, waders and winter visitors. The Durham (Teesmouth) sanctuary has also a scheme for the extension of watching throughout the year to protect winter visitors. The most extensive reports are made by the watchers in Lakeland, Kent, Orkney and Shetland. All the Scottish sanctuaries report 1936 as being far better than 1935. The Orkney sanctuary at Stenaday reports hen-harriers, which include an albino strain, shelduck and eiders are increasing and merlins and short-eared owls decreasing there: red-necked phalaropes are holding their own where nesting on north Ronaldshay and have a new nesting ground at Papa Westray. In the Shetland sanctuaries gannets, eider, terns, great skuas, arctic skuas, fulmars, starlings, puffins, guillemots, mallard and shags have increased but kittiwakes, razorbills (in parts) and the common gull (which no longer nests on Hermaness) have decreased. Disease has wiped out the house-sparrows from Mid Yell. Very detailed returns are made by the Dungeness and Dengemarsh watchers of Kent, this sanctuary in addition to its ternary being very rich in migrants which last year included the black redstart. Stone-curlews and red-legged partridge have also nested successfully there, but oil and oiled birds are still frequent shore troubles.
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British Bird Sanctuaries. Nature 139, 502 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139502a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139502a0