A quail year?

[A McLee]

Given the numbers heard at different locations throught the county, it would , I feel be informative if members took a little time at dusk on a calm dry evening to drive around roads which were adjacent to cereal fields and either whistled the birds up or merely listened for a few minutes to hear if they were calling spontaneously. Records to Tom Francis of course.
Thanks.
Alistair McLee

[A McLee]

Quail musings.
We are always being told of how sterile are the open expanses of , sprayed and manicured cereal fields are for insects, weeds and birds. Yet this is precisely the area of boring countryside some 20 - 25 singing male quails have adopted as territories a couple of miles west of Kirklevington. Are we missing something?
Alistair McLee 

[ETJ]

Quails might not be typical since, according to BWP, they do not seem to be seriously affected by modern changes in cultivation.  The structure of cereal fields certainly fits their preferred habitat ("seasonally dense, moist but not wet herbage, tall enough for complete concealment, but normally not growing as high as 1m, and usually clear of hedgerows and forest edge").  I wonder if they would still use cereal fields if their original habitat of wild grasslands was available.  I also wonder how successfully they breed in artificial habitats.

BWP mentions their tendency to breed in loose colonies, though it must take a large influx for this to happen in this country.  But 20-25 males is still pretty impressive!

Eric

[A McLee]

Interesting Eric. This dry spring has meant that the barley and wheat plants have thrown out fewer tillers than usual and the crop is fairly sparse. Also there are 2 fields of oats in the area which have no singing males and the oats are much leafier than the wheat or barley. The whole area is very prairie  like in its openess and lack of features
Alistair

[ETJ]

BWP does mention winter wheat and clover as being the preferred crops, with oats among the secondary choices.  It would be informative if anyone checking for Quails were to record what crop the birds were in.

Eric

[A McLee]

In the same area as the Quails there are 2 large abandoned fields of rank grass and rush  - the type of land you would expect to see Barn Owl hunting over. It was while I was doing my annual check for Quail in these fields that my toothless whistling received a replies from adjacent winter cereal crops instead. So it would seem that winter wheat and barley are to be preferred given choices.
Alistair