The Dipper and a Near Death Experience 1st March 2020

My plan to have a lazy morning this Sunday was abandoned, as on checking RBA (Rare Bird Alert) I saw that a Black bellied Dipper had been discovered yesterday at Sywell Country Park in Northamptonshire and, as is often the case with this species, was 'showing well'.

Combine this with the facts that the day was for once sunny though inevitably accompanied by the now almost permanent strong and cold wind, Sywell was but an hour's drive from my home and there was little else of birding interest to tempt me in Oxfordshire, and it was too much to resist.

Black bellied Dippers are a separate sub species to our familiar Dipper, residing in northern and eastern Europe, west and central France, northern Spain, Corsica and Sardinia and the main difference in plumage is that they have no chestnut band on the belly, and yes, you guessed it, have black feathering there instead. Single birds are uncommon but reasonably regular winter visitors each year to these shores but how one found itself in the middle of Northamptonshire at the beginning of March is unfathomable. Possibly it is a wintering bird, previously undiscovered in Britain, that is making its way back to northern or eastern Europe.

A pleasant drive on quiet roads found me turning into Sywell Country Park at just before 1030am. It being a sunny Sunday, the car park was already packed and families, dogs and all human life was out and about, determined to make the most of this fortuitous break in the incessant foul weather. Who can blame them?

I enquired of a fellow birder where exactly I needed to go to see the star bird. He told me to just follow the spillway's course uphill, The spillway was in fact a channelled overflow from a dam that formed a large lake above the car park and around which the country park is based. The run off itself consisted of a number of steps, to slow the pace of the water, which formed a series of artificial waterfalls as the overflow of water progressed down the slope and continued onwards to pass along one side of the car park. 

Birds finding themselves lost or off course and in unfamiliar surroundings have a remarkable ability to find as near an approximation to their normal habitat as they can in such situations and the artificially created rushing and broken water of the spillway was obviously to the dipper's liking, presumably being the next best thing to its normal haunts.

The Spillway and its mini waterfalls - looking upstream. The Dipper favoured the left side
wall whilst us birders viewed it from the fence on the right

The Spillway looking downstream with the car park at the
bottom

The small bridge over the Spillway with a small gathering of birders
awaiting the return of the Black bellied Dipper

I set off uphill, by-passing the wettest and most muddy parts of the track by the spillway and had not got far before an excitable gent coming down the slope told me 

'Its up there' - 

He pointed to a small bridge across the stream and a scrum of some twenty birders hanging over the retaining wall beyond it, looking at the dipper.

'You'll have no problem, its showing down to five metres!'

I headed for the group of birders and sure enough there was the dipper. standing on the opposite retaining wall. not five but four metres opposite. 

Dippers, as they continually bob up and down, have the habit of regularly closing their white upper eyelids which gives the impression they are winking. It can be seen from some distance and is made more obvious and distinctive due to the contrast with the dark brown feathers of the head.

The Dipper looked a little nervous but remained where it was and then relaxed and commenced to move slowly along the wall, looking down to the fast moving water below. It was obviously keen to drop into the water and eventually it did, feeding at the edge of the water by the wall, before flying back up to the top of the wall again.

We followed as it slowly moved along the wall and then it flew off downstream before returning at high speed and landing back exactly where it had departed from earlier.

It was not long however before it was gone again, disappearing at high speed downstream and out of sight.

I decided to wait and see if it would return, as did some of my fellow birders. In the meantime we were entertained by two Grey Wagtails, that looked like a pair, which were equally confiding and provided some splendid close views. Forever active, they fed along the top of the wall, picking invertebrates from the grass and moss, constantly bouncing their hind parts and very long tails in inimitable wagtail fashion. They are perhaps the most elegant of our native wagtails, this elegance bestowed in no small part by their  exceptionally long tails. It is not that often one gets to see them so close and confiding and I can only assume they have become familiar with the close proximity of people in what seems a popular public  park.

The wind was getting stronger. Now where have I heard that before! I stuck it out snuggling down into my padded jacket and eventually the Dipper flew up the stream and landed back on its favourite wall.

This time it decided to behave like a Dipper should and dropped off the wall onto the lip of one of the waterfalls and wading into the water, began ducking its head below the water, seizing prey being brought down by the current. 

It remained feeding in this manner for a few minutes but then flew off downstream. I could see it was now on the wall near to the car park and walked down to get closer to it but on reaching there disaster struck.

A hunting Sparrowhawk, appeared from nowhere and grabbed the Dipper and both birds fell into the water, the Sparrowhawk on top of the unfortunate Dipper. The Sparrowhawk floated on the water, its wings spread to keep itself afloat and then tried to lift the Dipper from the water, which was still struggling in the grasp of the Sparrowhawk's talons. I have seen Sparrowhawks deliberately drown birds in puddles, such as Starlings and Blackbirds, but in this case a Dipper is used to being underwater so it managed to continue to put up some resistance. The Sparrowhawk finally managed to fly up, with the Dipper grasped in its talons, onto the top of the retaining wall but the Dipper with one last desperate effort contrived to wrestle itself free of the hawk and flew groggily and none to steadily, low upstream and dived into a pipe cum culvert it found at water level on the side of the bank.

It is often the fate of stray or lost birds to fall victim to Sparrowhawks. Out of their normal comfort zone such birds do not have local knowledge or familiarity of their surroundings, unlike the resident bird population and consequently they are more vulnerable to predators. The Dipper was a classic example. I can recall watching a vagrant Melodious Warbler at Beachy Head in Sussex a few years ago that was not so fortunate. Happily feeding on the edge of a hawthorn it was suddenly enveloped by a Sparrowhawk and carried off, hanging limp and dead in the hawk's talons.

I waited a while to see if there would be any further sign of the Dipper but not unreasonably it decided to remain hidden  in its improvised sanctuary. The last I heard it was still hiding there at nightfall. You can hardly blame it after such a traumatic experience. I hope it is not badly injured and will survive the night and feel emboldened to venture forth tomorrow.

We will see.

I am delighted to be able to add that the Black bellied Dipper was watched feeding normally along the spillway the next day and apparently was physically unharmed from the attack by the Sparrowhawk.