Berkshire Ornithological Club

News

BOC Jurassic Coast seabird cruise, Saturday June 9th, 2012 16 May

25 places have been reserved on the RSPB Birdboat cruise, and there are still some places available. Tickets cost only £12 for RSPB members (£13 non-members). You will need to make your own arrangements to get to Poole, but I will be happy to help with linking up car-sharing requests and offers.

Since this is an evening event, which finishes after sunset, you might wish to book overnight accommodation, so early decisions will be vital for that reason too. You could make your own plans for a full weekend in order to visit the Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve at Brownsea Island and/or nearby RSPB Arne.

The three-hour trip ranges along the fascinatingly-varied geology of this famous coast. You can expect close views of many birds along the cliffs: on the last trip we saw such as Razorbills, Guillemots, Puffins, Shags, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Peregrines very well, with Gannets further out to sea. A truly wonderful sight was that of the sun sinking behind the arches and columns of the Old Harry rocks.

If you want to go, please contact Ray Reedman (tel: 0118 9864338) soon if you want to be sure of your place. N.B. The operators reserve the right to cancel the trip in the case of bad weather.

Bird Books at the Oxfam Bookshop, Reading 16 May

We have been asked to remind members that the Oxfam Bookshop in Reading (located at 8 High Street, round the corner from Jackson's) has a first rate selection of books about birds and is currently featuring a window display of some of the most interesting and unusual books on the subject.

Please call in when you are in town and you may find something of real interest. The prices are very reasonable and, of course, all profits go to a really good cause.

Ornithology Research Project - Volunteers Sought 26 Apr

Bird watchers with a camera trained on great and blue tit nests in boxes are sought to support a research project that has just started. The study will assess factors that impact the timing of the reproductive cycle, such as date of egg laying, hatching and subsequent fledging. Factors may include the habitat in which the nestbox is located (such as urban or rural) and the percentage/type of canopy cover within a certain radius of the nestbox.

Therefore camera owners who would like to make a positive contribution by sharing information about the birds using their nest box are asked to register their interest by e-mailing p.parker student.reading.ac.uk in the first instance. Once you have registered your interest, Paul will contact you with further information about the data required and how to submit it.

Call for Photos for Atlas 3 Apr

As mentioned recently at Club meetings we are seeking photographs to illustrate habitats in Berkshire to use in the new book. As we have so many superb photographers in the Club we invite you all to submit photographs to colin.wilson berksoc.org.uk of the following:

• Flood plains in flood, preferably with wildfowl
• Gravel workings showing suitable LRP habitat
• Gravel pit - derived habitat (lake with reedy edges)
• Heathland (showing heather and/or gorse and birch scrub)
• Downland open area
• Lowland open arable area
• Deciduous forest, mature with and without rich understorey
• Coniferous forest – mature, demonstrating Firecrest and Redstart habitat
• Urban environment: eg town centre view showing rooftops to illustrate Swift/Peregrine/Black Redstart breeding environment.

The book is intended to provide funds for conservation so no payment will be made but acknowledgment of the photographer will, of course, be included in the book. The best quality images possible will be needed and selection of suitable images will be made by the Berks Bird Atlas Group.

Anglesey Weekend 3 Apr

The trip to Anglesey on 25th to 27th May is being planned and numbers will soon need to be firmed up for the accommodation. If you are interested in joining us for a weekend that may bring Black Guillemots, Arctic Terns, Puffins, Chough, Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatchers and much more please contact Colin Wilson on 01252 837411 or at colin.wilson berksoc.org.uk as soon as possible. The cost apart from the travel costs (sharing fuel) will be approximately £30- £40 a night B&B and your lunches, plus pub meals.

BOC Photographic Competition 2012 – Results 3 Apr

We are delighted to have yet another new winner of the competition, Brian Winter with his superb image of a hovering Kestrel. Brian is the first winner of the new Gordon Langsbury Memorial Trophy. The winner of the Flight section, it was challenged by a number of truly special entries including the runner up, a Red-tailed Tropicbird under attack from a Magnificent Frigatebird by Ken White. Read more...

President Announcement 7 Feb

The BOC Committee is delighted to announce that Neil Bucknell has accepted our request to become the Club's President. Neil has made an outstanding contribution to ornithology in Berkshire and his engagement with ornithology nationally brings us a valued perspective, experience and authority.

Neil was born in Reading, educated at Theale Green (then Theale Grammar) School and read law at Cambridge, qualifying as a solicitor in 1980. He was Honorary Secretary of the British Ornithologists' Union from 1997 to 2006, and has been on the Council of the British Trust for Ornithology since 2009, and its Honorary Secretary since 2010.

He joined the Reading Ornithological Club (now Berkshire Ornithological Club) in 1971 and has been an active member ever since, serving several times on the Committee and as its Chair. He was Wildfowl Counts/WeBS organiser for about 20 years, was one of the organising team for the first Birds of Berkshire Atlas and is working now on the second edition, based on the last four years' fieldwork.

Auction of painting by Robert Gillmor 1 Feb

The Club has been given this beautiful water colour of a pair of Tufted Ducks by Robert Gillmor to raise money for the Club. Sealed bids are invited and will be opened at the last indoor meeting of this season on 28th March. Size: Painting 140 x 200 mm; frame 380 x 460 mm. Price guide: in excess of £300. Read more...

BTO Berks/Oxon Birdwatchers' Forum on 3rd March 2012 31 Jan

There will be a Berkshire & Oxfordshire BTO conference to be held on 3rd March 2012 at the Benson Village Hall. Please see here for information and a booking form.

Everyone is welcome to come along for a great day's birding indoors.

North east Poland 29 Jan

Those people that have heard Marek Borkowski talk will know something of the spectacular Biebrza Marshes, a unique habitat in Europe, well-known for its Aquatic Warbler and Great Snipe populations. It is also a good place for many birds of prey, including Lesser and Greater Spotted Eagles. Nearby Citrine Wagtails breed and you may see four species of Harriers. The Bialowieza Forest is home to most of the European woodpeckers, including White-backed, Three-toed, Black, Lesser, Middle and Greater Spotted. Nutcrackers may be seen.

Marek Borkowski has offered to run a tour to NE Poland for BOC members in May 2013: “The way I much prefer to organize trips is an all included tour, covering accommodation, food, transport, English speaking leader, local guides where appropriate, entrance fees, permits, using some of our conveniences, etc. It is much more bird productive this way, as we do not loose time for long unnecessary drives, waiting for meals, dealing with inexperienced drivers, wasting time for finding places, queuing, waiting, etc. and I can also assure the quality. Accommodation then is in small, well placed, comfortable hotels, on twin/double rooms with private facilities en suite basis, with single rooms possibility. A reception at my farm, visiting "gardens", seeing horses, early morning coffees, birdlists, etc. are also included - basically everything except for alcohol (apart from one or two occasions) and items of strictly private character.”

If you are interested in taking part, please let me know as I need to give Marek an indication of how many people to plan for. The all-in price will be around £1,050 excluding the flights to and from Warsaw and excluding alcohol).

renton.righelato berksoc.org.uk
tel 0787 981 2564

Renton Righelato

Fishermen’s friends 29 Jan

Bird watchers and anglers have a lot in common. We both spend a lot of time out in the cold, staring at expanses of water in lonely places. We are both interested in Nature and wetland areas; though it seems to me that most anglers know a lot more about birds than birders do about fish. So it came as a shock to me to hear that some Berkshire bird-watchers had been offensive to a number of anglers over access to lakes and over maintenance work on angling sites, which has resulted in a loss of goodwill and the withdrawal of certain access privileges for bird-watchers.

Anglers often pay a lot for fishing rights and have costly equipment that they understandably do not want damaged. They also own or lease a number of private sites to which they may allow access to bird-watchers or the public at large – we go there on sufferance.

Last year the BOC had a number of constructive meetings with Reading & District Angling Association to discuss their and our concerns. Amongst other things we discussed the clearance of scrub around parts of the Searles Lane GPs, which was needed for the health of the fish stocks, and possible mitigation measures for the resultant loss of some Nightingale habitat. We have also worked with the anglers on the planning of the new wetland reserve at Fobney Island. Bird-watchers and anglers have shared interests in protecting our natural environment – let’s be friends!

Renton Righelato

Heathland birds on Greenham Common 17 Dec

Heathland birds on Greenham Common: monitoring and survey work over the last three years by BBOWT on Greenham Common, part-supported by a grant from the BOC's Conservation Fund, has shown that despite two hard winters, the numbers of breeding Dartford Warblers and Stonechats have remained steady. The same was true of most of the ground-nesting species monitored: Ringed and Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Redshank and Woodlark, though there is a suggestion that Skylark numbers fell. Adrian Mitchell's excellent report can be downloaded from here.

Request for Publicity Officer 11 Nov

The Club is in urgent need of someone to take on the role of Publicity Officer to promote the work of the Club across the county.

Duties include distribution of membership leaflets, organising publicity (posters, media coverage, etc) as required, upkeep of the boards for indoor meetings and displays at external events and organising stands for local events as required. The role will also involve organising volunteers from with the Club membership to help with some of the above tasks.

As one of the Club's key officers, the Publicity Officer should be a member of the committee. Elections to the committee take place at the AGM so, if you are interested, please have a word with Renton Righelato or Mike Turton before 20th November.

Robert Gillmor Exhibition - Reading Museum 7 Nov

The Club is delighted to have been involved in planning for the Robert Gillmor Retrospective exhibition which started at Reading Museum at the end of October. The John Madejski Gallery now holds a wonderful selection of Robert’s work including some of his very earliest work from his schooldays. We encourage members to enjoy the exhibition which is there daily until April 2012. Read more...

Project Parakeet – help us learn more about them and their impact 21 Oct

If you have parakeets regularly visiting your garden you can help an important project gather more information about them.

Put simply, all that’s required is for you to allow the project to install a feeder in your garden (food paid for) and monitor birds present for 20 minutes a week. This would be for twelve months and the type of feeder would be changed by the project after 6 months to exclude the parakeets. So this is an easy way for you to help some important research from the comfort of your own house!

Please have a look at the webpage here and for more information you can visit www.projectparakeet.co.uk to learn more.

Hannah Peck from Imperial College, Silwood Park is the main contact and you can contact her and volunteer or ask questions at parakeet imperial.ac.uk

The Club would like to support research and surveys for birds and hopes you can help this project.

Reshaping Fobney Island 6 Oct

For some years, the BOC has been working with the sponsors, Reading Borough Council, the Environment Agency, Thames Water and the Thames Valley Restoration Trust, to help design a wetland reserve just to the south of Reading centre, between the River Kennet and the Kennet & Avon Canal. This is now coming to fruition with a £500,000 project that started in September. Read more...

Gordon Langsbury: President 1999-2011 6 Oct

It was with great sadness that we learnt last week of Gordon’s untimely death. Gordon had been an active member of Berkshire Ornithological Club (formerly the Reading Ornithological Club) for more than 25 years and became its Honorary President in 1999. Whenever his busy schedule allowed, he and his wife, Joy, were at Club meetings, welcoming our guests and enthusing our members. Read more...

BOC Programme of Events for 2011/2012 1 Sep

The BOC new season programme of events is now available, with a comprehensive range of indoor meetings taking place throughout the winter months (mostly in the University of Reading); as well as field trips and walks around the local area and to sites further afield throughout the year. Hopefully there will be something for everyone to enjoy. All members are welcome, as are guests and prospective new members. The new programme card can be downloaded from here.

Latest Newsletter 1 Sep

The latest BOC Newsletter has just been published.

Northern Greece - May 2011 21 Jul

Club member Renton Righelato and friends visited Lake Kerkini, the Evros Hills and the Evros Delta in Northern Greece in May 2011. Read more...

Lavell’s Lake car park 21 Nov 2010

Car park charges now apply in ALL car parks at Dinton Pastures Country Park, from 08:00 to 18:00. The nearest ticket machine to Lavell's Lake is in the middle of the sailing club car park (now called the multi activity centre).

Prices are shown via the link below but in summary are 50p for up to 1 hour, £1 for up to 4 hours, £2 for 4 hours plus. There are annual season tickets at £76.50 available from the Countryside Service Office above the Cafe, disabled can park free.

http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/parks/parks/country-parks/dinton/

We are advised that tickets will be checked, so please be aware you may get a fine if you choose not to pay.

Berkshire Bird Index 2008 18 Aug 2010

2008 was the ninth year of the Berkshire Bird Index (BBI). The BBI was started in 2000 to use statistically analysed hard data to try to measure changes in bird populations in the county, especially for the more common species. It uses the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) methods and data, and the BTO carries out the analysis. The BBI achieves a much larger coverage across the county than is usual for a BBS, to give as thorough a picture of Berkshire’s birds as possible, and Berkshire has one of the highest number of BBS observers of any county in the UK, with 95 squares surveyed in 2008 (about 5.2 % of the county).

The report discusses the changes in both resident and migratory species in Berkshire over 2000-2008 (the period for the BBI) and 1994-2008 (the period for the BBS). The changes for 1994-2008 are compared with changes in the South-East of England over the same period.

The BBI is a work in progress, and the population trends will become clearer and more reliable the longer the survey runs. Consequently, we very much hope that we can maintain or expand the number of squares surveyed, so if you do not have a square, volunteer today!

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