ATLAS OF WINTERING BIRDS IN NORTHUMBRIA  -  PRICE REDUCED

This major club publication has now been reduced to only £10 per copy (plus £7.50 p&p or collect at a club meeting). All proceeds made from this sale will go to the club’s Development Fund and will assist in the planned publication costs for the current atlas project. A good way to get a bargain copy and help the club at the same time! See the Publications page for further details.

(added 21/0610)

INVITATION FOR CLUB MEMBERS TO LOCAL RSPB GROUP SOCIAL EVENING

The bird club has received an invitation from the local RSPB Group for club members to attend a social evening and talk.  Details are as follows :

Indoor Meeting and Social Evening with Buffet 13th July 2010 (6.30pm-9.00pm)

“The evening will begin with a buffet including wine or soft drink available from 6.30pm. The buffet will be taken out of doors if weather allows. The talk will begin at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and must be purchased in advance, before 3rd July 2010, as we need to know numbers. If you could let your members know that they would be very welcome.

Speaker: Noel Jackson………The Galapagos Islands.

Venue: The Rising Sun Country Park Centre, off Whitley Road, North Tyneside

Date: Tuesday, July 13th 2010 at 6.30pm - 9.00pm

Admission: £5.00 members/non members. Admission will be strictly by ticket only. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Tickets can be obtained from Brian Moorhead, Local Group Leader, 64 Hadrian Court, Killingworth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 6DA, by enclosing a Cheque for £5.00 per person, a Stamped Addressed Envelope and your name and telephone number no later than 3rd July 2010”

(added 11/06/10)

GOLDEN OLDIES - HELP NEEDED WITH PHOTOS

We have had a suggestion to incorporate a new page on the club web site which would display photographs of rare, scarce or otherwise interesting species that were taken in the county before the current galleries. Although the current web site galleries cover from 2008 onwards, and there will definitely be some good images somewhere of rare and scarce birds in the preceding few years, it would be interesting to try and get copies of photographs from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Obviously the quality may not be what we have come to expect these days but that doesn’t matter, what we are after is just interesting pictures and if they are instructive then so much the better! If you have any that you feel might be suitable please let Chris know (christopher.knox@o2.co.uk  or tel : 0751 582 5024). If your photos are on slides then we can make a digital copy from the original and we can also scan prints.

Here’s the challenge then; who can supply photos from the 1960s?? We know of one member who could. PS – anyone want to see the 1979 Ivory Gull or the 1973 Red-footed Falcon?

CHRIS KNOX & MIKE HODGSON

(added 06/04/10)

OSPREYS ON CAMERA

A live-feed camera viewing the Kielder Osprey nest has now been installed and you can view this either from the display at Kielder Castle or alternatively a screen has been placed in the tea rooms at there.

(added 06/04/10)

DESIGN HELP NEEDED

Would you, or do you know anyone who would, be prepared to help the Club in the design of its printed publications? We have a particular need for someone to assist with the forthcoming Breeding and  Wintering Birds Atlas, but also to advise on Birds in Northumbria and the Monthly Bulletin. If you are interested, please contact me or any other member of the Committee.

Dick Myatt dick@dickmyatt.co.uk

(added 06/04/10)

TAPE LURING

There have been a number of reports regarding the use of tape luring to attract both common and in some instances Schedule 1 Birds during their breeding season in the last 12 months. The committee wishes to remind all members that it is incumbent upon them to abide by the birdwatcher's code the first point of which states " Avoid disturbing birds and their habitats. The birds interests should always come first."

In England, Scotland and Wales, it is a criminal offence to disturb, intentionally or recklessly, at or near the nest, a species listed on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981. Disturbance could include playback of songs and calls. The courts can impose fines of up to £5,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to six months for each offence.

NTBC Committee

(added 29/03/10)

WORLD PHEASANT ASSOCIATION

The World Pheasant Association based at Close House, Heddon on the Wall are seeking to recruit a new Treasurer. Interested parties should have accounts experience and an interest in birds and can contact WPA via email at office@pheasant.org.uk

(added 29/03/10)

MEMBERS-ONLY SIGHTINGS FACILITY

At the NTBC Committee meeting 4th February the committee agreed to a proposal to trial an online members only sightings page that will offer the opportunity to NTBC members to post sightings and images directly to the web and view similar content posted by other members.

The sightings page will be password protected and not accessible or visible to non-members. It will not incur any cost to NTBC by utilising free software to host it at a site called Posterous.com.  This is an easy to use site as sightings can be sent via email and the site will automatically convert the email into a post on the sightings page. Members with email enabled phones will be able to post email from the field adding a sighting to the page within a few seconds. A link to the sightings page will be added to the club web site and members are encouraged to visit the web site to access the page once they have completed the appropriate registration.

All club announcements, ID papers, news and official club photo galleries will remain unchanged on this web site.

During the trial the club will refrain from using its name and logo on the site until the committee have had the opportunity to review the content and performance of the site.

Members wishing to access the sightings page either to view or to post sightings should forward an email request stating whether they wish to have view only or view and post access to Alan Tilmouth at birdneast@btinternet.com  who will arrange the access and offer any support required.

The committee would however highlight that this is not an alternative to submitting records and all members are kindly requested to continue to submit records in whichever format they currently use.

After you have arranged access as outlined above please use the Recent Sightings link on the LINKS page

(added 16/02/10)

JUNIOR CLUB MEMBER WINS PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIZE

The Bird Clubs newest junior member has won a special prize in the BirdGuides Photo of the Year 2009 competition. The prize was nominated by Stealth Wildlife with the comment that Jack Bucknall had been ‘consistently adding photos to BirdGuides over the last year and has been improving with every image’. You can check out the full details here  Congratulations to Jack!

(added 31/01/10)

BIRD AID - AN UPDATE ON PROGRESS

A team of volunteers including three NTBC members collected a substantial quantity of wheat from a farm in Co Durham today (15/01/10) for the Bird Aid project. The first allocation to a team of volunteers planning to feed behind St Mary's Wetland was delivered late in the day and subsequent allocations are expected over the weekend. ITV filmed the grain collection and will have a news story on one of the evening bulletins within the next two-three days. Many thanks to Tim Sexton, Cain Scrimgour & Graeme Stevens for providing muscle and transport for today's exercise

NTBC Committee

(added 16/01/10)

BIRD AID  - URGENT HELP NEEDED NOW WITH SEVERE WEATHER FEEDING

Following the most prolonged period of snow cover lowland England has seen in recent times, NTBC are organising a programme of targeted supplementary feeding of farmland birds throughout the county. Following advice from the Farmland Bird Initiative Project, a large supply of grain has been secured by the club.

We now require volunteer effort from within the club for three key tasks :

1. Grain Collection – The grain is currently bulk stored in Co Durham and needs to be bagged and re-located to dry storage points in Northumberland. We have agreed access for one day on Friday 15th January for a small team of 6-8 volunteers to go and bag the grain and re-locate it. If you are able to offer your services for this task please email Alan Tilmouth at birdneast@btinternet.com or call him on 01670 512013. Also if anyone has access to a pick up truck or van this would be extremely useful

2. Farmland Bird Location – The plan is to target existing large flocks of farmland birds and gain permission from landowners to seed suitable areas near them until the grain supply is exhausted. It would be extremely useful if anyone spotting any large flock of farmland bunting, finches or larks emails the details to Alan Tilmouth at birdneast@btinternet.com or call him on 01670 512013

3. Volunteer Feeders – Once we have the food and have identified locations we need volunteers with transport to ‘foster’ a particular site for the next 4-6 weeks – re-seeding the agreed areas 1-2 times per week. If you are able to offer your services for this task please email Alan Tilmouth at birdneast@btinternet.com or call on 01670 512013

Whilst the snow is currently thawing there can be no doubt that this period has left many farmland birds in very poor condition, ringing evidence in recent days supports this. Supplementary feeding in the targeted manner planned will hopefully help as many birds as possible recover condition ahead of any further cold snaps and for the breeding season ahead. Discussions are ongoing with Durham Bird Club and North Northumberland Bird Club to widen this plan across as much of the North East as possible

If you can help with this plan in any way please get in touch as soon as possible

NTBC Committee

(added 11/01/2010)

SEVERE WEATHER - JANUARY 2010

The BTO has today issued to all ringers notice of severe weather restrictions and these can equally apply to general birding during these conditions. Birders are requested to take note of the advice given : “Following the spell of severe weather last winter we are now again experiencing the most prolonged period of cold weather for over a decade. When it is this cold, it is important to be especially careful in minimising any disturbance of wild birds, especially the wildfowl, waders and other waterbirds that visit our coastal and inland wetlands in such internationally important numbers. In frozen conditions, birds not only need to expend more energy to maintain their body temperature, but food becomes much more difficult for them to obtain. In such cases, disturbance by people only adds further to the physical stress on birds, and such additional disturbance may result in increased mortality.
An alerting system based on daily temperature at 23 meteorological stations throughout Britain is used to assess the severity of the weather. When more than half of these meteorological stations (in either Scotland, England and Wales, or all three countries) have recorded frozen conditions for seven consecutive days there may be a call for voluntary restraint from shooting and after 14 days a statutory suspension of wildfowl shooting (for more details see www.jncc.gov.uk/page-2894). In addition to shooting, however, it is also important to ensure that all other forms of disturbance at wetlands are minimised.
Under the criteria by which the number of days is calculated, today, 4 January 2010 is day 14 in Scotland and day 4 in England & Wales”

(added 04/01/2010)

NEW MEMBER OF COUNTY RECORDS COMMITTEE

At the December 2009 meeting of the NTBC committee David Steel was voted onto the County Records Committee as the replacement for Mike Hodgson who retired on 31st December after his four year stint

(added 04/01/20110)

CLUB COMMITTEE 2009/2010

At it’s meeting on 5th November 2009 the committee appointed officers for the next year. The only change was that Tim Cleeves has now been appointed Chairman, all other posts remaining unchanged (see Contacts Page).

Paul Stewart retired from the committee in October after serving for six years, the last two as Chairman. He is warmly thanked by everyone for his unstinting input to the running of the club during that period and we hope he will now have some spare time to go birding! Many thanks again Paul.

As only eight nominations had been received for nine places, the committee has co-opted Alan Tilmouth as the ninth member.

2009 RECORDS OF RARE & SCARCE SPECIES

Observers are kindly requested to submit to the County Recorder, as soon as possible, any outstanding descriptions and notes for records shown in the latest status report available on the County Records Committee page. This will greatly assist the CRC's work and help a timely production of Birds in Northumbria 2009

CLUB CONSERVATION OFFICER - THE ROLE & HOW TO RAISE AN ISSUE

The key role of the NTBC Conservation Officer is to represent the Club in actioning issues concerning bird conservation which are brought to the Club’s attention either by Club members or by organizations.

Examples of consultations that have taken place are:

• A1 Road Widening Proposals
• Blyth South Harbour Wind Turbine Replacement.
• Castle Island Rowing Disturbance
• Cramlington South West Sector Development (Arcot)
• Newbiggin Sea Defenses Improvement
• Newbiggin Water Catchment Zone.
• North Brenkley Surface Mine
• Pegswood Moor Country Park Development
• Rising Sun Country Park Hides
• Shotton Surface Mine
• Tyne Bridge Kittiwake Colony
• West Hartford Business Park

Whilst the above list seems to give prominence to the urban south east it is in this area that most of the issues that have been brought to the Club’s attention have occurred. Members raising issues of concern should initially raise these with the Club Secretary and through them the Club Committee will decide whether to involve the Conservation Officer. The Conservation Officer is also a member of the Newcastle/North Tyneside Joint Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group

NEW VENUE FOR CLUB INDOOR MEETINGS - VERY IMPORTANT

The club is moving its meeting venue for the 2009/2010 winter session to the Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club at Kingston Park Stadium, Brunton Road, Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 8AF. Indoor meetings will be held, as usual, on the second Thursday of every month between September and April.

Detailed travel directions to the new venue can be found on the Falcons own web site at this link

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MEETINGS WILL COMMENCE AT 7:00 PM PROMPT

The first meeting of the new season will be on Thursday 10th September 2009 and free tea and coffee will be available prior to the commencement of the meeting. A bar will be available in the meeting room afterwards

WADER STUDY GROUP PROJECT ON SANDERLINGS

Our attention has been drawn to a new project of the International Wader Study Group which aims to learn more about Sanderling migration routes, phenology and population dynamics in Europe, Africa and Asia. Almost 2,000 Sanderlings have been colour-ringed in Ghana, Mauritania, Oman, Netherlands, Iceland and Greenland. Club members are asked to be on the lookout for any colour-ringed Sanderlings in the county and report the details.

More information is available at www.waderstudygroup.org/res/project/sanderling.php

BIRDING SITES IN NORTHUMBERLAND

Between 1997 – 2004 the county annual bird report, Birds in Northumbria, included a series of back papers on Birding sites in our recording area. In total 14 sites were covered by various authors and the club would like to reciprocate and expand this coverage to the web site. We are therefore asking the original authors of the papers if they’d like to adapt their accounts for this use (a broad template of what is required is available upon request). We are also appealing to other members who watch an area in the county on a regular basis to consider if they would like to produce a site account for inclusion. Further details available from christopher.knox@o2.co.uk

WEB SITE CONTENT

Since the inception of the club’s new web site, the bird club committee has laid down certain conditions for subject matter on the site. There have been a number of enquiries from club members about why local ‘Blogs’ have not been included on the Links page. The committee and others recognise that there are a number of interesting and relevant locally-based blogs, some run by club members, and whilst these contain information of interest/use to birders there are unfortunately a further number that contain language considered offensive and web links to sites deemed inappropriate and not in keeping with the club’s constitutional aims. One problem is that blogs are moderated only by their owners and the club, quite rightly, has no control over their content. This is particularly important as we wish to present the club in its most professional manner and it has an important aim to encourage younger members.  The committee would find it difficult to justifying one blog but not another and so, unfortunately for the foreseeable future, blogs will continue to be excluded. Members of course are free to visit and support these local blogs if they wish. The web site links (as distinct from  blogs) provided on the club site are considered to provide useful information to both club members and any interested members of the general public and the club will continue to provide others in a similar vein in the future.

BIRD CLUB ARCHIVES

As part of the recent 50th Anniversary celebrations the Club asked John Day to write a short history outlining the development and achievements of the TBC/NTBC since its formation.  The short account appeared in the copy of Birds in Northumbria for the year 2007.

In compiling the history it became apparent at a very early stage that the Club has no organised official archives nor does it deposit any material in local repositories, other than the record cards in the Hancock Museum.  Fortunately a number of long-standing Club members have reasonably complete sets of Bulletins, Birds in Northumbria and other publications on which the historical account was based, although the Club itself does not possess such files.

As a result the Club has appointed John Day as its official honorary archivist, and he is now actively attempting to bring together as much original Club material as can be identified and located.  He is donating his own collection of Bulletins, Birds in Northumbria, Club minutes and accounts (from 1979 to the early 1990s) and miscellaneous publications as a basis for the Club’s archive.  A number of gaps are also in the process of being filled by generous donations from other Club members, and as the joint editor of both the Breeding and Wintering Atlases he already has all the original field notes and textual matter from those two projects in safe keeping.

John is now contacting former Club officers to find out if any other material has survived e.g. Seaton Sluice Watch Tower records, so that they can be added to the official archive.  Current Club minutes and flyers are being copied to the archive and any member who has Club material that they feel could usefully enhance the Club’s collection should contact him at the address below.  Nothing is too insignificant – remember the seasonal greetings cards and the limited edition prints.  Even duplicates are required as some of the earlier material is ‘dog-eared and used’.  Indeed a duplicate set of Bulletins or Birds in Northumbria could also be placed in a local library which does not possess them already.

The intention is to deposit the Club’s archive, once it is reasonably complete, with a local record office, library or museum where it will be stored in ideal conditions and be available, in perpetuity, for serious researchers in years to come.

At the moment the collection and sorting of the Club’s material does not relate to the   monthly record cards deposited at the Hancock Museum.  These cards constitute a sizeable problem which along with the newer electronic material will require considerable thought in the next few years as to how, in future, they should be housed, sorted, stored, indexed etc.

JOHN  C DAY          Tel : 0191 266 3071   or  johncday@blueyonder.co.uk

COLOUR-RINGED GREY WAGTAILS

We have received a request from Heysham Observatory, Lancashire about colour-ringed Grey Wagtails. Please, if possible, could you make an effort to check any Grey Wagtails that you see for colour rings.

Pete Marsh from the observatory has commented “We receive a significant passage of Grey Wagtail over Heysham Observatory and have started to investigate the origins and destinations of these birds with 76 colour-ringed in autumn 2008. Please could you check any Grey Wagtails you might come across on the likes of river surveys or visiting sewage works. We have limited ourselves to two (single) colour rings on one leg and a metal on the other. Perhaps unfortunately, a number of these have involved using black. If you see a bird showing a metal ring on one leg, wait until it hopefully shows the all-important colours on the other and if a single obvious colour ring appears to be "hanging" mid-tarsus, it may be because it is above a black ring!  Thanks in anticipation”

Pete Marsh pbmarsh@btopenworld.com