We record the county's birds in our Annual Report, so we need your Records. We have a stunning Gallery, so we need your photos. We discuss things on Cambirds, we do Research, we have indoor Meetings, we have a Partnership with an African bird-club and we inform you with our regular Bulletins and lots more.
You can see 'What's About?' and we urge you to report promptly interesting sightings to the County Recorder
We hope you enjoy your visit and come back soon.
Next indoor meetings:
Friday 11th May, Cottenham Village College
From Scilly Bee to Common Nighthawk, the birds and Wildlife of the Isles of Scilly by Paul Stancliffe
Paul lived on the Isles of Scilly, with his wife and two daughters, from 1997 to 2004. During that time he helped to found the Isles of Scilly Bird Group and was the IOS Bird Recorder from 1999 to 2004. His talk will look at the unique wildlife and birds on the islands, including some of the rare birds that turned up during his time on the islands He now works for the BTO as Press Officer.
Friday 14th September, Cottenham Village College
The Decline of the Urban House Sparrow and Potential Conservation Fixes by Will Peach
Will Peach will summarise the findings of research efforts to understand the causes of population declines amongst urban and rural house sparrows, and discuss potential conservation solutions. He has worked for RSPB research dept for 12 years and now lead a team developing conservation solutions for farmland birds. Before that he worked at BTO for 9 years
OUTDOOR MEETINGS
Portholme Meadow, Friday June 8th, 6.30 pm (time tbc)
We are arranging a guided walk with Pat Doody.
Portholme Meadow is a large, unenclosed river flood plain meadow, bordered on two sides by the River Great Ouse in the Parish of Brampton. With an area of 104 ha, it represents 7% of the total UK lowland unimproved hay meadows. It supports a rich flora and is a haven for a number of less common breeding birds in summer (e.g. corn bunting and skylark) now absent from much of the more intensively farmed Cambridgeshire landscape. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and recognised internationally as a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union ‘Habitats’ Directive.
We will walk around the site to look at the vegetation and features related to the history and management of the site (where these can still be seen).
Please be aware that at that time of year there could be a lot of horseflies around so repellent is advisable.
Meet in Godmanchester at the car park near the Chinese Bridge at 6.30 pm (time tbc)
Please book for this meeting with Vicki Harley.
Castor Hanglands National Nature Reserve, Saturday 23rd June, 10 a.m.
We will take a guided general natural history walk, particularly looking out for insects and plants. Castor Hanglands contains four main habitat zones – woodland, wetland, grassland and scrub – and is home to a remarkable variety of wildlife. Among butterflies, black hairstreak should be out although they are a bit elusive and weather dependent so can't be guaranteed! We should see a variety of dragonflies, plenty of common spotted orchids, plus dropwort, crested cow-wheat and narrow-leaved everlasing pea. Likely birds include Buzzard and Red Kite.
For more information on this site see: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006031.aspx
Please book for this meeting with Vicki Harley.
Bird song workshop at Fowlmere NR on 19 May
As in previous years, the Club is organising a bird song workshop at Fowlmere Nature Reserve in collaboration with the RSPB.
The aim is to help interested bird watchers to learn how to identify various songbirds by sound. Members and non-members of the Club and the RSPB are welcome. There is no formal charge, but a donation in the reserve collecting box would be appreciated.
Meet at 6.30am on Saturday 19 May 2012 in the car park at Fowlmere NR (directions can be found, with more information on the reserve, at http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/f/fowlmere/index.asp).
Please bring binoculars, a pen and paper. The workshop will take place regardless of the weather and is expected to last approximately 4 hours. As numbers will be limited, it is essential to register with Vicki (vicki@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk).
Cambridgeshire Bird Club now has a Facebook page.
Please take a look.
Do we have your email address?
The bird club bulletin is now available in an electronic format (pdf) that allows us to save paper and also includes enhanced content (such as colour images)
If you would like to receive your bulletin in this format instead of the paper copy please contact cbcbulletin@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk
WILD BIRD FOOD
Members of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club can buy wild bird food at a 10% discount from Rectory Farm, Landbeach (on the A10 just over 1km N of the A14). Just show your most recent Bulletin or Annual Report as proof of membership. Just one more benefit of joining CBC.
Video site
The Cambridgeshire Bird Club now has a video blog site here.
Instructions on how to get your videos on the site are also on the page. We will not host videos due to space issues but can embed them if you sent a YouTube (or similar) link.
.JPG "2011 winner")
