Cambridgeshire Bird Club
Welcome to the club
The Cambridgeshire Bird Club promotes the study, recording and conservation of birds in Cambridgeshire and encourages a wider interest in natural history and the protection of county wildlife habitats.
We record the County's birds in our Annual Report, so we need your records. We have a stunning Gallery, so we want your photos. We have field projects, we have indoor meetings and trips, and we keep you informed with our monthly emailed and bulletins. We have links to active bird ringing groups. And have a look at our Facebook and our Twitter sites.
You can see What's About? and we urge you to report interesting, sensitive or confidential sightings to the County Recorder.
We hope you enjoy your visit and come back soon.
Announcements
IMPORTANT CHANGE TO TIME: the next Club meeting is on Friday 10th September 2021, ‘Curlews in crisis: reasons for their decline and hope for their conservation’ by Samantha Franks. It will start at 7.00 pm i.e. 30 minutes earlier than originally stated, hence the entry to Zoom will be from 6.40 pm.
The Club eBulletin for June (#96) is now available to non-members - they contain records, photos, articles and event reminders . Read here
Picture of the Month for July is Nigel Sprowell's Tawny Owl - see here
Congratulations to Nigel Sprowell for winning the Photo of the Year competition 2020 with his Sedge Warbler. See this and the two runners-up on this page.
The Spotted Flycatcher project has now been written up for 2020 - see more here
The revised '2020' CBC recording checklist should be used from now on, view and download here
Club Bulletins back to the first issue in 1951 have now been digitised and added to the website - read them here
Twitter feed: many thanks to Brendon Doe for setting this up.
Picture of the month: July
Tawny Owl © Nigel Sprowell, undisclosed site, 26 July 2021,
Tracey Graves chose this month's picture.
“As a new member, I was honoured to be asked to judge this month’s photos. By coincidence, I had my first ever Tawny Owl sighting in July, with two chicks appearing in my garden, but my shot was nowhere near the quality of Nigel’s adult owl. Presumably it is relatively used to humans, to have been able to get so close, but any night-time photography is tricky. Well done.”
Next Club Zoom meeting: Friday 10th September 2021. ‘Curlews in crisis: reasons for their decline and hope for their conservation’ by Samantha Franks
IMPORTANT CHANGE TO TIME: it will start at 7.00 pm i.e. 30 minutes earlier than originally stated, hence the entry to Zoom will be from 6.40 pm.
This talk will cover the causes of curlew declines, and how BTO's research on curlew and other waders is contributing to informing the future of waders in the UK.
Sam's interests focus on exploring how our changing environment is influencing bird populations, particularly for long-distance migrants and waders. After several years working in the Alaskan Arctic, she joined BTO in 2013 and is leading elements of the BTO's breeding wader research, with a particular focus on curlew. Currently, she represents BTO at national curlew forums, provides scientific support for local groups monitoring breeding waders, and supervises a PhD project investigating landscape-scale conservation management for breeding curlew in Breckland. More here
(c) Les Bunyan rspb-images.com
National 2021 Turtle Dove Survey
As the fastest declining UK species, the Turtle Dove is one of the highest conservation priority species for the RSPB. Between 1995 and 2018, we lost 95% of our Turtle Doves, and with such low numbers, monitoring through BBS is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, surveys can support monitoring of the Turtle Dove national population, and the results can better target where urgent conservation action is needed to prevent extinction.
Our county has about 150 1km squares which need to be checked as part of this valuable survey. If you want to help and survey one or more squares, read more here
The Cambridgeshire Bird Club Summer Garden Bird Survey
If you have a garden in this area and you like to watch the birds in your garden, we would like to invite you to take part in the Cambridgeshire Bird Club Summer Garden Bird Survey 2021.
We ask that you note the bird species in your garden from: Sunday 7th March – Saturday 2nd October
Please then, each week, mark off the species on the list available to download from this website.
By the end of October, send it in to: gardenbirds@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk
From this survey you will be able to discover which species of birds make most use of gardens in the county during the summer months, find out whether new species are coming into gardens and whether the regular species are making less or more use of the gardens.
The details are here
Rebecca
Cambridgeshire Woodland birds survey 2021
In 2003 the Club carried out a survey of woodland birds focusing especially on the scarce and declining species such as Marsh Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and it's time to do this again.
We hope to cover as many woodlands as possible across the county, with three visits; late March, late April and late May, and the objective is to make a species list and estimate numbers of territories (singing in the same-ish area on 2+ visits). Read more here
Spotted Flycatcher project, 2021
The project has now morphed into a study of adult survival and return-rates, following the fortunes of individual birds.
Michael Holdsworth will be continuing work on Flycatcher communities and adult survival into 2021 and we would still like all records to be sent to
spofl@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk
There's a 2020 project report at: http://cambridgeshirebirdringing.org/spofl-finding2/
Photo of the year: 2020
Congratulations to Nigel Sprowell for winning the 2020 Photo of the Year competition with his photo of this Sedge Warbler. In second place was David Ball's Grey Wagtail, and in third place was Nigel Sprowell's Beard Tit. Click here to view all three, and 2020 candidates to see all the photos that had been entered.
If you are unsure of the location of the less well-known birding sites, check our Gazetteer, which also provides standardised names to include in recording checklists for the Club's database and Birdtrack. Check the Grabagrid map which provides precise site grid references, and also shows pop-up vice-county boundaries (confirm boundary using the OS map if site very close to boundary).
Avian Flu
AVIAN FLU: The Angling Trust’s Voluntary Bailiff Service reported on 5th Dec that avian (bird) flu was confirmed in fenland swans. They advised, "Please be aware that you may see dead swans on the Nene or Drains. Dead swans may be found elsewhere too. Please under no circumstances go near or touch them. Phone Defra: 0345 933 5577, option 7: 'all other enquiries'. They will direct you to the correct local swan rescue (recovery ) people as all dead swans must now be collected for investigation". Email: defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk and provide details. More info at Avian influenza (bird flu) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For sick swans, the RSPCA is the first place to contact and they will give help as to who should be informed.
The three Lockdown races of 2020
To see how these played out, look here
Lists and facts
County birders life lists, individual record year lists / record day lists, garden lists and other records - view them here
Found and injured bird? Contact a rehabilitator. Baby birds? Read here and also here
Local bird news from Cambirds.
