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
As the Winter Garden Birds Survey nears its end (6th March), the Summer Survey is due to start (7th March). Instructions for the summer survey are here, and how to send in your winter records is here.
The Woodland Bird Survey starts in March. Read more here
The Spotted Flycatcher project has now been written up for 2020 - see more here
Picture of the Month for January is Roger Cresswell's Kingfisher - see here
Vote now if you haven't already - only four days left for Voting for the Photo of the Year - open to all club members, until 8th March - see more here
The Club AGM will be held on Friday 12th March. Documents prepared for it can be read here.
NEW - the revised CBC recording checklist ('2020') should be used from now on, view and download here
The Club eBulletin for December (#90) is now available to non-members - containing records, photos, articles and event reminders . Read here
Several more Cambridgeshire Bird Reports (Annual Reports), 2001-2008, and also 2018 have now been added to the website - see Annual Reports
Club Bulletins back to the first issue in 1951 have now been digitised and added to the website - read them here
There will be a national 2021 Turtle Dove survey. To become involved in surveying in Cambridgeshire, see here.
Photo of the Year 2020 is David Ball's Common Tern. Congratulations to David.
Twitter feed: many thanks to Brendon Doe for setting this up.
Cambridgeshire Bird Club AGM 12th March followed by 'Bempton Cliffs & Filey Bay - Seabird Nirvana' by Mark Pearson
From the natural harbour of Filey Brigg to the towering chalk of Bempton Cliffs, one of Yorkshire's most iconic and breathtaking panoramas also just so happens to the best bay for birds on the east coast. Home not only to a glittering cast of breeding seabirds (Gannets & Puffins included), but also to a mouth-watering roll-call of passage and wintering goodies, including skuas, divers, shearwaters, sea-ducks, shorebirds and more. Join Mark for a special version of his acclaimed Birdfair talk through four seasons in one bay!
AGM papers can be read here.
More details of our online meetings can be found on our Meetings page. Indoor face to face meetings will resume on some date in 2021, we hope. Until then, meetings will be held on a Zoom video platform.
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
The Cambridgeshire Bird Club Winter Garden Bird Survey 2020-21
This ends on Saturday 6th March. It's nearly time to submit your records to Rebecca. Read here to find out how to do it.
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/
(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
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).
Photo of the year: 2019
Congratulations to David Ball for winning the 2019 Photo of the Year competition with his photo of this Common Tern. There was a tie for second place, so in no particular order they were Garth Peacock's fighting Coots and Dawid Banasiak's Short-eared Owl. Click here to view all three, and 2019 Winner and runners up to see all the photos that had been entered.
Picture of the month: January
Kingfisher © Roger Cresswell, Cambridge, 25th January
From this month on, there is a slight change to the selection procedure. In line with the procedure used for the Picture of the Year, a small committee will agree a short-list of pictures, based on criteria of sharpness/focus, composition, light/exposure, and rarity. From this selection which is presented to the person choosing the Picture of the Month, one winner will be chosen.
Mike Foley chose Picture of the Month for January: "With so many wonderful photographs to look at, I am rather relieved that I have had technical help to reduce the number to ten. Even so, it has been a challenge. Not being a photographer I am in awe at the patience and expertise that is often needed to get a really good photo. To me, a particularly striking bird is the Jonathan Stephenson's Carrion Crow, in a snow scene made bleaker by having such bedraggled plumage. Garth Peacock's Cattle Egret was high up the list as a potential bird of the month, as was Mike Weedon's Iceland Gull, but after a lot of thought my choice for Picture of the Month has to be Roger Cresswell's Kingfisher. Roger has thoughtfully caused a deliberate blurring of the background which focuses the eye fully on the bird, enhancing the excellent artistic composition."
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.
