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 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
- Bird Club Christmas Social - Friday 13 December, 7.30pm: Three talks and a quiz, food and drink and meet up with friends and acquaintances. At the Wilkinson Room, St. John’s Church, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RN. Doors open 7.00pm
Picture of the Month for October is Richard Patient's Starling See it here
Celebrating the Club's Centenary year kicks off with the chance to buy a superb 2025 Bird Calendar - Christmas presents for relatives or friends sorted! See below.
Club e-Bulletins up to August are now available to all to read. They contain records, photos, articles and event reminders: read here
The 2022 Annual Report (No 96) is available to purchase. Look here for details.
Congratulations to Garth Peacock for winning the 2023 Photo of the Year competition. View the winner and runners-up here
We have added Mark Hawkes' updated "County Toplists" spreadsheet - see here
The 2019 Annual Report (No. 93) is now available to read on this website - read here 2020 Annual Report coming shortly.
The CBC recording checklist can be viewed and downloaded here
Club Bulletins back to the first issue in 1951 have now been digitised and were added to the website in 2021- read them here
Cambridgeshire Bird Club 2025 Bird Calendar
This professionally produced A4-sized wall calendar is now available. Produced to celebrate the CBC’s 100th anniversary, it features bird species with a connection to our county, with all photos taken by club members. You will also enjoy the background information on each species. Everyone needs a wall calendar, and they make great gifts. Calendars are available at £10 to include postage & packing.
Please pay either by bank transfer to:
Cambridgeshire Bird Club
Account Number 08205116
Sort Code 60-04-23
Please add your name to the bank transfer details and then send an email to notify us. Please confirm your mailing address in your email to: chairman@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk
Or by cheque to:
CBC Treasurer
Mr. R. Swain
4 Bakers Field
Dry Drayton
Cambridge
CB23 8EG
Dates of tweets on our Twitter feed are now erratic - more than one browser is affected - apologies but it seems to be out of our control. Others report the same issue. For now, it's also messing with our Twitter site -Twitter .
Twitter feed: many thanks to Brendon Doe for setting this up on our website, and maintaining our Twitter account.
Bird Club Christmas Social - Friday 13 December , 7.30pm: At the Wilkinson Room, St. John’s Church, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RN. Doors open 7.00pm
Do join us for a festive meeting. Bird club calendars will be on sale and a raffle to help with the cost of refreshments. Contributions of mince pies, sausage rolls etc are always welcome and seasonal wear encouraged!
There will be three short talks and a fun quiz:
Ian and Lucas Burfield 'Birding at Waterbeach Barracks'
Mike Thompson ‘Starling Murmurations’
Stu Elsom ‘The Chicken Run’
Andrew Dobson ‘The Bird Quiz’
An appropriate time to catch up with new and old friends and exchange Seasons's Greetings.
Picture of the Month - October
Starling © Richard Patient, 24 October 2024, St Neots
October's Photo of the Month was chosen by John Meed
"A stunning collection of photos this month left the choice rather harder than I’d anticipated! Tracey Graves’ photos of Black-headed Gulls reveal unfamiliar views of a familiar species. I failed to catch any of the Yellow-browed Warblers that stopped off during the month but I know I would never have caught a view to match Chris Kenyon’s intimate and incredibly detailed study of the furtive warbler. But it was Richard Patient’s beautiful portrait of a Starling that really caught my attention. I know Starlings are stunning birds when the light catches them. but in Richard’s shot every feather shimmers in the autumn sunlight. There’s a nice flock of a couple of hundred birds on my patch around Nine Wells at the moment and I will be looking at them through new eyes - thank you Richard."
Photo of the year: 2023
Congratulations to Garth Peacock for his winning photo of a Peregrine Falcon. Second place goes to Ian Dale with his Black Redstart, and Jon Heath's Coot takes third place. Click here to view all three photos. and click 2023 candidates to see all the photos that were entered.
The Cambridgeshire Bird Report 2022, No. 96 is now available to buy at £15.00 including postage and packing. Go to Annual Reports
Where's that site?
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
Avian Flu
AVIAN FLU: The Angling Trust’s Voluntary Bailiff Service reported last winter 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.
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.
