Durham Birding (24 Viewers)

[StevieEvans]

may even join the club soon!

................

Great fun...and we may even join the club soon!

DBC subs are going up to £14.00 & will be due in October (for 2007) .....

If YOU join before then...

It'll cost £12.00 (same price held for past 9 years!) &

YOU'll get
x2 size A5, 100+page Annual Birds Reports (worth £16)
AND
x4 quarterly Journals (The LEK worth £10) alongwith your years membership.

Too good to be true...... why not join & see....

why join ............ CLICK HERE...................?

Coming close to member number 300...... who knows there might be a special gift for #300..........

 

[StevieEvans]

DBC Reminder

First indoor meeting of 2006 - 2007 ·

21 September 2006

The first indoor meeting of the 2006 - 2007 winter programme will be held at Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust this Thursday 21st September.

MAP: www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.9066&lon=-1.4869&scale=25000&icon=x



Mark Newsome will give a powerpoint audio / visual talk entitled 'Goa: winter birding paradise'.

The talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. but it is expected that people will arrive up to half an hour before this. (19:00)

The meeting will be an opportunity to meet members new and old, talk about what's happening in Durham, and find out more about what's happening in the club.

All are welcome, members and non-members alike.

This is a FREE event. Refreshments available.

Several Committee members will be on hand & the Clubs information display & publications will be on show.

There will be facility for non-members to join the DBC there & then (bring £12 if interested)

Hope to see you all there.

SE

 

[headlander]

Please erase this if its not up to standard?
My daughter who is nine is trying for her wildlife badge at Brownies One task was to record all the birds seen in the garden over a 15 min period. I have mentioned before that we are both novices but armed with our R.S.P.B. bins we set to work early sat. morning. I was amazed to record in a short space of time; blue tit, tree sparrow, wren, mistle thrush, green finch, gold finch, robbin, chaffinch, great spotted woodpecker (she tells me it was a male), skylark overhead then a kestral in the distance!
Great fun...and we may even join the club soon!

Paul,

Good to see you encouraging your daughter in this way.
Am currently trying to get my two lads aged 2 & 6 to get into birding .Garden birding seems as good a place to start.
In our humble garden in Sedgefield Village we've now had 32 species since starting to count last winter.
We have several feeders up & have also managed to attract a great spotted woodie & more recently a juvenile male sparrowhawk. Both seem to be making repeat visits.
Keep encouraging the birds in with a mix of foods /feeders etc. We tend to put ours at different heights & also put some food out for groundfeeders.
There's also plenty of ground cover/foliage etc.
We've also managed to get frogs,hedgehogs,squirrels,butterflies,bees & bats etc into the garden thanks to trying to get more birds in.
Good luck!

 

[Ross Ahmed]

Little Egret W over playing field at Boldon Colliery 9.23am fairly high (seen by Peter Bell).

WWWT or Barmston probably worth a look.

 

[IanF]

Marsh Harrier Cowpen Marsh/Holme fleet 14:30 this afternoon being mobbed by crows by the tip.

 

[StevieEvans]

First indoor meeting of 2006 - 2007 ·

21 September 2006

The first indoor meeting of the 2006 - 2007 winter programme will be held at Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust this Thursday 21st September.

MAP: www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.9066&lon=-1.4869&scale=25000&icon=x



Mark Newsome will give a powerpoint audio / visual talk entitled 'Goa: winter birding paradise'.

The talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. but it is expected that people will arrive up to half an hour before this. (19:00)

The meeting will be an opportunity to meet members new and old, talk about what's happening in Durham, and find out more about what's happening in the club.

All are welcome, members and non-members alike.

This is a FREE event. Refreshments available.

Several Committee members will be on hand & the Clubs information display & publications will be on show.

There will be facility for non-members to join the DBC there & then (bring £12 if interested)

Hope to see you all there.

SE

Good to see a decent crowd of 50 odd turn outto enjoy an Excellent presentation / talk on Goa, very imformative & professional - 10/10
2 new members on the night.
Beer went down well too... none left by end of procedings.
Plenty of positive feedback from our supporters.
A good night.
SE

 

[seggs]

Hi seggs, we helped the Durham Wildlife Trust with a sponsored birdwatch in South Tyneside this May & i was amazed at how keen the kids were & how long their attention lasted. Not too sure if its planned for this year too but the DWT & associated wildlife groups allways have loads on for the kids.
My boy is only 17 months - but he spots stuff already & points & laughs at the Jackdaws on the neighbours roof......
Steve

thanks stevie its nice too hear from similar minded people, its great that kids are being educated more about whats going on around them! even if mine have not got the keanest view of birdlife i have, there still love rock pooling and pond dipping! i think south tyneside needs its own website for birding! the whiburn site lastest news is a big miss, as i like other watchers have no other contact other than birdline.

 

[StevieEvans]

M I G R A N T W A T C H Go Ahead !!!

***Migrant Watch***​

M I G R A N T - W A T C H
has the green light.

IT IS ON FOR THIS SUNDAY 24th September

(there are still a few spaces available if you can manage this Sunday from 07:30 till 10:30 AM - Phone me on 079 79 60 1231 to participate)

 

[StevieEvans]

.............i think south tyneside needs its own website for birding! the whiburn site lastest news is a big miss, as i like other watchers have no other contact other than birdline.

South Tyneside still has its own birding / wildlife website!

Yeah, the withdrawal of a Free Local Daily Bird News Service is bound to be a big miss !

But, ALL the Whitburn Birding contributors / site visitors have been advised and / or directed to send there records to the DBC &/or post them on this Bird Forum thread.....

Its entirely up to them (including people like yourself) if, & how far they want to get involved...... - theres no reason why the same quality of STyneside birdnews cant be on here

Cheers
Steve

 

[StevieEvans]

thanks stevie its nice too hear from similar minded people, ......................... as i like other watchers have no other contact other than birdline.

Hi
if youre free on Sunday, then
Zone 1: Marine Parks and Bents Park at Shields still requires coverage for the migrant watch....
Afterwards, approx 11AM " everyone " will be meeting up at Whitburn Coastal Park.
This will be an ideal oppurtunity to get to know the local birders & get on the bird grapevine.
Steve

 

[Bonsaibirder]

Afterwards, approx 11AM " everyone " will be meeting up at Whitburn Coastal Park.

According to my information Steve, we shall be meeting in the Whitburn Lodge Car Park - I hope that's correct?

 

[Mark Newsome]

...i think south tyneside needs its own website for birding! the whiburn site lastest news is a big miss, as i like other watchers have no other contact other than birdline.

Just to explain briefly what's happened with the Whitburn website.
The website is still up and running and the 'Latest bird news' and 'Local bird news' pages are updated every Friday evening, in time for people to see what areas have been productive and what's been seen ready for the weekend. If anyone is interested in other aspects of wildlife in the area, you can still 'Submit your wildlife sightings'. Any more interesting/rare bird sightings will be put onto Birdguides (free national bird news available) and also entered on here once myself/Ross get to hear about them.

The sightings submission page was dropped mainly due to the time aspect - I'm the only one to update the website and my time was becoming split between more urgent DBC/conservation matters and keeping everyone in free bird news - something had to give! I don't mind too much in paying my own money out to keep the site running but I do value my marriage!
Also, other than a few regular contributors (for which I thank you!), virtually no local and active South Tyneside/Wearside birders ever contributed their own sightings. There's been little/no support from the local birding establishment. All take and no give...
So apologies to those who miss seeing daily bird news. If anyone has experience of using Microsoft Frontpage and would like to take over the task of updating the website on a daily basis, feel free to PM me.

 

[StevieEvans]

According to my information Steve, we shall be meeting in the Whitburn Lodge Car Park - I hope that's correct?

Thats right.
Some folks will have a good walk back from their Zones & then a fair drive to Whitburn, so 11AM is approx time only.
( EG the Hawthorn zone has a 20 min walk to get to its starting point )

( Anyway.... i've got a feeling everyone might be heading back to have a peek at some rare or another at Castle Eden Denemouth.... ?? )

Looks promising, the weathers swung round from South East.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Bonsaibirder]

( Anyway.... i've got a feeling everyone might be heading back to have a peek at some rare or another at Castle Eden Denemouth.... ?? )

So, no pressure then ! You have to remember that I haven't found anything this year at all ! So I am relying on everyone else to find the rarities. I'll be happy with a few migrating swallows ..

 

[Mark Newsome]

...Looks promising, the weathers swung round from South East. Cheers Steve

The various weather forecasts all still look quite hopeful - a big high pressure over N Europe, SE winds veering E, dull and overcast on Sunday with the chance of a bit of drizzle on Saturday evening. Regardless of whether rarities are found on Sunday, I'm sure there'll be some visible migration and a few birds lurking in bushes. It's going to be an extremely interesting survey, with the whole coast from Tyne to Tees covered. Imagine if it could be co-ordinated with Northumberland and Yorkshire too! One for the future...?

 

[malcolm hobbs]

Castle Lake, BM

3 little stints, 1 black-tailed godwit and 5 ruff at sewage works end of Castle Lake, Bishop Middleham, yesterday morning.

Malcolm.

 

[StevieEvans]

Again Visible passage of Skylark & Meadow Pipits at Houghton & Durham City this morning.

Had a new garden tick in the shape of a Yellowhammer going over south. Had a single go over south with Skylarks this time last year over a suburban housing estate at Durham.

Rainton this afternoon had Ruff, Green Sand, 34 Snipe, 3 Dunlin, 2 Little Stint.

Late news of a White Stork at Croxdale, Durham City on 11th.

Yesterday adult House Martin still feeding young in nest with imm fem Sparrowhawk through after it. 8-10 House Martins at home this AM.

 

[DaveB]

Low Barns

A quick half hour visit to the west hide didn’t disappoint.

A Kingfisher displayed superbly, but poor light spoilt an excellent photo opportunity.

No fewer than eighteen Common Snipe flew eastwards from the meadow.

Two Jays and a Hooded Crow was also seen there.

At Etherley Moor, a Sparrowhawk made a succesfull attack on the garden feeders, with one of the 50+ House Sparrows being the victim. The attached image was taken shortly before the kill.

 

[Ross Ahmed]

Really looking forward to Sunday now. Weather already looks much better than it has been. Don't like the look of the onshore winds in N Scandinavia, but the great big high pressure over W Russia looks tasty! Hopefully tomorrow will produce a few things to keep hopes up for Sunday.

Two zones are currently not being covered:

Hawthorn Dene-Chourdon Point

Hordon

If anyone fancies covering one of these give me a shout.

The various weather forecasts all still look quite hopeful - a big high pressure over N Europe, SE winds veering E, dull and overcast on Sunday with the chance of a bit of drizzle on Saturday evening. Regardless of whether rarities are found on Sunday, I'm sure there'll be some visible migration and a few birds lurking in bushes. It's going to be an extremely interesting survey, with the whole coast from Tyne to Tees covered. Imagine if it could be co-ordinated with Northumberland and Yorkshire too! One for the future...?

 

[seggs]

Hi
if youre free on Sunday, then
Zone 1: Marine Parks and Bents Park at Shields still requires coverage for the migrant watch....
Afterwards, approx 11AM " everyone " will be meeting up at Whitburn Coastal Park.
This will be an ideal oppurtunity to get to know the local birders & get on the bird grapevine.
Steve

hi steve new to this lark! didnt mean to ruffle feathers, if i have..
pc`s baffle me a bit! great news about this migrant watch!- you say meet at 11am at the coastal park... how long is it on for and can i attend for a short time as i have commitments most sundays. i was a member of the dbc in its early years and last year. the late tommy holmes introduced me to this obsession.. last year too many meetings in durham