Eharrier April 2012[2] A5
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The Harrier The Devon BirdWatching & Preservation Society Newsletter: April 2012 No2 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SATURDAY 19 th MAY 2012 The Toby Carvery Inn (Rydon Room), Middlemoor, Exeter 2.30pm The Toby Carvery Inn is opposite the Devon & Cornwall Police Headquarters and the Rydon Room is located to one side with ample parking. A G E N D A 1. Apologies 2. Minutes of the 2011 AGM 3. Officers’ Reports 4. Treasurer’s Report 5. Election of Officers 6. Election of Council Members 7. Amendments to Constitution – Clause 6(a) (ii) and (iii) Clause 6(c) Clause 9 – add (f) There will be a break for tea/coffee followed by an Ilustrated Talk entitled ‘Ring Ouzel Project on Dartmoor’ given by Nick Baker Nick appears on Countryfile on BBC from time to time as well as other wildlife programmes All welcome – come along and bring a friend and enjoy an illustrated talk 1 CHANGES to CONSTITUTION Clause 6(a) (ii) – to read a Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, County Recorder, Publicity/Promotions Officer, Fieldwork Officer, Conservation Officer and Publication Group Representative, who shall hold office for one year from the conclusion of the meeting, and Clause 6(a) (iii) – to read Four ordinary members of the Society and a representative nominated by each of the four properly constituted branches, who shall hold office for one year from the conclusion of the meeting. Clause 6(c) – to read Nominations for members of the Council at the annual general meeting except members nominated by the branches, and the Publication Group may be made by the Council or by any member by notice in writing to the Secretary at least fourteen days before the annual general meeting. Additional sub-clause to Clause 9 The annual general meeting of the Society shall appoint from time to time a suitable person to be President who will not be a Trustee, but entitled to attend meetings of Council and shall hold office for not more than ten years, unless appointed at an annual general meeting for a further period. He/she shall provide an over-seeing role of the work of the Council and be empowered to step in and resolve serious conflicts at Council level. Joy Vaughan DBWPS Secretary CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE It feels like only yesterday when I volunteered to take on the role as County Recorder following a conversation with the then County Recorder Mike Langman at the Rutland Bird Fair in 2002. Since then considerable water has flowed under the bridge. The Society has certainly changed with restructuring and a new constitution during my formative years with the Society. During my nearly ten years as a trustee the roles I have taken on have been challenging, but enjoyable, especially writing the county avifauna ‘The Birds of Devon’. I will certainly miss the buzz of an active organisation when my term of office expires in May. I sincerely believe the Society is in good shape and members can look forward in the near future to the publication of the Five Year Strategy, Risk Management Policy and later the Devon Atlas. The new website, referred to elsewhere in this edition of the Harrier, is well under construction and should be operational before the end of the summer. May I finally thank my fellow trustees and officers, past and present, and members of the Society who have supported me over the years. I wish my successor the very best in an exciting time for the Society. Mike Tyler 2 ADDITION TO THE 2010 DEVON BIRD REPORT The Plymouth Alpine Swift was present on 22 May 2010. Mike Tyler OLDEST MEMBER PASSES AWAY It’s with sadness that we have recently learned that Mrs Mary (MC) Higgins passed away in early February. She was born in 1909 and at 102 years old, was our oldest member. She joined the Society on the 1st January 1956 and spent her later years at Bishopsteignton House, Forder Lane, Bishopsteignton. Sadly, it was only at the beginning of 2011 that her age and long service was realised. Appropriately, the Society immediately bestowed Life Membership on her, but, it’s sad that she wasn’t able to take much advantage of it. Paul Stubbs Membership Secretary NEW WEBSITE The DBWPS website was successfully launched in 2008 and for two years it provided news of Society activities and meetings, a photo gallery, interesting articles on bird identification and sightings as well as Society history and many other features. Sadly for the last year or more the DBWPS website has been largely inactive due to the non-availability of the technical support it needs to post new information. Recognising this was unacceptable the Society has been investigating the best way to solve this problem. Over the last few months a small group of Council members have been comparing tenders to renew and rebuild the website with an easier to use content management system. In December 2011 Council chose a new company and work is well underway developing a fresh and new, easy to use website. The new website will provide a bird news blog, up-to-date news about Society activities, much more information on our hides and reserves, an on-line shop for books, clothes, Reports and buying membership and many other features you would expect on a County Bird website including a facility to upload your bird photos to share with other members. We are planning to have it up and running by July and we will be going into more detail in the next Harrier in June. Watch this space! George Harris Vice Chairman DIRECT DEBITS Although you can still pay your subscription fees in any way you choose, the option of setting up a Direct Debit is now available. If you’re interested in doing this, then please contact the Honorary Treasurer, Paul Stubbs, on 01822 890520 or [email protected] 3 HOUSE MARTIN RECORDS For many years some members have been recording the House Martins in their towns and villages and sending the details to Eileen Marsh. We would still like people to continue sending their records in but in future please send them to me at the address below and they will now be added to the database. If you already send in other records please add the House Martin records to your spreadsheet or paper records. If you can include the date first seen as well as the number of nests/broods and if possible your last sighting for the year that would be helpful too. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Eileen for the many years she has supported this project. If you have any queries regarding sending in records please contact: Julia Harris, Data Manager T: 01822 853785 E: [email protected] 6 Clonway, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 6EG SLAPTON BITTERN During March, I received an e-mail from Mark Collier (formerly at the BTO and now involved with ornithological radar and GPS data logger projects in the Netherlands) about a Bittern with a GPS data logger attached. The bird was caught in N Holland on 25th May 2011 and was both metal and colour-ringed and had a data-logger attached. It was one of two recorded back in N Holland on 19th March 2012 when antennae were being set up in readiness for fieldwork on birds returning this spring. The GPS data recorded on the data logger was downloaded and showed that this bird was registered at six different sites throughout the UK and was mostly at Slapton where it was first recorded on 5th Dec 2011 and stayed for up to 84 days. This is almost certainly the bird I personally had typically brief sightings of at Slapton Bridge on 27th and 29th December 2011 and 22nd Jan 2012 and which other observers saw during it's stay. The track of the bird during it's winter sojurn to the UK can be found on http://www.roerdomp.info/ followed by "Anneke" on the right hand side. Data from each registration can then be obtained by clicking on the Bittern icon at each location. The approximate route was N Sea (22/10/11 after 150 days); Belmont Res, NW of Bolton (30/10/11 - 7 days later); A water depot on the N Wales coast (1/11/11 - a day later); Anglesey (5/11/11 - 4 days later); SLAPTON (5/12/11 - 29 days later) and London (possibly The Lee Valley NR or The Wetlands Trust at Barnes) (29/2/12 - 84 days later) before being recorded as an early arrival back in the Netherlands (19/3/12 - 18 days later). This is the first evidence that Bittern seen over-wintering at Slapton come from Holland although it has been long-suspected that this or N France may be the origin of these birds. To get a track of its route to and from Slapton with this amount of detail was totally unexpected. Dennis Elphick, Slapton Ringing Group 4 VELATOR RESERVE RINGING REPORT FOR 2011 The beginning of 2011 saw the snow and ice of December finally melt away. Sadly this also meant that most of the Thrushes that had been using the reserve as a refuge also disappeared. The first session of the year saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Treecreeper, 5 Reed Buntings, 4 Bramblings and a mix of other finches. The 21 st January may have been a cold day – the Thrushes were back! I ringed 2 Song Thrushes, 8 Redwings, a Blackbird and the first (and only as it turned out) Fieldfare. February/March proved to be good for Reed Bunting, with 18 ringed.