The Birds of Herefordshire 2016 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Annual Report Herefordshire autumn colours – at Fiddler’s Green and Fownhope Park in mid-November 2016 (Photo: Mick Colquhoun) Editorial I am pleased to present to you the 2016 annual report of the Herefordshire Ornithological Club (HOC), the 66th edition of ‘The Birds of Herefordshire’. The 2016 birding year was a very interesting one with 179 species recorded, including three new species – Spoonbill, Bearded Tit and Shore Lark – details of which are presented in the new species section on pages 23 – 26. There were also many more sightings of rarity species than in recent years, including a further 17 species previously seen in the county but recorded less than 20 times. The HOC Rarities Subcommittee, under the chairmanship of Michael Colquhoun, has worked hard to scrutinise these and apply the rigorous approval procedure to produce an accepted rarities list (see pages 18 – 22). This Subcommittee has also re-examined some of the Club’s historic records and updated the definitive list of species for the county with a few minor amendments (see pages 16 – 17). The usual systematic list follows on pages 27 – 101 with an overview presented on each species observed during the year and written by the following script writers – Mike Bailey, Tony Eveleigh, Gareth & Una Morgan, Gerald Parker, John Pullen, Espen Quinto-Ashman, Robert Taylor and Gerald Wells – to whom I am indebted for their commitment to produce these summary accounts, often distilled from hundreds of records, on time and to the guidelines issued. I am also grateful to Tony Eveleigh, John Pullen and Nick Smith for their behind-the-scenes work to rigorously check these species accounts. Of course, all this has only been possible because of the many observers and recorders who have not only had their eyes peeled to identify the birds they have seen throughout the year, but also to record these, mainly through the BTO BirdTrack scheme, so that over 43,000 records could be processed and summarised in this annual report. We are most grateful to all who have contributed in this way (a list of observers is included on pages 138 – 139) and to Chris Robinson, our Data Manager, for extracting and summarising the data. It gives me pleasure again this year to include five review articles in this report (on pages 105 – 125) on a range of interesting subjects covering: a 30-year review of arrival and departure dates of summer migrants in Herefordshire; the BTO House Martin survey; White Storks in Herefordshire; an update on the birds of Gamber Meadows and the final one on practical experience with implementing environmental schemes to benefit farmland birds. I commend these to you, along with the 2016 reports on bird ringing and nestbox monitoring in the county and the Garden Birdwatch summary on pages 126 – 137. 2016 has also produced a large number of good photographs, some of which are included in this publication to add illustrative interest for the readership, and I am grateful to Michael Colquhoun for sourcing and collating these. Of course, photographs are invaluable for identification purposes (worth a thousand words) when it comes to reviewing the rarer sightings in the county, so please continue to consider this side of your birdwatching too. Finally, a gazetteer of county places names referred to in the systematic list section is provided on pages 140 – 143 and an alphabetical species index is included on pages 144 – 145 to help readers navigate around the British List order. I hope you enjoy reading this 2016 annual report. Mervyn Davies 1 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Founded 1950 Registered charity No. 1068608 Committee March 2016 – March 2017 President ................................................................................................... John Pullen Vice President ..................................................................................... Gareth Morgan Vice President ........................................................................................... Tom Weale Vice President ....................................................................................... Brian Willder Chairman ................................................................................................ Gerald Wells Vice Chairman ............................................................................... Susanna Grunsell Secretary ................................................................................................... Una Morgan Treasurer & Membership Secretary .................................................. Jim Wilkinson Recorder ..................................................................................... Michael Colquhoun Annual Report Editor ............................................................,............ Mervyn Davies HOC News Editor ....................................................................,............. Nicky Davies Meetings Secretary ............................................................................... Gerald Parker BTO Representative ........................................................................... Chris Robinson Other Committee Members ........................................ Dave Coker, Rachel Jenkins Mary Roberts & Robert Taylor ISBN 978-0-9933694-2-1 Copyright © 2018 Herefordshire Ornithological Club www.herefordshirebirds.org Edited by Mervyn Davies Printed by CMP Digital Print Solutions (www.cmp-uk.com) Front cover: Male Bearded Tit at Wellington Gravel Pits in October (Photo: Kevin Jones) Back cover: Shore Lark on Garway Hill in November (Photo: Mick Colquhoun) 2 Contents Chairman’s report – Gerald Wells ......................................................................... 5 Obituaries .…………………………………………………………….......................................... 7 Weather summary – John Pullen ……………………………………................................ 8 Indoor and field meetings ………………………………………….................................... 10 County bird list …………..………………………………………........................................... 11 Towards a definitive list of the birds recorded in Herefordshire – an update – Michael Colquhoun ….............................................................. 16 Accepted rarities ………………………………..…………………......................................... 18 New species 2016 – Nick Pegler, Craig Jones & John Tilby ............................... 23 Systematic list: Introduction ………………………………………………………...................................... 27 Mute Swan to Goosander – Gerald Parker ………………………........................ 30 Quail to Osprey – Robert Taylor ……………………...……..….............................. 42 Water Rail to Snipe – Espen Quinto-Ashman ……………………......................... 49 Black Tern to Peregrine – Gerald Wells ………………………................................ 60 Great Grey Shrike to House Martin – Gareth & Una Morgan …..…………….... 75 Cetti’s Warbler to Treecreeper – Tony Eveleigh ……………………..................... 80 Wren to Greenland Wheatear – John Pullen ……......................……................ 85 Dunnock to Reed Bunting – Mike Bailey ………………………............................. 94 Addendum to 2015 systematic list ................................................................. 101 Exotica & escapes – Tony Eveleigh ………………………………...................................... 102 Summer & winter migrants………………………………………...................................... 103 continued overleaf 3 Review articles and reports: Arrival and departure dates of summer migrants in Herefordshire, 1987 – 2016 – Mervyn Davies ..................................................................... 105 BTO House Martin survey, 2015 – 2017 – Chris Robinson ………………......... 113 White Storks in Herefordshire 2016 – Michael Colquhoun ........................ 116 The birds of Gamber Meadows, 2005 – 2015 – John Pullen…...................... 118 Birds, Bureaucracy and Brexit – Patrick Wrixon ............................……....... 123 Bird ringing in Herefordshire 2016 – David Coker …………………............... 126 Herefordshire Nestbox Recording Scheme 2016 – Beryl Harding ……....... 132 Garden Birdwatch 2016 – Ian & Natalie Buttriss ………………..................... 135 List of observers .................................................................................................. 138 Gazetteer of place names …………………………………………….................................. 140 Index to systematic list ……………………………………………….................................. 144 Sites of ornithological interest in Herefordshire …………………………............... 146 4 Chairman’s report I would like to thank the President, all members of the Executive Committee, the main Committee and our Subcommittees for their hard work and support throughout the year. Many thanks also go to all those members who make a contribution to HOC activities, be it at meetings, through submitting records, or in other background ways. This year we launched an on-line members’ survey which achieved replies from 57% of the membership, an exceptionally good level of response for such surveys. In general, it reflected a high degree of satisfaction with most aspects of the Club’s activities and further analyses will provide a better insight into what members would like from their Club and, indeed, what they can contribute to its future success. We continue to have good attendances at all indoor meetings with a record high of 85 in January. The Dr Walker memorial lecture in February, given by our member Stephanie Tyler, provided a fascinating insight into her expert knowledge