West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No 50 1983 Ruddy Ducks by Mike Warren West Midland Bird Club
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West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No 50 1983 Ruddy Ducks by Mike Warren West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No 50 1983 Being the Annual Bird Report of the West Midland Bird Club on the birds in the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire. Staffordshire and West Midlands. Contents 2 Officers and Committee 3 Recorder's Report 4 Birds in 1983 7 Obituary—Harry Lees 8 Treasurer's Report and Financial Statement 11 Secretary's Report 12 Membership Secretary's Report 12 Permit Secretary's Report 12 Field Meetings Secretary's Report 13 Research Committee's Report 13 Staffordshire Branch Report 14 Belvide Reserve 15 Fifty-years of Bird-watching 23 1983 Bird Record Localities 27 Classified Notes 115 Ringing in 1983 123 Key to Contributors 125 Submission of Records Price £2.00 2 Officers and Committee 1984 President C A Norris, Brookend House, Welland, Worcestershire Vice-President G C Lambourne, Melin Dan-y-rhiw, St. Davids, Dyfed Chairman A J Richards, 1 Lansdowne Road, Studley, Warwickshire B80 7JG Deputy Chairman G M Lewis, 9a Plymouth Road, Barnt Green, Birmingham B45 8JE Secretary A I Whatley, 8 Bowstoke Road, Great Barr, Birmingham B43 5EA Treasurer J H W Ridley, 33 Blakedown Road, Halesowen, West Midlands Recorder and G R Harrison, "Bryher", Hatton Green, Hatton, Research Warwickshire CV35 7LA Committee Chairman Membership Miss J M Nicholls, 296 Olton Boulevard West, Secretary Birmingham B11 3HH Field Meetings S H Young, 32 Carless Avenue, Harborne, Secretary Birmingham B179EL Permit Secretary Miss M Surman, 6 Lloyd Square, 12 Niall Close, Birmingham B15 3LX Ringing Secretary A E Coleman, 67 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Staffordshire Bulletin Editor P K Dedicoat, 2 The Elms Paddock, Pattingham, Wolverhampton WV6 7DW Staffs Branch D W Emley, 127 Harpfields Road, Stoke-on-Trent Chairman Solihull Branch Mrs D Dunstan, 4 Blossomfield Road, Solihull, Chairman West Midlands Main Committee ARM Blake, S C Brown, T B Hutton, Mr & Mrs A F Jacobs, H McGregor and R M Normand 3 Recorder's Report This is the fiftieth Annual Report — yet another milestone in the Club's illustrious history — and I am very proud to have the privilege of writing this editorial. To commemorate the occasion, several changes have been made. The most obvious is the colourful cover, for which we are again indebted to Mike Warren. But the more discerning reader will detect others. 1983 completed another five-years data beyond that in The Birds of the West Midlands, so the opportunity has been taken to up-date the quinquennial analyses. The intention is to continue this in future, and to do likewise with the monthly analyses and wildfowl counts. One criticism of recent Reports has been the limited number and scope of articles. To my regret, very few have been submitted, perhaps because The Birds of the West Midlands poached everyone's ideas. If this is true, then some of the intriguing trends to emerge from the latest five-yearly figures should send someone reaching for their pen. Why, for example, have winter visitors from northerly climes, like Great Grey Shrike, Hooded Crow, Mealy Redpoll and Snow Bunting suddenly become much scarcer? And what has happened to the Grasshopper Warbler? Meanwhile, with the changes in bird-life over the past fifty years documented in The Birds of the West Midlands. I thought it would be a change to ask some of the Club's well-known members to reflect on the changes in bird-watching over the same period. I should like to thank Tony Blake, Bill Oddie and Alan Richards for so willingly obliging. There have been other changes too. Peter Oedicoat has left the editorial team to concentrate on the Bulletin and Dave Smallshire has left the Region. I should like to thank them both for their past efforts and to send best wishes for the future to Dave and his family. As replacements, I am pleased to welcome Dave Emley, Graham Evans and Steve Whitehouse to the editorial team. I should like to thank them, and Steve Welch, for their substantial contributions in helping to analyse the 25,000 records submitted for this Report. Another change this year is that there are no Rob Hume sketches. Rob has many other commitments, so this year I have used a selection of the work submitted by Maurice Eccleshall and Brett Westwood, for which I thank them. To Rob, I should like to say thank you once again for your past contributions — I may be back to trouble you again some day! I have tried to make this Report special, even though this may have delayed publication. It is a pity, therefore, to conclude on a sour note, but it would be remiss of me not to refer to the vexed question of descriptions. I had hoped this problem would disappear with publication of The Checklist, but this year has caused more acrimony than ever. It is not so much that descriptions are inadequate. Indeed, only ten records were rejected for this reason — and seven of those involved raptor sightings. Rather it is the lack of any description at all, which accounted for over three-quarters of all rejections. Particular complications arise when unsubstantiated records are extracted from hide log- books. Certainly many Brandon records had to be rejected for this reason, and observers may prefer to submit their own records in future. If everyone co- operates by providing details of all sightings of Category A species, then the 4 invidious task of making arbitrary judgements, and the unpleasantness this can couoo, will be avoided. Thi<? will he fair to everyone. Finally, some important records have not been submitted by the observers concerned, and have only come to light via the annual report of the British Birds Rarities Committee. I hope by-passing the system will not become established practice. G R Harrison Birds in 1983 With 219 species, 1983 was a good year. Weather once again had a strong influence on birds. Winter was generally mild, spring the wettest for years, summer was hot and sunny, and autumn unsettled. January began mild, but wet and very windy. 1982 birds still present at the beginning of the year included Great Northern Diver, Whooper Swan, Ferruginous Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Smew, Long-eared Owls, Firecrest, Eider and Wood Sandpiper. Many of these stayed for several weeks, with the last two remaining into April. A Black-necked Grebe appeared on New Year's Day, another Smew, Peregrine and three Bearded Tits on the ninth, Long-tailed Duck on the eleventh and Mediterranean Gull on the fifteenth. The third week of January was colder, but otherwise mild, westerly weather persisted into the first week of February. Golden Plover and Lapwing were more numerous than usual, the Pochard flock in the Tame Valley reached a record 2500 and more Long- eared Owls were discovered. An anticyclone then brought cold, northerly winds and a large skein of Pink-footed Geese on the ninth. From the fifth onwards strong gales in the North Sea caused a major seabird wreck along the East Coast and brought a Little Auk to Chasewater on the twelfth. By next day the wind had veered eastwards and a Great Grey Shrike was discovered, to be followed two days later by a Black-throated Diver. The most surprising event of the winter, however, was the discovery of a Cirl Bunting amongst a Yellowhammer flock on the twenty-seventh. March began with cool, westerly winds, during which the north Staffordshire Curlew roost peaked at 333. Following a brief, but uneventful spell of easterlies, warm air began to move northwards, bringing the first Wheatear on the thirteenth. This was just a brief interlude, however, as cold westerlies and northerlies soon returned to bring unsettled weather until April 1 2. Late March saw a few migrants nonetheless, including Black-necked Grebe on the twenty- fourth, Great Grey Shrike on the twenty-fifth. Peregrine the next day, a very early Whimbrel on the twenty-seventh. Redstart on the thirtieth and a good showing of Water Pipits. A. flock of Hawfinches at a new locality was also unexpected. Despite the weather, early April saw a flurry of activity, with Peregrine on the fifth. Long-tailed Duck the next day, Snow Bunting on the eighth, and both Osprey and Firecrest on the ninth. A brief spell of warmer, settled weather then saw an influx of Swallows and a Red-necked Grebe on the tenth, followed by a Kentish Plover the next day, another Long-tailed Duck and a Long-eared Owl on the fourteenth, and finally a strong passage of White Wagtails from the fifteenth. 5 Cold, wet and unsettled weather then returned and, apart from a good passage of Short-eared Owls and another Firecrest on the twenty-ninth, the rest of the month was uneventful. With slow-moving depressions, the unsettled, cool and very wet weather persisted throughout May. The most influential feature was an east-west front at the beginning of the month. This halted the northerly passage of many migrants, resulting in a record passage of well over a thousand Arctic Terns on the second, accompanied by a sprinkling of godwits, Sanderlings, Turnstones and Redshanks. These were followed by another Long-eared Owl on the fourth, Avocet and Hoopoe on the seventh, two Black-necked Grebes on the eighth, and Little Terns during the following week. First highlight of the spring was a Night Heron, which was discovered on the twelfth. Incredibly, what appears to have been another individual was then located on the twenty-second. Another Black- necked Grebe on the seventeenth completed an excellent spring for the species.