84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:04 Page 1 The Birds of Herefordshire 2009 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Annual Report 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 2 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Founded 1950 Registered Charity No.1068608 Committee March 2009 – March 2010 President ............................. I B Evans Vice President .................... K A Mason Officers Chairman ............................ N A Smith Vice Chairman..................... J R Pullen Secretary ............................T M Weale 2010 Treasurer .............. M J Wilkinson Recorder ............................ S P Coney Annual Report Editor ..........Ms H Jones HOC News Editor ................ P Gardner Meetings Secretary ....J Andrews/J Pullen Conservation Liaison Officer .....Vacant Education Officer ..............B C Willder Strategy Officer .................. P Williams Publicity Officer .........Ms M MacGregor Other Committee Members G Wren, A J F Buttriss, G M Davis, G Parker Cover picture: A Great Northern Diver visited Wellington Gravel Pits in December Picture: Mick Colquhoun 2 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 3 ELCOME to the 2009 edition of The Birds of Herefordshire, our W59th Annual Report. I hope members will enjoy reading it. This is my third Annual Report as editor…perhaps I’m beginning to get the hang of it now! Although Herefordshire is buried in the heart of England, far from main migration routes or the coasts, it still manages to get its share of rarities. This year sightings have included a Great Northern Diver and we were even visited by such normally coastal denizens as a Sanderling and a Whiskered Tern. The collation and recording of these sightings is a vital contribution to understanding the nation’s wildlife, and it is no mean task – our thanks go to County Bird Recorder Steve Coney for this, as well as to all those avid birdwatchers who report what they have seen to him. And I couldn’t edit this report without the meticulous help of Tony Eveleigh and John Pullen who coordinate the production of its central part, the Systematic List. My thanks go to them as well as to the many people who compiled it from Steve’s records, or who produced reports on such activities as the Nest Box Recording Scheme and the Bird Ringing. I wouldn’t derive as much pleasure from editing this Report as I do, either, without the illustrations – so those of you who have cameras or pencils, keep submitting your pictures! Hilary Jones Drawings of Greenshank and Yellowhammer by Gerald Parker 3 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 4 Contents Chairman’s Report...................................................... Page 5 Herefordshire Bird Atlas Report................................ Page 7 HOC Accounts............................................................. Page 8 HOC Field Meetings 2009......................................... Page 10 Weather Report ......................................................... Page 11 County Bird List........................................................ Page 13 Rarities....................................................................... Page 15 Accepted Rarities...................................................... Page 16 Systematic List of Sightings............................. Pages 17-65 Exotica & Escapes.................................................... Page 66 List of Contributors .................................................. Page 67 Migrant Dates ............................................................ Page 69 Garden Birdwatch..................................................... Page 71 Ringing Reports........................................................ Page 72 Nestbox Recording Scheme .................................... Page 89 Ornithological Sites & Map ................................ Page 98, 99 ISBN 978-0-9554157-5-3 Vol 6 Number 9 Edited by Hilary Jones; Published 2012 Price £7 (UK post free) 4 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 5 Chairman’s Report for 2009 THIS will be my fourth year as your chairman, and every year brings fresh challenges for HOC in the way we have to deal with topics and find resources for a small club like ours. It often falls back on a small number of volunteers within the club who are able to help make our club become a more strategic player in the environment. As your chairman, I would like to share with you a few of the main themes from this past year. The Herefordshire breeding/ winter Bird Atlas We are now into the third year of this important project, which is both a joint ven- ture with BTO as part of the national atlas, and our own special County atlas project. The largest part of the project is the fieldwork, which is both enjoyable and beneficial and, after all our efforts, has a very serious side of showing the way ahead by im- proving habitat management and reversing the decline of some species in this county. The various environmental groups and Government bodies, such as Natural England, need data at county level to help deliver some of their policies. This is why, in Herefordshire, having an Atlas book will provide a yardstick for the next 15 to 20 years of scientific research and knowledge. Such data have never before been fully captured and written down in a way that others can usefully interpret to help with maintaining the welfare of the species in this county. Please see my other article on the Atlas achievements in 2009. Meetings The year seems to be running away with us all too quickly, but again there have been excellent programmes of indoor and outdoor meetings, bringing many of us together in all kinds of weather and birding opportunities, in addition to the well-run and ex- cellent weekend break away to Dorset organised by Chris Bartlett and John Vickerman. I can seriously recommend all of these activities to you as an excellent way of meet- ing fellow birders and helping each other out with improving knowledge of birds. A special thank you must go to Keith and Chris Mason and Chris’s team of helpers who organise the indoor meetings. Annual Reports We are now into our third report with Hilary Jones as the editor of this 2009 report. Any kind of production of a report like this is not an easy task. It might sound a simple matter to write it, but a lot of hard work goes into such a report from a very hard working and dedicated group of writers and helpers. Thus the chairman wishes to express his sincere thanks and appreciation to all, as the production cost has been kept to a reasonable level within the funds raised by the club. Working together It is important to realise that the bird club cannot do everything, however, opportu- nities do arise where we can lend our expertise to help others in bird conservation. The 5 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 6 Herefordshire Woodpecker project is one such project, along with others, like trying to influence Council planning/ policy direction by having our say on behalf of birds when helping planners, (where we are asked) with making decisions on applications. IT expertise We live in a constantly evolving age of technology, where IT services are increasingly penetrating our lives and the way we do our work. In this respect the bird club is no different. Being a small group, we are always on the look out for those with IT skills to help us, so this is an opportunity you could take to help HOC develop those new IT services and make this club a stronger player. The committee & their sub committees As Chairman, I rely heavily on the committee to help deliver and guide us with all the subjects, and this year is no different from others. It is always pleasing to see more new faces providing an injection of ‘new blood’, as no committee should stand still. We will always find challenges ahead, but it is important to remember and understand that we are all volunteers, giving up our own time. Once again I would like to give a big thank you to all those members standing again or standing down, as their efforts have been a tremendous help in so many ways over the past year. General To end this report, I would like to say, I do feel that we have a great strength in being a very friendly club, and that we will have real opportunities ahead to make us a leading body in the county, if we are able to complete big tasks like the Atlas project over the next few years. So please support us in the work and challenges that lie ahead. Speak to a committee member if you have ideas or want to become involved with the club using your knowledge and skills, as a stronger band of willing volunteers will increase awareness of birds throughout the county. As we end this year, I look back, and can say that, over the decades, the club has made huge strides in its own development. Big heartfelt thanks to you to all for supporting HOC in this year! Nick Smith Chairman Spotted Flycatcher on watch for lunch Drawing: Gerald Parker 6 84878 HOC 2009 fonts changed_Hoc 2009 12/07/2012 15:05 Page 7 Herefordshire Bird Atlas 2009 Update AS 2009 began we were half way through the second Winter period for survey work and with the first year completed. We were beginning to see the early results of all your hard work and the missing areas that we still had to cover over the next few years. The county was nearly split in half with very good coverage south of Hereford, but to the north we still needed your help to cover many more 10km square areas. The numbers of species recorded were 140 winter species and 161 summer species. We had completed 310 winter tetrads and 226 breeding tetrads by the end of 2009. A total of 201 observers had contributed 60,000 records just for Herefordshire, ranging from sometimes just a single record to many of over a 1000 to 3000 or more records per observer. The BTO was beginning to show early results at its BTO Atlas website http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/, so why not go and see for yourself the work done by many observers across the county by using the link for Herefordshire from the BTO page called Bird Atlas Key Statistics.