CHELMSFORD & CENTRAL GROUP NEWS

Winter 2015/16 The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654

LOCAL GROUP TALKS As many of you know, we have a great programme of talks for you to enjoy through the winter. The speakers are very varied in subject matter and presentation style but all are well-received by our audience. Two recent evenings have been particular highlights of the season. David Lindo visits Writtle We were very pleased to welcome “Urban Birder” David Lindo as guest speaker at our meeting on 12 November last year. Visitor numbers reached 146 so we removed the auditorium’s central division for the first time since moving our talks to Writtle College two years ago. Woolly-hatted David arrived in his vintage Rolls Royce, armed with lots of copies of his book, The Urban Birder, and snazzy tee-shirts that were for sale. He greeted me warmly with a big hug – an unexpected treat as we’d never met before! David focussed the first half of his talk on the background, his promotional efforts and the successful selection of Britain’s first national bird, the robin, including how he’d toured the streets with publicity material plastered all over his roller. Overtly passionate about birds and the importance of inspiring others, David was clearly very pleased with his campaigning achievements.

ROBIN The second half followed David’s travels in Latvia, Northern Serbia and surrounding regions, and included interesting stories and lovely pictures. A memorable moment was when everyone let out a spontaneous gasp when shown a photo of long-eared owls roosting in a tree in a Serbian town square (in Kikinda) – dozens of them! What an amazing spectacle it must be to see hundreds of these beautiful birds perching together in an urban setting.

LONG-EARED OWLS (David Lindo) Naturally, David encouraged everyone to visit these fascinating eastern European sites which are becoming increasingly famous for their rich and varied bird life.

1 Those who didn’t attend missed a very enjoyable and financially successful event. We made £430 profit including £107 on the raffle for which David kindly donated a signed book and a tee-shirt. After another hug and lots of smiles, everyone drifted off and David “rolled” back to west London. Thanks to all those who supported us by promoting and attending the event, donating prizes and refreshment money, and buying raffle tickets. We look forward to commissioning another high profile speaker in due course. Cute little fellas … …was Russell Savory’s description of his resident little owls at Stow Maries First World War Aerodrome. Very pleasing visitor numbers attended on a cold 14 January evening to hear Russell’s captivating talk which he illustrated with truly impressive photographs and fascinating videos. Imagine crystal clear, full screen water vole faces and beautiful back lit barn owls “frozen” in flight at sunset. Russell entertained us with several humorous photographs but his video of five stoats playing together, hiding in the long grass, chasing each other and jumping over puddles, was a particularly endearing “once in a lifetime” experience for him, and very amusing for us. We were offered lots of camera and field craft hints and tips, including that the best hide is a car! Russell explained that if we spend a little time predicting where a bird is likely to perch, pop some meal worms nearby, with patience we too could achieve amazing close up shots. Easy! Keen to support the RSPB further (he already does so in lots of ways), Russell very generously donated a canvas print of Geronimo (pictured) which helped us to achieve a near record raffle profit and a very financially successful event overall.

LITTLE OWL (Russell Savory) Huge thanks go to Russell and all who attended and bought raffle tickets. We’d love to see you again at future events. Sue McClellan – Talks Organiser

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LOCAL GROUP AGM Our Local Group AGM will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 28 April 2016, immediately prior to the talk which will be at 8.00pm as normal. Do please come and support us at the AGM – without it there would be no committee to run the local group, and therefore no walks and no talks. These events don’t just happen on their own! Even better, if you would like to join the committee, we would welcome you with open arms. The work is not onerous and the more people we can share it around, the less there is for each individual to do. We have committee meetings three or four times a year and they are informal and sociable, although of course we make sure we get through the necessary business efficiently. Contact details for the current committee members are at the end of this newsletter, before the diary dates, so do feel free to contact one of us if you would like to talk about joining the committee. Even if you don’t think you are a committee-type person, come to the AGM anyway – we won’t force you to join the committee but it is important that local group members hear the Annual Reports, and get the opportunity to ask questions and express their views.

OUR LOCAL GROUP WALKS There are several walks to tell you about since our last newsletter. In October last year we went to , an reserve. A select group set off around the reserve on a fairly cloudy morning. We started off by going down to the river and looking at the waders, of which a decent selection were on view. We were pleased to find a bar- tailed godwit among the black-tailed godwits and were able to see the diagnostics which distinguish the two species.

BAR-TAILED GODWITS (Viv Connett) We then wandered up the path to walk around the lake and found a goldcrest showing well next to the path. There had been thousands of these tiny birds migrating into the country over the previous few weeks and certainly there were a few here. As the hides around the lake are quite small we split into two groups and my group was rewarded with the sight of about a hundred fieldfares suddenly exploding from the trees – along with redwings these winter thrushes were now starting to appear on these shores, a sure sign that winter was coming. 43 species of bird were seen, a very commendable total. In November we went to RSPB Rainham Marshes. It was a very windy morning so the eight of us that set off were under no illusions that we would see much in the way of passerines on our way round. Instead we were concentrating on the waterfowl and any other birds which were likely to be on the ground. From the path outside the Visitor Centre we had a good view of the scrape which held large numbers of teals, wigeons and shovelers. We continued along the path through the woodland which, as expected, was very quiet although a dark butterfly, probably a peacock, was something

3 of a surprise. Viv spotted a bullfinch which eluded everyone else, and then Tim found a kingfisher perched, which in true bird fashion had gone by the time the rest of us caught up. We walked up the path to the hide keeping an eye open for the Dartford warblers which had been around recently but, as expected, they were hunkered down and we didn’t see them. From inside the hide, we could see a snipe asleep on an island, showing just how well camouflaged these birds are. In front of the hide we (or at least I) were delighted to see a handsome male pintail feeding quite close to us.

PINTAIL We continued on and found many more ducks of several species together with good numbers of coots and – surprisingly – a few stonechats who didn’t seem to mind the wind. From the far hide we had good views of marsh harriers hunting over the reeds and finally – the target bird for the day – a handsome water pipit! There had been a few of these pale winter visitors reported over the last few days but we hadn’t managed to spot one so far. The far side of the reserve did not produce much as the wind had increased considerably so we retreated to the visitor centre for lunch. 46 species of bird were seen. Our planned December walk to RSPB reserve Old Hall Marshes had to be cancelled as the weather forecast was for a lot of wind and rain. Those of you who are familiar with the reserve, and know how exposed it is, will appreciate that it is not a good place to be on a Sunday morning in the depths of winter when it is pouring with rain and blowing a gale. It is always a hard call to decide when to cancel a walk; we never do this lightly as we don’t like to disappoint people, but on the other hand we have to take the likely weather conditions into account. As the decision has to be made the evening before, so as to give everyone sufficient notice, it is a bit of a gamble when looking at the predictions. In the event, on this occasion it proved the right thing to do, as it did indeed rain for most of the morning and the walk would not have been a pleasant experience if it had taken place. Our first expedition of 2016, in January, was to Warley Place (an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve). Nine of us set out to explore this little gem of a reserve on a beautiful sunny but cold Saturday morning. The reserve is actually the gardens belonging to the former home of gardener Ellen Willmott (the house is no longer there) and has a great selection of wildlife plus of course a stunning variety of seasonal flowers. From a birding point of view, the reserve’s fame comes from the number of wintering firecrests. Unfortunately, although we did see a couple of goldcrests, the firecrests weren’t showing. We had good numbers of coal tits (one member said that he saw more of these than he had in the whole of last year) and also a calling nuthatch.

NUTHATCH (Viv Connett)

4 As well as the birdlife, we enjoyed seeing a variety of plants and flowers, including butcher’s broom, snowdrops, snowflakes (the flowers not the frozen sort!), chionodoxas, daffodils and periwinkle. The reserve is famous for its daffodil banks so it is well worth a visit if you are in the area during the spring. The highlight for one group (we had split up as the hides are small) was a rainbow.

PHOTO: STEVE FOSTER (Ed: the rainbow formation was the most unusual I have ever seen and was an incredible sight. An upside-down rainbow is called a circumzenithal arc, and the “right way up” rainbow underneath is called a supralateral arc. I felt very privileged to witness this phenomenon.)

18 species of bird were seen; not our highest total by a long way, but it was a pleasure to be out in the fresh air on such a lovely sunny winter’s day. Viv Connett

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THE MURMURATOR NO.1 I have written 24 articles so far about birds but have shied away from dealing with the bird that I am calling “the murmurator”, which is of course the starling. This is merely because I enjoy this bird immensely, but also because there is so much of interest to cover, so I am afraid that I will write two articles about it in an effort to do it justice. The Anglo Saxon names of staer and staerlinc are similar to many local names for this bird, like stare, starnel, starn, etc. Shakespeare refers to it in Henry IV – “…a starling shall be taught to speak…”. It also has similar names in Europe: the German “star” and Swedish “stare” for example. Even the Latin family name for the starling family “sturnus” is well chosen. Is there a reason for all

5 these similar names? Well, the best answer I can give is that the old Greek “psaros” means “spotted or flecked” which is a great description of the plumage of the young starling, and also the adult bird in the winter. The plumage looks spotted or white flecked, with the spots bigger in the hen bird than those in the cock. They gradually fade as the plumage wears, to finish as the glossy, almost oily, browny-black breeding plumage with its beautiful hidden iridescences of green and purple. The bill is black in both sexes, but they both turn yellow in the spring. The cock has a blue bill base and the hen pink. Look at the starling in the summer sunshine and the sight just could take your breath away. I was brought up in Yorkshire and we always had starlings nesting in the eaves of our house. I clearly remember watching them sing from the house ridges with their wing feathers flicking and their bright yellow bills pointing upwards with throat feather hackles raised. Their song has been described as “a lively rambling medley of throaty warbling, chirruping, clicking and gurgling sounds interspersed with musical whistles and pervaded by a peculiar creaky quality”. I also remember that my father used to call me home with a special four-note whistle. This was fine until the day we arrived back by mistake as one starling had learned the call exactly. He was not very popular! They can in fact copy all sorts of other bird songs and they would also mimic the sexy wolf whistles we used to use at the girls. This gave us lads a very bad name!!! Pliny, back in Roman days, made the claim that in ancient Rome starlings had been taught to speak Latin and Greek and that they could repeat whole sentences. They were also coached to reproduce tunes. Mozart was said to have incorporated the song of one bird in his piano concerto in G Major, K453. However, it was found that he had bought the bird six weeks after the first public performance! He kept it for three years and, when it died, he honoured it with an elaborate funeral. A birdsong researcher, Meredith West, looked again at the music that Mozart composed in the time that he owned this bird and found a piece entitled “A Musical Joke” (K.522). Musicians considered it a marvellous prank, but she heard in it “the autograph of a starling”.

STARLING By the 19 th century the bird had lost most of its pet appeal and its status as the poor man’s parrot – “taught to speak and to swear” – was a thing of the past, although a few were still for sale in the London streets in the 1870s. We British did not take a liking to them for eating, as they do on the continent, although in the last war “The Times” described “rows of starlings at 9d each in a big London store”. I read of a chap who bought some French starling pâté and recalled the flavour as being “acceptable only after subjecting the palate to torture for many years”! Mike Logan Wood January 2016

6 BIRDS’ NICKNAMES? Robin Heafford, who sets our quizzes, has written to me as follows: Mike Logan Wood’s recent letter about the green woodpecker, and its various nicknames, reminded me of a gift I had some years ago. It was an old book (pub. 1910), called British Nesting Birds, by Percival Westell FLS MBOU (what on earth are they?). ( Ed: I think FLS is probably Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a society for the study of, and dissemination of, information concerning, natural history and taxonomy; and MBOU is a member of the British Ornithologists’ Union. Ah, the power of the internet!) In it are descriptions of many British birds, with sub-headings: local names, haunt, nesting period, site of nest, materials used, eggs, voice, chief features, plumage – all quite useful, but I am writing about the first one – local names. First, a quiz question (I can’t help it, it’s a habit!) – what do the following have in common: bullfinch, reed bunting, black-headed gull, stonechat, great tit, marsh tit? The answer is at the end of the article. In the book, the green woodpecker is credited with 28 nicknames, including pick-a-tree and poppinjay. “Robin” is given as a nickname for what was then, apparently, called a redbreast. (Answer to the quiz question: all have blackcap as a nickname.) Robin Heafford

BULLFINCH

NEIGHBOURHOOD WILDLIFE DAY Along with several other keen volunteers, the local group is planning a Neighbourhood Wildlife Day on Saturday 12 March this year. The event, involving a variety of Essex wildlife charities' activities, displays and talks, will be aimed at raising awareness of the presence and needs of the many species that inhabit our gardens and surrounding areas. We even hope to have some live (non nocturnal!) exhibits. Adults and children alike are invited to join in the fun (free entry) at Moulsham Lodge Community Trust, 99 Gloucester Avenue, CM2 9DS (former police station) from 10.00am - 3.00pm. Displays will be both in and outside so fingers crossed for dry weather.

WHITE BLACKBIRDS Amongst the little troupe of blackbirds that we’ve been feeding sultanas to this autumn is the rather smart character figured below. Her name, somewhat unimaginatively, is Whitey. The white, symmetrical “ruff” of this particular female blackbird is an example of leucistic plumage, where a genetic mutation occurs to prevent the normal black melanin pigment developing over certain areas of the body. Blackbirds seem prone to develop this mutation and there are some almost completely white specimens pictured on the internet. The British Trust for Ornithology is currently appealing to garden birdwatchers to report such aberrant plumage patterns and they are

7 asking whether the observer notices any associated unusual behaviour. Details of the online survey can be found at www.bto.org/gbw

WHITEY (Alan Thorpe) As far as Whitey is concerned, we have not observed any behaviour different from two other instantly recognisable male blackbirds that frequent our garden: Droopy (damaged wing) and Hoppy (damaged leg); or the other more normal blackbirds that clamour for attention and sultanas. They each adopt an appealing pose whenever they see us through the windows and as soon as they hear the sound of the kitchen door being opened, they battle for sultana supremacy. I might add that wood pigeons have, of course, learnt the trick and, more unusually perhaps, so has a magpie. Birds are very adaptive as far as food is concerned! Alan Thorpe A CITY BREAK WITH A DIFFERENCE My husband and I wanted our 2015 holiday to include birdwatching while still allowing plenty of time for sightseeing and relaxing in the sun. Friends' stories of getting up at six and braving the cold and/or the midges to trek across the Scottish highlands and islands every day for a week of dedicated wildlife-watching held only limited appeal compared with the beaches of southern Europe. We had successfully organised our own four-stop rail trip through Spain last year and were keen to do something similar, but with more opportunities for birdwatching, this time. A quick look at our trusty 'Birdwatching – A Complete Guide to Observing British and European Wildlife' (Rob Hume, 2003, published by Dorling Kindersley for the RSPB), followed by some internet searches, found us what we wanted. A Portuguese company – Birds and Nature Tours – could supply guided days out from Lisbon and from Faro, on the Algarve, as well as longer breaks, including the Alentejo region in between. As we had been to the Alentejo before, we gave it a miss this time. We booked flights to Lisbon, with four nights' accommodation, and back from Faro on the Algarve after a further eight nights, with a day's birdwatching from each location. Our day out from Lisbon took us across the Vasco da Gama bridge (the longest in Europe at nearly eleven miles) to the other side of the River Tagus, where we saw some fantastic species – 67 in all. Early on we were delighted to see hoopoes, an old favourite, plus flocks of flamingoes, spoonbills and glossy ibises. Many birds were completely new to us including the black-winged (or black-shouldered) kite, the yellow-headed weaver bird and the Iberian grey shrike. Our guide Maria shared the story of a 'Life Lister' whom a colleague had picked up from the airport, taken to see the three rarities on his list and then had to take straight back to the airport for his next flight!

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HOOPOE From Faro we visited woodlands, steep hills and coastal areas including the saltpans which are a feature of that coastline as well as the Tagus estuary. We were not lucky enough to see Bonelli's eagles, of which our new guide Joao had made a particular study in the area, but with his help we did see the western Bonelli's warbler, plus another 86 bird species and an Egyptian mongoose! We were particularly thrilled to see a little bittern and several purple swamp hens (formerly known as purple gallinules, but a USA species has apparently been judged to have a better claim to that name), from a wonderful hide on a golf course. Near the saltpans we saw Audouin's gulls, but were interested to note that the bird that got Joao really excited and clicking away with his long- lensed camera was one we are familiar with: a knot. Our grand total of bird species seen over the two days was 105. Many were new to us and we would have had little hope of seeing them, and no hope at all of identifying them, without the help of our indefatigable guides. Both Maria and Joao were very quick in setting up their telescopes for us, as well as leafing through their Collins guides to illustrate the distinctions they were ably listing, in perfect English, to help us with identification. Although we did a bit of walking with Joao in the woods and hills, both guides drove us from place to place, so the days were not strenuous; at times we had an enjoyable feeling of being on safari. Even disability need not be a bar; Joao recounted a highly successful day guiding a lady wheelchair-user the previous week, when even more species than he had seen with us had shown themselves in abundance. Both our city break and our beach holiday were greatly enhanced by our two days of guided birdwatching. We would recommend this style of holiday to anyone keen to combine a traditional, relaxing, non-driving holiday with expanding their knowledge of a country and its birds – or KNOT their 'Life List' (not that I admit to having one)! Janet Hawkes

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2015 FUN QUIZ 17 of the 20 entries received (three arrived after the deadline) have been marked and the happy winner, Colin Bolt of Liverpool, has his £25 prize. As with the rhymes quiz of 2014, the animal theme wasn’t as appealing as the birds of 2013. Nevertheless, the quiz was still worth while as lots of people enjoyed the challenge, and we made a reasonable profit of £178. Sincere apologies are due for the confusion around two clues:- No.31 – despite having checked everything thoroughly, or so we thought, the first batch of quiz sheets required an answer with six letters rather than eight. The error was corrected for subsequent print runs and didn't affect the winning score. No.35 – the answer was intended to be “Giraffe”, and most (10/17) entrants achieved this. However, as the more usual “animal designed by a committee” is a camel, the Latin “Camelus” (with the required seven letters) was also accepted. “Camel” answers were rejected.

Many thanks again to:- Robin Heafford for creating the quiz, distributing it around several RSPB reserves, cajoling various friends and acquaintances into buying copies, and collecting the proceeds. Those who bought a quiz sheet and spent many hours trying to solve the clues … some managed them all! Sue McClellan for her administrative assistance and technical support. Robin will be producing another quiz later this year, although we’re not sure what theme it will take. If you have any ideas, please let a committee member know.

GARDEN BIRDWATCH Did you enjoy doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch in January? Then why not keep the habit going by joining the British Trust for Ornithology’s Garden BirdWatch. It monitors the changing fortunes of birds and other garden wildlife and is a fascinating exercise in 'citizen science'. Observations collected by BTO Garden BirdWatchers are analysed by BTO researchers and published in leading journals. The scheme has been running for over 20 years and provides the kind of data, from ordinary people, that helps scientists spot trends and in turn influence policymakers. It is also fun for the individual and simple. You can watch the garden birds during breakfast, bins and notebook beside you, and then log your findings once a week. There is a whole mass of information available and scope for including mammals and insects. Participants receive an informative and entertaining quarterly magazine called 'Bird Table'. This features the latest results from the survey together with articles about garden birds and how to help them. http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw

10 KESTREL NEST BOXES You may remember that we have featured Steve Baines and his kestrel nest boxes in past issues. Steve has had a lot of success with his boxes in previous years and has been getting his plans together for the coming season. As well as his existing kestrel boxes and some new ones, he has also put up a couple of tawny owl nest boxes. We wish him the best of luck for the kestrel breeding season – and the owls as well, of course!

TAWNY OWL

RSPB MEMBERS’ WEEKEND 1-3 APRIL 2016 University of York The RSPB Members’ weekend is an opportunity to enjoy a wonderful weekend packed full of uplifting conservation stories and fascinating people. There is a varied and interactive programme, giving you the option to choose from a range of talks, workshops, discussions and other activities to create your own tailor-made weekend. Excursions will take place on Friday as an optional extra, offering a choice of visits to some wonderful locations including Bempton Cliffs, Blacktoft Sands and Harewood House. Go to the RSPB website for more information about the weekend.

NEW WIND TURBINE AT RSPB HEADQUARTERS

W ork to erect a 100 metre wind turbine began recently at RSPB HQ at the Lodge. The cabling and electrics were put in the ground last autumn. Once it is up and running, the turbine will generate energy equivalent to more than half the electricity the RSPB uses across its 127 locations across the UK. The project is being run in partnership with Ecotricity and is not costing the RSPB any money because the costs are covered by Ecotricity. RSPB has done what it can to ensure there will be no significant effects on the wildlife. Through pre-construction monitoring it has concluded that there is unlikely to be any significant impact on breeding birds in the area, and the level of flight activity from sensitive species suggests collision risk will be low. For bats, however, although the overall risk to the bat population is low, the monitoring did detect rare periods of slightly higher bat activity, so it has been decided to adopt a precautionary approach. The wind turbine will be turned off half an hour either side of sunrise and sunset when wind speeds are below 7 metres per second. Bats like noctules and pipistrelles tend to feed at these times but mainly at lower wind speeds. While this will mean that RSPB takes a little hit in terms of electricity generation potential (c5- 8%), it thinks this is absolutely the right approach. PIPISTRELLE 11

RSPB LOCAL GROUP COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2015/16 Alan Thorpe Point of Contact 01245 222029 [email protected] Viv Connett Field Trips Organiser 07985 796657 [email protected] Tim Connett Field Trips Organiser 07913 896020 [email protected] Margot Grice Treasurer/Joint 01245 248651 [email protected] Membership Secretary Janet Hawkes Secretary 01376 512628 [email protected] Louise Fuller Newsletter Editor/Joint 01245 421614 [email protected] Membership Secretary Gerry Johnson Pin Badge Sales Co- 01245 356633 [email protected] ordinator Sue McClellan Meetings (Talks) 01245 471576 [email protected] Secretary

EVENTS DIARY Non-members are welcome at all events. Talks are held at the Northumberland Theatre, Writtle College, Lordship Road, Writtle, Chelmsford, CM1 3RP, commencing at 8.00pm and finishing about 9.50pm, with an interval for refreshments. The lecture theatre is across Lordship Road from the main college building, to the right of the Wilkins tea room, and there is free parking on site. Entry £3.50 adults. No discount for postal group members. Walks are all “own car” outings, suitable for all ages and birding abilities; help with bird ID will be available. They usually last about 2 – 2.5 hours and involve walking some distance, although not at speed. Wear suitable clothing and footwear and bring your own refreshments. Walking boots are advised for our walks as the terrain could be wet and uneven. The sites are often exposed and you may need warm and waterproof clothing, especially for our winter trips. There are no toilet facilities at most of the walk venues. For further details of all events please see our web site www.rspb.org.uk/groups/chelmsford If you are planning to attend any of our events, please check the website in case of any last minute changes.

2016 FEBRUARY TALK – Thursday 11 ASIA'S TEARDROP – BIRDWATCHING IN SRI LANKA by David Cromack, who returns to share his experiences and beautiful photographs of the birds of this tropical island.

WALK – Sunday 14 SHUT HEATH WOOD (EWT), Great Totham (grid reference TL 853 133, no post code). Meet at 10.00am. Directions – Leave the B1022 at Roundbush Corner, Great Totham, taking Mountains Road. After about 1200m take the first turning on the right (Tiptree Road) and the entrance is about 400m down on the left with double gates at the entrance. This little known EWT reserve is known for all three woodpeckers (Viv and Tim have seen lesser spotted woodpeckers here on a regular basis) plus woodcocks, nuthatches, treecreepers and a resident tawny owl. Very muddy so WELLIES ESSENTIAL.

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WOODCOCK MARCH TALK – Thursday 10 MEDITERRANEAN BIRDWATCHING: THREE EUROPEAN RIVER DELTAS IN SPRING with Alan Thorpe, emeritus professor of biological sciences at the University of London, who will give an illustrated talk on the birds of the Rhone, Ebro and Po deltas. These extensive wetland areas each support agriculture, fishing and salt-producing activities and yet there are some major differences in the species of birds that live there. Possible reasons for these differences will be suggested. In addition, some of the notable art, culture and traditions related to the three deltas will be mentioned briefly.

WALK – Saturday 19 (EWT), North Fambridge (grid reference TQ 856 971, post code CM3 6GU). Meet in the car park at 10.00am. Directions: from the B1012 (east of South Woodham Ferrers) take Fambridge Road to North Fambridge. Go over the railway bridge and continue for about a third of a mile. The road bends quite sharply round to the right; don’t follow it, but take the track off to the left and carry straight on. The car park is about quarter of a mile on the left. We haven’t visited this reserve as a group before. It’s best known for its big flocks of overwintering brent geese but has many other waders and raptors. This time of year there is also a chance of some early spring migrants. The grass will be long and maybe wet and the paths may be muddy so suitable footwear is essential.

BRENT GEESE APRIL TALK AND LOCAL GROUP AGM – Thursday 28 Please note the date is later in the month than normal. The AGM will be held at 7.30pm followed by the talk at 8.00pm; see item on page 2. DEVELOPMENT OF WALLASEA ISLAND WILD COAST PROJECT: an extensive nature reserve in the making, Wallasea Island is a place of big skies, wetlands and wildlife. Large areas of land are being transformed into new habitats to attract a range of wildlife from spoonbills to oil beetles. Rachel Fancy – Warden for 13 Wallasea Island & Foulness – will highlight how the project has developed, what wildlife the island is home to and what the future holds for this exciting new nature reserve.

SPOONBILL

WALK – Saturday 30 WRABNESS (EWT), Wheatsheaf Lane, which turns off the B1352 between Bradfield and Wrabness (post code CO11 2TB). 10.00am. Meet in the car park (grid reference TM 167 315). We visited this reserve in the autumn and now we are trying in the spring when there is a good chance of turtle doves, nightingales and other spring migrants. There is also a hide overlooking the estuary where at low tide many waders gather to feed.

There are no more talks until we start again in September. There are no walks in May or June.

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