The Birds of Herefordshire 2010 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Annual Report Herefordshire Ornithological Club Founded 1950 Registered Charity No.1068608 Committee March 2010 - March 2011 President I B Evans Vice President K A Mason Chairman N A Smith Vice Chairman Vacant Secretary T M Weale Treasurer M J Wilkinson Recorder S P Coney Annual Report Editor Ms H Jones HOC News Editor P Gardner Meetings Secretary G R Parker Conservation Liaison Officer P J Brown Education Officer B C Willder Strategy Officer Vacant Publicity Officer Ms M MacGregor Cover picture: Other Committee Members: Wryneck, seen at Moreton-on- Ms S Grunsell; A J F Buttriss; G M Lugg in Davis; G A H Wells September Dave Bennett 2 Wryneck, drawn by Gerald Parker elcome to the 2010 edition of the The Birds of Herefordshire, our 60th annual report – and my fourth Was editor. This year’s report has been something of a headache for our contributors, and particularly for Tony Eveleigh and John Pullen who coordinate the Sys - tematic List of sightings. In its wisdom, the British Ornithological Union has made several major changes to the list – for instance, you may be sur - prised to note that the Long-Tailed Tit is no longer a tit. It’s officially in with the warblers. The list has always changed a bit over the years, as ornithologists and sci - entists have found different relationships between the species - but then they discovered DNA. The discovery has affected everything from paternity suits to crime de - tection; now it is altering the taxonomy of birds. The effect has been quite drastic and the list will probably change more frequently in the future. Most birdwatchers are not scientists and may find the whole issue con - fusing – possibly even unnecessary; to this end Gerald Wells, who is a sci - entist, has written an article explaining it. This appears on Page 18. Meanwhile, to make life easier for those of you who study the list and may be confused on not being able to find your favourite bird in its usual place, we have also included an alphabetical index to the Systematic List, which you will find on Page 98. My heartfelt thanks (and commiserations!) go to John and Tony and to all the contributors, as well as to Steve Coney who collates the sighting throughout the year. And lastly I must thank those members whose efforts with their cameras have, as usual, produced such stunning illustrations, not forgetting Gerald Parker whose drawings give a lift to the whole edition. Hilary Jones 3 Contents Chairman’s Report & Bird Atlas Report ...................................Page 5 HOC Accounts .............................................................................Page 8 HOC Field Meetings ..................................................................Page 10 Weather Reports .......................................................................Page 11 County Bird List 2010 ...............................................................Page 13 Herefordshire County Rarities .................................................Page 15 Accepted Rarities 2010 ............................................................Page 16 The Systematic List, Taxonomy & Change .............................Page 18 Systematic List of Sightings ...............................Pages 22-46 & 55-68 Exotica & Escapes .................................................................. Page 69 List of Contributors .................................................................Page 70 Migrant Dates ............................................................................Page 72 Bird Ringing Reports ...............................................................Page 74 Nestbox Recording Scheme ...................................................Page 87 Obituaries .....................................................................................Page 96 Alphabetical Index to Revised Systematic List .....................Page 98 Birdwatching Sites ...................................................................Page 99 Sites Map ...............................................................................Back Cover ISBN 978-0-9554157-6-0 Vol 6 Number 10 Edited by Hilary Jones; published 2013 Price £5 (UK post free) 4 Chairman’s Report for 2010 S your chairman, I find that every year brings fresh challenges for HOC in the way we have to deal with topics and finding the resources from a small club like ours. It often falls back Aonto the shoulders of a few volunteers within the club who are able to help, thus making our club become a more strategic player in this county environment. I will highlight just a few of the main themes this year which, as your chairman, I believe are important, as we end this 60th year. Over the decades the club has made great strides in its own development, and I would like to start with the main item, which has been: The Herefordshire breeding/ winter Bird Atlas e are now into the third year of this important project, which is a joint venture with BTO, as part of the national atlas. Our own sWpecial County Atlas is a project in which we endeavour to have the county’s area of some 545 x 2km tetrads covered over 5 years for both the breeding and winter seasons! This is no easy task and looking at the early results we have over 201 observers and some A rare visitor to Herefordshire – a Glossy Ibis All drawings by Gerald Parker 5 60,000 records submitted already. The numbers of species recorded are 140 winter species and 161 breeding species. We have, so far, al - located 75% tetrads, with 310 winter tetrads and 226 breeding tetrads having been completed. But this is only part of the project. In addition to being very enjoy - able and beneficial, the fieldwork also has a very serious side after all this effort in showing the way ahead for future species manage - ment and in delivering a record of the state of the health of all species in this county. The various environmental groups and Government bodies like Nat - ural England need data to help at a county level deliver some of their policies. In Herefordshire we have only patchy species records, but having a published Atlas book will create a yardstick for the next 15 to 20 years of scientific research. This knowledge has never been fully captured before and written down in this way with data that others can usefully interpret to help with the welfare of the species in this county. To this end, I recommend that the Club throw its full resources be - hind the project and then see the longer terms benefits and uses. The committee & its sub-committees s chairman I rely heavily on the committee to help deliver and guide us with all subjects. This year is no different from others, bAut it is always pleasing to see more new faces to provide some new blood. No committee should stand still, and we will always have dif - ficult challenges ahead, while understanding that we are all volunteers giving up our own time. So it’s important to remember that we can only support projects and not try to do everything everywhere! I would like once again to give a big thank you to all those members standing again or standing down, as their efforts have been a tremen - dous help over the past year in so many ways. Meetings he year seems to have disappeared too quickly, but again we have had an excellent programme of indoor and outdoor meetings, bTringing many of us together in all sorts of weather and birding op - portunities, including the well-run and excellent weekend break away 6 Great Grey Shrike to Dorset organ - ised by Chris Bartlett and John Vickerman. I can seriously recommend these annual trips to all of you as an excellent way of meeting fellow bird - ers and all helping each other out with improving your own knowledge of birds. A special thank you goes to Chris Mason and her team of helpers who organise the indoor meetings. Working together t is important to realise that the bird club cannot do everything, but opportunities arise where we can lend our expertise to help others iIn bird conservation. The Herefordshire Woodpecker project is one such project, along with others, like trying to influence the Council’s planning/policy di - rection by having our say on behalf of birds, when helping planners decide on applications, which could affect bird habitats. Finally we had the sad news during the year of the death of Beryl Bayliss, a good friend and carer for sick and injured birds in the county. We also lost another club stalwart, Elaine Evans, who will be greatly missed. Their obituaries can be found on page 96. I feel that we have a great strength in being a friendly club, which will enjoy real opportunities ahead to make us a leading light in the county, if we can complete big tasks like the Atlas project over the next few years. So please support us in the work and challenges that lie ahead, and speak to a committee member if you have ideas or want to become involved with the club, using your knowledge and skills to make a stronger band of willing volunteers to take forward our greatest in - terest which is the awareness of the birds throughout the county. Enjoy reading this report about the species seen around the County this year and some of the notable scarce birds that we can find with a bit of dedication! Nick Smith 7 Income & Expenditure Account 2009 2010 £ £ £ INCOME £ £ £ 4,472 Subscriptions 4,589 - Annual Report Sponsorship 1,000 513 Income from Meetings 799 - Sale of Surplus Computer Equipment 470 20 Sale of Publications 97 864 Donations 310 706 Gift Aid Refund 1,003 - Grant for Recorder Project