The RSPB Macclesfield Local Group The We welcome back Paul Hobson as our speaker tonight Paul is a regular visitor to our group – his last talk was in October 2013. He studied Environmental Science in the 1970s, specialising in wildlife conservation, and lectured in this field for 20 years before becoming a full-time wildlife photographer. He has numerous international photographic awards to his credit. In this country we have a long and wildlife friendly coastline, which includes the rocky seabird studded west coast, the sheer chalk cliffs of Yorkshire, which are packed with breeding seabirds in spring and summer, and some of the finest bird estuaries globally. Add to this the myriad of amazing islands around Scotland and you have the recipe for a fantastic wildlife journey. His talk will not only explore our stunning coastline, with gannets, auks and otters, but end with a trip further north to two of the most spectacular and remote islands in Europe – Iceland and Svalbard – with some of Europe’s rarest mammals and birds, such as polar bears, phalaropes, great northern divers and king eiders. 1 DJ1 D7 N*7_,7 2015 Thursday Special Event: RSPB Coffee Morning 5 Take an opportunity to see this year’s range of RSPB Christmas cards and gifts while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee with biscuits. A selection of homemade cakes and preserves will be available to purchase as well as winter food for the birds. Gawsworth Methodist Community Hall, Congleton Road, Gawsworth, Macclesfield, SK11 9QZ, 10 am to 12 noon Contact: Chris Revett 01625 617384 Friday CAWOS Meeting: Moments in Nature by Ben Hall 6 7:30 pm for a prompt 7:45 pm start at St. Vincents Roman Catholic Church, Tatton Street, Knutsford, WA16 6HR Tuesday Indoor Meeting: Galapagos Islands - A Little World Within Itself by Brian 10 Anderson Introduced by: Graham Palmer 01625 420179 Sunday WGBG Coach Trip: Fylde Coast 15 Depart at 8:00 am from Wilmslow Guild, Bourne Street, Wilmslow, SK9 5HD Contact: Steve McGann 01625 533652 Sunday Outdoor Meeting: Marbury Country Park 22 Join us for a morning walk around Budworth Mere and this beautiful ancient woodland where we hope to see wildfowl, grebes, woodpeckers and other woodland species. Meet 10:00 am at Marbury Country Park car park (CW9 6AT), LR Grid Reference: SJ652763, WGS84 N 53.28272, W 2.52341 for a morning visit until 1:00 pm. £1.50 car park fee payable. Leader: Ray Evans 01625 432635 This and That by Ray Perry The World Owl Trust: Update: I have now received the latest World Owl Trust (WOT) newsletter. As expected, the WOT moved from Muncaster Castle in May. Rodbaston Agricultural College, Penkridge, South Staffs, came to the rescue and now most of the owls have been rehoused there temporarily. The new WOT head office is at Millstones, Bootle, Cumbria. Some of the owls have been placed at other establishments including Lower Moss Wood Educational Nature Reserve, Knutsford, Cheshire. It will take about a year to build the new WOT aviary and the site has not yet been revealed. It doesn’t matter yet because no visitors can be accepted. If you want to know more about the WOT then visit www.owls.org. Barn owl by Langman The West Midlands Bird Club (WMBC): Update: The summer edition of the WMBC newsletter has just been released. The new editor is Sue Judge, replacing long server, Andy Lawrence. Andy will not be lost to the WMBC for he is the WMBC representative on the Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory advisory committee. The WMBC helped to found the observatory in 1953. Sue’s first newsletter is a bit different to Andy’s; it contains colour pictures. If you have any recent interesting bird sightings for Staffordshire, contact the county recorder, Nick Pomiankowski. Some species will require descriptions and Nick will let you know if this is necessary. Nick makes no judgements on sightings, his rarities committee makes the final decision. Contact email address - [email protected] or by post; 22 The Villas, West End, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 5AQ; telephone number: 01782 849682. 2 Tittesworth Water: Update: I have only visited the site twice in the last 3 years. Previously, hardly a week went by when I didn’t visit but in those days, at least for 5 years I was the site annual bird report editor and I produced a newsletter quarterly for 12 years. Brenda Scott took over the production of the bird report for 6 years but neither of us is involved anymore. The site itself is little changed although the outdoor water pursuit’s centre has now closed. The visitor centre is different but it is run by an organisation with a concession. The café/ restaurant has been upgraded and is more comfortable. A wide range of food is on offer but is a bit pricey. The shop area is very different with a greater variety of items for sale. The large photos, used for display, are better and more informative. Regrettably there have been Severn Trent staff reductions, meaning the site wardens. This has occurred across all Severn Trent sites. It is worth noting that the price for parking has gone up considerably. It costs £2.50 to park a car for just 2 hours. This is £1.50 more than you need to pay when parking in the middle of Macclesfield. Most Maxonians think that £1 for two hours is too much! The Oriel Ynys Mon: Update: This is a gallery /museum at Llangefni, Anglesey, North Wales. Originally this museum was set up to display the works of the late Charles Tunnicliffe (CFT) who originally haled from the Macclesfield area. He settled at Shorelands , Malltraeth, in 1948, and was there until his death in 1979. Since the gallery was built, it has become, generally, a museum for Wales. The CFT bit was reduced to a model of his Shorelands studio. Now the “studio” has gone but has been replaced by a CFT display area. Each exhibition is supposed to last for 3 months before being refreshed with other works of art from the Oriel’s large collection of CFT paintings and drawings. Other people’s CFT owned work is sometimes displayed. Currently the theme is the CFT scraperboard images for Alison Uttley’s book Ambush of Young Days . The examples on display have been loaned by Ken Broughton, secretary of the Charles Tunnicliffe Society. Scraperboard pictures can be made by scratching white images through a black surface laid on white chalk. Nowadays scraperboard pictures are produced by inking a black area on a white chalk board then scratching out the images. Originally CFT scratched into black covered board for Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter and other Williamson books. Like all modern “scrapers” he did most of his work using black inked areas on white chalk board. Incidentally there is a Powerpoint “slide show” of CFT work in the main museum gallery. This was done by Ken Broughton. There are other exhibitions going on. The major art display hall contains images, mainly of Anglesey, by Bill Kneale. In the CFT gallery area, there are examples of the work of Ian Mitchell – a cleaner cut version of the Kneale type artwork. Notices LAZY TROUT CHRISTMAS LUNCH Sunday 6 December 2015 Meeting at 10:30 am in Tittesworth Water Car Park Please book your place at the front desk tonight or call 01260 275248 and speak to Lydia or leave a message on the answer machine. First, we will be taking a leisurely walk around Tittesworth Reservoir looking for lesser redpoll, brambling, redwing, fieldfare and winter duck. Lydia will be circulating a menu for your choices in advance to ensure prompt service when we eat at 12:30 pm. The Lazy Trout has recently been refurbished and the warm log fires provide a cosy atmosphere for this popular event. If you need a lift please let Lydia know when you make your booking so arrangements may be made. 3 Notices continued Friday 23 October 2015 in aid of East Cheshire Hospice (ECH) David Tideswell will talk ‘All about Robins’ in the Chapel at ECH, Millbank Drive, Macclesfield, SK10 3DR, starting at 7:30 pm. Tickets £5 are available from Hospice Shops on Chestergate or Thornton Square or Brenda Duffield at 29 Ivy Road Macclesfield SK11 8QB. Tel. 01625 428558 Further to the article in March 2014 Newsletter, the October Birdwatching magazine have a feature article about Emma Turner, a copy is posted on the notice board for your interest News from our Wildlife Explorers Heavy rain didn’t put a dampener on the opening event of the Wildlife Explorers 30 th Anniversary Season. he ‘Nature Needs You’ event at Tegg’s Nose Country Park showcased T lots of easy ways to help give nature a home in our gardens and backyards. As well as pine cone bird feeders, visitors of all ages made bee homes and nestboxes for birds. They created scented lavender bags (lavender is a great plant to grow in the garden for bees) and sowed pots of tree seeds and mini meadows. Photograph courtesy of David Wilson Despite heavy downpours volunteers kept smiling and A young visitor with a fat ball We made a bird box everyone’s spirits were kept high feeder and a bee home with excellent refreshments from the newly opened Tegg’s Nose Tea Room. Photograph courtesy of David Wilson four All photographs by TinaHanak Pin badge sales support the RSPB’s conservation efforts Visitor Alan Brereton makes a pine cone feeder Tina Hanak Wildlife Explorer Leader 4 News from our Wildlife Explorers continued he first indoor meeting of this season’s Macclesfield RSPB Wildlife Explorers 30 th T Anniversary programme was Photograph by Tina Hanak ‘Pond Life’.