No 481 Summer 2016 Spotted Flycatcher at our Belvide Reserve - Photographer Nigel Talbot This front page is sponsored by the Birder’s Store, Worcester New June 2016.indd 1 07/06/2016 09:29 WMBC News Is published in March, June, September and December each year to link members with each other, what’s been happening, current issues and forthcoming events on the birding scene in our area and further afield together with a selection of your articles and a comprehensive summary of the recorded bird sightings in our area As promised this issue contains the Club 2016 audited annual accounts and our Chairman’s Annual Report. I have also included a rather informal but I hope accurate account of our AGM meeting for the benefit of those who didn’t attend. As the change to the constitution of our Executive Committee was approved by the AGM a copy of the Club rules incorporating this change is also given. The Executive Committee have decided that in future a copy of the rules will be sent out to new members as part of their membership pack . A new copy will only be sent to the general membership if a change to the rules is made at a future AGM. The rules are printed in the centre of your newsletter for ease of removal should you wish to keep them for reference. Many people think these summer months are a rather quiet time for us Birders so I am particularly grateful to Jim Winsper for his article on pages 4-5 which gives plenty of ideas to fill our days until the autumn migration period begins. For those of you who look forward to the ‘My Patch’ feature I apologise that this issue does not contain one. I could tell you that this is because I have to limit myself to 40 pages so that we don’t go over the 100g second class postage weight and this is indeed true but it is also, sad to say, true that I currently don’t have any ‘My Patch’ articles in hand. Please Please if you bird a regular patch write an article for inclusion next time, there are fans of this feature out there waiting for it. I hope you enjoy this issue of your Newslettter. Until next time have a lovely summer and happy birding. Sue In this issue Page 3 Membership Matters - John Hoyle Page 4-5 Birding June to September - Jim Winsper Page 6 West Midland Bird Club Annual Report Pages 8-10 Mudsoup and Mussels - George Reiss Page 11 Digitised Annual Reports - Jim Winsper Page 11 Calling all Photographers Page 11 Print v Digital Page 12-13 Blithfield Reserve Update Page 14 Belvide, A Brief Update on Water Levels - Sue Judge Page 15 This Month’s Cartoon - John Crawford Page 16 WMBC - AGM Feedback Pages 16-17 Treasurers Report and Audited Annual Accounts - Andy Thomas Page 18 Our Chairman’s Annual Report - Kevin Clements Pages 19-22 West Midland Bird Club Rules (Including change adopted at 2016 AGM) Pages 24-25 Club and Branch Indoor and Field Meetings Pages 26-28 Bird Notes - February to April, Humphrey Miller Page 30 Christopher Cook - A Tribute Page 31-33 WMBC Field Trip Reports - Ray Davies Pages 34-35 Feedback from Staffordshire Birders Conference - Geoff Sales Page 36 Midland Peregrine Group Launched - Dr Stefan Bodnar Page 37 One of my Favourites - Lesser Whitethroat - Colin McShane Page 38 Unusual Bird for my Garden at Castlecroft - Bob Jones Page 39 Officers of WMBC and their contact details 2 New June 2016.indd 2 07/06/2016 09:29 Membership Matters We are pleased to welcome the following new members of the Club, who have joined since the last list was published. Please note the names shown are as on the membership forms but that all family members at each address are included in this welcome. Mr B Higson of TAMWORTH, Mr S Richards of TIPTON, Dr P Yeo of LICHFIELD, Mr I Butler of BILSTON, Mr N Nandan of TELFORD, Mr M Dawson of WEST BROMWICH, Mrs E Syer of BURTON ON TRENT, Mr B Allan of STAFFORD, Mr D Holds of WOLVERHAMPTON, Mr W Thorneycroft of ATHERSTONE, Mr K Throneycroft of TAMWORTH, Mr N Duggan of REDDITCH, Mr A Robed-Ube of STAFFORD, Mr I Robinson of RUGELEY, Mr H Morgan of DERBY, Mr A Weilds of BURNTWOOD, Ms C Jones of BIRMINGHAM, Mr D Hulme of WOLSTANTON, Mr P Darby of MADELEY, Mr G Cullen of COVENTRY, Mr M Widdop of COVENTRY, Mr D Low of BIRMINGHAM, Mrs N Longmore of STONE, Mr M Bevan of STOKE ON TRENT, Mr B Earp of BURTON ON TRENT, Mr P Longshaw of STOKE ON TRENT, Mr R Mullard of BRIDGNORTH, Mr S Wilson of STAFFORD, Mrs U Wills of BURNTWOOD, Mrs K Leigh of STAFFORD, Mr T Firmstone of TELFORD, Mrs J Hudson of STOKE ON TRENT, Mr R Stevens of WOLVERHAMPTON, Ms L Hodson of TAMWORTH, Mr J Kenny of BIRMINGHAM, Mr G Morris of STAFFORD, Mr R Parry of WOLVERHAMPTON, Ms A Cooper of DUDLEY, Mr I Whitehouse of OLDBURY, Mrs S Bagnall of TAMWORTH, Mr G Knibbs of SUTTON COLDFIELD, Mr W Partridge of WOLVERHAMPTON We would be really pleased to see new members at any of the indoor or field meetings so please come along and introduce yourselves to the Branch Officers. John Hoyle Membership Secretary 16 Brendan Close, Coleshill, Birmingham,B46 3EF Email: [email protected] Advance Notice - Works at Gailey Reservoir The Canal & River Trust are planning to undertake reservoir repair works to Gailey Upper and Lower Reservoirs, this will require the lower reservoir water level to be drawn down to undertake the repairs. A section of the woodland along the toe of the lower reservoir dam will have restricted access along with other sections around the upper reservoir to allow further works to be undertaken. These works are planned for October 2016 and CRT hope that they will not have too great an impact on Club members movements around the reservoir. Any further information we receive regarding these works will be posted on the Club Website. 3 New June 2016.indd 3 07/06/2016 09:29 Birding June to September - Jim Winsper Spring migration is now a memory consisting of a collection of written and pictorial records concerning summer resident arrival dates, movement through the region and sightings of scarce or rare passage migrants. The excitement of this spectacle has now ended and before things get going again in late summer when return passage builds, we enter a period that some consider as birding doldrums. Other than their self preservation the most significant action in the life of birds is their reproduction, the act of breeding. Monitoring this activity provides vital information concerning population changes within the UKs breeding birds, revealing any increase or decrease which is also fundamental to bird conservation. Breeding by resident species can commence early in the year with birds such as Tawny Owl, Mistle Thrush and Rook being on eggs during March, others begin in April and May and many continue throughout the summer months as being double or triple brooded. Triple brooded birds such as our logo species, the Black Redstart, can produce young as late as the end of August or early September, so this summer period need not be inactive as far as we, the observers, are concerned; getting involved with the monitoring of breeding birds is of huge importance and can continue throughout the summer months. You don’t have to find birds nests and run the unnecessary risk of disturbance to carry out your observations. As the summer progresses so juvenile birds become noticeable and the recording of these in your garden, local patch or reserve is extremely useful information, particularly so when detailed accounts are added to your records. Such detail may consist of observations of an abundance of certain species in comparison with previous years records or, evidence that using a comparison reveals that certain species have not faired well with their breeding activity. When offering such information then providing numbers of birds as supporting evidence to the record is obviously a most vital statistic. Such information may be very localised but if and when similar detail occurs over a much wider area it takes on a whole different meaning. The BTO Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is an established and vital study of the UKs birds and getting involved in this survey is a positive move. Alternatively, if you would prefer to do your own thing, then why not. If you decide on the latter option then, as previously mentioned, please be sure to provide as much detail with your records as possible. By offering meaning and comparison to your record will transform it into something with greater use and this will be much appreciated by our County Recorders. Our Club reserve at Harborne provides an ideal location to study and monitor local breeding birds. Despite the near Birmingham city centre location of Harborne, don’t be surprised to find Common Buzzard on your regular species list. The return passage of post breeding birds and those that are failed breeders from northerly climes can commence in our region as early as June and the momentum of this event will gather by the week as juvenile birds (birds of the year) join the hoards in undertaking their first migratory move to their wintering grounds. Any of the regions geographic land marks are a good place to pick-up this movement and particularly the regions water bodies and wetland areas where shorebirds might congregate.