The Birds of Herefordshire 2014 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Annual Report Starling murmurations above Bulmers in Hereford City in March 2014 (Photo: Mick Colquhoun) Editorial I am pleased to present the 2014 edition of ‘The Birds of Herefordshire’, the 64th annual report of the Herefordshire Ornithological Club (HOC). Some further changes in format have been incorporated in this publication, including the larger book size, which allows a wider range of illustrative material to be presented more professionally. Once again, I hope you enjoy reading about the 2014 birding year. 2014 saw a quantum leap in bird recording for the Club with the adoption of BirdTrack as the standard system of recording. The roll-out of this recording system within HOC was overseen by Chris Robinson and Mick Colquhoun and, once members are au fait with the data entry process, it should revolutionise the collection and handling of an increasing volume and detail of data being collected. Once again we are indebted to you, the observers, for collecting these records during 2014, and to the eight script writers, for scrutinising and summarising the data for each species in the systematic list accounts. However, the data is still light on confirmed breeding evidence and on relevant behavioural and habitat comments, so please do not forget to include this information wherever possible. Surprisingly, there have been no changes in the taxonomic classification of the species relevant to Herefordshire this year, and hence the systematic list sequence presented here is as for 2013. However an opportunity has been taken by the Rarities Subcommittee to carry out a thorough review of the historical records of rarer species and this updated information is incorporated into the new format for the county list of 280 species which is presented on pages 12 – 16. To help readers locate individual species information, an alphabetic list is included on pages 138 – 139. During 2014, a total of 174 species were recorded in the county, details of which are presented in the systematic list section on pages 23 – 94. This includes one species that was seen for the first time in Herefordshire – the Bluethroat, in addition to the Parrot Crossbill, a new county species in December 2013 that remained into early January 2014. Both these sightings are covered by short articles in the ‘new species’ section on pages 20 – 22. In addition to these, there were 11 other rarities with 20 or fewer previous county records observed during the year – Red-crested Pochard, Long-tailed Duck, Avocet, Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Curlew Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, Spotted Redshank, Sandwich Tern, Cetti’s Warbler and Common (Mealy) Redpoll. Continuing with the drive to present more technical articles of interest to the readership, I am pleased to include in this year’s edition articles on ‘the birds of Haugh Wood’ and a summary of the ‘winter thrushes survey in Herefordshire’, as well as the usual reports on bird ringing, nestbox recording and Garden Birdwatch. The main HOC Committee wishes to thank the County Recorder and the Data Manager for compiling and checking the huge amount of data this year. The willingness and time input of all authors, identified by name on the ‘Contents’ page and at the end of each section, is also gratefully acknowledged. Finally, I must thank Tony Eveleigh, John Pullen and Nick Smith for their meticulous checking of the systematic list accounts, Mick Colquhoun for co-ordinating another excellent range of photographs, Gerald Parker for his drawings and Gerald Wells for proof-reading the final script. Mervyn Davies 1 Herefordshire Ornithological Club Founded 1950 Registered charity No. 1068608 Committee March 2014 – March 2015 President ................................................................................................ Keith Mason Vice President ...................................................................................... Peter Eldridge Vice President ........................................................................................... Nick Smith Chairman ........................................................................................... Gareth Morgan Vice Chairman ....................................................................................... Gerald Wells Secretary .................................................................................................... Tom Weale Treasurer & Membership Secretary .................................................... Jim Wilkinson Recorder .......................................... .............................................. Mick Colquhoun Annual Report Editor ............................................................................. Hilary Jones HOC News Editor .................................................................................. Nicky Davies Meetings Secretary ............................................................................... Gerald Parker Publicity Officer ............................................................................. Susanna Grunsell Other Committee Members .......... John Birkinshaw; Chris Robinson; Brian Willder ISBN 978-0-9933694-0-7 Copyright © 2016 Herefordshire Ornithological Club www.herefordshirebirds.org Edited by Mervyn Davies Printed by Charlesworth Press (www.charlesworth.com) Front cover: Juvenile Curlew Sandpipers at Brockhall Gravel Pits in Aug 2014 (Photo: Nick Pegler) Back cover: Black Redstart on the Canon’s House at Hereford Cathedral (Photo: Mick Colquhoun) 2 Contents Chairman’s report – Gareth Morgan .................................................................... 4 Obituary .................................................................................................................... 5 Weather summary – John Pullen ……………...............................................….......... 6 Review of the year – Mick Colquhoun .................................................................... 8 Indoor and field meetings …..........…………………..........………....…........................... 9 HOC accounts – Jim Wilkinson ……................……………….......................…………... 10 County bird list .......……………………................………………….………........................... 12 Accepted rarities .........…………………...........................……….…................................ 17 New species – Espen Quinto-Ashman & Steve Coney …………...................…....... 20 Systematic list ………………….........…..................…………..…………….......................... 23 Introduction .................................................................................................... 23 Mute Swan to Goosander – Gerald Parker ……………..................…................. 26 Quail to Osprey – Robert Taylor ……….............................................…............ 40 Water Rail to Snipe – Peter Eldridge …………....................……………............... 47 Black Tern to Peregrine – Gerald Wells …………………….................................. 57 Great Grey Shrike to House Martin – Gareth & Una Morgan …................... 71 Cetti’s Warbler to Treecreeper – Tony Eveleigh ……...................…………........ 77 Wren to Greenland Wheatear – John Pullen ………....................……........... 81 Dunnock to Reed Bunting – Brian Willder ……...................……….................. 87 Addendum to 2010 systematic list ................................................................ 94 Exotica & escapes – Tony Eveleigh …………........................……………...................... 99 List of observers ……..……………….………................…………..………........................... 101 Summer and winter migrants .........…………………..................…………..…….…....... 103 The birds of Haugh Wood - Graham Cundale ......................................................... 105 Winter thrush survey in Herefordshire, 2012–2014 – Chris Robinson …............. 113 Bird ringing in Herefordshire 2014 – David Coker …………................…............. 120 Herefordshire Nestbox Recording Scheme 2014 – Beryl Harding ................... 131 Garden Birdwatch report 2014 – Ian & Natalie Buttriss …….................………....... 135 Index to systematic list ......................................................................................... 138 Special ornithological sites in Herefordshire ................................................... 140 3 Chairman’s report The highlight of our year was the publication of “The Birds of Herefordshire”, the splendid result of an outstanding effort over five or more years by so many Club members, under the leadership of Nick Smith. The event at Berrington Hall, by kind permission of the National Trust, in the presence of Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire, Lady Darnley, was an excellent opportunity for the Club to display its enthusiastic professionalism to the wider world. We are indeed fortunate in having such a supportive membership, and your Committee is grateful to you all. The number of members has again scarcely varied, which is in some ways comforting, but it has been my hope that more people will join what is obviously an active Club, and enjoy the benefits of belonging. Your Committee is endeavouring to create a recruitment strategy which will attract sufficient new members to maintain the long term viability of the Club. Meetings The early part of the year was subject to heavier than normal rainfall, which had an impact on some of the field meetings, but our stalwart team of leaders kept going whenever possible. We were treated to an interesting and varied programme,