RSPB North West Surrey Local Group Letter 2015 - 4 Group Web Site -*www.rspb.org.uk/groups/nwsurrey Group Contact: COMMITTEE CHAT Contents this issue - Alan Sharps Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter. Magical Mull In May p 2 a As you will see from the articles that follow in this Newsletter, we have been busy at various events to bring the group and the RSPB to the attention of the Surrey a RSPB North West Surrey public. The events at Brookwood, Cobham and Wisley were a great success so Ins & Outs p 5 Local Group’s thanks to those members who gave up their time to organise and attend them. Facebook page. Now as we enter into winter, there are many exciting meetings, both indoor and out Book Review p 10 a in the field, to look forward to. RSPB North West Surrey Local Group is now on Facebook. We We have an excellent list of speakers for our monthly meetings so do remember to will be placing RSPB and local note the fourth Wednesday each month in your diary. We are keen to increase Did you miss ? p 11 a group news, photographs and attendance at these meetings so please recommend them to your friends and work other information about our colleagues. Nature Ramblings p 12 a group on our Facebook page. At £3 for non members and free for members, this must be the best bargain for This way of contact will be miles around. We are always very grateful for sponsorship towards the cost of our especially good if we should speakers so if you are able to help, have a word with our Treasurer, Angela, or a Welcome to p 12 a have to change any indoor or committee member. outdoor events at short notice. Peter will continue to lead the popular midweek walks. The dates are not fixed to A Bird for the Eating p 13 a It is also a good medium to try certain days of the month so make a note of any that are of interest to you. All you to attract new members to the need to do is turn up at the day's venue and you will find a like minded group ready North West Surrey group. to enjoy finding the local specialities. Odds & Ends p 14 a We have been using this for a Neil has put on a great programme of weekend excursions, so again, don't be shy while now and we already have about attending, its all very informal and friendly whatever your level of birding friends from the RSPB, from as expertise. The trips are to birding hotspots within reasonable range, and lifts to the Future Events p 15a near as Chertsey and friends as venues can generally be organized if required. far away as Scotland, Wales, Spain, and even America and A copy of our annual programme can be downloaded from the website. Mexico. Our ever popular Quiz Night takes place on Saturday 16 January at the New Haw & Woodham Community Association Hall; if you haven’t already done so, please Group Contact: Join us via the facebook logo or * Alan Sharps the QR below, and click like to book as soon as possible. see the information. We have been discussing the content of future Newsletters and are anxious to Newsletter Editor & Web: ensure it remains interesting and informative. *Geoff Porter For more contact details In addition to the usual articles, we are hoping to include trailers for future events, please see the back articles on Surrey birds and birding sites, book reviews (starting this issue), RSPB pages of this newsletter. news, and bird photos. Members' contributions, especially photos will be really welcome. The Committee is totally confident that the future of the group is bright, so enjoy this Newsletter as well as the festive season and take advantage of what is planned over the next few months. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our future events. The Committee. Group Web Site: *www.rspb.org.uk/ groups//nwsurrey Please note the FINAL CUT OFF DATE for the next issue is THE LAST WEEKEND of January 2016. The views expressed by contributors to this newsletter are not necessarily those of the committee, or the RSPB. 1 *20 © RSPB North West Surrey Local Group – 2015 © The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 207076, in Scotland no. SC037654 MAGICAL MULL IN MAY Saturday began a day of two halves as they say on Match of the Day; easy travel to Heathrow, splendid breakfast, flight on time and no problems at Glasgow Airport - until that is we get to the vehicle hire. At this point, we are told that one vehicle is ready but that the second vehicle was ‘involved in an accident the previous night’ and our replacement was out on hire but ‘due back soon'. So, the ‘Famous Five’ (Dave, Mary and the Sharpes, Alan, Marion and Heather) headed north whilst the ‘Fab Four’ (Graham, Brian, Ron and myself) waited……. and waited. Some time later, we too are heading north along the admittedly beautiful Loch Lomond road, trying desperately to get to the ferry port on time, but with much of the journey seeing us stuck behind a sky blue camper van! Meantime, the Famous Five are stocking up at a well known supermarket to the point of having packets, bottles (quite a few of those) etc on their laps, in the foot wells and anywhere else they could think of until we could take some of the weight. Having missed our intended ferry at Oban, we thought we were stuck until the 8.00 ferry until Mary smiled nicely at the man on the gate and we were let onto the 6.00 sailing along with that sky blue camper van, which was not to be seen again after debarking the ferry! After all that drama, just being on the ferry was a relief and seeing gannets, arctic skuas and guillemot on the water, and the expanding view of the approaching Isle of Mull, all served to bring the group to life. A filling, splendid dinner, cooked and delivered for the week by Flora of The Old Post Office at Lochbuie, rounded off the day nicely. These meals were delivered to our freezer before we even arrived and were a real highlight of our stay; generous portions of both main meals and deserts – highly recommended. Calgary Farmhouses, our base for the week, overlooks the stunning Calgary Bay, reached by a short walk past a small woodland until the bay opened out, revealing a deserted beach and dark rocky sides with the swell of the sea as the ultimate backdrop. Our first destination on Sunday was to Loch Frisa for sea eagle. However, our first eagle came to see us, flying over the farmhouses as we loaded the cars; huge, magnificent and a fabulous start to the day. Looking across the valley from the car park at Loch Frisa instantly gave us a ghostly male hen harrier, surely one of the most beautiful birds to be found in these isles; silvery grey, stark black wing tips and pure white undersides. A female then popped up, pretty impressive as well if more subtly so. The loch shore revealed common sandpiper, the loch centre carried a red throated diver and the wooded edges, willow warbler, goldcrest and a smart male siskin. Our first golden eagle wandered over the ridge to our left and as we got back to the cars another sea eagle flew leisurely past, oblivious to the admiring looks and joyous comments from the mere humans below. We stopped for a bit of lunch at a tumulus overlooking the small village of Dervaig. Some opted for the bench with the attractive view over the village and sea loch beyond, some wandered off in search of a convenient rock to use as a seat but I settled for just sitting in the tailgate of the car. A cowardly but sensible move, I would say. A wheatear flew by whilst I was sipping coffee and when we left, our third sea eagle of the day was visible high up over the tumulus. Dervaig estuary was our destination as the tide was out, and we were rewarded with a party of dunlin, redshank, an apparently 'scarce' grey heron, two red breasted merganser and more unusually, a pair of goosander; similar to the closely related merganser of course but the male in particular has a cleaner and somehow more impressive appearance (try Cutt Mill in the winter for these). To end the day, we took to Moor Road, a long, winding road (with apologies to Lennon and McCartney) leading away from Calgary Farmhouses, past what looked like classic harrier and short eared owl habitat, towards a rugged coastline (any harriers and owls reading this might like to put in appearance next time). All started well with buzzard overhead and one, maybe two, spotted flycatchers in the low trees edging the road. However, the worsening weather, always a tad unpredictable in this part of the world, forced some of our party back to the farmhouse with some of us (intrepid? stupid?) going on. We paid for this with the fiercest, most miserable squall I can remember; driving rain and high wind which saw me trying to shelter behind Graham and with Ron sheltering on a rock with hands to his ears as if trying to deny the reality of getting very wet and very cold very, very quickly.