Be part of the autumn migration and join us for a fascinating bird ringing demonstration at
Pitsford Reservoir this September.

As bird ringing is weather dependent, suitable conditions are essential. The mist nets cannot
be used in strong winds or rain, so we have provisionally reserved 22nd, 23rd and 24th
September. A confirmed date will be announced closer to the event once the forecast is
known.

We will meet at 8.00 am at Brixworth Country Park (NN6 9DG). The demonstration will last
for approximately half a day, after which you are welcome to spend time birdwatching around
the reservoir at your leisure.

There is a visitor centre and toilet facilities on site. Please note that parking charges apply.
The morning will be led by Neil Mahon from Naturetrek, accompanied by an experienced
team of licensed bird ringers. They will have arrived before the group, so we hope there will
already be birds safely caught in the nets for us to observe on arrival. Neil leads wildlife tours
across the globe, undertakes conservation surveys, and serves on the committee of the
Northampton Bird Club, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the event.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Watch this space for further updates.
Stewart Short

Meet:
For all those with tickets for the trip we will need to be ready and park to be at the quay for 8.45am
(Witham Bank East, PE21 9JU). Denoted by the red circle on the map below.
We shall be meeting outside the Boston Lock Café which located between the road bridge and the
railway bridge by the lock. Please allow time for parking and getting into Boston on the map below.

Parking:
Park at the long stay carpark (Tunnard Street Carpark PE21 6PL) which is located a 5-minute walk
away. A small parking charge will apply. Denoted by the Yellow rectangle.

Departure:
We sail at 9.20am and it will be a 4.5-5 hour trip.

If any other people are interested in joining us on the trip, please contact me directly and we shall se
what we can do.

Stewart

 7.30 pm Wednesday 30 September STEVE CALE A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF NORFOLK’S WILDLIFE

Steve moved to Norfolk 35 years ago having discovered it in his early birding days. It was the birding that drew him to this wonderful county but, over the years, he came to recognise its amazing biodiversity with its coastline, marshes, river valleys etc. From mammals and bees, moths to flowers the county holds a wealth of species and Steve’s interest broadened and he became a naturalist rather than just a birdwatcher. In his presentation he will look at some of the amazing creatures and plants that call Norfolk home.

Steve, a native of Wolverhampton, has lived in Norfolk since the mid-90’s. He is a lifelong birder and was a member of the West Midlands Bird Club until moving to East Anglia. He is also an accomplished bird artist.

 7.30 pm Wednesday 28 October DR MICHAEL BROOKE NO ISLAND TOO FAR

Basing his talk on his 2025 book “NO ISLAND TOO FAR”, Michael Brooke, a previous speaker to the Club from the University of Cambridge, will take the audience to some of the world’s most isolated specks of land. Think sub-Antarctic penguins and albatrosses, petrels nesting at altitude among volcanic spires, and even Cape Verdean larks. Spanning 50 years of seabird research encompassing 40-odd islands in every ocean, the talk will celebrate the mayhem of life on distant colonies, the adventures and mishaps involved in reaching those colonies and, of course, the scientific reason for the visits that so often were accompanied by stormy seas, grim seasickness and immense human kindness.

Mike is the Curator Emeritus of Ornithology at Cambridge University’s Museum of Zoology. His doctorate was on Manx Shearwaters at Skokholm in Pembrokeshire. Since then he has been lucky to study seabirds all over the world. In the latter part of his career modern gadgetry has revealed in astounding detail what birds do at sea. This research provided the basis for his acclaimed book “Far from Land” which was the basis for an earlier talk he gave to the Club.

   7.30pm  Wednesday 25 November COLIN Mc SHANE THE BIRDS OF MONGOLIA
 
In 2017 Colin responded to a request by Batmunkh Davasuren in Mongolia for any experienced ringers to help establish a ringing centre in the country. He visited with 3 other ringers in September 2018 and the talk is an account of that initial visit and the stunning birds that he encountered. He returned in 2023 and has just come back from a third visit.
 
A lifelong birder, Colin started ringing in the mid-1970’s so has been ringing for almost 50 years. He has visited 10 countries to ring birds and has established ringing camps in Varanger, Norway (13 years)  and Vilamoura on the Algarve (18 years). He is one of the founder members of the Belvide Ringing Group in Staffordshire and is a trustee of the West Midlands Bird Club. For the last 10 years he has studied Jack Snipe in the UK, pioneering the use of thermal imaging technology to revolutionise how we can find and count this species and more recently has pioneered the use of GPS trackers to study their local and international movements. He was awarded the Bernard Tucker medal for this work by the BTO. The Tucker Medal is awarded in recognition of an outstanding contribution to BTO’s scientific work.  

  7.30 pm Wednesday 27 January DR GREG CONWAY Nightjar Monitoring and Research

Greg’s talk will cover general Nightjar ecology and diet as well as population change results from the 2025 national survey. He will then go on to outline how GPS tracking has revolutionised our understanding of habitat use for both nesting and foraging, with particular insights into how breeding habitat can be managed optimally. Then he will provide an up-date on what GPS tracking has revealed about migration routes and wintering destinations.

Greg is a member of BTO’s Terrestrial Research Team. He is responsible for the organisation of national and regional single species surveys as well as data analysis and project development.

 7.30 pm Wednesday 24 February OLIVER SLESSOR Birds, Birding and a Career in Ornithology

Oliver’s talk will cover his life working with birds in Britain and around the world over the last 20 years. He will speak about a variety of the different jobs that he has done, ranging from finding exciting rarities to undertaking Bird Observatory work to seabird protection of the rare and endangered Roseate Tern. Not to mention tracking down elusive Ant pittas in Ecuador as well as seeing 5 species of Vulture whilst surveying in remote Zambia. . Oliver works as a professional ornithologist, currently undertaking consultancy work on bird surveys in Norfolk and Suffolk. He started birding over 30 years ago, aged 6, in a hide at Minsmere. He has subsequently spent his whole life watching and studying birds. He is an experienced ringer holding a BTO “A” permit. He is particularly interested in bird migration, seabirds and the birds of Central and South America. He has worked at numerous Bird Observatories and has worked on seabird protection at many of the British and Irish Tern colonies. He has also worked as a Neo-tropic bird-guide. His new book, “Birds, Birding and a Career in Ornithology”, covers in detail the amazing experiences that he has had and the special birds that he has encountered from remote Rockabill to the canyons of Utah.
 
  7.30 pm Wednesday 31 March JOSH JONES Gulls of Britain

Josh Jones introduces the various Gull species that can be found in Britain, discussing status, behaviour and identification. This talk is a must for those wrestling with identifying this wonderful but confusing group of birds. 

Josh is a lifelong birder who grew up in the Peterborough area. His particular interests include patch-birding, migration and vagrancy   with Gulls and Waders his favourite bird families. He is senior editor at BirdGuides.com and Birdwatch magazine.

 7.30 pm Wednesday 28 April CHRIS HUBBARD My patch birding year at Stanford Reservoir

 In his illustrated talk Chris will provide a history of Stanford Reservoir and a walk through his year on the patch in 2024 (and a quick look at 2025). He will bring to life some of his patch-birding experiences and provide a few ideas on how to get the most from birding a patch.  

Chris has been birding since the early eighties. He was an active twitcher in the late 80’s and early 90’s and has birded overseas in Europe, the West Indies and West Africa and the Middle East. Whilst still enjoying seeing rarities he gets the most fulfilment from birding his patch and other sites in Leicestershire and Rutland. He is a member of the Leics and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS) Records Committee, the sightings officer for the Stanford Ringing Group and part of the team that writes the LROS annual report.  

We have two new trips for you, one to NWT Hickling Broad in Norfolk and RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk across 17-18th October and a second three centred trip from 6-8th September to Essex, Kent and East Sussex. look at the posters below for more details and if you are curious or want more information contact Richard details on the poster. I hope you enjoy your trip.

On Wednesday 24th, nine of us met at the car park of Rutland Nature Reserve, Egleton. It was a very hot day, but the breeze was welcome.

We headed to Kingfisher Hide, watching the butterflies on the way: marbled white, painted lady, meadow brown, and plenty of dragonflies. From the hide, we had distant views of the ospreys.

After a long walk, it was drinks back at the visitor centre.
From the hides to the west, we saw numerous birds, including many ducks in eclipse plumage, which is always a test for the observer. We also saw avocets – birds we would never have seen here a few years ago.
We had lunch at the visitor centre before four of us went on to the Lyndon Reserve, where we had good views of the ospreys: two adults and three young. The male left the nest and caught a fish in front of the hide before returning to the nest. We also had close views of a sedge warbler and a water vole running across the dyke.
Although it was a hot day, we recorded a total of 56 species, making it a worthwhile day.

On Saturday 16 May 23 members met at the National Trust’s Longshaw Hall for
a day’s birding organised by Derbyshire Ornithological Society. Alan Wragg,
Steve Thorpe and his partner Rachel from DOS met us at 08.30. The aim was to
find woodland and upland birds that in Peterborough we see on passage or not
at all.
There were 3 Jays near the car park before we walked through an avenue of
rhododendrons with Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs singing loudly and Wrens and
Robins singing too. After we passed the Hall we came to an area of flower-rich
meadows and open ancient woodland. This was where we had our first targets
with Common Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers showing well, notably a very
confiding male Pied Fly which came and perched on a dead tree right in front
of us. To our right was Longshaw Pond which, as well as the usual suspects
such as Mallard and Moorhen, is a site for breeding Mandarin Ducks. Swallows
flew above us and a Nuthatch was on a tree just beyond the pond at the side
of the path.
We continued on through Granby Wood, named after a son of the Duke of
Rutland, and crossed the B6521 before traversing the bridge over Burbage
Brook and entering Padley Gorge, an area of ancient sessile oaks and birch
trees with the brook running through it. Dipper and Grey Wagtail were found
in the Brook and a Treecreeper was above the path. What was first thought to
be a Spotted Flycatcher turned out to be a female Pied. Spot Flycatchers
appear not to have reached Padley yet and, at the outset, Alan and Steve had
explained that Wood Warbler, formerly a shoe-in at Padley, has not bred there
for two years and has not been seen this year.
We re-traced our steps back to Longshaw Hall café for lunch before driving to
Cutthroat Bridge on the A57 east of Lady Bower reservoir. After parking we
walked back for 100 metres before crossing over the road and climbing along
the rocky path to gain a vantage point looking out towards the moor. Red
Grouse and Ring Ouzel were soon found in good numbers as were Golden
Plover, Curlew and Lapwing. Kestrel, Buzzard, Stonechat and Meadow Pipit
added to the count.

We got all our target species and everyone was delighted, expressing their
gratitude to Alan, Steve and Rachel for their planning and guiding. They offered
to repeat the visit next year to some different locations and we look forward to
that very much. KEITH

BIRD LIST :
Jay
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Robin
Wren
Willow Warbler
Common Redstart
Pied Flycatcher
Mallard
Mandarin Duck
Moorhen
Nuthatch
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Siskin
Mistle Thrush
Swallow
Collared Dove
Wood Pigeon
Pied Flycatcher (F)
Dipper
Grey Wagtail
Treecreeper
Goldfinch
Dunnock
Blackbird
Long-tailed Tit

Swift
Red Grouse
Ring Ouzel
Meadow Pipit
Linnet
Stonechat
Golden Plover
Curlew
Lapwing
Kestrel
Common Buzzard
Raven
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Pied Wagtail

Hi, this site has been upgraded recently 

20 of us met at Willowbrook Farm on Sunday for the annual visit into Castor Hanglands to listen to Nightingales. As I explained it has not been a great year this year and the monitoring group reached 16 singing males last Friday. On Sunday we eventually got to 6 or 7. But there was a good selection of other species, see below. Let me know what I have missed. It was a pleasure to welcome several new members and we look forward to seeing you at future meetings, both outdoors and indoors.  I should add that I discovered this morning that yesterday was International Dawn Chorus Day so our trip was timely.

List:
Greylag Goose
Swallow
Pied Wagtail
Goldfinch
Common Whitethroat
Red Kite
Wren
Blackcap
Garden Warbler
Nightingale
Robin
Wren
Chaffinch
Great Spotted Woodecker
Greenfinch
Tree creeper
Song Thrush
Blackbird
Crow
Wood Pigeon
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Blue Tit
Great Tit

1. Apologies for absence.

2. Minutes of 2025 AGM.

3. Chairman’s Report.

4. Treasurer’s Report.

5. Appointment of independent auditor.

6. Honorary Members.

7. Election of Committee members.

8. Election of Officers:

• Chair

• Treasurer

• Secretary

• Membership secretary

• Web-site officer

• Indoor Meetings Organiser.

• Outdoor Meetings Organiser

• Safeguarding Officer.

9. Nominations of bank signatories (3).

10. Proposal - days for midweek outdoor meetings to be variable.

11. Date of next AGM - 28 April 2027

         ————————————-

14 members of the Club attended with apologies from Richard

Whitticase, Rozanne Williams, Hilary Hoyle, Graham Boyden, Mark

Cunningham and Judy Potts.

The Chairman asked if the minutes of the last AGM were a true

record. The motion that the minutes of the last AGM were accepted

as a true record was proposed by Ian Wilson and seconded by

Stewart Short and passed unanimously as a true record.

Having meetings at St Marks Church Hall has proved to have been

worth it, all the radiators now work and we provide our own

refreshments. Recruitment to the Club has been discussed by the

Committee as our ageing membership has lost us some members.

However, word of mouth and low key articles have had some

success resulting in the recruitment of two young members.

Unfortunately, our contact at the ARU failed to meet expectations.

Our financial position has improved helped by the lower cost of the

new venue. The White Hart at Ufford provides us with a free room for

Committee meetings. Our website has been improved and

continued improvement is dependent on our hosts. Unfortunately,

the number of members attending both indoor and outdoor

meetings in the post-Covid period are still down.

The current membership stands at 70 (68 adult and 2 youngsters)

compared to 84 a year ago, with 7 Honorary members. The Club lost

25 members during 2024-2025 but gained 11 with some more to be

added.

Indoor talks this year have ranged from John Clare Countryside to

Scotland and Spain, from Cuckoos to Stonechats and Seabirds with

an interesting talk on avian influenza.

Ian Gordon and Stewart Short have taken on the role of planning the

outdoor meetings from Bob Titman. However, bad weather once

again affected attendances at some of the early year meetings. After

some discussion the Committee has concluded that the closer

meetings tend to get better attendances with venues like Titchwell,

Frampton and the Brecks being at the limits of the distance to travel.

However, a reciprocal visit with the Derbyshire Ornithological Society

may be arranged. Richard Whitticase has organised weekend trips

further afield to East Yorkshire and Kent in 2024 and 4 days in North

Wales in May this year. All have been excellent trips producing

brilliant birds, especially in North Wales. The next is Essex in

September.

The Club’s website continues to be developed and improved with

further improvements to come. A link has been made with Vine

House Farm for members to get a discount on on-line purchases.

Also a link has been made with the Langdyke Trust.Treasurer’s Report.

The Treasurer reported a balance of £4360 in December 2024, up

from £4015 in 2023 giving a profit of £345 in 2024 compared with a

loss of £170 in 2023. Incomes rose from £1029 in 2023 to £1528 in

2024 helped by a donation from Vine House Farm and the sale of

books donated by members. Total subscriptions increased by £30.

Mike Mills, who has a long financial background, kindly agreed to

review the accounts with Richard and confirmed them to be true and

accurate.

Mike Mills has agreed to act as auditor and the Chairman’s proposal

to re-appoint him was agreed unanimously.

The current honorary members are: Nicholas Watts, Charlie Kitchen

(warden, RSPB Nene Washes), Jon Taylor (warden, RSPB Ouse

Washes), Philip Parker (warden, Kings Dyke), Sarah Lambert, Chris

Park (Nene Park Trust) and David Needham (Peterborough Natural

History Society).

The proposal from the Chairman to re-confirm them as Honorary

members was put to the meeting.

The proposal was agreed by the members present.

The current committee members standing for re-election were Annie

Fox, Ian Gordon, Adrian Hallam, Keith Lievesley, Bob Payne, Stewart

Short, Richard Whitticase and Ian Wilson. The Chairman asked if

there were any further nominations. None were forthcoming.

The proposal from the Chairman to re-confirm them as committee

members was put to the meeting.

The proposal was agreed by the members present.

The current committee officers appointed at the AGM in 2024 are:

Keith Lievesley - Chairman and Indoor meetings organiser.

Richard Whitticase - Treasurer.

Bob Payne - Secretary.

Ian Wilson - Membership secretary.

Adrian Hallam - IT officer.

Ian Gordon and Stewart Short - Outdoor meetings organisers.

The Chairman made the proposal to re-appoint the current officers

to the meeting.

The proposal was agreed by the members present.

The Chairman proposed that the Safeguarding policy, previously

circulated to members,m be adopted by the Club.

The proposal was adopted by the members present.

Election of the Safeguarding Officer.The Chairman proposed Ian Wilson as the Safeguarding officer and

Bob Payne as the Deputy Safeguarding officer.

The proposal was agreed by the members present.

The current three cheque signatories are Richard Whitticase, Kieth

Lievesley and Bob Payne.

The Chairman proposed to the meeting that the three signatories be

re-appointed.

The proposal was agreed by the members present.

Next year’s AGM will be held on Wednesday 29th April 2026