Durham Bird Club at 50
The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”
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We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.
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Bird of the Week - Week 14
Sand Martin – Sociable Riverbank Specialist
​​(Photo by Mark Harper)​​​
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The smallest of our hirundines, the Sand Martin is an early sign that spring is properly here. These agile little birds – chocolate brown above and white below, with a neat brown chest band – are usually the first of the swallows and martins to return, arriving from sub-Saharan Africa as early as mid-March.
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In flight, they’re light and buoyant, skimming rivers, lakes and wetlands with quick, flickering wingbeats as they hunt insects over the water. You’ll often see flocks wheeling together above inland water bodies like Hurworth Burn and Longnewton Reservoir, along the River Wear and our coastal cliffs – full of energy and chatter.
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Sand Martins nest colonially in sandy riverbanks, quarries and soft media layers of natural cliffs, digging tunnels that end in small nesting chambers. In County Durham, their numbers have benefitted from artificial nest banks at managed sites like Castle Lake and RSPB Salthome, while old industrial workings and cuttings provide plenty of natural habitat too.
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Like all long-distance migrants, they face multiple challenges along their route, from drought in their African wintering grounds to habitat loss here at home – but for now, their arrival each spring still brings a joyful burst of movement and sound to our watersides.
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Seen your first Sand Martins yet this spring? Let us know where!
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More information on Sand Martins
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E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk
Social media tags: #DBC #DBCat50 #DurhamBirdClub #BirdOfTheWeek
#Durham #Birding #SpringMigration #BirdwatchingUK #DurhamWildlife
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