January 2018 - Monthly Summary & New Sightings Resource.

Superb Hawfinch image - feeding on Hornbeam at Bishop Middleham (JHo)

Selected List of Sightings in January

(sourced from DBC Whats Ap, DBC Members Facebook Group & Twitter- apologies for any errors / omissions )

1/1 Lapland Bunting - Newburn (long staying bird coming to feed)

2/1 Glaucous Gull - x1 Shields Pier (DH)

2/1 Water Rail - x1 Silksworth Lake (JT)

3/1 Blackcap - x1 Washington (NF)

3/1 Green Sandpiper - x2 Billingham Beck (IF)

5/1 Hawfinch - x1 Wingate (CWe)

6/1 White billed Diver - 1N Whitburn (TM et al)

WBDiver image by Tom Middleton

6/1 Jack Snipe - 4 at Shotton (RR)

7/1 Iceland Gull - juv nr Springwell (RA)

7/1 Barn Owl - Lady Park (LH)

8/1 Golden Plover - 350 Morton House (SEv)

10/1 Chaffinch - male sub song Houghton (SEv)

10/1 Long-eared Owl - song & display (SEv)

12/1 Lapwing - 2,500 Castle Lake (JO)

12/1 Redshank - x20 C.Lake (JO)

12/1 White fronted Goose - x2 north with 44 Pinks (SEv)

12/1 Long-eared Owl - 15+ in a roost (SEv)

13/1 Fieldfare - 300 north Ho-le-Spring (SEv)

13/1 Mandarin - 1 drake R.Tees, High Coniscliffe (DP)

13/1 Iceland Gull - x1 juv Wearmouth on river (DFo)

13/1 Ruff - x2 Castle Lake (JO)

13/1 Corn Bunting - 16-19 feeding nr Castle Lake (DFr/DPhi)

14/1 presumed Rough-legged Buzzard - Shotton Colliery (RR)

14/1 Egyptian Goose - x2 Saltholme (AK)

14/1 Glaucous Gull - x1 Blackhall (GT)

14/1 Hen Harrier - single nr Woodland Fell (DFr)

14/1 ccMarsh Harrier - Greatham Creek

15/1 Long-eared Owl - 20+ in a roost (SEv)

16/1 Snow Bunting x6 Seaton Snook

16/1 WFG - x1 Chartershaugh (DG)

16/1 WFG - x1 Seaton Pond (GS)

16/1 WFG - x14 Seaton Common (GJ)

16/1 WFG - x1 Boldon Flats (PCo)

18/1 Firecrest - 1 still present at months end, High Coniscliffe (TB et al)

18/1 Red crested Pochard - drake amongst 1,000 wildfowl at Hardwick Lake (JO)

20/1 Black-throated, Great Northern Divers at Dawdon (DA)

21/1 Med Gull - 1 adult (MH)

21/1 Glaucous Gull - 1 Blackhall (RR)

22/1 Hawfinch - x6 remain at Bishop Middleham (LH)

22/1 Meally Redpoll - x3 Rainton Meadows

23/1 Long tailed Duck - 1N at Seaham (RA)

23/1 WFGoose x1 Seaton Pond (GS)

27/1 Iceland Gull - Windermere Rd, H'Pool (GT)

27/1 Red Kite - Howden-le-Wear & Low Barns (ER)

28/1 Raven - 1 calling moving over Rainton Meadows (MH)

28/1 Great White Egret - 1 at R'Meadows, 4th site record (MH)

GWTeal image Robbie Robertson

28/1 Green winged Teal - drake at Hurworth Burn (RR)

28/1 Little Egret x3 - Houghton-le-Spring (MH)

29/1 Blackcap - x2 females at Lizard Lane, Whitburn

29/1 Black Grouse x20 Langdon Beck (GT)

29/1 WFGoose x7 H'Burn res (JO)

30/1 Siskin x30 Tudhoe Mill (JH)

30/1 Barn Owl x1 nr A167 Darlo/NAycliffe (LH)

30/1 Heron x5 pairs back on territory at Washington WWT (DD)

As hard weather tightens its grip on mainland Europe , some overwintering species have continued to arrive, including further Fieldfare, Woodcock, & numbers of White-fronted Geese.

Whilst as the month progressed the very first few breeding species started to move back to lay claim to territories, including Great Crested Grebe & Shelduck.

Others have increased their territorial behaviour particularly Dippers & thrushes, Peregrines are beginning to become more prominent around prospective breeding sites.

Peregrine image by Tony Fitches

Around the doors, the dawn chorus is starting to increase, Mistle Thrushes now a familiar sound with some farmland species just beginning to start to tune up including Yellowhammer & Corn Bunting.

Corn Bunting image - S.Evans

At dusk Grey Partridges are becoming increasingly vocal, pairs rushing & chasing each other even in deep snow. There has been an increase in vocalisations from our Little & Tawny Owls.

We'll end this summary with a very well received photograph taken by expert local patcher Mick Heron of a Tawny with Song Thrush prey.

NB:

NEW SIGHTINGS RESOURCE COMMENCING 1st FEB 2018

Club Members will be aware of the Clubs Free Bird News Whats Ap Service - this excellent push data service sends news of rare / scarce / unusual birds direct to your device in the field.

A new Club Member & award winning photographer Oscar Dewhurst has suggested a new means of providing a daily "end of day bird news round up" - which need not be limited to rare & scarce 'headline' birds - it could include highlights of a local patch visit or a day out at series of County sites.

Anyone birding the County is welcome to use this service - hopefully we can build a bigger picture of whats happening around the County on a daily basis.

Please check this out & feed into this new "Sightings Page"- Durham Birders Wiki :-

http://durhambirders.wikia.com/wiki/Durham_Birders_Wiki

2017 Rare Bird Descriptions Needed!

The rarities sub-committee have reviewed the records for 2017 and have discovered that there were many records from both category 1 and category 2 which have simply not been submitted. The excel spreadsheet HERE outlines the species that we require description for.

The rarities sub-committee aim to maintain a high standard of accuracy of what species have occurred in Durham and when. Please consult the excel document attached and if you were a finder or observer of any of the species on it then please submit a description and accompanying photographs (where possible).

PLEASE NOTE: There are two different tabs on the excel sheet. Please consult both.

Thanks,

Rarities sub-committee.

Newsletter -January 2018

NEW YEAR NEWSLETTER

Dear Member

Following on from our End of Year Newsletter last month, we sent this by email but did not catch all of our members.

For some we do not have an email address and for others, obviously not a correct one as the emails bounced back

So we are sending this Newsletter by email and, to catch all of our members, by post. However we won’t be able to afford to send them out by post all the time, not just money but the time taken to put them in envelopes and physically post them.

If you want to receive these Newsletters in the future, the answer is obvious. Let us have your up-to-date email address and also let us know if you change it by emailing us at durhambirdclub@gmail.com.

This Newsletter is not meant to replace the Lek but at present we have no editor. This is why there has been no recent issue. As we mentioned in our first Newsletter, if anyone would like to do this, please let any member of the Committee know or send an email to the above address.

The County Bird Race that was held on 7 January was a success and ended up as a draw. 91 species were spotted altogether. A rematch has been suggested.

Local Field Trip Sat 13 Jan – Probably this will get out too late for those who receive it by post, but details are now on the Clubs Facebook page and Twitter account.

Dates to remember are

13 Jan – Low Barnes and Auckland Castle

28 April – Upper Weardale and Teesdale

9 June – Muggleswick, and Pow Hill/Derwent Reservoir

14 October – Hartlepool, Seaton, Greatham, Saltholme

Projects and Surveys

The Club's Projects and Surveys Group has been reactivated and is organising a number of surveys designed to appeal to the full range of our members.

County Durham is one of the best areas in the United Kingdom for Willow Tit, but we still do not have full knowledge of the numbers and distribution of the species in the county. Preparations for our survey are at an advanced stage and we hope to launch the fieldwork soon after the middle of January.

During the early part of the year there will also be a survey attempting to locate Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and to establish whether the species still breeds in the county.

In addition we intend to run a survey on competition between Collared Dove and Woodpigeon, particularly in the suburban areas which Woodpigeon is now colonising.

Please watch the Club's website under the section "Projects and Surveys" and also the separate website under development at http://bit.ly/2yHj9A5 for details of these surveys and other national surveys in which you can participate. If you would like to receive information on surveys by post please contact

David Sowerbutts 9, Prebends Field Gilesgate Moor Durham DH1 1HH (Tel.: 0191-386 7201) (E-mail: David.Sowerbutts@dunelm.org.uk)

Indoor Meeting, Thursday 18 January. Our first indoor meeting for some time will be held on Thursday 18 January at Lanchester Community Centre, Newbiggin Lane, Lanchester DH7 0NT (almost opposite the Black Bull). Car parking is available adjacent to the Centre.

The doors will be open from 6.30 p.m. to allow people to meet other members, before the main event at 7.30 p.m. - a talk by David Steel about the Isle of May, where he is the reserve manager of the National Nature Reserve. Refreshments will be available before the talk.

David Steel grew up on South Tyneside and is a former member of Durham Bird Club. He worked for the National Trust on the Farne Islands for 14 years before moving to the Isle of May.

Website – if you were registered into the old website, you will need to register your details again in the new website as everything was lost when the old site crashed.

Informing others.

We are putting this Newsletter on the website and the Club’s Facebook page but it is unlikely that it will be posted before the weekend. If you know any member who has not received it by email, can you please let them know about it.