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.