Website woes and ideas for a refresh

Posted on 25/08/2015 by Bassbirder

As some of you may have noticed the website has not been updated this month. Unfortunately (or fortunately – depending on how you look at it) the software that supports the editing has been upgraded and (you knew this was coming didn’t you?) no longer works with the template used to build the site. The site will therefore have to be rebuilt.

The good news is that it should work better on mobile devices (iPhones, iPads and the like*) and we know that we do get visitors who use these.

It also gives us the opportunity to redesign the site – so if there are things you would like to see let us know using the ‘info‘ address.

Any thoughts by the end of September please.

*other computer and communications equipment are availble!)

Raptor Identification

Posted on 11/06/2015 by Andy L

Hen Harrier – Richard Tyler

Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group is holding a Raptor Id Day on common British birds of prey on Sat 20th June.

It takes place at the International Centre for Birds of Prey, Newent and will include not just info but a chance to see various species flying and close up.

The day costs £15 and numbers are limited, although there are a few places left at time of writing. Booking is via the Glos Raptors online shop.

Dawn Chorus

Posted on 31/03/2015 by Andy L

Wren photo: Richard Tyler

There are several walks Dawn Chorus walks coming up around the Cotswolds soon.

On Sat 25th April, Arthur Ball leads a group round Batsford Arboretum (near Moreton-in-Marsh). It starts at 4a.m and finishes up in the cafe. Price £12, details here.

The next Saturday (2nd May) the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have a more relaxed start time of 7a.m. Andy Lewis leads the ‘Birds and Breakfast’ walk from their offices at the Old Prison, Northleach, with a full English breakfast at their Cotswold Lion Cafe included in the £9.

The National Trust gardens at Hidcote Manor (near Chipping Campden) have a walk starting at 5am on Sun 3rd May led by Andy Warren, with breakfast afterwards for £10.

Also on Sun 3rd May the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are running one starting at 4:30a.m at Whelford Pools in the Cotswold Water Park near Lechlade, price £5, and others at their headquarters at Robinswood Hill in Gloucester and their Lower Woods reserve in South Gloucestershire.

Set your alarm clocks!

New Groups

Posted on 22/01/2015 by Andy L

Barn Owl – Rob Brookes, from ‘Birds of the Cotswolds’ (Liverpool University Press 2009)

Two new bird study groups have been set up within the county recently. The first is the Gloucestershire Barn Owl Monitoring Programme, which seeks to provide advice and support for Barn Owl conservation. This project will liaise primarily with landowners and farmers, as Barn Owls have become so dependent on nest-boxes and the land on which they are sited. Sightings are crucial, though – if you don’t know where the owls are, you can’t put up nest-boxes or ring the birds.

The other group is the Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group. This group will study a mixture of raptor species (suggestions welcome) and may also include Ravens, whose lifestyle and survey methods have similarities with raptors, and other owls. These species are far less popular with landowners – for understandable reasons – and the emphasis will be on birders logging sightings, breeding activity and behaviour.

The Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group held its first meeting last Saturday at St Peter’s High School, Gloucester (a big thank-you for providing the facilities for free!). There were over 50 people there of all levels of skill and experience, but united in enthusiasm. The species picked out for further study at the moment are: Peregrine, helped by a very entertaining account of those at Symonds Yat by Steve Watson; Kestrel, whose numbers here have perked up this summer (but for how long?); Red Kite, which have now bred in the county for the first time in 150 years; and Goshawk, a fair number of which have been ringed due to Rob Husbands’ climbing ability and Schedule 1 licence.

Pics: Mervyn Greening

Consultation on Country Parks – yours views wanted by 9 January

Posted on 31/12/2014 by Bassbirder

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust may shortly be taking over several sites currently owned by the County Council. Both bodies want people’s views on this by FRIDAY 9th JANUARY (they haven’t had much response yet).

There is a comments form with maps and details here.

Dr Colin Studholme (GWT’s Director of Conservation) describes the project:

Dear All

You may be aware that Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has been in discussion with the County Council regarding the possible transfer of the Country Parks – Crickley Hill, Barrow Wake, Cooper’s Hill. Coaley Peak and Kilkenny – to the Trust. This would give the Trust an amazing opportunity to take on 5 sites of high wildlife and archaeological interest, and – just as importantly – sites with a good visitor infrastructure which will allow us to communicate our conservation messages to the Gloucestershire public.

The Council is currently consulting on the proposal but to date have received very few responses. This may be that the proposal has not been very well advertised, or that it is not easy to find on the Council website, or simply that people are not too concerned whether the sites transfer to us or not. Clearly there are many issues for the Trust to consider in the next month, especially how we will fund the current shortfall in the site running costs. But the sites are not seen as core business for the Council and we believe that their sustainable future lies with us and we have exciting plans if they do become ours.

We would like as many people as possible to respond to the Council’s consultation with their views so I would be very grateful if you could spend a few moments to provide some feedback via the Council’s website. Please also forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in commenting. The link can be found here: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/countryside (but if this is not successful just view the proposal under “consultations” on the Council’s website).

Thanks in anticipation.

Best wishes

Colin

No Comment

Posted on 13/12/2014 by Bassbirder

The lay-by at Swillbrook Lakes this morning.

Well, maybe one comment:

I just don’t understand the mentality of some people

A Bill Guided by an Eye

Posted on 04/11/2014 by Andy L

Oystercatcher and young – Richard Tyler

A fascinating talk at the Cheltenham Bird Club by Graham Martin, whose speciality is bird vision. Having given us the elegant idea that “a bird is a wing guided by an eye“, he then proceeded to argue against it.

He suggested that the evolution of birds’ eyes is not driven by the long-distance vision required by flying, but by the requirements of close-up work, specifically that of feeding. If you can’t fly accurately, you can usually get away with a clumsy landing; but if you can’t peck accurately or grab from your parent’s bill, you starve quite rapidly. The vast array of different bill-shapes is complemented by a wide variation in birds’ visual capability (although this is much less obvious) which allows each species to use its particular bill to good effect.

Graham’s work on birds’ eyes and blind spots has practical implications for collisions with man-made structures like pylons and wind turbines. Some birds have evolved to scan the ground while flying, and so their blind spots – the top of the head and the back of the neck – face the way they’re moving. This can be dangerous today, but then there hasn’t often been anything in their line of flight until the last fifty years.

How good are your id skills?

Posted on 02/11/2014 by Bassbirder

With the nights drawing in and if you are fed up with what’s on the telly and trying to find something to fill in the evening, why not try the tests on this Norwegian University site. The tests cover the Western palearctic – you can pick a country or the entire region and try pictures or sounds (or both).

Have fun

Upper Thames Waders

Posted on 18/10/2014 by Andy L

Snipe – Richard Tyler

To Banbury (in driving rain) for a meeting with the neighbours – the Banbury Ornithological Society, on whose pattern NCOS was formed nearly 30 years ago.

The occasion was a talk by Charlotte Kinnear from the RSPB’s Otmoor reserve – great place for an office! – on ‘Upper Thames Waders’, part of their Futurescapes project. This project has been running for several years, and looks at the fortunes of four wader species in areas of wet meadows in central England. The area includes the Thames near Lechlade, parts of the Windrush, Evenlode, Glyme, Thame and Cherwell valleys, and Otmoor itself.

In the far west of the study area we have a couple of Society members contributing data from the water-meadows on the Sherborne National Trust estate, notably on Lapwing, which bred well there this year and contributed to a small rise in their overall numbers.

Snipe, it appears, are seen everywhere but are only found breeding at Otmoor. Curlew are drifting gently down in number, and Redshank had a good year after several undistinguished ones. Mostly the species under scrutiny had a lousy year in 2013 because of the wet spring.

Come and Talk about Birds in the Pub

Posted on 08/10/2014 by Andy L

Join us on Wednesday 15th October at the Golden Heart, Nettleton Bottom from 7:30pm.

As well as catching up on the gossip, we’ll be talking about common birds and how well we feel they’re doing here in the Cotswolds. Sure, it’s unscientific, but it might pop out a couple of questions about species that we should look out for or survey more rigorously.

The Golden Heart is here on the A417 between Cirencester and Gloucester (thanks OpenStreetMap). For satnavs the post-code is GL4 8LA and map ref SO943137.

The NCOS Blog

Writing about NCOS, Cotswold birds and conservation