Conservation Fund Report

In 2004, the Birds of Berkshire Conservation Fund helped the Moor Green Lakes Group, working with Wokingham District Council, to support the installation of Barn Owl boxes in the Wokingham area. In most years nearly half of the 19 boxes have been occupied and so far a grand total of 89 Barn Owl chicks have been reared. A report on the project can be found on the Wokingham District Council website.

A further grant was made in 2008 for Barn Owl boxes to be installed to the south and west of Reading.”

Renton Righelato –

Outing to College Lake on 7th Dec changed

The Outdoor Meeting for 7th December has been changed due to the temporary closure of College Lake.

Tring Reservoir (Short Day) Meet 9.30am at Startops Reservoir Car Park (SP 919140). Arrive A41 & B489 via Marsworth Village. Contact Ray Reedman Tel No: 0118 986 4338 for further information

Ruth Angus –

‘Sponsor a species’ for the New Atlas

The Birds of Berkshire Atlas for which the fieldwork is now underway will cost about £30,000. The Berkshire Bird Atlas Group (mainly BOC Committee members) is seeking funds for this and has made good progress. However, this is a massive sum and so, to involve our members and birdwatchers across the County it has launched a ‘Sponsor a species’ appeal.

The prices for sponsorship are between £20 and £50 and you can increase the benefit to the project by 25% if you are a taxpayer by making the donation via the BOC and ticking the Gift Aid box. If we manage to find sponsors for the 300 plus species we will have raised well over £6000.

What?s in it for me you may ask? Well, if helping to produce this landmark volume with data that will be of value for many years to help protect the countryside and help ensure farming aid and other grants go to the right places is not enough, you get 20% off the price of a new book and your name will appear in it as the species sponsor.

You can find the details of the Atlas and the offer on our Atlas website where there is a form to help you sponsor, or pick up a leaflet at Club meetings or ask Neil Bucknell, Renton or Colin if you have any questions.

The BOC is fully behind this project, hence creating an Appeal Fund for it so we hope you will be able to support it and ‘Sponsor a species’!

Colin Wilson –

BOC announces 2008/09 Programme

The new BOC programme offers an outstanding range of opportunities for birdwatchers to further their interests in the subject. Apart from the curtain raiser of a coach trip to the Birdfair at Rutland Water on 16th August there are weekend trips to Norfolk (always over 100 species seen!) and Pembrokeshire, day trips to Isle of Sheppey and Portland to name but two and a full winter programme of talks.

The speakers and subjects in this years winter programme are outstanding with a talk by Keith Offord on raptor identification promising to be a highlight. Early in the season Chris Bowden of the RSPB updates us on the Asian Vulture crisis, a major conservation issue, while the worrying decline of Swifts is a subject for discussion by Edward Mayer. There is space in the programme for some international travelling and Mike Mockler, celebrating his one hundred visits to Africa with his amazing photography contrasts with our old friend John Hobson explaining about ‘life in the freezer’ with the story of his visits to Antartica.

The Club has a growing membership and welcomes newcomers, beginners and experienced birders to any of its events.
Ruth Angus –

Swifts in trouble – help needed

The BTO’s Breeding Bird Survey reports a 26% decline for Common Swift in the UK between 1994 and 2006, although for many regions the reported decline is
much higher – 42% in the South West, – 53% in the South East, for example. If the locations of the breeding sites are not established they cannot be
protected against destruction or obstruction during unsympathetic renovation or rebuilding.

The UK-SWIFTS PROJECT has been set up to identify breeding locations and work to stop the decline of this charismatic icon of summer. You can join the
project to register your support, and if you know the location of a Swift colony, report it. Many Club members will have witnessed the low level
screaming displays round their homes that indicate the presence of a Swift nest site in the immediate vicinity.

Observations may be submitted via the UK-SWIFTS Project discussion forum; or by email to
uk.swifts@yahoo.co.uk, or by voicemail to 07831 247089; or by SMS text message to 07831 247089. The data stored
is Date, Time, Latitude & Longitude, which can be submitted as Ordnance Survey coordinates if preferred, Street-name, Town, County, Number of birds,
First-name, Last-name & Comments e.g. “Site lost – demolished”, etc.

The project coordinator is Geoff Beale, 4 Bay Close, Three Legged Cross, Dorset, BH21 6SW.

Tel: 07831 247089.

Renton Righelato –

Biofuels ? the facts

On 15th April the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) came into force and this requires all fuels sold at pumps in the UK to have at least 2.5%
biofuel included. As Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB explained when he visited the BOC last September, the impact of this policy has never
been properly calculated or explained. The public and all those who care for the environment should understand the issues with this which have a wide
impact on world poverty, destruction of rainforests and birdlife in the UK.

For further information have a look at the RSPB Press Release on the subject
and at the articles
in the Independent.
We all need to help educate the public on this issue.

Colin Wilson –

Save Kennet Meadows Petition

I have attached the web address for anyone wanting to sign the online petition to save Kennet Meadows. This has been set up on the Parliament website. It doesn’t say anything about saving the wildlife, but to sign it with the aim of saving the floodplain development is probably better than not signing anything at all. All signatures need to be received by 11th March.

The permanent web address is: petitions.pm.gov.uk/savekennetmeadow

Ruth Angus –

New Yahoo group site for Kennet Valley Park Information

If you have concerns about the proposed development, there is now a Yahoo group aimed at providing and sharing information:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savekennetmeadows

Ruth Angus –

Kennet Valley Park – now is the time to object

As part of our campaign against the large scale development of Kennet Valley Park, we need to do all we can to bring our objections to the notice of those people who will be making the decisions. To that end your urgent help is being sought to send letters of objection to the Government Minister who has recently taken over the Housing portfolio (in the recent reshuffle following Peter Hain’s resignation).

A sample letter is shown below, which can be used as a basis for your own letter. You can use it in the form provided under your own name or you can adapt it to suit your own particular perspective and style. The most important thing is that we lodge as many objections as possible to ensure that the issue gets on the new minister’s agenda.

Please act quickly to help this issue to get the attention it deserves.

Many thanks for your help.

Note: Just in case there is any confusion, the “land west of Reading and north of the M4” refers to the area covered by the proposed Kennet Valley Park development.

Ms Caroline Flint
Minister for Housing
Department for Communities and Local Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU

28 January 2008

Dear Minister

South East Plan ? EIP Panel report

Land west of Reading and north of M4

I write to draw your attention to a serious error by the panel in section 21.67, 21.68 and 21.69 of their report. It is potentially going to lead to an error in planning housing for the Reading area and grants an unreasonable advantage to a consortium with a seriously flawed proposal.

The Report suggests that land west of Reading and north of the M4 is suitable for building 7500 houses in the Reading area (the land is in fact in West Berkshire) and the first planning application for this development was withdrawn after considerable opposition from local Councils and the Environment Agency, as well as national and local wildlife groups and local residents.

The location should not be included for the following reasons:

1. The land is mainly on the functional floodplain of the Kennet valley and has been protected from many years for this reason.
2. The area forms part of several Wildlife Heritage Sites, and is a haven for wildlife with a high density of species and notable international wintering and regionally important breeding species as well as Schedule 1 Wildlife & Countryside Act species.
3. The Environment Agency and Highways Agency object to this development because of the floodplain, conservation and transport implications.

This letter urges you to remove the specific reference to this site from the South East Plan to avoid a serious mistake. Naming this location could influence the planning process before all objections have been heard and lead to an undemocratic result.

Yours faithfully

Colin Wilson –

30 January 2008

Kennet Valley Park Development Meeting – Saturday 26th January – Your support is Needed!

There is to be a public show of displeasure with the proposals for Kennet Valley Park at The Cunning Man pub on Saturday 26th January at 2pm when we expect the local MP Martin Salter and other politicians, plus the Press to be present. BOC will be represented by John Lerpiniere, our Conservation Officer and Colin Wilson, former Chairman.

This is an opportunity to spend just a few minutes of your time to be seen there and make the developers and the public, via newspapers and the politicians, know how unhappy we are at the damage to the local environment resulting from the building of 7500 homes right on Reading?s doorstep.

The BOC is opposed to this development but we are only as strong as our membership. We need you to come along and be seen there on Saturday. You will not be called upon to speak or to do anything other than swell the crowds, but if asked by the press or others, you may wish to comment on the following for starters:

• This development is on the Flood Plain, mainly in the most high risk areas as witnessed by the maps on the Environment Agency website (The area is today, as I write, subject to a flood watch on the Environment Agancy website)
• with 7500 homes comes literally, thousands of cats and dogs and human recreational activity that will render useless any attempts to segregate areas for wildlife and endanger all ground nesting birds such as Lapwings and Redshanks i.e. those supposed to be helped by the mitigation measures in the meadows
• The infrastructure of Reading is already creaking and a massive amount of investment in new roads and facilities such as the hospitals and motorway accesses are essential before contemplating this development
• The area is home to c.60 pairs of Nightingales, a threatened species in the UK, Kingfishers and Cetti?s warblers which are Schedule 1 birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and to Water Voles, the most threatened mammals in Britain. It also holds a major heronry where Little Egrets bred for the first time on 2007.
• The site is of INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE for wintering Gadwall as confirmed annually by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, RSPB and BTO through the WeBS surveys.
• The area is mainly a Wildlife Heritage Site and while it has not been designated an SSSI it has the species density to easily qualify for this designation.

Please help with this ? one or two people cannot do it alone ? we need the help of all of you to stop this development on one of the best sites for wildlife in Berkshire.

If you wish to have further information please feel free to contact Colin Wilson ? details below. You can read more about the proposals at www.kennetvalleypark.com.

Colin Wilson
colin.wilson berksoc.org.uk

Tel 01252 837411

Mobile 07899 066687

Colin Wilson – 22 January 2008