Forthcoming ROC Excursion to Cotswold Water Park

Please note the follwoing change to the meeting arrangements

An excursion to Cotswold Water Park is in the programme for Sunday 11th March. (Leader ? Bill Nicoll telephone 01344 455403)

The original meeting arrangements have been changed due to lack of adequate parking at the original meeting point and active new gravel workings on two sides of Swillbrook Lake.

The revised meeting arrangements are as follows:

Meet at the Cotswold Water Park visitors? centre 3 miles north-west of Cricklade (SU073971) at 08:30.

There are toilets and other facilities at the visitors? centre that open at 08:30. There are no other facilities along the walk.

At about 08:45 we shall drive a short distance to Waterhay car park 3 miles west of Cricklade (SU060934) (where you could join the group if you wish). Our walk will start from there at 09:00. We shall walk east along the Thames path.

Other useful information

The excursion is planned to be morning only and we are likely to return to Waterhay CP by 1 o?clock, but the exact time depends on circumstances.

On a recent visit, the paths were quite muddy, so wear suitable footwear.

Lunch: A variety of snacks and light meals are available at the Cotswold WP visitors centre. There is a pub in nearby Ashton Keynes and several in Cricklade.

As always, it is best that you contact the leader (in this case contact Bill Nicoll, telephone 01344 455403) 2 or 3 days before the date just in case there are any changes or problems.

Ted Rogers –

ROC Photographic Competition 2007

This years competition takes place on 21st March at Room 109, Palmer Building, Reading University. All members are welcome to submit entries and further details are included in the rules. There will be prizes for winners and runners up and of course, the Gordon Langsbury Cup will need to be wrenched away from Mike Smith who won it for his superb shot of Mute Swans in flight last year. If you need any help to decide whether or not to enter or how to submit entries, please contact Colin Wilson for further information.

Colin Wilson –

The eradication of Ruddy Ducks

Many members will know about the programme to eradicate the Ruddy Duck to stop its spread across Europe and cross breeding with
White-headed Duck, a threatened species. Many birdwatchers are concerned about the programme and recent exchanges on the internet
have lead to the BTO sending information to explain the rationale behind the activity. The numbers are perceived to be well down at
Staines and other local sites which lead to widespread comment. See the PDF download for further information.

Colin Wilson –

Bird Atlas 2007 – 11

Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a huge and exciting project being run by the BTO that will map the abundance and distribution of birds in Britain and Ireland during the breeding season and winter. It will be fascinating to look at the changes in distribution since the last breeding and wintering atlases. There have been two previous breeding atlases (1968-72 and 1988-91) and just one previous winter atlas (1981-84). Have Buzzards continued to expand? Have Ravens spread eastwards? Have Wood Warblers disappeared from our woodlands? Where do we find Snipe in the winter? Are Siskins in the same places in summer and winter? It?s amazing to think that Little Egret was only recorded as a non-breeding visitor in three 10-km squares in the 1988-91 Atlas and now they are breeding in many counties, including Berkshire.

In Berkshire we are taking the opportunity to update our county atlas at the same time as the national atlas work is taking place. Surveying for our last (and only) county atlas occurred at the end of the 1980?s and there are likely to have been many changes during the intervening years. Apart from breeding bird distribution, the new county atlas will, for the first time, map wintering bird distribution; map relative abundance across the county; attempt to explain changes in distribution and estimate overall population numbers. In short, an exceptionally important work of reference on the county?s ornithology!

Both atlases will include winter distribution and breeding season data and the survey work for these will be spread over four years starting in November 2007. Although the county atlas will be based on tetrads (2km x 2km squares) and the national one on 10km squares, BTO have offered to collect and process all our records to a tetrad level and we therefore intend to use the BTO survey method and tools for both atlases, extending the coverage where necessary to gather the extra information required for the Berkshire atlas. By effectively combining the two surveys we will considerably reduce our data collection and analysis effort.

Berkshire records and offers of help within the county are of particular interest for us but from November we need all your records ? whatever you see, whenever it is, wherever you are! There are two components to the fieldwork: Timed Tetrad Visits (TTVs) and Roving Recorders. TTVs involve two visits in the summer and two in the winter to a tetrad (2 km x 2 km square). Each visit is for a minimum of one hour (although we would prefer two) and the idea is to record species you see and hear along with their numbers, so we can calculate the relative abundance of species in the 2-km squares. Of equal importance are Roving Recorders who make general birdwatching visits to 2km squares where the aim is to compile a species list of everything you see and hear. An important part of a Rover?s task is to try to gather evidence of breeding as they go along (three levels ? Possible, Probable and Definite).

With over 450 tetrads in Berkshire there is a lot of counting and recording to be done! Whatever your level of birdwatching skill you should be able to contribute something to this project; please get in touch with me if you are able to help in any way. If you have access to the internet, you can find a lot more information about the national atlas at www.birdatlas.net which explains the methods and strategy as well as how to stake a claim for a tetrad and submit your data when the time comes!

Chris Robinson

Berkshire BTO Rep and Berkshire Bird Atlas Group Chairman

Tel: 01491 671420

Birding, Carbon and Conservation

At the Bird Fair last year, a keen Berkshire birder with whom I was discussing climate change told me, without a hint of irony, that he had to fly around the globe several times a year to tick off species before global warming drove them to extinction! My puritanical hackles rose, but, let?s face it, we are all to some extent guilty. Bird-watching usually involves travel by car and many of us treat ourselves to one or two overseas trips a year. Some serious birders cover tens of thousands of miles a year chasing vagrants or rare endemics – I estimate that last months Long billed Murrelet in Devon was responsible for between 250 and 500 tonnes more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

There are basically two ways to reduce the impact of our emissions ? create less carbon dioxide and remove more from the atmosphere. As individuals, we can create less by using the train, driving more slowly, car-sharing etc. We can cause more to be absorbed from the atmosphere by protecting and restoring forests and grasslands. We need to do both.

Transport accounts for a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions. For every 1,000 miles, an average family car produces a quarter of a tonne of CO2. Air travel is particularly costly in terms of emissions: a European return flight produces approximately half a tonne of CO2 per person; an intercontinental flight 1.5 to 5 tonnes depending on class and distance.

The World Land Trust restores natural habitats as part of its biodiversity conservation work and by doing so takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. A hectare of forest lost releases many hundreds of tonnes of CO2, a hectare restored, over twenty years or so, can absorb hundreds of tonnes. So, when you have reduced your carbon emissions as much as you can, with WLT you can ?offset?, or ?balance? your carbon and at the same time conserve threatened habitats and species.

Balancing a mid size car (1.5 ? 2.0 litre) costs around £20 per 10,000 miles. Offsetting flights costs around £4 per European economy return flight and £12 per intercontinental economy return flight. You can do this at www.carbonbalanced.org, contact the World Land Trust (phone 01986 874422; go to www.worldlandtrust.org) or give me a call.

Renton Righelato

World Land Trust

Mobile: 0787 981 2564

Renton Righelato –

Moor Copse Appeal

Members may know that BBOWT are trying to buy a large extension to the reserve which is just to the west of Reading, near Tidmarsh and holds many birds including Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher and a good population of Water Voles. The Trust needs to raise £75,000 from supporters to buy the land by December 8th. If you can help please send your donation, by a cheque payable to BBOWT to:

Moor Copse Appeal
Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust
Freepost OF2051
Oxford
OX4 4BR

Colin Wilson –

Moor Copse Appeal

Members may know that BBOWT are trying to buy a large extension to the reserve which is just to the west of Reading, near Tidmarsh and holds many birds including Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher and a good population of Water Voles. The Trust needs to raise £75,000 from supporters to buy the land by December 8th. If you can help please send your donation, by a cheque payable to BBOWT to:

Moor Copse Appeal
Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust
Freepost OF2051
Oxford
OX4 4BR

Colin Wilson –

Kennet Valley Park ? temporary withdrawal of Planning Application

The following message has been sent to interested parties by Prudential?s advisers:

??Prudential has withdrawn the planning applications recently submitted to West Berkshire Council, Reading Borough Council and Wokingham District Council for its Kennet Valley Park development in order to allow time for further consideration of some of the issues raised by local people and interest groups in consultation. The local authorities and other statutory and non-statutory stakeholders have been informed of this decision. Amended applications will be submitted early in 2007.

We have looked carefully at the responses received by the local authorities and we feel that it is important to address the concerns raised. Given the nature and scale of the applications we feel that it would be helpful to have a further opportunity to explain our proposals to stakeholders, particularly in relation to the concerns most frequently raised –

Kennet Valley Park ? Important action needed

Most members should know the application for this development has been submitted to various local authorities. It is vital we now
show our opposition as a group and individually. We will be sending a submission on behalf of the ROC but need your help in making
the weight of opposition felt. Much has been written before about the impact on wildlife and birds in particular and details can be
found on the ROC website and in our Newsletters on the subject. We believe there will be objections from the RSPB and BBOWT based
on the damage to the wildlife rich habitat which has both high density and variety of avian species.

The main application is to West Berkshire Council under reference 06/01795/OUTMAJ and the final date for
objections is 13 September 2006. You can submit comments online.
A Summary document has been made by Kennet Valley Preservation Association, a group
known to us who also oppose the development. This does not mean the KVPA shares the same interests as birdwatchers and we are not
connected to them in any direct way. This may however, help you to express some of your concerns if you have insufficient time to
assemble your thoughts from the documents available. It is advisable to use your own words and concerns in your submission and not
copy verbatim the comments of others.

The full documentation for this development proposal is on the UK Planning website.

If you make your views known at this stage you should be invited to participate in the Public Enquiry that will follow. This means
after we have had more time and opportunity to develop our case against the proposals we will have plenty of chances to make our
points to the Inspector. Please watch our website for more details in due course.

Colin Wilson –

Coach Trip to the British Bird Watching Fair

Luxury Coach Trip to the British Bird Watching Fair

Egleton Nature Reserve, Rutland Water

Sponsored by Reading Ornithological Club

Cost: £25, including entry

Pick-up points:

1. Newbury, the Wharfe, 6.30 a.m.
2. Reading, Whiteknights Park (Main gate), 7 a.m.
3. Bray Wick (Hibbert Rd) at 7.20 a.m.

Return: leave Rutland at 5 p.m.

Booking coordinator:

Ray Reedman, Tel 0118 9864338 or email: meander2@hotmail.com