Slimbridge coach trip – Saturday 14th January 2006

This venue is superb at this time of year with views of wild geese and winter swans guaranteed. The hides offer opportunities for watching waders and raptors on the banks of the River Severn and the pools offer close views of both birds in the collection as well as many wild duck on the reserve. We have booked a luxury coach and need to have a few more people come along to make it financially secure. The cost is just £16 for the ride and entry to the reserve is £5.50. There are exhibitions and a café if the weather suggests warmth is needed at any time! We usually stay until after the feeding of the swans which makes a real spectacle at the end of the day.

If you are interested please contact Ray Reedman by email on meander2@hotmail.com or on 0118 986 4338 and we look forward to having you along on what should be a really good day out.

Colin Wilson –

Moor Green Lakes Group needs a Membership Secretary

The Group needs a Membership Secretary, the current person is unable to continue due to commitments to travel
frequently and lengthily to New Zealand. It is not a massively onerous job but it does take a bit of time, mainly
processing renewals, stuffing envelopes and producing membership cards etc. and maintaining the lists of members.
There are four committee meetings a year but attendance is not essential (the current encumbent does not attend
them). You will need a computer with a rudimentary understanding of common MS software packages. If you?re possibly
interested in helping please contact Colin Wilson (colin.wilson@theroc.org.uk) or on 01252 837411 who will answer
any questions and put you in the picture.

Colin Wilson –

AGM change and the Christmas Social

The AGM on 9 November had to be adjourned as a quorum was not achieved (a quorum is 50 members or 25% of the
membership, whichever is the lower). We were 2 short of the number required. The AGM will now be held on 7
December at 7.30 pm at St Peters Church hall, Earley where the Christmas Social will follow. Details have been
posted to all members.

In accordance with the rules of the Club, if after 30 minutes a quorum is not achieved, the Chairman may call the
assembly a quorum and proceed with the AGM. Our aim is to get the business over with quickly so the Social can
commence. For a taste of the social please read Ray Reedman?s article “The story of the Christmas Social” from last
year showing what fun this is.

Colin Wilson –

Avian Flu

This subject is exercising many minds at present so we have looked at a few references and provided a few links to
help you keep up to date. It is possible the threat may have been exaggerated but there has been mounting concern
in Government and amongst the general public in recent weeks. As we would expect the RSPB, BTO and WWT have worked
hard at trying to use the information they have available to inform and advise. We suggest their advice is read and
followed until new information comes to hand. Specific advice to birdwatchers can be found on the following link:
www.bto.org/survey/webs/avianinfluenza.htm.

Otherwise the following websites should provide continuous up to date information:

• www.bto.org
• www.rspb.org
• www.wwt.org.uk

Colin Wilson –

Change in programme of events

Due to unforeseen circumstances the talk by Ken Norris ‘Silent Spring -
Conservation in the UK’ has had to be deferred until later in the programme.
On 11 January 2006 we will now be presenting ‘The Blackwater Vallley and its
birds’ by Colin Wilson and Ken Norris will present his talk on 8 March.

Ray Reedman –

Berkshire Bird Atlas – Your County Needs You!

In preparation for a new bird atlas for Berkshire we need to test some
survey methods this winter. A team of 50 people are required to do this properly. The survey work should be quite
easy and average experience as birdwatchers should be enough ? in other words, you don?t have to be a top expert!
The location of the survey is not clear yet but it will entail just a few hours of time over the winter.

This is important for us in Berkshire to show we can do this and to give a good result in the testing. Hopefully,
when the real thing starts in a couple of years you will be able to help us produce a new Atlas to update the
1996 Birds of Berkshire.

If you are willing to help or at least try to help, please let Chris Robinson
or Brian Clews know. Please volunteer now ? this can be a very
rewarding and enjoyable activity with a positive result at the end. We must find 50 by 1 November so the message
is “Your County needs you”!

Colin Wilson –

Birds of Berkshire 1998/99

The ROC are pleased to announce the above report covering two years has now been published. Details are shown
alongside and on the home page if you wish to purchase a copy. This was part of the catching up exercise and we are
currently working on the 2003 report which should be published in the next few months. In the background, the
2000/2001 reports have been progressing and will be the highest priority once 2003 has been published. For
non-members of the ROC, this is a good time to join the Club, we provide copies
of the reports to members as they are published so the next couple of years could provide more benefits than
normal.

Colin Wilson –

Skuas ? an interesting note from the County recorder

Recent sightings of a group of light and dark morph Skuas in Berkshire lead to some discussion about identification features. This is not the first time as some difficulty arose last year at Queen Mother Reservoir about identifying these species. The discussion was about birds found by Paul Cropper and a contribution from Marek Walford.

Chris Heard recently put this note on the BerksBirds Yahoo Group which may be of interest:

?Dark morph juvenile Long-tailed Skuas are, of course, quite frequent
but – as Marek said – dark morph adults may not actually
exist. ‘Skuas and Jaegars’ (by Olsen & Larsson) states that adult
Long-tailed Skua “occurs only as a pale morph (i.e no intermediate
morph either)…. and the existence of a dark morph adult is still
to be proven”.

To put this in context, Dave Davenport (author of several papers on
Long-tailed Skua occurrence) has seen over 4,000 adult Long-tailed
Skuas in the UK (!!) and has never seen anything resembling a dark
morph adult.

So Paul’s dark morph adult (as clearly indicated by the pronounced
tail streamers) must surely have been an Arctic Skua. And, in the
absence of any structural differences, the likelehood is that pale
morph adult was also this species. Some adult Arctics do show
remarkably long tail streamers and can take you by surprise even
after prolonged seawatching.

But this does raise the issue of whether inland skua flocks are ever
composed of more than one species. Different skua species do mingle
when collecting, for instance, at the mouth of the Swale (N.Kent)
but Dave Davenport reports that they invariably separate into single-
species groups when they head inland. In autumn, flocks of Arctic
Skuas are occasionally recorded over inland counties and in autumn
1985 there were several inland groups of Poms (see Bit Birds 80:404-
421) – but DD says that they too were all single-species flocks. I
cannot recall ever hearing of an inland Long-tailed associating with
another skua species.

Last year, during eight days seawatching at Bridges of Ross* (Co
Clare), I saw a total of 24 Long-taileds (singly or in groups of 3-
4) and my impression was that passing Arctic and Long-tailed Skuas
may coincide but that cohesive flocks were generally of single
species; they even seem to travel at different speeds and Long-tails
often loiter and feed on the surface – which Arctics and Poms rarely
do. In the same period this year I saw just two Long-tails but,
remarkably, they went past separately at the same moment in time
(perhaps – by remaining in sight of one another – they were actually
together).

It has become axiomatic to state on this group that skua
identification is often not straightforward – but perhaps that is
part of their attraction. [Even their genetic make-up is
confusing… several studies indicate that Pomarine is closer to
Bonxie than the smaller skuas – somewhat at odds with their
morphology]

Chris Heard

* The October issue of Birdwatch magazine includes a feature on
August’s seawatching at Bridges of Ross – which was written by Niall ?
Keogh – one of the sharpest of the new generation of Irish
seawatchers.

A new Berkshire Bird Atlas is on the way

Some members may know that a steering group has been set up to work towards producing a new Bird Atlas for the
County. This development coincides with the work on a new national Atlas organised by the BTO. We are expecting the
ROC and its members will be fully involved in this project and a newsletter is available here. Anyone interested in
helping would be welcome, whether it be fieldwork, organisational, record keeping or other support and should
contact Chris Robinson on 01491 671420 for further details.

Colin Wilson –

“Bird-watching before Birding” by Ian Wallace

Many of you will know of Ian and his ornithological credentials. We are
privileged he has agreed to make what will be his last ever public lecture
to members and guests of the Reading Ornithological Club on 14 September
this year. The ROC have booked a large lecture hall at Reading University,
Room G10 Palmer Building, and the lecture will commence at 8pm. Ian will
have some of his books and artwork available and we shall also be raffling
an original line drawing, used for Birds of Berkshire 1998-99, by Robert
Gillmor.

As many of you will know Ian is a very accomplished speaker and one of the
very top ornithologists in the UK. We?ve booked the large hall as we want to
accommodate all demand from interested birdwatchers and if you?re not a
member it will only cost £3 for a really good, landmark evening.

Colin Wilson –