A new online, regional Bird Atlas has been created by combining the survey data for five counties: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. The Thames & Chilterns Bird Atlas gives a detailed, tetrad level picture of bird distribution and the changes that have occurred since the 1980s.

Christmas Atlas offer!

For a limited period while stocks last, The Birds of Berkshire Atlas and Avifauna (normally £35 plus P&P) is offered to BOC members for £25 (collected from one of our stock-holders across the county), or £10 P&P if outside of the county. Orders to brian.clews@btconnect.com  and cheques payable to BBAG, 118 Broomhill, Cookham, Berks, SL6 9LQ (or cash on collection).

As great Christmas present for a non-member, how about combining the Atlas at its discounted price with a year’s BOC subscription? http://berksoc.org.uk/about/club-membership/

See more about The Birds of Berkshire Atlas & Avifauna here.

Could you help run the Club by joining the BOC Committee?  Or do you know someone else who might be interested?

There are a number of vacancies and we need to find people to fulfil these key roles. So, if you would like to get more involved in the Club, this is your chance.

The position of Chairman is currently vacant, and four posts as Ordinary Committee Members will be up for election at the AGM.  All these posts are Trustees of the BOC.  Ordinary Committee Members, who are elected for a three year term, have a number of specific responsibilities as trustees of the charity, whose objects and rules are set out in the constitution.

You can find out more about what is involved here or by having a chat with the Secretary (Sally Wearing) or one of the other committee members at an indoor meetings or by emailing us.

All candidates need to be nominated by two members of the Club, and all nominations must be sent to the Secretary in writing by 23rd November.

Sally Wearing

Secretary, BOC

Please note that the talk on November 2nd has now been changed due to unforeseen circumstances. Andrew Cleave will now talk in the Wildlife of the Isles of Scilly. The programme on raptor conservation is postponed until next season.

The Berkshire Ornithological Club and the Newbury District Ornithological Club are delighted to announce the appointment of Richard Burness as the Royal county’s new bird recorder.

Richard moved to Berkshire in 1990, has become a well-known observer in both east and west Berkshire and has been contributing to recording and reporting over several years. He is a long-standing WeBS counter, he brought up to date Berkshire’s submissions for the Rare Breeding Birds Panel and for many years he has contributed to annual reports as a species accounts writer and more recently, as an editor. Richard writes:

As incoming Recorder I aim to provide continuity with my predecessors by maintaining the accuracy and scientific integrity of the historical record. My personal objectives are to maximise the input of data, to make the operation of the Recorder and the BRC more transparent and to improve the timeliness of delivery of outputs. The first two can be achieved by providing positive feedback to observers who submit records and ensuring greater openness to encourage those who don’t. Improving our timeliness will require a review of requirements, methods and deadlines.

As Recorder, he will convene the Berkshire Records Committee (BRC) to advise him on records of unusual species. The current members of the BRC are: Derek Barker, Richard Burness (non-voting), Robin Dryden, Chris Heard, Ken Moore, Peter Standley.

Richard succeeds Chris Heard as County Recorder. Chris, with his renowned expertise in the field and extensive experience in record adjudication, both locally and nationally, has made an outstanding contribution to ornithology in Berkshire. As well as his work as Recorder and editor of the annual report, he has an impressive record in the field, including finding many new species for the County.  We are grateful for all that he has done and are pleased that he will continue as a member of the BRC.

Contact details

Records can be sent to the Recorder at records@berksoc.org.uk or by post to:

Richard Burness, 20 Burlsdon Way, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2PH.

[posted for BOC by Renton Righelato 26th September 2016 ]

The Club’s programme of Indoor and Outdoor events has now been published. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, so please check out the details under News & Events, put reminders in your diary and come along to support the Club.

Members will be receiving more details soon.

In his interim newsletter for the West Berkshire Countryside Society’s Barn Owl Group, John Dellow reported that 2016 is turning out to be a good season. Depending on further box results and the success or otherwise of second broods it might turn out to be a very good season.  However, it is a ‘late’ season: many first broods were only just hatching around the end of June, leaving little time for second broods.

At the end of June the total of chicks plus eggs recorded from the 147 boxes monitored was 97; though it is unlikely that all will fledge, it seems very likely that this year’s number of fledglings will considerably exceed the 31 in 2015.

The population of short-tailed voles goes up and down with a peak every four years. 2014 was a peak year and this was followed by a dip in 2015. It is now clear that the population is recovering making 2016 a much better year with an even better year in prospect for 2017.

Our County Recorder, Chris Heard, has decided to stand down from the role after twelve years of valuable service. Chris, with his renowned expertise in the field and extensive experience in record adjudication, both locally and nationally, has made an outstanding contribution to ornithology in Berkshire. He chaired the Berkshire Records Committee (BRC) and edited the Annual Report as well as finding numerous rare birds, including many new species for the County.  We are grateful for all that he has done and very much hope that he will continue to offer his experience and advice to the BRC.

The BOC and NDOC are seeking to appoint a new County Recorder and we would welcome expressions of interest from suitably qualified people. The Recorder will be an experienced ornithologist with a knowledge of Berkshire’s habitats and birds. He/she will have good communications skills and be comfortable with handling large datasets, creating reports and editing them. A summary of the duties of the Recorder can be found on the BOC website. Expressions of interest are invited (before 15^th August please): in the first instance please contact Neil Bucknell (nebulastreatley@btinternet.com) or Renton Righelato (renton.righelato@berksoc.org.uk; tel 0787 981 2564) to discuss the role.

Records for the County Recorder, together with any supporting material where needed, should continue to be sent to records@berksoc.org.uk

In due course, the Clubs will consult the Berkshire Records Committee on the appointment of a new chair; for the time being, Ken Moore, appointed by the BRC as Chris Heard’s deputy, will assume responsibility for its management. Email: hillside7moore@btinternet.com tel 0784 142 9214.

A proposed house building project at Theale in West Berkshire threatens one of the last places where good numbers of Nightingales can be heard singing each spring.   This iconic bird, featured in writings, poetry and songs for centuries, was once so common that lanes and streets in towns and villages all over the country are still named after them. Drastic habitat loss over the last century, however, means they are now so rare that many people have never heard them singing. Their continuing population decline has led to them being added to the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern.

Around 50 pairs of Nightingales nest each year in a small area in Berkshire where a developer wants to build over 200 new houses, including a number of floating homes. National atlas surveys have shown that this population is one of the densest in the UK. Whilst Nightingale populations in most of the UK have been falling dramatically, the Lower Kennet is the only area in Berkshire and its adjoining counties in which this species has been holding its own. Nightingales have almost disappeared from the adjoining counties of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and its range in Hampshire, once a stronghold, has shrunk dramatically in the last 25 years. The Theale area has over half of the Berkshire population of Nightingales and the county population trend is upwards due to their success here.

If this development is allowed to go ahead on Theale Main Lake, it will destroy part of the habitat on which the Nightingales breed and will so disturb much of the remainder that this species, and many others, will be driven out. Nightingales nest in the thick undergrowth around the lake. The proposed development would effectively destroy most of this, by building on the west side of a lake and by profound disturbance by an influx of humans, dogs and cats along the hitherto undisturbed southern bank.  The mitigation measures proposed provide no protection against disturbance nor suitable new habitat.

Dr Renton Righelato, chair of the Berkshire Ornithological Club’s conservation group, says: “If we are serious in the UK about protecting a threatened species, then this development cannot go ahead. Build here, or indeed anywhere around these lakes, and the Nightingales will be lost. Hundreds of people and their dogs and cats, moving in next to this quiet area of thicket, will have a dreadful impact on the birds. I fear that this hitherto very successful population of Nightingales could be facing a mortal challenge.”

Neil Bucknell, President of the Berkshire Ornithological Club, added: “New housing here in this central part of a lakes and wetland corridor from Newbury to Twyford will have a severe adverse impact. This site is an important part of a designated Wildlife Heritage Site, and under both national and local planning policies such sites should be protected from any development that would threaten its wildlife. While nightingales are a particularly important species here, there are a number of other which are locally or nationally scarce, or which occur in important numbers.”

Nightingales are not the only species which would be badly affected by such a development. The same wild area also holds eight or nine species of warblers, a heronry, the lake is one of the three breeding sites in Berkshire of Oystercatchers and is used for breeding or feeding by many other wetland species, including Lapwings, another declining species on the UK’s Red list; the Little Ringed Plover, an occasional breeder that is legally protected from disturbance under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; and the Redshank, which is declining rapidly in the south of England. Increased disturbance  at the adjacent Hosehill Lake Local Nature Reserve arising from the development will further damage bird populations.

The lake involved in the proposed development is the largest of the complex of water bodies in the Lower Kennet Valley; as well as the birds that breed on and around it discussed above, in winter it holds 2,000 wildfowl each year and has a gull roost that includes up to 15,000, internationally important numbers, of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

“As an important Wildlife Heritage Site, there is no compelling reason why it, and the Nightingales, should be harmed given the availability of other suitable housing sites, currently under evaluation by the Council for its Housing Sites Allocation Development Plan Document, and its importance to wildlife should outweigh any attempt to promote this site to fill any interim shortfall in local housing supply.” said Neil Bucknell.

Please help us to protect this valuable site for wildlife

An outline planning application has been submitted to West Berkshire Council. The closing date for objections is Monday 13 June.

An individually worded e-mail can be sent to planapps@westberks.gov.uk or a letter to Head of Planning and Countryside, West Berkshire Council, Market Street, Newbury RG14 5LD quoting application reference number 16/01240/OUTMAJ.

Or you can go online to West Berkshire Council , enter the reference number 16/01240/OUTMAJ, click the “Comments” tab, log in and make your comments.

Some points to consider in a response include:

• Damage to a Wildlife Heritage Site
• The loss of key Nightingale habitat and a substantial part of their population in central/southern England
• Greatly increased disturbance by people and dogs to the surrounding lakes, including Hosehill Lake Local Nature reserve.

Press contact: Jan Stannard  jstannard@siteset.co.uk

Berkshire Ornithological Club contacts: Neil Bucknell nebulastreatley@btinternet.com  Ken Moore hillside7moore@btinternet.com  or Renton Righelato conservation@berksoc.org.uk

Posted by Renton Righelato 1^st June 2016

As this year’s breeding season unfolds this is a special plea from the Club and RSPB South East to submit records for the following species if you are fortunate enough to come across them:

Farmland: Lapwing, Corn Bunting, Tree Sparrow, Turtle Dove, Grey Partridge

Woodland/heathland: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Marsh Tit, Willow Tit, Redstart, Nightingale, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit, Woodcock, Wood Warbler, Hawfinch and Mistle Thrush (recently added to the Red List).

The RSPB has a number of projects underway to help these species. By submitting your records on berksbirds, on birdtrack or to records@berksoc.org.uk, you can help greatly by adding to the data available to inform our future conservation efforts.

If you do come across any of these and other scarce species this breeding season, we would really appreciate it if you would submit records with:

• location with a 6-figure grid reference
• date
• any breeding evidence.

Thank you!