The proposed Burghfield Park housing development could irretrievably damage one of the most important sites in Berkshire for breeding and wintering birds and would reduce the value of the area as a place to enjoy and learn about nature.  

Important year-round, the Theale lakes are at their best in Spring, when the Nightingales arrive. The site has one of the densest populations of Nightingales in the U.K. Recently added to the UK’s Red List of most-threatened wildlife, Nightingales are declining rapidly elsewhere in the country, particularly in southern England. Notably however, they have been holding their own in the lower Kennet Valley, whose wetland edge habitat has so far been protected and sympathetically maintained.

The proposed development would threaten a substantial part of the Nightingale population by destruction of their breeding habitat and disturbance from the greatly increased use of the surrounding area by the influx of new residents and their cats and dogs.  Disturbance would also adversely impact the great majority of the wetland species using Theale Lake and nearby water bodies, including the adjacent Hosehill Nature Reserve.  Click here for more information.

We had planned to hold a Saturday afternoon event on April 16th.  We recently requested some feedback to help us with planning this new social event, but unfortunately we didn’t receive any positive responses.  The BOC Committee therefore decided that going ahead with the event would probably be a waste of time and money, and decided to cancel it.

This idea was originally included in our programme as an experiment to provide something of a new dimension to the Club’s activities, so any feedback on whether it was a ‘wrong idea’ or maybe just the wrong timing would be appreciated.

If you know of any members who are not likely to see this announcement, please make an effort to pass on this message.

Ray Reedman

BTO Conference – Saturday 5th March

This year’s BTO Berks, Bucks and Oxon Conference will take place at Benson Parish Hall on Saturday 5th March. The day includes a great line up of speakers, plus the usual tea, coffee and lunch for a bargain £18. Details are in the attached flier, and there is also a link on the BTO web site (see below) which has maps and a link to apply on-line.

http://www.bto.org/news-events/events/2016-03/bto-berks-bucks-oxon-conference

The Theale Area Bird Conservation Group is working with the BOC on habitat management at Padworth Lane Gravel Pit. Today, Saturday 20th February, we cleared the extensive beach area of invading Buddleja and Willow, in preparation for the arrival next month of ground-nesting species like Lapwing, Redshank and Little Ringed Plover,

The BOC is working with the Canal and River Trust, the owners of Padworth Lane Gravel Pit, and West Berkshire Council on the possible conversion of this recently closed gravel working into a nature reserve. There is more about Padworth Lane on our Conservation Projects page.

A clear beach for waders and the TABCG team

Start picking your images now and choose the best for this season’s competition. You can enter from one to nine attempts, with a maximum of three in each category, Portrait, Action/Behavior or Flight. Click for the rules.

Your entries must be with Colin Wilson by 2nd February, a full month ahead of the Competition date, you can send them by email or on a CD.  Email address is colin.wilson@berksoc.org.uk

This year the judges are our own Dickie Duckett and Mike Lane FRPS who will be known to members for his past visits to the Club and his wonderful photography. They will have an early viewing and select the best for detailed discussion on the evening. All your entries will be shown, that’s one of the reasons for cutting down the numbers from four per category to three this year.

As always, the best  entries will be sorted out by the judges for a final showing and then picking winners and runners up in each category. Prizes will be awarded to them. The climax of the evening is the audience vote for the best image of the year – the winner then receives The Gordon Langsbury Memorial Trophy.

We love to have new photographers taking part. If you look at past winners you will see how they vary, whether it be the subject or the photographer, so don’t be afraid, if you like them enter them!

The Berkshire bird atlas is now online on the BOC website. There are short accounts of the 200 or so species that breed in, winter in or pass through Berkshire, with maps showing their breeding distribution and seasonal abundance. Larger interactive maps and distributions layered on to google maps, allow the user to relate distributions to habitats and to compare maps across seasons and between species.

As usual the programme has been put together with a variety of topics designed to entertain, to inform and to provoke thought. Some old favourites return and some new faces are introduced.

This year there is a strong cultural and political element to the programme. The challenges and controversies of the world of nature will be thoroughly aired by the outspoken Mark Avery, formerly of the RSPB, but now a free-lance writer and campaigner. In the New Year, the film Emptying the Skies is no comfortable stroll, since it does present the challenges for migrating birds in a way which is bound to shake us out of complacency. Later, Estelle Bailey of BBOWT presents an executive view of the issues facing our wildlife organisations.
Travel is well-represented by a trip to India with Richard Pople, and another to the Southern Turkey with Richard Stansfield, both with their cameras to the fore. Jackie Garner brings the eye of the artist to the wildlife of the Falklands.
The natural world of two contrasting areas of Britain is presented, firstly by the Davies/Miller team of “the Biggest Twitch”, who focus on North Wales, and secondly by Jonathan Forgham, who will give his detailed insights into the wildlife of East Hertfordshire.
Hooked beaks and claws come to the fore in the expert hands of three well-known specialists: BTO’s Mike Toms (on Owls), Hampshire Recorder, Keith Betton (on Peregrines), and RSPB’s Conor Jameson (on the Goshawk).
Photographic skills will as usual be demonstrated in the annual Photographic Competition, but there is a new venture in the form of Tom Way’s wildlife photography workshop, which promises to have a much wider appeal than to photographers alone.
And finally, we have looked closely at the social side of our indoor life, first by proposing to re-shape somewhat the Christmas Social and Quiz Evening and secondly by introducing a new Saturday afternoon event to bring us together in a less-structured way.
In summary, our programme is a rich a mix as could be reasonably expected and represents superb value for your membership money, so do make a new season resolution to attend as often as you can.

We are looking for people who are willing to join the BOC committee. There are a number of vacancies, as listed below, and we need to find people to fulfil these key roles in the Club. So, if you have some time on your hands and and would like to get more involved in the Club, this is your chance.

Ordinary Committee Members

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. Committee membership is open to any adult member of the Club.  There is currently one vacancy.

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

Editorial team

We are seeking people to help with preparing species accounts and editing of The Birds of Berkshire Annual report and to develop our advertising revenue. Contact Renton Righelato (renton.righelato@berksoc.org.uk) for more information.

Sally Wearing

secretary@berksoc.org.uk
Secretary, Berkshire Ornithological Club
October 2015

We are auctioning two of the original artworks and the proceeds will go to the Club’s conservation fund. The paintings are of Red-footed Falcons, from the 2008 report, and a Bluethroat from the 2009 report. Both prints are initialled by Robert and are unframed. The picture of the Red-footed Falcons is 132 mm by 119 mm, and the Bluethroat is 187 mm by 163 mm. Both of them will be on display at the next four indoor meetings.
Each picture will be sold by a sealed bid auction, which will be opened at the BOC Christmas Social Evening on Wednesday 16th December. The reserve price for each picture is £200, which is far less than you would usually pay for one of Robert’s paintings.
Only BOC members can bid for the paintings. All bids must be in a sealed envelope and include the name and contact details of the bidder, and the value of the bid. Please write on the outside of the envelope which picture the bid is for. All bids must be with the Secretary, Sally Wearing, by 8 pm on Wednesday 16th December. You can either give your bid to Sally or to Tim Ball (Chairman) or Bill Nicoll (Treasurer) at any of the next four indoor meetings, or post them to BOC Secretary, 9 Deans Farm, The Causeway, Reading, RG4 5JZ.