“For eight years from 1955 until 1963 the West Midland Bird Club motivated most of my birding activities. The irresistible attraction was the Annual Report. It was nice to see your records in print. The Bird Reports are built to last - nice strong light cardboard covers with glossy photos, good paper and secure binding.”
Bill Oddie ("WEO", in the reports), Club President, in 'Bill Oddie's Gone Birding'(1983).
Our mission is to bring together those with a common interest in wild birds and to encourage the study of these birds and the conservation of their habitats.
Our area of interest covers four counties in the English Midlands.
There are a number of ways in whch you can contact the Club.
The Club was formed in 1929 as the Birmingham Bird Club. Our membership then was a mere handful, but today we have almost 2,000 members, who monitor the bird life of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the Metropolitan West Midlands. Our chronology has more on the Club's history, and we have a list of birding organisations even older than us.
We welcome applications for membership from anyone with an interest in the bird life of our region.
The Club is a registered charity (number 213311) 
As a registered charity, the Club is required to have a formal constitution, or set of rules.
We offer regular programmes of indoor meetings from the Autumn through to Spring at:
These usually take the form of illustrated talks by well- known ornithologists and bird photographers and cover a variety of subjects and places, both at home and abroad. So you have the chance to meet the experts and ask them questions.
We also arrange regular field meetings throughout the year, except in July and August. Transport is either by coach or car and the venues embrace many popular Birdwatching haunts, both locally and further afield, including weekend visits to the coast. There are always plenty of people willing to offer help and guidance, so, whether you're a beginner or more experienced, this is an excellent way to discover where to find birds and how to identify them. They are listed in our diary of birding events.
Members are sent regular bulletins to keep them up- to- date about recent bird sightings and to remind them of forthcoming indoor and field meetings. The Bulletin also keeps members informed about any other Club activities and the wider birding scene.
Members receive the Annual Bird Report, which is a sizeable, prestigious publication that documents and analyses all the year's bird records. The Report also includes articles about various aspects of the region's bird life as well as illustrations and photographs.
This site has details of, and a unique archive of articles from, early reports.
The Club leases and manages reserves at Belvide and Ladywalk and operates permit schemes to visit South Staffs Water's Blithfield Reservoir, British Waterways' Gailey Reservoir and the City of Birmingham's Nature Reserve at Harborne.
We attend various events and shows throughout the year to promote the Club's aims and to raise public awareness about the need to conserve our bird life. Often, we join with other nature conservation bodies in this work. Such appearances are also listed in our diary of birding events.
In addition to the Annual Bird Report, from time- to- time we produce other publications about the region's birdlife, such as the recent ‘The New Birds of the West Midlands’.
See the bibliography for more details.
One of our principal aims is to gather information and to keep permanent records of all aspects of the region's birdlife. For this we again rely heavily on volunteers, not only to carry out field work for local and national surveys, but also to analyse the data and present results. For example, their efforts show Skylarks and Song Thrushes to be in serious decline while Buzzards are increasing. So why not count the birds in your garden, your school playground, or where you work and let us know what you find. Birds are excellent indicators of a healthy environment, so you never know how valuable your information might be.
See our research section for more details.
With the ever- increasing pressure on our wildlife from urban, industrial, and recreational development, we strive hard to ensure there is still place for birds. Often we are asked to comment on proposed developments and, where possible, we try to find ways in which people and birds can co-exist. If this can't be done, then we may oppose the proposal. Many hours of voluntary work also go into managing our reserves and offers of help are always welcome.
Several of our members are active ringers and we collate ringing recoveries relating to the West Midlands. This tells us how long birds live, how much they weigh and the migrations and movements they make. For instance, we have been ringing Grey Herons at Gailey since 1961. To ring birds you must have a licence and our ringers are always prepared to advise potential beginners.
Ornithology in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & the West Midlands county, since 1929.
Fetched from http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/ on Saturday 13 March 2010 17:30:48
( We remind you that these are other organisations' sites and that we accept no responsibility for their content)
