West Midland Bird Club: Diary of Events, October 2006

This page records past events. For future events, please see our current diary pages.

If you organise similar events, related to birds or other natural history matters, in the West Midland region only, and would like to have them listed in our diary, please send details to our webmaster.

Diary for October 2006
Day, Date & Time	Event	Venue	Details
Sunday 1 9:30am	WMBC 2nd Tittesworth "50" Challenge.	Tittesworth Reservoir, Leek. SJ9960	Meet by the Barbeque area near Visitor Centre. Following the first Challenge in 2005, we thought that you needed another chance to test yourselves, so we've pulled the meeting forward a month in order to pick up the remaining few summer migrants. Although there's an element of a “Bird Race” in the meeting the main emphasis is on challenging yourselves to find 75% of the birds that are on site on the day. It's a great site and a good day is guaranteed.
Sunday 1 10:30am–2pm	WMBC Kidderminster Branch field trip.	Blithfield Reservoir (SK0623)	A half day visit to our reserve at this 800-acre drinking-water supply reservoir, with a chance to see large numbers of dabbling and diving ducks as well as geese, swans and gulls. Travel by car and we will meet in the car park at the south-west end of the causeway. Journey time about one hour from Kidderminster.
Wednesday 4 7:00–9:00pm	Sandwell Valley Naturalists Club (Sandnats) .	RSPB Sandwell Valley, 20 Tanhouse Avenue, Great Barr, Birmingham B43 5AG (SP035928 ).	Bill Moodie: The World Of The Fungi — Strange, but True Fungi are all round us, they can be beautiful, they can be bizarre and they can get up to some strange tricks.
Wednesday 4 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Coventry & Warwickshire Branch indoor meeting.	Odd Fellows' Hall, 6, Clarence Terrace, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa CV32 5LD (SP315660 ).	Peter Jones
Friday 6 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Solihull Branch indoor meeting.	Solihull College, New Lecture Rooms, Blossomfield Road, Solihull B91 1SB (SP142790 ).	Steven Falk: Goa and Kerala.
Sunday 8 7am–8:30pm	WMBC Birmingham Branch field trip.	Spurn Head .	Jutting out into the North Sea: a peninsula that attracts passage migrants and vagrants — expect anything!
Tuesday 10 7:30–9:30pm	RSPB Solihull Local Group indoor meeting.	Oliver Bird Hall, Church Hill Road, Solihull B91 3RQ (SP153792 ).	John Britten: A Birdwatching Trip To Australia
Wednesday 11 10:00am–12:30pm	Warwickshire Wildlife Trust indoor meeting.	West Midlands Bridge Club , 909 Warwick Road, Solihull B91 3EP (SP159795 ).	John Jarman: A History of the Countryside
Wednesday 11 7:30–9:30pm	RSPB Stourbridge Local Group indoor meeting.	Stourbridge Town Hall , Crown Centre, Stourbridge DY8 1YE (SO900843 ).	Chris Bailey: Hope Farm
Friday 13 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Stafford Branch indoor meeting.	The Centre for The Blind, North Walls, Stafford ST16 3AD (SJ923233 ).	Jim Winsper: Bird Identification. An opportunity for the more northerly-based members to hear Jim's ID talk first delived to the Solihull Branch.
Friday 13 7:30–9:30pm	Warwickshire Wildlife Trust indoor meeting.	Methodist Hall, Old Town, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6BG (SP199545 ).	Peter & Kay Reeve: Dragonflies of Warwickshire.
Sunday 15 10am–4pm	WMBC Solihull Branch field trip.	Malvern Hills.	A search for passerine migrants (Snow Bunting is sometimes found here).The area to be covewmbc lies between North Hill and the Worcestershire Beacon. There is a moderate initial climb from West Malvern, but no more difficult than what we did on the Clents last spring. Once the ridge is reached the walking is easy. Approximate journey time from Solihull 1 hour.
Sunday 15 9:30am–1:30pm	WMBC Stafford Branch field trip.	Berryhill, Stoke-on-Trent (SJ904464 ).	Meet at the end of Arbourfield Drive. Easy walking. This is a good time of year for odd migrants turning up in odd places and Berryhill should fit the bill for this! Although a city site its wide open spaces, and small stands of bushes attact a good variety of the more unusual birds, with recent visitors including Wryneck and Black Redstart and there's sure to be a few chats on site to provide some interest even if the more exotic birds don't show.
Wednesday 18 7:30–9:30pm	RSPB Walsall Local Group indoor meeting .	St Mary's Primary School, Jesson Road, Walsall WS1 3AY (SP019977 ).	Graham Martin: Through Birds' Eyes. How Birds See.
Friday 20 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Tamworth Branch indoor meeting.	Philip Dix Centre, Corporation Street, Tamworth B79 7DN (SK206041 ).	Alan Williams: Barn Owls
Saturday 21–Sunday 29 10:00am–4:00pm	Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Photographic Exhibition.	Brandon Marsh Nature Centre, Brandon Lane, Coventry CV3 3GW (SP380758 ).	Featuring Warwickshire wildlife and landscapes.
Wednesday 25 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Kidderminster Branch indoor meeting.	St. Oswald's Church Centre, Broadwaters Drive, Kidderminster DY10 2RY (SO841779 ).	Mike Wilkes
Thursday 26 7:30–9:30pm	Warwickshire Wildlife Trust indoor meeting.	W.I. Hall, Union Road, Solihull B91 3DH (SP155798 ).	Jan Harrington: Swan Rescue.
Saturday 28 All day	RSPB "Feed the Birds Day"*.		Step up your feeding to help garden birds through the cold months ahead.
Sunday 29 3am	End of Daylight Saving Time.		clocks go back one hour.
Sunday 29 10am–2pm	WMBC Kidderminster Branch field trip.	Chelmarsh (SO720878 )	A half day visit by car to this local reservoir owned by South Staffordshire Water and managed by Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Shropshire Ornithological Society . A good place to see wildfowl while the marsh at the north end is an excellent place to see Water Rail. Meet at the car park near the church. Journey time from Kidderminster is about 30 minuets.
Sunday 29 9:30am	'Feeder Frenzy!'	RSPB Sandwell Valley, 20 Tanhouse Avenue, Great Barr, Birmingham B43 5AG (SP035928 ).	Including bird feeder making; free; booking not required; small charge for materials.
Tuesday 31 7:30–9:30pm	WMBC Birmingham Branch indoor meeting	Birmingham Medical Institute, Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3AF (SP052858 ).	John Tulley: Successful Beggars: The Street Pigeon Story.