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It has been alleged to us that a member of the public has been dishonestly passing themselves off as a committee member of the West Midland Bird Club, and as our "official photographer" in order to gain advantages at local "twitches", and then behaving in a manner which is both ungentlemanly, and detrimental to the birds concerned.
We wish to dissociate ourselves from such behaviour. No genuine West Midland Bird Club representative would use their position to gain unfair advantage in this way. All West Midland Bird Club officers, like everyone else, are bound, not least by legislation such as the Wildlife & Countryside Act, to put birds' welfare before personal interests. We do not have an "official photographer".
The Executive Committee
December 2007
Our hearty congratulations to our press officer and hon. secretary Mike West, who was recently honoured by being presented with the RSPB President's Award. Full details of this notable achievement are on the website of the RSPB Walsall Local Group 
, of which Mike is also a committee member.
Ley Hill Junior and Infants in Northfield, Birmingham, unveiled a new environmental area and bird hide on 20 September 2006. At the behest of teaching assistant Kay Bayliss, the school secured a £3,000 award from Northfield Constituency's “Community Chest” fund to build the hide. As a result, the school has been awarded “bird friendly” status by the RSPB, and a member of the RSPB will now work on an environmental project with a class in the school during the academic year.
Marilyn Hull, head teacher, said:
The entire school community is delighted to see the new bird hide, which as far as we know is quite unusual in a Birmingham school. Our pupils and pupils from other nearby primary schools will be able to use the bird hide to quietly observe nature, and learn about wildlife, and as the RSPB are providing training to our teaching assistants, we will be able to teach pupils about the environment at the same time.
(So far as we are aware, this is the only bird hide in the City of Birmingham — unless you know different? Note that the hide at RSPB Sandwell Valley is a few yards outside the City.)
You might know Simon Barnes from his column in ‘The Times’, or his best-selling book ‘How to be a Bad Birdwatcher’, but he wrote an earlier (and very good — webmaster) bird book ‘Flying in the Face of Nature’, about his visits over the course of a year, to the RSPB's Minsmere reserve. In it, he talks about the Nightjars there, and in passing, says, on page 76:
My mother tells me she used to hear nightjars in Kings Heath Park, a place that was once on the edge of Birmingham, and is now close to the middle. Will they ever go back there, I wonder?
Has anyone else seen records of Nightjars there?
The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling for gardeners, wildlife enthusiasts and eagle-eyed children to take part in the Great Stag Hunt in a nationwide effort to gather data over the summer of 2006, to understand the status of Britain's biggest beetle. The Greater Stag Beetle, Lucanus cervus, has declined throughout mainland Europe and, it is feared, parts of the UK.
This is the third of the Great Stag Hunt surveys — carried out every four years — and PTES is appealing to the general public to report any stag beetles they spot over the summer months, so that this information can be compared with the previous surveys of 2002 and 1998, giving entomologists a vital insight into how this iconic species is faring across the county.
PTES is particularly keen for people to hunt for stag beetles in the counties on the border of their known range; including Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Any sightings of stag beetles can be recorded online at www.greatstaghunt.org .
To coincide with their television series, "Natural History of the British Isles", the BBC compiled a number of guided walks , several of which are in our region, and which encompass local history, geology and natural history. There is a printable version of each, so you can take them with you as you walk.
John Judge's photograph of an apparent Arctic Skua at Draycote Reservoir has sparked a lengthy and considered debate on Barbo's BirdLinks , about its true identity.
The BTO have made the results of their Garden Birdwatch available by postcode, and by County:
Horace Alexander was a life-long dedicated and gifted birdwatcher, keenly involved in the twentieth century movements for the protection and observation of birds. He was one of a small group of amateur birdwatchers who developed the skills and set new standards for combining the pleasures of birdwatching with the satisfaction of contributing to ornithological science. He made many significant observations, mainly in Britain but also in India and the USA, and was well respected for his work. He lived in England for most of his life but made his home in the USA for his later years. A Quaker and pacifist, he had a close friendship with Gandhi. He was also an early member of the West Midland Bird Club, and its president. A book about Alexander, 'Horace Alexander: 1889 to 1989: Birds and Binoculars' , is published by Sessions of York (208 pages, ISBN 1 85072 289 7, Price £12.00).
Ornithology in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & the West Midlands county, since 1929.
Fetched from http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/misc on Friday 12 March 2010 21:24:29
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