MEMBERS ENTRIES

Hi all, I have been asked by the committee to help relieve tension, boredom and anxiety for all those self-isolating at this present time.

Apparently, supplying guns is not an option so it was deemed that maybe it would be nice to show some images that didn't quite make the top three in the 2019 foto comp.

The only copy of the images I can presently find is the Judge's copy, which has no name or order. I will try to back-reference them with cross-references supplied. This should make for an interesting mix of pictures. Please let me know if yours is not correct.

As there are lots of great images to view I will have to 'drip feed' a few as and when I'm able.

Please also join in with any nice comments and maybe vote for your personal favourites.

Just before I start I should like to show how one member of the Gossage household is exercising whilst self-isolating.






As you can see mouse watching is very hard work, .......but to continue.

Black-tailed Godwit - Bob Gill, Frampton.

Linnet - John Showers, Minsmere.

Marbled White - Matt Hazleton, Summer Leys.

Spotted Fritillary - Martin Swannell, Mercantor, S.France.

Water Avens - Pete Gilbert, Bavaria

Thick-headed fly - Clive Bowley, Pitsford.

African Elephant  - Bob Mason. Amboseli, Kenya.

Barn Owl - John Tilley, Summer Leys

Bittern - Matt Hazleton, Summer Leys.

European Bee-eaters - Dave Jackson, Bulgaria.

Cheerz, Robin.  p.s. please remember to subscribe to Members' Garden Photos with your images. Thanks.

Wildlife BCN Summer Leys NR Closure

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM WILDLIFE BCN: 

Due to the number of visitors we received over the past couple of days, we have made the difficult decision to close the Summer Leys car park.

We understand how important connecting with nature is at this moment in time, but must do what we can to ensure everyone follows the social distancing advice given by the Government. 

Therefore the car park will be closed from 4.30pm today until further notice. We hope you understand our reasoning for this, please check our website for the latest information as we continue to actively monitor the situation.

Pitsford Water Park Closed

Anglian Water have closed all their water parks;

https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/news/anglian-water-to-close-water-parks-to-limit-spread-of-coronavirus/

"We’ve sadly made the decision to close all of our water parks to the public along with all activities with immediate effect to help limit the spread of coronavirus. None of our car parks will be open and all tracks and gates are closed

Public access will not be permitted in any areas. We had hoped to keep our green spaces open, but the wellbeing and safety of our customers, visitors and colleagues is the most important thing at this time"

Wildlife Trust BCN have closed their Rushden Lakes visitor centre however nature reserves currently remain open although the situation could change over the coming days.

https://www.wildlifebcn.org 

Sywell & Other Country Parks

Country park update - Coronavirus

Our country park car parks, play areas and public buildings are closed for the foreseeable future.
The park grounds are open for outdoor exercise but only in accordance with current government rulings around social distancing.
The closure applies to Irchester, Sywell, Brixworth, Barnwell and Fermyn Woods Country Parks.

CORONAVIRUS - IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Following The Wildlife Trust's decision to cancel all talks and meetings the Bird Club committee have come to the decision to follow suit and cancel the April and May indoor meetings as a safeguard to our members.

We would urge everyone to follow the Government's advice and take precautions against Coronavirus as appropriate.

Please check back regularly for updates before the June meeting where Becky Ingham from Hookpod is due to speak. In the meantime we wish you all good health and look forward to convening again once the threat has subsided.

Great Crested Grebe 

The Abington Park Heronry

For the third year running Grey Herons are nesting on one of the islands in Abington Park, Northampton, with one nest occupied and another being built. It’s unclear whether the second nest has a pair or just one heron building and is hidden from view.

Whilst most visitors to the park seem happy with these recent residents some have been keen to express their views. “I don’t like them, they’re ugly” and “they’re nasty, they eat all the babies” are just two of the comments I’ve heard whilst photographing the birds. 

Fishermen seem ambivalent to their presence, justly so as the herons tend to fly out of the park to catch prey and have been seen returning with goldfish taken from garden ponds! Cormorants on the other hand don’t seem to be as welcome, neither was the Otter seen several times during December. 

A Kingfisher has delighted visitors with irregular sightings mostly after heavy rainfall when the river is too murky and fast flowing for it to fish efficiently. Goosander have also been seen in varying numbers with one still present today, and it won’t be long before the prehistoric looking young herons hatch and show their faces above the nest.

All images above taken in Abington Park

Birding Holidays - Update.

With Coronavirus restrictions taking hold across Europe it seems likely that most trips for the foreseeable future will be cancelled. Naturetrek will be contacting everyone affected or through Robin for Club members booked onto the Poland trip.

If we’re not all self-isolating over the next few months there are a few upcoming birding holidays that may be of interest to members. 

Following on from the Club's successful trip to the Camargue last year & Chairman Bob’s excellent talk in January, Neil M. will be leading 2 Naturetrek tours from 2nd - 6th & 6th - 10th May with Dave J. as co-pilot;

https://www.naturetrek.co.uk/tours/the-camargue-in-spring

The Bird Club’s 2^nd trip to Poland from 17^th – 24^th May where we'll be paying a visit to Bialowieza Forest, with more than 200 species of birds as well as mammals such as Wolf, Lynx & Elk.

Possibly more of interest to the photographers amongst us is an intimate 5-day holiday to Svalbard in June where Polar Bears, Arctic Fox & Walrus could be encountered along with many Arctic birds;

http://www.paulalistaircollins.co.uk/workshop-arctic-adventure-2020

For further information please contact the companies in the links or speak to me at the next meeting, hopefully not through a face-mask! 😷

Dave J. 

Red-necked Phalarope - Dave Jackson

Soggy in the Forest of Dean, NBC Car trip

As if there was not enough water about the weather decided to give us another couple of soakings
during the day even though the forecast didn't mention rain.
Four of us gave battle in the forest area, we started the day at New Fancy View a reliably known spot for displaying Goshawk. True to form Richard soon picked up a distant raptor soaring and circling then going into steep dives at incredible speeds, turning on a sixpence and climbing high up into
the sky once again.
Whilst watching this bird displaying a second appeared quite a bit closer, but not everyone got views of this as several trees were in the way, depending where you stood.
Several Common Crossbills flew by and perched reasonably close. Buzzard and Sparrowhawk were also noted.




As a shower came in we retreated and made our way to a lovely little churchyard in Park End.
From here we made our way down through the wooded valley. Typical woodland birds were seen,
Song Thrush, Tits,  Robin, Blackbird and more than several loud calling Nuthatch. Moving on across an old railway station line to a stream, without warning a Dipper suddenly broke cover and shot up-stream out of sight.




A little further on we came to the village green enhanced with several lines of Yew. This is the place for seeing the secretive Hawfinch. Scouring the shadows Bob soon found this fabulous chunky Finch. Appearing almost twice the size of a nearby Chaffinch it still managed to mysteriously melt away in front of our very eyes.

We back tracked and had lunch on a nearby bench surrounded by singing birds.




 Moving on we headed to Cannop Ponds, now a pay and display area. The beautiful Mandarin Duck can always be found here. The males are outrageously gorgeous and although in comparison the female isn't so gaudy she is lovely in her own right.




Wendy found a rather nice Grey Wagtail by the stream running through the wooded area.




 There is a bird table situated just beside the road,  bereft of food and birds I decided to sprinkle some of our  bird food (that we always carry) on it. Immediately lots of birds just came from nowhere and fed in frenzy, Brilliant!






We thought we would try New Fancy Viewpoint again, to finish the day. A pair of Ravens displayed close to with Goldcrest and Treecreeper feeding nearby.  Rain set in so the sat-nav was set for home.

 Thanks go to Bob, our dedicated driver for the day and also for all his images here.

Club AGM and presentation

Hello

On Wednesday 4th March the club holds it's Annual General Meeting at our usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir, commencing at 7.30pm. There will be a brief review of the preceding year and an opportunity for members to ask questions of the committee. It is anticipated that all members will receive a summary of the accounts as circulated by email beforehand.

The AGM is traditionally a quick affair and we then relax to enjoy a presentation by club member Jeff Blincow on his selection of mammals and gaudy birds from his travels in South America. Jeff provides a presentation to the club in most years and his quality images and in-depth knowledge and personal style is much enjoyed by the membership.

Hot drinks and biscuits will be available and the committee looks forward to seeing you there!

Regards

Neil M

Old Ornithological Books

Mick Coles, has some of his late father's books for sale. Anyone interested in purchasing any of these old books for a small fee, please go to the For Sale tab for more details.
All monies will be donated to The Woodland Trust charity.

The Photo Comp, a brief revue

Hi all, as always the photographic competition is one of the NBC's highlights of the year.
With photographers eager to see where their images ranked and non photographers looking forward to seeing some amazing images.

This year (2019) didn't disappoint. 16 photographers entered the array, more than we have had at anytime in the past.
Placements of the top 3 positions were gained by 14 of those photographers. This also being more
than before.

Over 320 images in total had been entered, not including the captioned category.
Now to be fair this is a photographic competition and not restricted purely to bird photography.
I realise we are essentially a bird club, but it is interesting to note that photographers are now also including many images outside the birding categories and into the non birding ones. In fact there is almost a 50/50 split between the 6 bird categories and the remaining 7 categories.

I think this is good news, making the possibility of having a different element taking the overall vote.

The most contested categories were, first Northant's Birds with 41 entries, as it should be. Other Invertebrates with 37 entries second and not unexpectedly third, Butterflies, Moths and Caterpillars with 34 entries.

So the bird images were fabulous but so were lots of other images, Bob's Frogs, jump to mind, Dave Thomas's Red-billed Oxpeckers, on an antelope, what a great perspective for animals in their environment, just to cite a couple, as there were many more worthy winners.

Out of 325 entries there are only 39 places up for grabs. So to get into these echelons you will have done pretty well. One cannot fail to notice though, the number of positions gained by Dave Jackson, maybe we should all take a leaf from his book.

I do hope everyone enjoyed the evening. I'm sorry if the images were skipped thro' a little quickly on the night. This was to ensue that the evening finished at a respectable time for all concerned.

I have the feeling that next year's competition will be even more exciting.

Cheerz Robin.

RED SQUIRREL by John Tilley.

NBC Photographic Comp

Hi all, just a quick mention, for those who wish to see, the final results of our photographic competition are now ready for your viewing pleasure. Just double click on the Short-eared Owl.

Photographic Competition 5th Feb

Hello

This coming Wednesday (5th Feb) is the club annual photo competition. It is always a memorable night with images from members displayed and all attempting to win the prestigious Graham Soden shield.

The images will be displayed in categories and I understand there is a record number of entries this year. All the submissions have been viewed by an independent judge who has selected the top three in each category. However the overall winner is selected by the members on the night!

The meeting starts very promptly at 7.30pm in order to get through all the images and hot drinks and biscuits will be on tap as usual - perhaps we might be consuming more than usual if this is going to be a marathon event!

Please come down and enjoy the evening!

Neil M

Brown Bear courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Bar-tailed Godwit.

Merry Christmas!

Hello

As another year draws to a close we can reflect on the wildlife highlights and look forward to what 2020 reveals.

A new programme for the next year of speakers for our indoor meetings can be found on this site and of course we look forward to the upcoming photographic competition. We will keep our venue at the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir for our monthly meetings, run car trips most months and our foreign tour for 2020 is to northern Poland in May.

Our next indoor meeting is on Wednesday 8th January 2020 when our chairman Bob Gill takes to the stand and his presentation is on The Camargue in South France. This was the destination for the 2019 club foreign tour and Bob will be using wildlife images from a variety of club members.

The Northants Bird Club Committee would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and an enthralling New Year!

Neil M

Robin.

Little Owl.

Indoor Meeting Wednesday 4th Dec

Hello

This coming Wednesday sees the return of Chris Ward as our key speaker for the next indoor meeting. Chris will be delivering Part 1 of a two part presentation on National Parks in the USA. Naturally he will be featuring the wildlife on show with a bias towards birds. Chris will return in May 2020 to deliver the second part.

The meeting will commence at 7.30pm at our usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir and there will be hot drinks and biscuits on tap. We welcome both members and non members to our meetings and look forward to seeing you there!

Neil M

Little Blue Heron.

NORTHANTS BIRD CLUB PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 2019

Hello everyone,

Well it's getting toward that exciting time of the year for all the club's photographers to sort out their entries,

Again, Graham Soden's coveted award will be won and displayed on someone's mantle piece for a whole year, ooohh the kudos!

So to that end for anyone thinking of entering this years foray I would ask that the new
rules are read thoroughly.

There are a few slight changes including the closing date, so please go to the competition rules page on the blog for full information.

As stated earlier we have a new Judge (ANDY) for this year which always makes life exciting.

Any donations for the Gossage's poor fund can be secreted with the paper X-reference.
thank you in advance.

Good luck with that then !

Bird Cub Foreign Trip 2020

Hi all,

The committee is organising a members only bird watching trip to Poland
in conjunction with Naturetrek.

From the 17th to 24th of May, based on (Naturetrek's) POLAND in SPRING tour.

The cost of which is £1350.00 per person. £145.00 less than next year's advertised price.

More on the tour's itinerary can be found on the Naturetrek site or clicking the highlighted link.

So if you feel you might be an interested participant, please let me know before
the end of November so as to get an idea of numbers.


If you could contact me via e-mail at .....robin.gossage@sky.com with your interest.

Cheerz Robin.

Woodpeckers should feature well 

Indoor Meeting 6th Nov

Hello

The club's next Indoor Meeting is on Wednesday 6th November when club member Dave Jackson returns to deliver Part Two of his talk on the Birds of New Zealand. Plenty of excellent digital images assured!

The meeting will commence at 7.30pm with just a few notices and then it is over to Dave to showcase his time in NZ. The venue will again be the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir and hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening. This is an open meeting to both members and non members alike and we look forward to seeing you there!

Neil M

NBC Car Trip Titchwell

Most folk know of Titchwell RSPB reserve, always worth a visit, so the usual crew downed their coffees and sandwich ready to make our way toward the beach.

Common Gull. RDG

It seemed that the beach was the "in"place with a good selection of telescopes trained on sea watching.













A good flow of Gannets intermingled with Bonxie and Arctic Skuas.




Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe, Kittiwakes and the like kept viewers happy.

Gannet.   RDG.

The tide was fair way in, dainty Sanderling foraged and ran along the water's edge, whilst more robust Turnstones nosed under numerous shells and pebbles looking for a snack.

Sanderling in mid thrust. RDG.

Foraging Turnstone.  RDG.

The occasional Redshank and Avocet made an appearance . From the dunes I noticed a grassy hump thinking to myself this could be a good place to photograph from it suddenly moved and morphed into club member Matt Hazleton.........mornin' Matt.

Redshank   RDG.

Avocet.       RDG.

Walking back flocks of Golden Plover, Ruff and Godwits fed and rested on the marsh. Stopping near

Curlew.   RDG.

Parrinder hide, Curlew and Redshank were noted, on an RSPB sign a Blue Tit was investigating.

Blue Tit     RDG.

Back around the car parking area the trees and bushes were scanned in the hope of something good.

A continental Blackbird eating berries and Migrant Hawker were found.

Migrant Hawker     RDG.

As usual a nice day out with the weather keeping fine and good company.  Cheerz Robin.

Club Indoor Meeting Wednesday 2nd Oct

Hello

We look forward to this coming Wednesday evening when club member Dave Jackson presents the first part of his talk on the Birds of New Zealand. Dave spent some quality time in the land of kiwis and as always was armed with his cameras and lenses!

The meeting will start at 7.30pm and after a few notices Dave will take to the floor. Hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening and everyone is welcome!

Neil M

Wot's going on.

Well if you were my wife, she would say it's no good asking me....

Hi good people,


Well a couple of tit-bits, firstly I would like to inform you all, we have a new judge for the 2019 Photographic Competition.

Andy has kindly agreed to take on this difficult task, he has a love of most aspects in photography but especially indulges in wildlife, so many thanks to him for volunteering his services.

On that vain a couple of changes and reminders to all those who would like to enter images for this year.
The last date for getting the images to me will be the Christmas get together at the Spinney Hill public house (date to be announced).

This will allow a little more time for me getting things sorted. Strictly only images after that date may be used in the following year.

I would also ask that all entries are supplied with a paper back-up, having your name and a contact email. This should also list all the categories being entered along with the name of each specie in those category's. This is a great help in collating the images and the judge receiving a completely mixed up set of images. All images only need the species name appended (not numbered).

I will in due course amend these changes in the rules section.


 Just like to remind you all, that the Bird Club Blog has lots to offer and for members to make use of.

We have a For Sale and Wanted page, ideal to advertise any articles you may want or want to sell.
It can be anything as long as it's legal and not necessarily to do with birding.

We have a page to showcase your lovely images of Other Northants Wildlife, that includes all sorts
of Wildlife eg Reptiles, Plants, Fungi, Mammals etc.
So why not send a few images for all to enjoy.

We have Car Trips to various places most months, so why not join us on one, find a friend and share the driving. There's always plenty of fun and banter and some great birds. If you would like to participate just contact Bob Gill for more information.

Finally the very coveted Graham Soden Photographic Shield will be up for grabs again later this year, so why not enter some images !

AFRICA ?!! Nope not going!

Natural England again.

More outrageous stuff, from Natural England.

http://jasonendfield.weebly.com/home/removing-blind-nestlings-and-killing-songbirds-in-the-name-of-scientific-research

On another note......

Great Crested Grebe wins burping competition

Yellow-legged Gull claims he's innocent.

Fisheries Union meeting goes swimmingly 

Spose' it's my tern for the chip's then !

A little levity, Cheerz Robin.

Indoor Meeting Wednesday 4th Sept.

Hello

The next indoor meeting of the club will be on Wednesday 4th September when three members will each provide a short presentation on bird/wildlife related topics of their choice. Lynne Barnett will commence proceedings, followed by Pete Gilbert and then committee member Mark Williams.

As usual the meeting will commence at 7.30pm at our usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir (just outside the village of Holcot on the Brixworth Road NN6 9SJ). The meeting is open to members and non members alike and hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening.

These short presentation evenings have proved popular so be sure to be there a soon as you can to reserve your chair!

Regards

Neil M

Great Tit courtesy
of Cathy Ryden.

Stock Dove.

Peregrine.