Hi Everybody
I know we are well into January but can I wish you all a belated Happy New Year!
The first thing to mention is the Big Garden Birdwatch which takes place on the weekend of January 28th/29th. Jenny Dewar has the following request:
In order to publicise the Big Garden Birdwatch she and Morag are once again organising a stand at Tescos on Sunday 22nd January and Jenny asks if anybody would be prepared to lend a hand with this. Setting up will be at 9.30 for a 10 o'clock start, finishing at 3 pm. It would involve handing out BGBW leaflets to folk who ask for them and generally encouraging them to take part. Jenny will be there all day but it would be nice to have some help, especially when it gets busy.
If anybody would like to help can they please email Jenny at jenny@stairwaddie.com or telephone Morag in the office 01856 850176.
Of course all members are encouraged to take part in the BGBW over the weekend of 28th/29th January. Just count how many birds you see in one hour and submit this to the RSPB either on the special form or - even easier - by going onto the RSPB website.
In fact, in 2011 record numbers of people entered their results online with over 100,000 received over the course of the BGBW weekend alone. A staggering 10,000 forms were submitted online in the busiest hour. By the deadline over 210,000 online submissions had been received. In the build-up to the 2012 Birdwatch the RSPB will send email invites and reminders to the many thousands of contacts who have participated online in previous years.
I hope Orkney members will encourage other people to join in and make sure Orkney is well represented in the BGBW.
Events coming up
Orkney Field Club:
Fri 17th February - Club Night. A Window onto Underwater Orkney. An illustrated talk by Penny Martin on the marine life found in shallow waters around Orkney. The talk includes some, perhaps little known facts, photos and video of common marine life and an introduction to sea squirts, swimming snails and spider crabs. This sounds really interesting so I hope there will be a good turnout for listen to Penny's talk.
Scottish Ornithologists Club
Two events which our Local Group members are invited to attend:
Thurs 9th Feb
St John’s Pool by Julian Smith. An illustrated story of the creation of this highly successful wildlife pool near St John’s Loch in Caithness. St Magnus Centre 7.30pm. Contact: Colin Corse 01856 874484.
Thurs 8th March
Bhutan – the Unexplored East. Monasteries and Birds.An illustrated talk by Mike Betts. St Magnus Centre 7.30pm. Contact: Colin Corse 01856 874484.
There is a collection on the door towards room hire costs.
RSPB Winter Bird Race - Sunday 4th March
It's time to be thinking about this event which involves teams of four touring around the Orkney mainland and spotting as many species as possible. It doesn't matter if you have only a limited knowledge of bird ID as teams will be arranged so that an 'experienced' birder always accompanies each car. There will be more details from Dick Matson nearer the date. It's a fun event so, if you have never been on it before, I hope you will give it a try this year.
RSPB Orkney Spring Meeting, Friday 30th March
Julian Branscombe will give a talk entitled 'Birds, Birds more Birds and a Salamander' which sounds intriguing. I saw Julian only yesterday and he says plans for the talk are well in hand and he promises a fun evening - don't miss it!
Orkney WEX Group - Jane Beckwith has kindly given me details of the first four WEX events:
Sunday 29th January
At Dick Matson House at Costa, Dale - The Big Garden Bird Watch with associated bird activities/quizzes. Time 10.30 to 12.30
Sunday 26th February at 2-4 pm
St Marys Community Hall, Holm. Meeting called - Love is in the Air - looking at Bird behaviour and their families. Hopefully if the weather is dry we will go out for a walk with the group looking at the birds/nature on the seashore.
Sunday 25 March – 2pm
West Mainland, specific venue still to be decided. Meeting called – Be a Fossil Hunter and discover Orkney Rocks.
April 21st - We will join in with the Bag the Bruck session with the RSPB at Waulkmill May.
For all WEX enquiries please telephone Jane Beckwith (841212) or Kate Thompson (851835).
Interesting Forthcoming Event:
Julian Branscombe writes with exciting news for those of you who have an interest in bryophites - or wish to learn about them:
We are having Nick Hodgetts, bryophyte expert, come up to Orkney for 4 days of fieldwork, recording & identification training in March - Weds 14 to Sat 17 March. Nick came up in autumn 2011, and was great company and a very good tutor. All are welcome, but it will be most useful for people who have a bit of knowledge of mosses & liverwort identification. As part of this visit, he is giving the OFC club night talk on Friday 16 March, which intends to introduce the world of mosses & liverworts, with special attention to what we have in Orkney. We shall be borrowing microscopes, and we shall have a small meeting room at the Ayre Hotel on each night (Friday excepted). The club night talk will have the usual charge on the door. The fieldwork and evening sessions at the Ayre are free, funded through the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme - if you are interested in coming out with us, please contact me for arrangements for each day (you are welcome on any or all of the days). Please pass on the word.
This is the last year of SFLPS, and there will be further wildlife identification training events this year, including a seaweed identification course, and a fungi identification course (with Liz Holden again). The latter will be in early October 2012, with dates awaited for the seaweed course. All the best, Julian
Sue Whitworth retires
It was with a tinge of regret that Sue Whitworth decided to take retirement from her job as field teacher for RSPB Orkney. I am not sure just how many years Sue has been in this job (she was previously head teacher of Evie School) but she has certainly made her presence felt! Whenever I see her she is either designing/cutting out/ sticking down birdie shapes for one of her many projects. Alternatively she is up to her elbows in flour, lard and birdseed while teaching youngsters how to make food for the birds. She has done a tremendous amount of work within local schools, has been involved in story-telling events at the Library and other places and has been a great help with WEX events. Sue will be missed by all her colleagues and friends but I am sure we will see her around Orkney - and hopefully at Local Group events - for quite a while yet. I know members who know Sue will join me in wishing her a very happy retirement!
A Treat from Ian Cunningham
You will notice I have attached 4 photos from Ian Cunningham as a nice start to the year. Ian actually sent them before Christmas but I thought it would be nice to hold them back for the New Year. Did you ever see anything so cute as the Pied Wagtail? And what a shot of the Black Swan; I'll leave Ian to explain:
This latest selection came from the two good days we had at the beginning of the week.
Pied wagtail (above) Redwing (below) Black swan (above)
Teal
"A lovely little pied wagtail down at Scapa and a very nice teal caught in the late afternoon sunshine in one of the ponds off the Crantit Trail. Thought you might like a different swan... Orkney's black swan put in an appearance on Harray Loch and at last I managed to get closer to a redwing... very flighty birds these. Unfortunately had to photograph through a somewhat dirty car windscreen. Cheers Ian."
Best wishes, Pauline W/Local Group Sec.