Woodcock petition

Wild Justice petitioned Parliament that the opening of the Woodcock shooting season be pushed back to 1 December. Annually, 160,000 Woodcock are shot for sport across the UK whilst their population is declining. The Defra Secretary of State has powers to vary the shooting season. The petition received 107,916 signatures and the issue was debated in a committee room on 27 February (16:30 – 17:50). 9 MPs spoke, 4 generally in favour and 5 against, plus the Parliamentary Under Secretary.

The Parliamentary Under Secretary for Defra, Trudy Harrison said: The more abundant migratory woodcock population is unlikely to arrive in … Read more

Bird Flu

Following a meeting of more than 100 experts, a report into the continuing Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI or ‘bird flu’) outbreak has been published by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

HPAI has caused mass mortalities in the UK’s internationally important wild waterbirds and seabirds since the current outbreak began in October 2021. Across the UK, more than 60 species have been affected, and data collected by the governments’ conservation bodies, other organisations and volunteers indicates that many more than 20,000 wild birds have died. Especially badly affected species include wintering Barnacle Geese … Read more

SOS webinars

sussex ornithological society logo

Sussex Ornithological Society has arranged a series of free online webinars for the winter months and Surrey Bird Club members are welcome to attend. The next one of these is entitled :

Raptor persecution and its impact: RSPB Wildlife Crime Unit

Tuesday 21 February 2023, 7 pm

The RSPB team are keen to reach out to birders on how to act and what to do if they come across something ‘suspicious’ in the field. Case studies will be mentioned from Southern England during the presentation.

Further details can be found at:

Sussex Ornithological Society’s online webinars | Eventbrite

29/01/2023

Montreal COP15

Montreal COP15 biodiversity logo

Biodiversity is hard to measure, poorly understood, mobile, mostly invisible and inherently complex. The last COP9 agreement, from 2010, was an abject failure, where not a single target was reached. A key focus of the recent Montreal global biodiversity conference, COP15 (held jointly with Kunming, China), was ‘30×30’: protecting at least 30% of land and sea by 2030.

Just before Christmas, the meeting secured an historic global framework (The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework) to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030.  This was apparently forced through by the Chinese president, ignoring objections from some African states who wanted … Read more

Security

Surrey Bird Club would like to remind birders of the dangers of the theft of birding equipment from cars and even the risk of mugging. Unlike most other personal possessions, our equipment is easily visible to casual observers and valuable items become an obvious target for the ruthless who are out to make quick and easy money, regardless of the impact on others. The well-known bird watching sites and car parks, often quite remote, are a convenient focus for these activities.

There are a number of recommendations which it is worth considering at the start of a new year.

  • Watch
… Read more

Patchwork Challenge

Patchwork Challenge Logo

The birding fraternity has seen a shift in attitudes recently, with many birders turning their attention from twitching to more intensive study of a local patch. The advantages of watching a local patch are obvious. Low fuel costs, environmental benefits and travel time aside, great pleasure can be derived from getting to learn a place inside out, adding detailed information to the bird databases and getting value from common species that otherwise wouldn’t get a second glance. The Patchwork Challenge adds a structure and a little friendly competition to patch birding.

The score each bird earns will be related to … Read more

Season’s greetings

Winter 22 Tices (Colin Varndell )

Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year to all members.

21/12/2022 (Photo: Colin Varndell at Tice’s Meadow)

Petitions

There are two active petitions to Parliament which might be of interest to Surrey Bird Club members:

Limit the shooting season of Woodcock

Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay (Wild Justice) want the opening of the Woodcock shooting season to be pushed back to 1 December. 160,000 Woodcock are shot for fun across the UK whilst their population is declining. The Defra Secretary of State has powers to vary the shooting season.

Limit the shooting season of Woodcock – Petitions (parliament.uk)

Deadline: 25 January 2023

Make swift bricks compulsory in new housing to help red-listed birds

Swifts have declined … Read more

RSPB talk for SBC members

The reformed RSPB Crawley & Horsham Local Group invites Surrey Bird Club to attend a free Zoom meeting:

Saving special places

by Dr Andre Farrar, Protected Area Campaigner, the RSPB

Wednesday, 23 November 2022: 7.30 pm

To take part in this event, please email: 

We will send you the link to join the Zoom meeting a few days before the event.

Imagine the confusion as a bird returns to the place that a few months previously had provided for all its needs. But now the landscape has changed, nesting scrub has gone to be replaced by roads and houses, … Read more

SBCRC decisions

The latest batch of decisions from the Surrey Bird Club Records Committee can be read here.