Cambridgeshire Bird Club
Welcome to the Club
The Cambridgeshire Bird Club promotes the study, recording and conservation of birds in Cambridgeshire and encourages a wider interest in natural history and the protection of county wildlife habitats.
We record the County's birds in our Annual Report, so we need your records. We have a stunning Gallery, so we want your photos. We have field projects, we have indoor meetings and trips, and we keep you informed with our monthly emailed bulletins. We have links to active bird ringing groups. And have a look at our Facebook and our Twitter sites.
You can see What's About? and we urge you to report interesting, sensitive or confidential sightings to the County Recorder.
We hope you enjoy your visit and come back soon.
Announcements
Summer evening outdoor meeting, Friday 12th July 2024 Ouse Washes RSPB Reserve, Welches Dam Meeting on-site for 19.00 start. The visit will be led by Mike Burdekin, Reserve Warden More details here
Picture of the Month for June is Simon Stirrup's Marsh Harrier See it here
The next Club's indoor meeting is Friday 13 September: 7.30pm: RAFOS Support to The Seabird Group on 4 years of The Seabird Census (2018-2022), with 2023 Avian Flu comparison data by John Wells.
Congratulations to Garth Peacock for winning the 2023 Photo of the Year competition. View the winner and runners-up here
Club e-Bulletins up to November are now available to all to read. They contain records, photos, articles and event reminders: read here
The Club Chair's Report for 2023 has now been added to the 2024 AGM papers. View here
The Cambridgeshire Bird Report 2021 No. 95 can be purchased from the Club - see here
The 2019 Annual Report (No. 93) is now available to read on this website - read here
The CBC recording checklist can be viewed and downloaded here
Club Bulletins back to the first issue in 1951 have now been digitised and were added to the website in 2021- read them here
Dates of tweets on our Twitter feed have now gone haywire, more than one browser is affected - apologies but it seems to be out of our control. Other report the same issue. For now, it's best to go to the Twitter site directly.
Twitter feed: many thanks to Brendon Doe for setting this up on our website, and maintaining our Twitter account.
Summer evening outdoor meetings 2024
Dates for your diary - The Club arranged four field trips in the diary for this Summer. Contact / booking via Erica Towner: fieldtrips@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk
Summer evening outdoor meeting Friday 12th July 2024 Ouse Washes (RSPB), Welches Dam near Manea
Meeting on-site for 19.00 start. The visit will be led by Mike Burdekin, Reserve Warden
Summer evening outdoor meeting Friday evening in August Dernford Reservoir, south of Stapleford
Meeting on-site for 18.30 start. (Confirmation of date and further details in future bulletins and on this website)
Picture of the Month - June
Marsh Harrier © Simon Stirrup, location withheld, 7 June 2024
June's winner was chosen by Jill and Jeremy Aldred
A lot of very good photos, but the one that stood out for us was Simon Stirrup's Marsh Harrier. Technically good - beautifully framed, in good light, and capturing an aspect of bird behaviour, but at the same time it's hard not to smile at the nesting material, which is longer than the bird itself! There are a couple of other photos we think deserve a special mention. One is George Walthew's picture of the Kingfisher bursting out of the water at Kings Dyke, which is an excellent action shot of a bird more often photographed perched. The other is the second of Garth Peacock's two images of the Great Reed Warbler at Ouse Fen, an individual that was photographed multiple times during its stay but looking at this particular photo you can almost hear it shouting.
Photo of the year: 2023
Congratulations to Garth Peacock for his winning photo of a Peregrine Falcon. Second place goes to Ian Dale with his Black Redstart, and Jon Heath's Coot takes third place. Click here to view all three photos. and click 2023 candidates to see all the photos that were entered.
Picture of the month: February
Starling © Simon Stirrup, Ouse Fen RSPB, 24 February 2024
Andrew Dobson selected February's Picture of the Month.
"There are fine portraits of some of our common resident species such as Roger Cresswell’s Little Grebe and Colin Brown’s Jackdaw. Our ‘waxwing winter’ continues with plenty of contributions of this photogenic species, and Jon Heath’s photo of a flock enables an accurate count. However, the series of photos by Simon Stirrup of the starling murmuration at Ouse Fen really took my breath away. As someone who loves cetaceans, I was very tempted to select the ‘whale’, but I’ve chosen the photo he has captured so perfectly of thousands of starlings blackening the sky at dusk —it’s totally absorbing. It could pass for an abstract painting. Why not visit the reserve to experience the murmuration for yourself?"
Where's that site?
If you are unsure of the location of the less well-known birding sites, check our Gazetteer, which also provides standardised names to include in recording checklists for the Club's database and Birdtrack. Check the Grabagrid map which provides precise site grid references, and also shows pop-up vice-county boundaries
Avian Flu
AVIAN FLU: The Angling Trust’s Voluntary Bailiff Service reported last winter that avian (bird) flu was confirmed in fenland swans. They advised, "Please be aware that you may see dead swans on the Nene or Drains. Dead swans may be found elsewhere too. Please under no circumstances go near or touch them. Phone Defra: 0345 933 5577, option 7: 'all other enquiries'. They will direct you to the correct local swan rescue (recovery ) people as all dead swans must now be collected for investigation". Email: defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk and provide details. More info at Avian influenza (bird flu) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For sick swans, the RSPCA is the first place to contact and they will give help as to who should be informed.
Lists and facts
County birders life lists, individual record year lists / record day lists, garden lists and other records - view them here
Found and injured bird? Contact a rehabilitator. Baby birds? Read here and also here
Local bird news from Cambirds.
