18.11.08

Missing Corn Bunting data from the 2007 Annual County Bird Report.

Unfortunately it appears that a paragraph regarding Corn Bunting data was accidentally omitted from the 2007 Annual County Bird Report recently published. That paragraph can be downloaded from the link HERE and then printed off and included in your report.

03.10.08

Manchester Wildlife website is now here and with it, it's photo of the month competition.

The website Manchester Wildlife deals with anything not birds in the county and can now be found at www.manchesterwildlife.com. It's still early days for this new website so expect more to come but it does incorporate a photo of the month competition.

The photo of the month competition is open to anyone, as long as the images have been taken within the UK. You can enter up to 3 images and each month has its own theme picked by the winner of the previous month and is also judged by the winner of the previous month. To start with Paul Cliff will judge the first competition and although the Manchester Wildlife site deals with all wildlife other than birds, bird photos are also permitted for this competition (and would also be equally appreciated for the galleries in Manchester Birding once used in the competition). October's theme is CURVES - interpret that however you want - be creative. More information is on the Manchester Wildlife website and the deadline is the 30th October.

12.09.08

Important colour ringing programme for Grey Wagtails

A colour ringing programme involving a colour ring above a metal on one leg and two colour rings on the other leg – all below the knee - is in motion for autumn passage Grey Wagtail. Most of these have been ringed at Heysham Observatory, Lancashire.

Please could you report any sightings to: pbmarsh@btopenworld.com More details can be found on the Heysham Observatory website http://heyshamobservatory.blogspot.com/, especially concerning black colour rings!

18.07.08

Sites of Biological Importance in Greater Manchester.

An important link to information regarding Sites of Biological Importance in Greater Manchester can be found below.

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/ecologyunit

15.07.08

The Wildlife of Manchester Forum has arrived.

Greater Manchester has always desperately lacked a site for wildlife sightings and despite being asked umpteen times I have always declined as it's really just not my 'bag'. However, fear not as David Winnard and friends have now set the new forum, Manchester Wildlife!

Here you can post and read 'till your hearts content, anything and everything about Dragonflies, Butterflies, Moths, Mammals, Fungi and anything else as long as it's nothing to do with birds!!

The future looks even brighter with the imminent launch of the Manchester Wildlife website which will include photo galleries, newsletters, loads of information and much more. This little county of ours has never had it so good!

For the time being though the Manchester Wildlife forum is up and running, so check it out on the link below:

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=123878&p=1&a=45

27.06.08

The UK Swifts Project

The UK-SWIFTS PROJECT was established in February 2008.

While researching Common Swift (Apus apus) I discovered that even the recognised bird conservation organisations were not able to provide any but the most fragmented and rudimentary records of Swift breeding sites or, usually, had none at all. Frustrated by this I determined to start compiling a comprehensive register of Swift breeding colonies within the UK that could be accessed by anyone, and could be used, initially, to assist with the targeting of resources to reverse the decline in the Swift population.

The well-established Yahoo! Discussion Groups website was chosen as a suitable forum for collecting the colony data and the UK-SWIFTS PROJECT web site was created. It can be found here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/uk-swifts/.

The project site offers information about Swifts, advice on preservation and provision of nest places, links to other Swift web sites, and a discussion board. The updated colony information is posted to the site in Excel spreadsheet format and is freely available to be download by members. There is also a searchable on-line database. Membership is open to anyone in the UK with an interest in Swifts and various campaigns are under way to attract new members from the birding community and members of the public.

In the first three months, the project attracted over a hundred members including BTO and RSPB representatives, Swift groups, bird club members from all parts of the UK, and interested members of the public. During this time nearly the same number of previously-unrecorded confirmed or probable breeding sites were listed.

The BBS reports the UK rate of decline for Common Swift as 26% between 1994 and 2006, although for many regions the reported decline is much higher - 42% in the South West, - 53% in the South East, for example. If the locations of the breeding sites are not established they cannot be protected against destruction or obstruction during unsympathetic renovation or rebuilding.

This project has to succeed. Many more members are needed. Please join the UK-SWIFTS PROJECT to register your support, and especially if you know the location of a Swift colony; and urge other members of your group to do the same. If possible provide them with copies of this document. Many club members will have witnessed the low level screaming displays round their homes that indicate the presence of a Swift nest site in the immediate vicinity. It is possible that they may also see a display while surveying for the BTO Atlas. Notifying these occurrences to the Project would be tremendously helpful.

Observations may be submitted via the UK-SWIFTS Project discussion forum; or by email to uk.swifts@yahoo.co.uk ; or by voice-mail to 07831 247089; or by SMS text message to 07831 247089.

The data stored is Date, Time, Latitude & Longitude (Decimal e.g. 50.799730, -3.190799) – {But Ordnance Survey coordinates may be submitted if preferred}, Street-name, Town, County, Number of birds, First-name, Last-name, and Comments (e.g. “Site lost – demolished”, etc.).

Despite a consistently falling population, because Swifts were first included in the BBS in 1994, they will not qualify for classification as endangered or at risk until 2019. Many feel that may be too long to wait before the UK population becomes dangerously depleted. Please help by adding your support to this initiative.

Thank you

Geoff Beale – Project coordinator

4 Bay Close, Three Legged Cross, Dorset, BH21 6SW

Tel: 07831 247089

30.01.08

Dipper Project-requires your help and cooperation

Colour-ringed Dipper, Delph, 28.01.08 (Photo by Phil Kenyon)

The South Manchester Ringing Group in conjunction Dr Stuart Sharp of Sheffield University Animal and Plant Sciences Department will be starting a ‘Retrapping Adults for Survival’ survey on behalf of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Your help and co-operation in granting access to rivers via your land would be very much appreciated. We have formed strong working relationships with various landowners such as ‘Macclesfield MBC’, ‘United Utilities’ and the ‘The National Trust’. All field workers taking part in the project are fully trained, operate with a government licence, comprehensive ‘Public Liability Insurance’ cover and work within the confines of a ‘Group Risk Assessment’ all of which can be produced upon request.

The project will run from 2007 for a minimum of 5 years and will involve catching and colour ringing Dippers (Cinclus cinclus) on the River Goyt, Etherow, Tame, Bollin and Dane including their tributaries. The ‘University’ is hoping to gain research council funding to extend the project to cover the whole of the Peak District by the end of this year.

By placing unique ring colour combinations on the birds, it will allow us to monitor the bird’s life cycle, survival, identification of territories, dispersal and recruitment of juveniles to other river systems.

To further enhance the project, where possible, we will visit and document nesting performance by recording clutch size and fledged young success for the Nest Record Card scheme run by the BTO which will contribute towards the 30,000 cards collected each year for British species.

Colour-ringed Dipper, Delph, 28.01.08 (Photo by Phil Kenyon)

Project Co-ordinator: Tony Wilkinson – 01663 762 722

South Manchester Ringing Group

24.01.08

Proposed 18 hole golf course on Bickershaw Colliery site and implications for Pennington Flash nature reserve

The following message is from Greater Manchester County Recorder, Judith Smith:

There are currently public consultations taking place (times and places below) with regard to the development plans for the huge Bickershaw Colliery site, situated on the north side of Plank Lane, Leigh – an area of over a square kilometre. One of the things envisaged for the site (for which about £17m has been secured from English Partnerships) is an 18 hole golf course, which will take up a large proportion of the land. At the consultation, there is a detailed plan of how the area is apportioned, and there is some provision for nature conservation, and protection for important areas, as well as for BMX riding, aerial ropeways, kayaking on a lake to be made, nature trails, some tree planting etc etc.

Long term, it is very much hoped that the creation of a new golf course at Bickershaw will release the Pennington Flash golf course area (large parts of which are usually under water in winter) for a huge extension to the nature reserve. This would make it into a national/regional attraction for birdwatchers, if properly done. A similar project was undertaken in Barnsley by the council there, which eventually became RSPB Old Moor – a site many birdwatchers will be familiar with.

Wigan and Leigh birdwatchers and naturalists are strongly urged to visit the consultation events and support this by filling in the forms available.

The main consultation event will be on Thursday January 24th at Leigh Library 5pm-8pm, but others are on Tuesday 22nd January at Leonard Court, Strange St, off Plank Lane, 5pm-8pm, Leigh Library Wednesday 23rd January 5pm-8pm, and Saturday 26th January 9.30am – 2pm at St Peter’s School, Leigh St, off Firs Lane.

08.12.07

An appeal for unwanted optical equipment to aid the struggle against persecution of migrant birds in Malta.

My name is Peter Grice and I am a fully accredited, full-time volunteer with the Wildlife Section of Lancashire Constabulary, working directly for the Force Wildlife Officer, Duncan Thomas, dealing with all aspects of wildlife issues. My speciality is birds of prey.

During September 2007, several colleagues and I attended a Birdlife Raptor Camp held on the island of Malta. We were there to observe the illegal shooting of birds (with special emphasis on raptors) as they passed over the island on their way South.

Our remit was twofold: to monitor the raptor migration and to liaise with the ALE (Administrative Law Enforcement) and the local Police with regard to illegal shooting incidents. It soon became apparent that the Law Enforcement Agencies were woefully ill equipped and especially suffering from a lack of decent optical equipment.

We intend to try and remedy this is 2008 by asking people if they would kindly consider donating any spare optical equipment they may have. This will be taken out or posted to the Birdlife Malta officials who will in turn pass it on to the various Law Enforcement Agencies based on Gozo and Malta.

If anyone has any queries with regards to any of the above or would like further information with regard to shooting issues on Malta, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Thank You.

Peter Grice

136 Printers Fold

Burnley

Lancashire

BB12 6PU

Tel: 01282 773477

Mob: 07870 283 517

13.12.07

Land Wanted! Trafford Land Allocation Plans.

Click here to see this potentially important conservation plea.

09.10.07

The county adds a new species as BOU splits Caspian Gull.

The British Ornithologists Union has, as of 08.10.09, split both Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans) and American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) from Herring Gull (Larus argentatus). As a result Greater Manchester adds a new species courtesy of the only currently accepted record of Caspian Gull, a 3rd winter bird which spent the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 rather sporadically visiting either Heaton Park or Audenshaw Reservoirs, a further record of an adult bird at Heaton Park Reservoir in early 2007 looks very likely for imminent acceptance by the County Rarity Gulls sub-committee.

25.09.07

Birds in Greater Manchester, County Bird Report 2006

The 2006 County Bird report is now available at a purchase price of £6 (with 60p for postage) and is available from Etherow Country Park, Sale Water Park, Wigan RSPB meetings, both Hale and Manchester Ornithological Society meetings, In Focus at Martin Mere, Stockport Binoculars or directly from Judith Smith.

The report now has a total of 30 colour photographs and all the usual essential county birding features, so don't delay in purchasing your copy while stocks last!

25.09.07

Appointment of BTO Assistant Regional Representative

With immediate effect Steve Atkins has taken up the post of Assistant Regional Rep for the BTO Manchester region. As you will know Steve is the Assistant County Recorder with responsibility for the County database and has been assisting with BTO work in various ways for many years now - surveying, co-ordinating and number-crunching on his computer. Steve's skills and knowledge will be invaluable in ensuring the success of the new BTO Bird Atlas and the new Breeding Birds Atlas for Greater Manchester.

14.09.07

National Bird Atlas 2007- 2011 and New Edition of the Breeding Birds in Greater Manchester

The fieldwork for the new National Bird Atlas, covering both wintering and breeding birds, will commence in November 2007. It’s extremely simple – you can either be a Roving Reporter, sending in records from anywhere in the UK, or you can take on a local tetrad (2km x 2km square) and visit it twice in the winter months and twice in the breeding season.

The BTO, organisers of the Atlas, have agreed to make the fieldwork available to counties who wish to produce a county atlas at the same time. We have decided to take advantage of this offer and will be able to show breeding birds in much greater detail – at 2km x 2km level – than will be possible in the national atlas.

We are hoping that members of local bird clubs and RSPB Groups will be able to help in these exciting projects. By using the atlas data, it should not mean much extra fieldwork for local volunteers. Some of our local breeding birds’ abundance, occurrence and distribution have changed markedly since 1984.

If you would like to help, please contact any of the following people:

Steve Suttill, BTO Regional Representative and Atlas Organiser, Manchester, 01457 836360 suttill.parkinson@virgin.net

Judith Smith, County Recorder, Greater Manchester, 01942 712615 judith@gmbirds.freeserve.co.uk

Steve Atkins, Assistant Recorder (Database), 01706 645097 steveatkins@tiscali.co.uk

For more information about the national atlas, and to see which tetrads are available in your area, visit: www.birdatlas.net or www.bto.org , further information can also be found from the BTO on this Manchester Birding website here.

31.08.07

The 2006 Rochdale Bird Report available for free download.

This comprehensive report covering the birds of Rochdale and it's surrounding area is available to download for free thanks to David Winnard. Click HERE to download the report, remember to click the X in the corner of the 'enter network password' box that appears to get rid of it (if anyone knows why this appears then please let me know!) and to download the report, then save it to your own computer.

14.08.07

The 2006 County Bird Report goes to the printers.

Talk about a bargain! Still priced at £6 (with 60p for postage), so no change there over last year's but now with an extra 2 pages and double the number of colour photos inside, that's 18 plus the usual 12 on the front and back covers. Thirty colour photographs! Every sightings from throughout the year! More county birding information than you can shake a stick at! How on earth can you live without this essential publication? Remember, you can't call yourself a real county birder until you get the county bird report!

30.07.07

The forthcoming Bird Atlas 2007-11. Can you afford not to be involved?

Dawn Balmer gives us the full 'run down' on the exiting prospect of being involved in the Bird Atlas 2007-1, click HERE to read the full story.

28.07.07

Possible new access for Seaforth Nature Reserve

No we haven't adopted Seaforth into Greater Manchester's recording area (but imagine if we could ☺), but Lancashire County Recorder Steve White has asked if I would advertise this very interesting item here and with plenty of Manchester Birders regularly making their way westwards and to the coast when county birding is quiet, I'm only too happy to.

ACCESS TO SEAFORTH NATURE RESERVE

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust is holding discussions with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and the Port of Liverpool Police with a view to increasing the number of birdwatchers allowed access to Seaforth Nature Reserve.

Entry to the Port of Liverpool is tightly controlled under international regulations regarding port security and anyone entering the docks is required to hold a personal pass and vehicle pass issued by the Port Police.

The Port Police and MDHC have indicated their willingness to increase the number of these passes issued to birdwatchers.

The existing system whereby groups or individuals can gain access provided they give 7 days notice will not be affected.

In order to gauge the likely demand for passes LWT is asking birders to indicate whether they would be likely to apply if they do become available. At the moment we have no clear idea of how many passes are likely to be issued. The likely cost will be in the region of £5 per annum to cover the Port Police’s admin costs.

In order to qualify, birders must be or become members of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. Pass-holders will be expected to visit the reserve on a fairly regular basis – people just looking for an insurance policy against the next (long overdue) North American passerine need not apply!

Please note that every visitor needs a pass, a vehicle pass does not give entitlement to bring non-passholders into the docks.

Please let me know if you think you are likely to apply for a pass, by email to swhite@lancswt.org.uk or by writing to Seaforth Nature Reserve, Port of Liverpool, L21 1JD.

Please let me know everyone’s names and email and postal addresses.

I’ll keep everyone in touch with progress on negotiations but am very optimistic of their success.

Steve White, 27 July 2007.

Restoration work will start in mid-August and will aim to reform the inlet to the reedbed and undertake restoration of the reedbed area.

Protective fencing will be erected to deter grazing by the now large numbers of Canada Geese present on site.

24.06.07

The usefulness of dead birds!

The corpses of dead birds are useful! The Manchester Museum has a fantastic bird skins collection (which will be the subject of a forthcoming article) and Henry McGhie (Head of Natural Sciences and Curator of Zoology) would very much like to continue to add species to it, so should you come across a freshly dead bird and would you be willing, stick it in a plastic bag, bung it in the freezer (always goes down well at my house!) and contact Henry by the details below, giving him information on species, date and location of the find.

Mr. Henry McGhie, The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK M13 9PL
email: henry.mcghie@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone: 0161 2752482

16.06.07

Recently added species and amendments to the County Rarity List.

On the 7^th June 2007 the Greater Manchester County Rarities Committee convened at the Jacksons Boat public house next to Sale Water Park, present were Rob Adderley, Adam Davison, Andy Isherwood, Pete Hines and Ian McKerchar. Although the meeting was primarily a ‘meet and greet’ for the new members of the committee, most of whom had never met one and other, there were afew items for discussion, the outcomes of which are listed below.

q Additions to the county rarity list:

1. All species for which rarity descriptions are currently required for ‘in flight’ views only are now to have the ‘in-flight’ caveat dropped and full descriptions will be required for these species whether in flight or not with immediate effect. These species are:

i. Bewick’s Swan -recent episodes of misidentification by experienced observers have clearly highlighted problems with this species and for the time being at least this very scarce county species should require a full description.

ii. Manx Shearwater -occasionally, identifying a species at very close quarters i.e. in the hand or in a box, can be more problematic than might be assumed and we must not forget that Little Shearwater, however unlikely, has previously occurred at an inland Cheshire water.

iii. Little Egret -although county records fluctuate year upon year, this species still remains rare enough to require a full description, the possibility of Snowy Egret, however improbable that might seem, should always be borne in mind and it is also possible that poorly seen or distant sightings without size comparison could also lead to misidentifications with other species.

iv. Spoonbill -despite being a species that should be distinctive enough, the committee felt that considering it’s current very rare and less than annual county status, full descriptions should be requires for all sightings.

v. Common Crane -another very rare and less than annual species in the county for which the likelihood of an escaped (or wild?) Demoiselle Crane should be eliminated by way of a complete description.

vi. Bee-eater -whilst the committee appreciates the complexity of providing a full description for such a species, the possibility of both Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (one inland record in the UK) or any other escaped Bee-eater species (which has occurred on numerous occasions in the UK) should be eliminated from both perched and in flight birds.

2. The flowing species should be added to the county rarities list with immediate effect:

i. Curlew Sandpiper -a species rapidly obtaining real rarity status in the county for which for which the committee felt full descriptions should be required in order to correctly document all future occurrences.

ii. Little Stint -with a similar reason as Curlew Sandpiper (above) the committee also felt that other, rarer species of stint (now occurring annually inland throughout the UK) should be eliminated by way of a full description.

iii. Turtle Dove -a true county rarity in recent years with no confirmed records since 2002, the committee felt that any future sightings were particularly important and should be documented with a full description in order to assess it’s true status.

The rarity report form:

The committee discussed the standard of completed rarity report forms received and felt that the lack of information provided on many forms may be due to observers not knowing what to provide. The committee agreed that a new form should include sections in the area for the observer to provide a description (rather than the current blank space) with headings such as size, behaviour, and topographical areas etc. for which observers would be encouraged to provide information. A new form will be drawn up and will be trialled over the coming year.

Ian McKerchar

Assistant County Bird Recorder (rarities), Greater Manchester

01.06.07

Dragonfly Atlas Project

Yes, I know, Dragonflies are not birds, this is a birding website and I have no intentions of covering such things (unless a consensus of opinion tells me otherwise? Answers on an email please.), but until such creatures are covered by someone daft enough to start up their own website covering them I have been asked if I would notify you all of the forthcoming Dragonfly Atlas Project, which sounds like a very interesting project anyway, so here it is...

The Atlas will cover Lancashire, Greater Manchester and North Merseyside (roughly the old county of Lancashire) and survey work will take place until the end of Summer 2009 with publication in 2010/11.

Those wishing to take part can do so in three ways:

1. Garden Pond dragonfly survey- this part of the project is run completely through their website (see below).

2. Submission of casual records- these can be submitted through the website or sent directly to Graham Jones (atlas editor for GM and county dragonfly recorder).

3. Tetrad survey- this is the main part of the atlas work. They need recruit volunteers who would be willing to take on a 2km square and would be willing to survey at least monthly from May to September using the atlas methodology.

Each district of Greater Manchester has it's own coordinator who provides support who recruit volunteers and if anybody is interested in getting involved (an why not, especially when birding is a little quiet!) they should contact the coordinator for their area directly.

All the details are on their website which can be found at www.dragonflies.org.uk

So where did they all go in 2005, or had you not noticed they were missing from the County Bird Report for that year? Anyway, one keen eyed observer didn't (well done David!) and they had indeed been accidentally omitted from the report, so click here to download the records for Arctic Tern in 2005, remember to click the X in the top right of the dialogue box that should appear in order to close it and open the document. On behalf of Judith Smith and myself, our apologies for this oversight.

In response to an email from Greater Manchester County Bird Recorder Judith Smith explaining our worries regarding the current disturbance at Salford Quays by a falconer flying his birds there, Guy Sharrock responded thus:

Yes, if you deliberately fly a bird of prey at a protected species and catch it/try to catch it then that is illegal unless the species is covered by one of the General Licences for pest control or the falconer has a quarry licence. However, its not illegal to use falcons for scaring birds away, by exercising the bird and flying it over an area, unless a Schedule 1 species is involved. This tends to be the usual situation and they are often employed on tips etc to keeps gulls away. In this case I suspect this is being done to try to prevent birds breeding so that when development work starts they don't have trouble with breeding birds/nests on site. Most falconry birds would normally struggle to catch songbirds/lapwings etc so I suspect there are probably no offences here unless there is direct evidence of the falconer trying to actually take these birds rather than just scare them away. If you get Little Ringed Plovers on site that may be a different situation.

If observers at Salford Quays (or anywhere else for that matter) witness any practises by falconers that may contravene the above statement they should endeavour to contact the Police Wildlife Liaison Officer for their area (see the 'who's who' page on this website) or contact Mark Rydling (PC 4371) at Leigh Police Station on 07736 76960, wherever possible keeping Judith Smith informed also.

A recent correspondence from Peter Franzen on the halting of the Ruddy Duck cull can be found here.

This was held at Rochdale Town Hall and was attended by delegates from local government in Calderdale, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Derbyshire, the Peak District NP, RSPB staff, members of the NW Twite Project, and other interested birdwatchers and conservationists (about 50 in total).

1. There might be about 5 years left to save the Twite from extinction in the South Pennines.

2. The large-scale colour ringing scheme carried out since 2003, plus other studies, notably recently by Raine and McGhie, mean that we have an in-depth knowledge of the reasons for this species’ decline, and what is required to reverse this. We also know a lot about the movement of flocks to and from the South Pennines, and their behaviour whilst in the South Pennines.

3. The provision of hay meadows containing certain plant species such as annual Meadow Grass, Sorrels, Dandelions, Hawkbits, all of whose seeds are taken by Twite, is essential for provisioning young. The sympathetic management of moorland, with regard to sheep grazing and burning-off, is another essential component.

4. It is essential to find the finance (large amounts) to ensure that upland hay meadows are preserved and managed sympathetically for Twite, but financial inducements are necessary for this to happen.

5. It is very important to record all Twite seen in the breeding season (April-June) even if a nest is not found, and to report the numbers, location and grid reference to davidsowter@freenet.co.uk

The RSPB and BTO have very recently got funding from Defra for 160 upland 1km squares in N England to be covered in a BBS-type survey and are recruiting staff to do this work. Whilst this is aimed at all upland species, it is hoped that hitherto unknown Twite breeding pockets might be found.

6. A Twite steering group and/or secure website should be set up to co-ordinate sightings and nest record workers.

7. Natural England needs to be a key partner in any Twite initiative because of their involvement with farm payments for conservation (ESA, HLS etc) Very few farms are likely to qualify for HLS (Higher Level Stewardship) so we need to look for other monies. Windfarm compensation payments for loss of habitat might be one source.

The breeding Peregrines in Manchester City Centre will receive full and well deserved attention this year as the RSPB are to transmit pictures of them on the nest to the BBC's giant screen in Exchange Square (where the big wheel usually is, by Selfridges) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The birds will also appear on 'Springwatch'. Please note that although many of us know full well the exact location where the birds are breeding, it is very important that we should refrain from identifying the site in any manner to anybody, just to be on the safe side.

The Mosslands Barn Owl Conservation Group has been successful in obtaining a grant for £600 for the construction of Barn Owl boxes, Kestrel boxes and purchase of Long-eared Owl baskets.

The Kestrel boxes will be made by Peter Johnson to replace plastic barrels currently in use in the Bury area, which, although suitable for Tawny Owls which breed very early in the year, are not really suitable for summer-nesting Kestrels, as at that time of year there is much more humidity and condensation, which adversely affects this species.

The timber for the boxes has already been delivered. If anyone would like to have a supply, with a plan of the Barn Owl box design, please let me know. Boxes will be monitored by a group member with a Natural England Barn Owl licence.

For Long-eared Owl baskets, we would welcome locations for placement. Ideal situations are conifers (larch, pine, spruce, not ornamental) preferably in areas with clearings and mixed woodland, and away from areas where the baskets might be stolen. Areas can be upland or lowland.