Friday 21 December 2007

We have moved back to www.birdwatch.co.uk!


Stories from the Birdwatch Newsdesk are now being posted direct to http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/, the relaunched website of the magazine - please bookmark it in your browser and be sure to visit it regularly for news and reviews, features and much, much more. This blog will remain online for the time being as an archive of news stories published since June 2007.

Birdwatch – issue 187 (January 2008): table of contents


















Features

  • Scriver, J. Living death [A shockingly graphic illustrated account of a Peregrine’s attack on a Common Gull]
  • Vinicombe, K E. American Herring Gull [The status and identification of this vagrant Nearctic gull in Britain and Ireland]
  • Wilson, J. Reedlings [Personal recollections of Bearded Tits at Leighton Moss by the reserve’s former warden]
  • Young, S. Hide-away [How to use a portable hide for photography]

Better Birding
  • Building skills – Resolute birding
  • Find your own … Brambling
  • How to … Point it out
  • On the move – past experience
  • Tip from the top – Adrian Pitches
  • Must see – Purple Sandpiper
  • Garden Birdwatch – Noteworthy
  • Event of the month – Big Garden Birdwatch 2008
  • What’s on – January events
  • Optical events – January guide
  • Birding courses and workshops
  • January high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds
  • Mulder, R. Lauwersmeer, The Netherlands
  • Rose, C. Red Kites in the Chilterns
  • Jones, G. Wigan Flashes, Lancashire
  • Morrell, Caerlaverock WWT, Dumfries and Galloway

News and related items

News digest – Cruise ship sinks in Antarctica, latest Rarities Committee report, proposed CAP reforms and White-tailed Eagles in Scotland.
Fraser, M. ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [Relationships: Owls – Megascops and Otus species. Potential splits: Congolese birds. National list: Britain – addition of Olive-tree Warbler Hippolais olivetorum]


Tools of the trade

Product review: Bushnell Elite e2 8x42 binocular; Tamrac Adventure 7 bag
Brochure watch: Birdwatching Breaks 2008
Internet: updates and new websites, photography online, plus website of the month.
Book reviews and previews: A History of Ornithology by Peter Bircham (HarperCollins); True to Form by David Bennett (Langford Press); Bird: the Definitive Visual Guide by David Burnie (Dorling Kindersley); Eagle Island: a Year on the Isle of Mull by Gordon Buchanan (Beckman Visual Publishing/BBC)


Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland

Rogers, A. Goodwick supplies the goods [Pechora Pipit Anthus gustavi, Goodwick Moor, Pembrokeshire,19-23 November 2007]
Rabbitts, B. Mourning has broken - twice [Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura, Carnach, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, 1-7 November 2007]
McGeehan, A. Yank dove touches down at Inishbofin International [Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura, Inishbofin, Co Galway, Ireland, 2-15 November 2007]
McKenzie, D. Record-breakers [Little Auk movement, North Sea, November 2007]

Monthly highlights summary: November 2007


Recent reports

Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, November 2007, including photos of Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias (December), probable Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka, probable Desert Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia (curruca) minula, Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus, Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis, Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus, Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti, White’s Thrush Zoothera dauma, Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla, Little Auk Alle alle, probable Gyr Falcon Falco rusticolus, Bonaparte’s Gull Larus philadelphia, Pechora and Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus gustavi and A rubescens, Barrow’s Goldeneye Bucephala islandica and Forster’s Tern Sterna forsteri.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in November 2007, including photos of Canvasback Aythya valisineria and Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus in The Netherlands, Killdeer Charadrius vociferus in Spain, Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus in France, Tricoloured Heron Egretta tricolor in Spain and Eyebrowed Thrush Turdus obscurus in Israel.


Exclusive reader offer

Petrels Night & Day: A Sound Approach Guide by Magnus Robb, Killian Mullarney & The Sound Approach. Order a copy at the special price of £27.95


Special Supplement

World of Birds 2008 – 24-page supplement on birding holidays and destinations, with illustrated articles on goose-watching in Britain, Ireland and continental Europe, Kenya’s Rift Valley, the Canadian Arctic and Australia’s Northern Territory.

Wednesday 5 December 2007

Birdwatch – issue 186 (December 2007): table of contents


















Features

  • Vinicombe, K E. Hybrid ducks [How to untangle Aythya hybrids]
  • Young, S. Class of 2007 [Account of October 2007 on the Isles of Scilly, including images of Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata, Blyth’s Pipit Anthus godlewski, Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum, Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator and Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata]
  • Robb, M. Petrels night and day [Sound-recording exploits at colonies of White-faced Storm-petrel Pelagodroma marina, with images including photos and sonograms of this species and Madeiran Storm-petrel Oceanodroma castro]
  • Young, S. Don’t forget how to focus [Using manual focus in bird photography]
  • Cocker, M. Working for Africa’s birds [Profile of the African Bird Club]

Better Birding
  • Find your own … Water Rail
  • In the field – Going solo, or two’s company?
  • Garden Birdwatch – Practise on winter diners
  • Must see – Shore Lark
  • How to … Choose a place to bird
  • Birding equipment – Keeping it clean
  • Tip from the top – Dave Gosney
  • What’s on – December events
  • Optical events – December guide
  • Birding courses and workshops
  • December high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds
  • Pullen, D. The Black Isle, Highland
  • Wormwell, C. Isle of Man
  • Donaghy, N. Kenfig, Glamorgan
  • Scott, B. Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire

Competition

Win Kowa prizes worth over £2,400

Birdwatch Artist of the Year 2007 – a selection of the best entries, in association with the Society of Wildlife Artists and Swarovski Optik


News and related items

News digest – 2007 breeding season; storm is bad new for Bitterns; green light for oil platforms; reprieve for African flamingos Fraser, M.

ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [New species: Sincora Antwren Formicivora grantsaui. National list: Britain, including recommendations from the BOURC’s Taxonomic Sub-Committee such as species-level recognition of Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans and American Herring Gull L smithsonianus. Relationships: Barbtails and treerunners Margarornis complex; Starling and mockingbird families Sturnidae and Mimidae]


Tools of the trade


Product review: Nikkor 300mm AF-S VR f2.8 G IF-ED telephoto lens

Brochure watch: Limosa Holidays

Internet: updates and new websites, plus website of the month.

Book reviews and previews: Flight Identification of European Seabirds by Anders Blomdahl, Bertil Breife and Niklas Holmstrom (Christopher Helm); John Kirk Townsend by Barbara and Richard Mearns (Barbara and Richard Mearns); The Lapwing by Michael Shrubb (T & AD Poyser); Watching British Dragonflies by Steve Dudley, Caroline Dudley and Andrew Mackay (Subbuteo); The Bird Songs of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East by Andreas Schulze and Karl-Heinz Dingler (Musikverlag Edition Ample)


Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland

Spurrell, B. Grosbeak’s late show on St Agnes [Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus, Grinlington Farm, St Agnes, Scilly, 23-29 October 2007]
Moore, I. ‘Squeaker’ calls in Yank warbler [Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata, The Garrison, St Mary’s, Scilly, 9 October 2007]
Shaw, K. Foula - twinned with Siberia [Siberian Rubythroat Luscinia calliope, Foula, Shetland, 5 October 2007]
Lidster, J. Snipe strikes again on Scilly [Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata, Lower Moors, St Mary’s, Scilly, from 11 October 2007]
Baines, R. Easterlies blow in surprise from Asia [Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica, Flamborough, Yorkshire, 3-4 October 2007]
Mullarney, K. Shy Blyth’s joins the Irish list [Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum, Mizen Head, Co Cork, Ireland, 10-11 October 2007]

Monthly highlights summary: October 2007


Recent reports

Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, October 2007, including photos of Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla, Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata, Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos, Radde’s Warbler Phylloscopus schwarzi, Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens, Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus, Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla, Pine Bunting Emberiza leucocephalos, American Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura and Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in October 2007, including photos of Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor, Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea, Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus, Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor and Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus on the Azores, Goliath Heron Ardea goliath in Egypt, Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach in Denmark, and Eastern Crowned Warbler Phylloscopus coronatus in The Netherlands.

ISSN 0967-1870

We have moved back to www.birdwatch.co.uk!

Stories from the Birdwatch Newsdesk are now being posted direct to http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/, the relaunched website of the magazine - please bookmark it in your browser and be sure to visit it regularly for news and reviews, features and much, much more. This blog will remain online for the time being as an archive of news stories published since June 2007.