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Stories from the Birdwatch Newsdesk are now being posted direct to 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 195 (September 2008): table of contents

Features

• Stoddart, A. Garden and Barred Warblers [How to distinguish between these two similar warblers]
• Garner, M. Green-winged, Common and Baikal Teal [The key features that help to separate females of these three confusion species]
• Alibone, M. All eyes on binoculars [The annual buyers’ guide to more than 250 models of binocular]
• Madge, M. State of emergency [A look at the losses and gains among Britain’s birds]
• Gardener, A. The original Scilly season [September can be very exciting as an autumn birding destination]
• Marven, N. On location – Wotsit all about? [Texas birding in spring]
• Young, S. Storm forecast [Photographing Leach’s Storm-petrels]

Better Birding

• Find your own ... Wryneck
• On the move – Heading for a fall
• Tip from the top – Erik Hirschfeld
• Must see – Spotted Crake
• First records – September stars
• What's on - September events
• Optical events - September guide
• Birding courses and workshops
• September high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds

• Parker, T. North Teesside
• Bradshaw, C. Isle of Sheppey, Kent
• Wormwell, C. Isle of Man
• Doolan, J. Kilcummin Head, Co Mayo

News and related items
News digest – birds of prey attacks hit record high; critical finch numbers on the up; puffin population plummets Fraser, M.
ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [Splits: Shrike-babblers Pteruthius; Brush-finches Buarremon. New subspecies: Black-striped Sparrow Arremonops conirostris. Relationships: Gulf of Guinea kingfishers Alcedo; National lists: Great Britain, Iraq]


Tools of the trade
Product review: Opticron HR 66 GA ED/45 telescope
Brochure watch: Birdfinders 2009
Internet: online osprey journey; notes form the newsgroups; flights of fancy; website of the month
Book reviews: Birds in Colour by Marc Duquet (Christopher Helm); Identifying Birds by Colour by Moss Taylor and Norman Arlott (HarperCollins); The Birds of Gwent by the Gwent Ornithological Society (Christopher Helm); A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia by Charles M Francis (New Holland).

Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland
Hill, B. The young ones [Cattle Egrets Bubulcus ibis, Somerset Levels throughout July 2008]
Darlaston, M and Langman, M. Shear brilliance [Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, Berry Head, Devon, 29 July 2008]
Harbard, C. Two-barreds invade in record numbers [Two-barred Crossbills Loxia leucoptera, record numbers from 20 July 2008]

Monthly highlights summary: July 2008

Recent reports
Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, July 2008, including photos of Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus, Sabine’s Gull Xema sabini, Black Stork Ciconia nigra, Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii, Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes, Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus, White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis, Rose-coloured Starling Sturnus rosea, Two-barred Crossbill Loxia leucoptera, Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla, American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica, presumed Fea’s Petrel Pterodroma feae.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in July 2008, including photos of American Great Egret Ardea alba egretta in the Azores, Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica and Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri in Norway, Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus in the Netherlands.

Free 36-page report: The state of the UK’s birds 2007, distributed exclusively by Birdwatch