Request a new forum - Recent threads

Stour Woods (Essex) & RSPB Flatford

Philipo — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:10:51 GMT

I was taken to Stour Woods (Essex) yesterday by my good photographer friend, despite being disabled I managed to enjoy what was a beautiful
scene as the woodland floor was covered in Wood Anomies’ and on a stump I spotted some Wood Sorel, this was the first time I had ever seen such a plant, ( i have taken several photographs of this plant) it was also a pleasure to see so many adults with their children enjoying the woods and I must say they were well behaved.

On the journey home we called into a new RSPB place, that being Flatford although this place is renowned as John Constables painting
ground there is now a super little RSPB garden area and it was here where I saw my first Tree Creeper.

As I mentioned earlier I am disabled and at times I have to use a wheelchair to do my bird watching and photography the RSPB garden was
fairly accessible and of course we were able to get a good mug of coffee and a piece of flapjack at the NT coffee shop, so RSPB Flatford is well worth a visit.

As yet I have not uploaded my images so perhaps in another post I will include them for your viewing also if anyone else is disabled and is into photography please get in touch.

RHS Gardens

oldman — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:29:19 GMT

Hi wildlife lovers

It`s been a long time since I posted on the forum but I would like to tell you all about a great day out on Tuesday.

My partner and I decided to go for a drive and we ended up at Harlow Carr RHS gardens near Harrogate. On the site was a bird hide. Only small, it held about ten people but what a fantastic two hours we had.The feeders are very close to the hide and we watched most of the Tit variety along with Tree sparrows, Dunnocks, Robins, Tree creepers, Nuthatches and Gold finch. A cheeky squirrel joined the birds on a table and as we walked round the footpaths we watched a Wren from ten feet away hopping about the rocks in a small stream then a few yards along the stream two Grey wagtails entertained us. Overhead three Swallows wheeled about near the greenhouses and we watched them zooming in and out of their nests that had been fixed under the eaves of the buildings courtesy of the RHS staff. Various nest boxes were also fixed to trees throughout the gardens. With all the flower beds ready to come into bloom there will be plenty of insects for the birds to feed off. As usual, the cafe was busy with Robins and Tits flitting around the table looking for tasty morsels. It was a brilliant day so next time you see a garden centre or park, don`t just drive past, park up and take a walk.

Birds in the Spring

helenjx — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:30:17 GMT

OK, here's a weird one, I'm wondering if anyone can help....

I'm a writer, currently researching for a story involving bird watching... I'd like to know what month the first birds are likely to hatch ? And what species?

Basically, in the story there is a baby bird that is found fallen from its nest, at the edge of a ploughed field... I am wanting to be able to place this in time... what month is it likely to be, and what species...

...alternatively... are there any birds that nest on the ground, in or around fields/farmland?

I thought of stone curlews, but I think they nest in wilder places... I know that they are rare anyway, so presumably they wouldn't be found in a field?

Would be so grateful for any thoughts/assistance you can give me!

Thanks

Helen

Is the RSPB getting too out of touch with it's membership?

Simon Tucker — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:13:13 GMT

I know that it is a difficult balancing act between money on projects and money on administration but there are times, like now, when I find the RSPB gives the impression that your membership is not of importance. I have been a member for the last 30 years, 15 of those as a fellow. In that time, apart from the membership fees, I dread to think how much I have donated in response to appeals, purchases through the shop and from the shops on site: certainly my collection of bird books, which I could have bought cheaper elsewhere, were almost all purchased in RSPB reserve shops where they hold such stocks.

Three months ago I wrote to the RSPB asking for some help on a project I have started up to monitor the health and well-being of the Marsh Tit population in an area known as the Braydon Forest in North Wiltshire. This is a red-listed bird and I am looking at habitat preferences within the area with the Forestry Commission and the Wildlife Trust looking to use the information I gather to inform their management decisions. No small responsibility.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission have been really helpful in allowing me access to their land and some support of a financial nature to mitigate the costs of running such a project. This winter I have spent over £1,000 on supplementary feeding the birdlife in the area, £100 on ringing materials specifically for this project, and my request of the RSPB was for some sort of bulk purchase agreement for feed and feeders to help mitigate those costs going forward.

I am not arrogant, had I had a reply saying that there was nothing they could do, not a problem: I know they have their own priorities. What I cannot stand is the complete ignoring of my letter and follow up e-mail sent two weeks ago. My membership is due for renewal in April: reluctantly I might just have to let it lapse and put the money into my own project: all for want of a bit of common courtesy.

Anyone else like a Local Patch forum

Urban Wildlife — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:42:02 GMT

Hi all,

Just been thinking about this anyone else up for a 'Local Patch' forum where we could describe our usual birding location, say what we have see and generally comment on local changes affecting our personal birding habits.

Urban Wildlife

The RSPB Wind Turbine

PatSmith — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:19:21 GMT

I would welcome a Forum where we could discuss the proposed Wind Turbine. I am a local resident and unfortunately missed the 2 days consultation that you sensibly arranged. I see you have now erected a mast to measure the wind speed which is also sensible. A Forum would also be helpful to discuss the pros and cons and continue the dialogue.

'DAYS OUT' FORUM

Birdie Wild — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:06:32 GMT

Hi I think it would be nice if we had a 'Days Out' forum where we can just tell others about a nice day out we've had somewhere and maybe include our photos too. Like 'A Day Out at The Black Country Museum' Etc,

Many of us can't get to the reserves so it would be nice to tell others about a nice day out somewhere that may be easier for people to get too, that includes a nature walk or whatever, like I went to the Tram Museum in Derbyshire and it has a nature walk and most people wouldn't think that it has.

Some coach firms have trips that people can go on easily, they pick up locally and some of the trips have nice nature places, like I went to Oxford by coach not long ago and it was great by the river

.I think it would just be nice to have a forum where people could look through and read others accounts of their days out and maybe plan a nice day out for themselves :-)

A room for Volunteering Information

Rags — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 10:39:14 GMT

Greetings,

I'm still relatively new to these forums, but I’m enjoying it enormously….it’s like Facebook for Birdwatchers and I can say in the last week I’ve been on here more than anywhere else…LOL .

But I can’t find a forum room for volunteering info.

This week end I was helping my son at his main week-end volunteering post at my local Long Lane Pastures in Finchley http://www.longlanepasture.org/index.html but he has only been helping out their for around 2 years as previously we had no Idea it was there.

How many other places in London and around the UK have these wonderful trusts and havens for wildlife - at which young and old alike could get involved – that go almost completely un-noticed even to those whom have an interest in helping out.

It would be wonderful if like the Art room for painters like myself there was also a volunteering room at which you could see what we are doing around the UK and perhaps even plan and make a day out to specifically visit others on there.

I know the RSPB site main has the get involved bit, but things like my local pastures are not there…where as in here there is no limits to what we could post.

Be Happy

Richard Rags Askew

How this Web Site operates

Portsian — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:59:56 GMT

Hi everyone, is there a section on here on how this blog / seb site operates? I logged on for first time other day, and then could not find my posts, or other peopls and am generally finding it a bit confuding to use. iS THERE A rspb cOMMUNITY wEB sITE FOR dUMMIES SECTION PLEASE!??

Webcam collection

mpiekp — Sat, 28 May 2011 11:02:55 GMT

Pretty please I know you've been very busy with the upgrade and post upgrade tweaks.

I think the should be a section just to hold all the various webcam links.

Between ospreys, goshawks, peregines and red kites, and I'm sure there are more that I've missed.

I know I can favorite them when I find them, but sometimes things whizz by so fast when it's busy that you may not see they have been posted at all.

Atleast with a dedicated subsection we can find them to add to our own (growing ) favourite lists.

Wildlife Gardening Forum?

Graeme Fraser — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:41:05 GMT

As the title states, please could we have a new forum to help promote Wildlife Gardening. There is plenty of information on the internet concerning plants that help wildlife but discussion between members as to their experiences, what works best for them, regional variations, and all the variables concerning different plots would be invaluable. Members could show pictures of their gardens or latest projects within their garden e.g. wildlife pond, home made bird house, new hedge planting, bed and borders for nectar and pollen rich plants. The more experienced members can share their knowledge and encourage the 'greener' folks. It would all help to stimulate, educate and create wildlife gardeners both young and old.

Possible 'News' Forum

Photography Nicky — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:38:11 GMT

To cover any stories which have been in the local news, escapees, amazing sighting etc....

Pets Section

KatTai — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:03:11 GMT

I'd like to see a pets section as I don't really feel that they fit in with the wildlife sections and I think it would be a great addition to security central to have a section where everyone can take about their dogs, cats, spiders, tortoises, fish, lizards, snakes and whatever else the other members here keep!

REQUEST A NEW FORUM- How about this ?

seymouraves — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:43:02 GMT

Hi-

how about a General Birding Forum? It could cover general discussion stuff that isnt necessarily question led .

Sightings... idea for new webpage/twitter mashup

Guy — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:04:28 GMT

During the November/December snow I discovered a new twitter mashup called http://uksnowmap.com/

this is how it works...

"This app searches Twitter for real-time snow reports and displays them on the map.

Tweet the hashtag #uksnow, your location (postcode, town name or geotag your tweet), and rate the snow that is falling out of ten (0/10 for nothing - 10/10 for a blizzard).

You can also include the depth of snow (cm or inches), attach a photo and add a description to your tweet."

I was on twitter tonight looking at http://twitter.com/#!/WaxwingsUK and thought that it would be brilliant to have a bird spotting mashup for not only waxwings but also different types of birds... these could then be clearly displayed on a map of the UK

could work something like this: #rspbsightings RG12 waxwings 10

where:
#rspbsightings is the twitter account name
RG12 is the postcode
waxwings is type of bird spotted
10 is the amount of birds or 'flock' if there are too many to count

icons could then be plotted on the map and then the user could filter according to species that they were looking for so they could sort out their wheatear from their chiff-chaff

the uksnowmap is easily accessible on the internet, and it is also accessible on a mobile and via iphone app... hell... you could even sell the app on iphone for 59p per download and make this relatively simple alteration to the snowmap code work for you and make the RSPB money and gain more users and followers... all you would have to do is contact the original developer... Ben Marsh

How about a pictures competition Forum

goldeneagle788 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:50:32 GMT

It would be great for a new forum specifically for competitions and events

Regards Golden Eagle

New forum Idea - My Garden Diary

barman58 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:57:58 GMT

Following a post of mine in another thread I think It may be a good idea to have a forum specifiv=cly for regular lists of what we are seeing in our garrdens

This would take the form of each person starting and maintaining a thread with regular posts (daily or weekly) of the birds in heir garden - a sort of on-going great garden birdwatch. this thread would not be for comments but just for each individual diary

as well as providing a nice record for the individual i would also be of interest to others,

If regularly updated and include basic weather and other local changes (new feeder/food Etc.), it may give information on national and local trends

Please add any comments below to see if this is is a viable idea and one the mods would like to instigate

weather warning

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:11:28 GMT

just been told the main roads from wetherby to leeds and harrogate

are blocked, the wetherby to spoffoth rd is blocked, my wife is trying to get

back to harrogate from wetherby, is trying to go up A1 to harrogate turn off.

anyone in these areas get in touch with aa rd watch.

all i can do is watch from a warm house. best regards mac

Where are we all going today?

Shane — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:13:21 GMT

Hi Folks

I was thinking today about an idea for a Forum (ifs it already been done I'm sorry).

How about a forum where you can post the place you are going to visit that day and why, this might encourage others to travel somewhere they have not been too before. It could also be a good way of meeting up with other members from here at certain reserves locations etc. I have often walked around reserves and seen other RSPB members (recognised by the coloured tags) walking around and have wondered do they come in here too?

This could be a good way for several to meet at the same place and same time and share our love for nature and in some cases your expertise (lacking here) with each other and making friends in the flesh not just on line.

Good Idea or not?

Regards

Shane

The Birding Experience

Superman — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:26:50 GMT

Hi folks,

Being new to Birdwatching this year it struck me how wonderful it is to see your 1st of a particular species or activity. This week was such an exciting week for me as I saw my first Goldcrest which was beautiful & small. It was one of the questions on Autumnwatch last nite & I was overjoyed when the presenter confirmed the high pitched noise.

Yesterday was another first as I viewed a Sparrowhawk take out a Dunlin in front of our eyes in the observation room (RSPB Harbour Lagoon, Belfast). What a sight that was & caused a lot of people to reach for the camera's.

Nxt I'm off to Castle Espie to see the Owl & Hedgehog session, feed the ducks & watch those Brent Geese over Strangford Lough featured on Autumnwatch - life is great eh!

RSPB

5WIFT — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:32:08 GMT

As far as I can see, there's nowhere where the RSPB itself is discussed. It's understandable almost all the posts are about birds, which we all enthusiastic about, but is there not also a need to examine how we're doing as an organisation? Suggestions for our new Chief Executive perhaps, or thoughts about membership turnover (we sign up lots of new members, but why do so many leave us before long?), or about how we spend our funds in UK or overseas, or about how well campaigns are going (lots of signatures for letter to the future, but not so good when you see it's less than a quarter of our membership).

You will probably guess I'd like to start with a good moan! I volunteered for a couple of different things, and the first response in both cases was "please fill in this form authorising a CRB check". Not very welcoming I thought, how about a phone call first to see if I suit the job and the job suits me! How does the RSPB recommend its staff to handle the first contact with a new volunteer?

Overall the RSPB does a really great job, so this isn't really about moans but about fostering continuing success, by exchanging ideas about how we do things and what we might do extra/differently/less of.

Photography Forum Requests

rhodopsin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:19:18 GMT

I see there have been two previous requests for some sort of Photographic Forum, one in January and the other in June.

May I ask if this forum will become a reality as I wouldn't mind contributing to it as well as learning from it.

I don't think it needs to be a critique type forum as there are many of those specialist type of forums all over the web. But it could be a simple problem and assist part of the site i.e. Q. when I press the button this happens – why? A. You have to set it up like this.

Just thought I'd ask.

What Is The Mystery Bird

Superman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:24:27 GMT

Win an Opticron scope if you can identify the mystery bird in Birdwatch. Go online to birdwatch - win - mystery bird. I thought it was a black tern - any ideas - I'd like to enter comp myself.

Thanks

Jim

A new Forum for up to date TV/Radio programmes.

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:05:28 GMT

Hi there

I think it would be a good idea to add a New Forum to cover all the up and coming wildlife Programmes.

There are so many around it is hard to keep track of them now

On top of that it is a good way of members finding out about programmes in advance.

Of course there is the famous I-player that cover most of the main channels so that is a bonus now.

Just an idea

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Botany

Wild Life Ranger — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:35:51 GMT

What about a thread for plant ID's on RSPB Reserves to help log the Biodiversity Could post pictures to ID the plants & Flowers ?