News
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Male goldeneye, RSPB Images
December round-up
Phil Blatcher presented 'Costa Rica Easy', showing us the varied wildlife he saw on a holiday taken earlier this year. He also showed a photo of his dinner - which looked very tasty! The hummingbirds were really stunning.
Geoff Brown then set an alphabet quiz- 26 questions - very tricky. June Crew set a test on bird feathers, and amazingly, both quizzes were won by Helen Mullineux!
Thanks to everyone who brought along food to share and to Chris Crane for organising the refreshments etc. An excellent evening!
Have you bought your raffle tickets for the lovely photograph of a Great Blue Heron, kindly donated to us by Elsie Sinclair, to raise funds? Tickets are 50p each and the winner will be drawn at our AGM in April. Don't miss out - make sure you get your ticket soon!
6 MONTHLY 100 CLUB DRAW
Congratulations to our six-monthly 100 Club winners for December:-1st Janet Green £87, 2nd George Clowes £43.50. Don't forget to contact Geoff Brown if you would like to join our fundraising club, using the 'Contact us' link above. (If you would like to join from our January draw, the cost is £5 - (that is £3 plus a one-off £2 admin charge) Last season a total of £535 was raised by 100 Club members for various RSPB projects. We have raised over £2,700 since the club was formed!
GRAND CHRISTMAS DRAW
We have raised around £900 this year, the first 4 winners drawn were:
1st Norman Munson, Cheshunt 2nd Mrs S Addley, Bishops Stortford 3rd Mrs V Reeves, Goffs Oak
4th Joann Coles, Hoddesdon
Thanks to everyone who supported this draw.
E-NEWSLETTER
If you would like to receive our new E-Newsletter, with up to date news of events and the group, please send your details to us, using the 'Contact us' link above, subject title 'E-Newsletter' and we'll put you on the list!
LOCAL BIRDS
At Rye Meads, the feeding station (by the visitor centre) has been very active recently now the weather is getting colder. It's nice to sit in the classroom and watch the feeders while sipping a cup of coffee! Teal have been very visible around the reserve, from most hides. Redwing and fieldfare have been seen in hedgerows all around the reserve. The peregrines have been seen quite regularly, the best views have been from the visitor centre and the Lapwing Hide. It's been quite good for waders recently, with green sandpipers and snipe being seen and water rails have been heard (and occasionally seen). We've also had some lovely views of a fox that has been seen wandering around the reserve.
At Fishers Green, a bittern has been seen in front of the watchpoint, today we've seen kingfishers around the weir area, goldeneye plus lots of other duck, on Holyfield Lake. Buzzards have been seen soaring over the farm and Galley Hill wood, fieldfare flying over the channel with redwings, also mixed flocks of tits. Little flocks of siskins are feeding on the Alders and little grebes seem to be everywhere!
At Amwell, a bittern has been seen, plus the red-crested pochards, water rails, chiff chaffs and goldeneye. A Bewicks swan was reported here on 14th Dec and a Caspian gull was seen in the gull roost on 13th Dec. Smew have been reported as well.
You can keep updated with news of local sites by visiting our 'Links' page. Have a look at the Herts Bird Club or East London Birders Forum websites for details of birds in our area.
Nearer to home, here in Waltham Abbey, we are still seeing a marsh tit on our feeders daily and at the beginning of the month we saw a Barn owl flying through our garden - that's a first for us!
COMING EVENTS:
We have our annual 'not so local walk' at Abberton Reservoir and Tollesbury on January 3rd, on Jan 17th we have a car trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes, and on Jan 26th we welcome back Ian Rowlands, with his talk on 'Spitzbergen' at our group meeting. A few tables are still available for our very popular General Knowledge Quiz on February 6th. Have a look at our events pages for more details.
Hope you have a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year,
Terry Smith, Group Leader