Ray.Scott
Well-known member
Cheers Kinghorn & rokemartin :t::t::
As if life wasn't difficult enough, we've now got swan gooses to contend with,
what a delemer:eek!:.
-
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Durham Birding (73 Viewers)
- Thread starter Skelly
- Start date
Cheers Kinghorn & rokemartin :t::t::
As if life wasn't difficult enough, we've now got swan gooses to contend with,
what a delemer:eek!:.
StevieEvans
Well-known member
heared about an eared
one asio owl species hunting the A183 roadside alongside Eastern most edge of Lambton Estate at 8am.
SE
one asio owl species hunting the A183 roadside alongside Eastern most edge of Lambton Estate at 8am.
SE
Bonsaibirder
http://mobro.co/saddinall
DBC Latest News page
I apologise to Birdforum members who are not interested in this subject but since it seems to be a permitted subject within this thread I wanted to express an opinion on the recent discussion about the Durham Bird Club News page - I prefer to call it a "discussion" rather than "aggro" since this has been a polite debate as far as I can see. My opinions here are personal and not DBC-endorsed! I am, however, currently a DBC committee member but have no more influence over committee decisions than any of the others.
Jumpin 4 joy and Ray-S have made points which are worth considering. J4J seems to be saying that the DBC News page would be useful for a visiting birder who does not live in Co Durham and wants to plan a visit and that such a person is very unlikely to be a DBC member. Ray-s says that he was put off joining the club because of the portions of the website which were unavailable to non-members.
As I understand it, the DBC's primary concern is bird conservation in County Durham. We try to further this cause by promoting enjoyment, appreciation, correct identification and, as a result, accurate recording of birds in County Durham. We do this through publications, running local trips, workshops and more wide-ranging field trips, holding indoor meetings, organising voluntary conservation work and either organising or taking part in surveys. Most of these activities have their social aspects too - all are done in a friendly atmosphere. Note that we are not particularly a listing, or twitching organisation although some of our members do enjoy finding and seeing rare or unusual birds.
I see the club website as an extension of the club publications, which acts as a way of letting members know about the various coming events and, to the public, as a way of explaining what we do and why we do it. There is a lot of information about our activities on the website.
The only content on the website not available for public viewing are the Discussion Forum, the Latest Sightings and some electronic excerpts from previous publications. The justification for these being private was to give our members some added value for their subscriptions. Although in the case of the forum, it was also to provide a private area for friendly discussions - some people may be too shy to ask questions in a widely viewable public forum.
To be honest, there was some discussion about whether to have a sightings page at all - bird information is freely available on the web for the whole of the UK and if you really want to know what's about in great detail then you should subscribe to a pager or text service. Some of these services even allow you to receive news from individual counties for short periods of time (e.g. when visiting).
To address the point made by Ray-S : It is concerning that the existence of private content on the website put you off joining the DBC. It would be very useful to know what extra information about the club was missing from the website? Perhaps a freely downloadable sample past issue of our quarterly magazine would have helped you decide about the merits of joining club? What do you think? This is something I will suggest to the committee. However I do not see how access to recent bird sightings would have helped. Perhaps it was just the idea of private information that put you off. Other organisations (the DWT and RSPB, for example) have magazines which are exculsively for their members - but they do not have downloadable versions on their websites for members - so the DBC is ahead of the curve in this respect
!
J4J's point is entirely accurate but I am not sure it is reason enough to make the sightings page public.
I would hate to see people using this situation to post, for want of a better phrase, "teases" as regards content on the DBC website. eg. I've seen something but I'm posing it on the DBC website - I can see how this might cause friction even if said in jest and this certainly isn't what the DBC intended.
Cheers,
I apologise to Birdforum members who are not interested in this subject but since it seems to be a permitted subject within this thread I wanted to express an opinion on the recent discussion about the Durham Bird Club News page - I prefer to call it a "discussion" rather than "aggro" since this has been a polite debate as far as I can see. My opinions here are personal and not DBC-endorsed! I am, however, currently a DBC committee member but have no more influence over committee decisions than any of the others.
Jumpin 4 joy and Ray-S have made points which are worth considering. J4J seems to be saying that the DBC News page would be useful for a visiting birder who does not live in Co Durham and wants to plan a visit and that such a person is very unlikely to be a DBC member. Ray-s says that he was put off joining the club because of the portions of the website which were unavailable to non-members.
As I understand it, the DBC's primary concern is bird conservation in County Durham. We try to further this cause by promoting enjoyment, appreciation, correct identification and, as a result, accurate recording of birds in County Durham. We do this through publications, running local trips, workshops and more wide-ranging field trips, holding indoor meetings, organising voluntary conservation work and either organising or taking part in surveys. Most of these activities have their social aspects too - all are done in a friendly atmosphere. Note that we are not particularly a listing, or twitching organisation although some of our members do enjoy finding and seeing rare or unusual birds.
I see the club website as an extension of the club publications, which acts as a way of letting members know about the various coming events and, to the public, as a way of explaining what we do and why we do it. There is a lot of information about our activities on the website.
The only content on the website not available for public viewing are the Discussion Forum, the Latest Sightings and some electronic excerpts from previous publications. The justification for these being private was to give our members some added value for their subscriptions. Although in the case of the forum, it was also to provide a private area for friendly discussions - some people may be too shy to ask questions in a widely viewable public forum.
To be honest, there was some discussion about whether to have a sightings page at all - bird information is freely available on the web for the whole of the UK and if you really want to know what's about in great detail then you should subscribe to a pager or text service. Some of these services even allow you to receive news from individual counties for short periods of time (e.g. when visiting).
To address the point made by Ray-S : It is concerning that the existence of private content on the website put you off joining the DBC. It would be very useful to know what extra information about the club was missing from the website? Perhaps a freely downloadable sample past issue of our quarterly magazine would have helped you decide about the merits of joining club? What do you think? This is something I will suggest to the committee. However I do not see how access to recent bird sightings would have helped. Perhaps it was just the idea of private information that put you off. Other organisations (the DWT and RSPB, for example) have magazines which are exculsively for their members - but they do not have downloadable versions on their websites for members - so the DBC is ahead of the curve in this respect
!J4J's point is entirely accurate but I am not sure it is reason enough to make the sightings page public.
I would hate to see people using this situation to post, for want of a better phrase, "teases" as regards content on the DBC website. eg. I've seen something but I'm posing it on the DBC website - I can see how this might cause friction even if said in jest and this certainly isn't what the DBC intended.
Cheers,
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Hawfinch
Hallo
I hope someone can help me. I was wondering if anyone has recently had Hawfinch at Sunderland Bridge or thereabouts. Hoping to visit again soon (been a couple of times but never been successful with Hawfinch) and wondered just what was around. Any recent lists from the area would be really helpful.
Thanks.
Hallo
I hope someone can help me. I was wondering if anyone has recently had Hawfinch at Sunderland Bridge or thereabouts. Hoping to visit again soon (been a couple of times but never been successful with Hawfinch) and wondered just what was around. Any recent lists from the area would be really helpful.
Thanks.
Hi,
I understand the best place for the hawfinch is at Croxdale Hall in the large trees behind the old chapel. I haven't seen any posts for ages about them so not sure if they are about or when the best time of year is to see them? Its a shame really as I only live about a mile from there - along the cycle path, but rarely get along to the hall. The residents were not too pleased about all the scopes and long lenses the last time there was a sighting!
We have had good sightings of barn owl and little owl around here along with my 'pet' tree sparrows. Is there still someone out there who wants owl pellets?
We had a large bird fly into the window last night around 9.45 so there could be one less - tho no evidence!
Cheers
Paul Mc
StevieEvans
Well-known member
Cheap Hawfinch
Hello Carrion
Ive been watching the Hawfinches in Croxdale Estate at Sunderland Bridge on & off since the mid 1980's.
(if you're unfamiliar with the area, then there is a "site guide" on the DBC website:t
Numbers are currently very poor... (& the site max is only 14 birds) i was down for a good look about last week in near to perfect weather conditions & was fortunate to briefly see a single male bird.
Best strategy may be to wait till Christmas / New Year time, & watch out for bird news (from whichever source you prefer ) , as there will be a lot more birders visiting over the holiday period.
If there are "regular" birds by this time, then you can guarantee a steady stream of Birders visiting to "get them" on their year lists & lots of "bird news" as a consequence.
Here is a list i posted last week:-
Heres a friendly & helpful Link:-
http://www.durhambirdclub.org/dbc.pl/site-guide/croxdale.html
Carrion said:
Hello Carrion
Ive been watching the Hawfinches in Croxdale Estate at Sunderland Bridge on & off since the mid 1980's.
(if you're unfamiliar with the area, then there is a "site guide" on the DBC website:t
Numbers are currently very poor... (& the site max is only 14 birds) i was down for a good look about last week in near to perfect weather conditions & was fortunate to briefly see a single male bird.
Best strategy may be to wait till Christmas / New Year time, & watch out for bird news (from whichever source you prefer
) , as there will be a lot more birders visiting over the holiday period. If there are "regular" birds by this time, then you can guarantee a steady stream of Birders visiting to "get them" on their year lists & lots of "bird news" as a consequence.
Carrion said:
Here is a list i posted last week:-
Heres a friendly & helpful Link:-
http://www.durhambirdclub.org/dbc.pl/site-guide/croxdale.html
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StevieEvans
Well-known member
Carrot dangler
Hi there Steve,
Thats a particularly detailed reply from someone who hardly ever posts any bird news on either of the 2 sites......:smoke:.
Mebeez if you had a big enough carrot, then you might want to dangle it too :eek!:
Looking at another Bird Forum thread, http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=126837
it seems that a suggested report of a Collared Flycatcher made its way from the Durham Bird Club Forum onto the national bird news circus... sorry circuit.....
Talk about teasing !!!! :-O ,
No wonder people think DBC are hiding stuff ! ive never laughed so much in a long time !
Ho'ton Local Patch
CW expresses concern today over H.Bogs Water Rails - numbers right back, somethings not quite right down there, compared with regular no's at other local sites.... maybe they've been airgunned for the taxidermy trade ?
Roving & Timed Visits for The Atlas today producing several Woodcocks, 2Tawnies, 1Long-eared Owl (nr South Hetton), couple of fly-by Waxwings, an adult male Peregrine being mobbed by imm male Kestrel over Houghton (CW/SE)
Hi there Steve,
Thats a particularly detailed reply from someone who hardly ever posts any bird news on either of the 2 sites......:smoke:.
Mebeez if you had a big enough carrot, then you might want to dangle it too :eek!:
Looking at another Bird Forum thread, http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=126837
it seems that a suggested report of a Collared Flycatcher made its way from the Durham Bird Club Forum onto the national bird news circus... sorry circuit.....
Talk about teasing !!!! :-O ,
No wonder people think DBC are hiding stuff ! ive never laughed so much in a long time !
Ho'ton Local Patch
CW expresses concern today over H.Bogs Water Rails - numbers right back, somethings not quite right down there, compared with regular no's at other local sites.... maybe they've been airgunned for the taxidermy trade ?
Roving & Timed Visits for The Atlas today producing several Woodcocks, 2Tawnies, 1Long-eared Owl (nr South Hetton), couple of fly-by Waxwings, an adult male Peregrine being mobbed by imm male Kestrel over Houghton (CW/SE)
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Bonsaibirder
http://mobro.co/saddinall
Bonsaibirder
http://mobro.co/saddinall
Hi Steve,
Not sure what your point is - I don't post much bird news because I don't go birding very often. When I see something interesting then I post it on the Durham site. When I see something rare it will go onto birdguides. I don't post here because I don't read this forum (except when someone, in this case you:smoke:! tells me to have a look).
I was partly responsible for getting the DBC News page running so I felt obliged to say something.
When I find something good - I'll tell everyone:t:.
Cheers,
Steve
FoghornKinghorn
Durham Recorder
Sorry. Didn't realise I made the news. It wasn't a long tailed tit, not a woodpecker, not a pied wagtail. I only reported on what my freind said. They got it wrong obviously. I was stupid enough to post it. So I appologise to those who read this for being so stupid. I didn't know the rarity of a Collared Flycatcher, well i did but not the 2nd ever. If I knew that I would have given it a second thought.
StevieEvans
Well-known member
That really is an excellent article, great advice for anyone wanting to catch up with, what is a very local bird throughout the whole northern region & its freely available to non- DBC members too....
Ahh! If only those non believers could sample the wares which lie within the quarterly Lek & website :-O
If you want help Study & Conserve wild birds in County Durham (& go birding armed with up to date info & enjoy yourself - sense of humour optional
) then......... oh drat my pens run out........... :-O
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Bonsaibirder
http://mobro.co/saddinall
rokermartin
Well-known member
Report on RBA of a Little Bunting seen at Blackhalls Rocks late morning has 'nt been seen since.
StevieEvans
Well-known member
You didn't write it did you Steve
Alright, i admit it.. IT was me :king: No ! i didnt mean i am Will Robinson, i meant i wrote the article (well copied it out of a book im writing anyway )
Right im going home. No more from me for a good while i promise.:flyaway:
Jumpin 4 Joy
Well-known member
Mr. Evans, that wasn't me and you know fine well it wasn't. It was probably you and your cronies trying to be funny. Didn't you even sign one of your posts on here with 'Will Robinson' ?
FoghornKinghorn
Durham Recorder
If there was a Bittern there I don't see the problem.
durham giant
Well-known member
Where is the best place in the county for snow bunting and lapland bunting - they are my bogey birds!?
