Birding South Glos                                                                                                                                            

Welcome to The Birds Of South Gloucestershire

Marshfield News | S. Glos News

Of the thirty-five odd rare or scarce birds seen historically in S. Glos in July just two were firsts for the recording area. On the 23rd July 1989 I had the privilege of finding our first Woodchat Shrike  PR  from Rushmead Lane at Marshfield along with fellow birders Tim Worsfold, Pete Cleave and Mike Morse. And on July 27th 1999 Paul Bowerman 'clocked' the first Stone Curlew amongst Lapwing at New Passage. Since then these birds have been seen just once each; the second Woodchat Shrike was a spring bird near Thornbury (DH&L Payne) from April 1994, the second Stone Curlew  PR  (also a spring bird found by Paul Bowerman & Richard Ford) was on April 20th 2006 on Northwick Warth at dusk.

Since The Birds Of South Gloucestershire was launched in November 2005 I have been compiling information about the rare and scarce birds, both full species and forms, seen in 'S. Glos'. It is by no means authoritative nor exhaustive but it does, I feel, capture the essence of 'birding' in this extremely important region of the UK. My aim initially was to satisfy my own curiosity but as you can imagine the project has grown in proportions... although the site is continually being updated and developed I hope you find it enjoyable and useful. Feel free to explore the many pages and let me know if there are any corrections to be made.

 

The information comes from a number of sources (and as far back as 1824) but specifically The Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society, the award winning Avon Bird Reports, the meticulous notes of Howard H. Davis and of course the 'birders' themselves. Omissions are probably due to records not being submitted and I would urge everyone to send details to the appropriate County Recorder (See 'Contact').

 

I'd like to thank the many birders who freely contribute news, ideas and photo's and for their continued & most welcomed support. Special thanks to Paul Bowerman, Pete Hazelwood, Rob Laughton, Gary Thoburn and John Barnett.

Established November 2005: Best viewed at screen resolution 1280 x 1024: Constructed in Microsoft FrontPage.

Copyright of images remains the photographers; pictures may not be reproduced or downloaded without permission.