Thursday 4 February 2010

THE NEXT ANNUAL BIRD REPORT

I have already recieved a couple of short articles for inclusion in the 2009 Ceredigion Bird Report and I thought it would be timely to ask for further contributions.
All county reports have two main sections; a systematic list of all the species present during the year of the report, followed by articles on various topics.
The Systematic List is compiled from the data base held by the County Recorder which is made up of records sent in by resident and visiting birdwatchers. With varying degrees of detail, it is a summary of the status of all the species, rare, common, resident or migrant seen in the county. So, has Russell Jones received everyones' records for 2009? Guidelines as to what county recorders would like to receive can be found in past editions of our Report.
As for Articles, they could take the form of:
i) brief notes about some interesting sighting or aspect of bird behaviour in the garden or anywhere. eg Bob Relph's piece on a Buzzard with a Grass Snake in the 2007 Report.
ii) the results of a survey or study of certain species eg Ian Harrison's survey of some cliff-top breeding birds in the 2008 Report.
iii) a review of the birds to be found in your favourite area or patch, such as Harry Pepper's articles on Aberystwyth prom in the 2007 Report and, a relative small patch, Plas Crug ditch in the 2008 Report, or Bob's note about a favourite walk near home, again in the most recent Report.
iv) an article about the status of a species in Ceredigion that you may be particularly interested in. Mediterranean Gulls were done recently and Purple Sandpipers have been bagged for the next Report.
So, this is open to anyone to contribute.
Also,it would be nice if any volunteer wardens of the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust reserves in the county would like to do a little piece for the Report on their reserves, many of which are unknown gems to many of us. I will put out another request to the larger CCW sites which are not necessarily well known to everyone and a review of their features and birdlife would be most welcome.
3 further requests!
Photographs. Recent Reports have had some wonderful colour photographs and hopefully the 2009 Report will have plenty more.
Line Drawings. These also add much to the look of the Report and would be greatly welcomed.
Monthly Weather Summary. Belatedly, I am doing one for this year. Is any weather-buff able to produce one for 2009?
I look forward to a great response to some or all of the above!
Please contact me at johndavis@ midwalesbirdwatching.co.uk

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