<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Lancaster and District Birdwatching Society Newsletter
Newsletter of the Lancaster and District Birdwatching Society
Local Birding League - SCORES UP TO END OF AUGUST 2001
Autumn 2001
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Position Name Score Species
1 Pete Fletcher 555    191
2 John Reddish 519 191
3 Pete Marsh 515 192
4 Tom Walkington 455 186
5 Graham Powell 421  184
6 Jean Roberts 415   174
7 Mark Prestwood 407  184
8 Jon Carter 374   154
9 Mike Robinson  370 176
10 Pete Crooks 356 167
11 John Mason    320    158
12 John Girdley  314 162
13 Howard Elliot 288   150
14 Andrew McCafferty    240    121
                                      

The name of the birding league has now been changed to the Local Birding League, which is a much better description of what the league is about. It is just that, local birding and is an enjoyable way of adding to the birding scene. It is not about a train spotting approach, but about a better coverage of the recording area, networking with each other and obtaining and providing more and better geographical coverage of our area and the birds of it. Which has been and still is beneficial to all local birders. On a basic level the list of birds gives a good indication of the relative scarcity of all the birds previously recorded in our area.

The three months since our last report has produced some excellent birds, with the pick of them for me  being the White-rumped Sandpiper on the Allen Pool, with the best double act being good numbers of Storm Petrels at Heysham and Red-necked Phalarope, again on the Allen Pool on the same day.

Other good records for the area and two good finds for Jean Roberts were Velvet Scoter at Jenny Browns Point and Little Tern at Heysham, the latter along with Pete Marsh

Good numbers of finds particularly of seabirds have seen Pete Fletcher, John Reddish and Pete Marsh remain at the front in the league, with John complimenting this with his find of the White-rumped Sandpiper at the end of August.

This Sandpiper was a highlight for many of the leaguers, with Andrew McCafferty arriving on his bike to see it. The Phalarope proved a little more elusive and was missed by quite a few, including Mark Prestwood. Other non local highlights sent in included Black Rat for Mike Robinson, and Lammergeier, Rock Thrush, and Long-legged Buzzard for John Girdley. I hope John was outside our area, or, it could be seen as rather serious suppression of information.

Pete Marsh's list of possible species for the coming month depending on weather conditions include Long-tailed Skua, Pomarine Skua, Shag, Sabines Gull, Grey Phalarope, Yellow-browed Warbler, Firecrest, Wryneck, Barred Warbler and one of the Shrike species possibly on Middleton Industrial Estate. Also given the large number of birder frequenting the Eric Morecambe/Allen Hide, Common Rosefinch or Little Bunting on the seed field on route to it.

With regard to the bird news page I will continue to update it on a regular, daily basis were possible, But I do need information to be passed on to me to make it work. If you see something interesting, not necessarily rare, let me know, please don't assume that somebody else will. I would much rather have duplicated reports than none at all. This is particularly crucial with the rarer species which need to be reported firstly to one of the information services as soon as possible. The bird information web page can be accessed via the district web site link. Information can be sent to me via the link on the page, to my e-mail address john@whalley road .screaming.net or by telephone 39556.

JOHN MASON




Birdtours.co.uk
Worldbirder.com
Local Sightings
LDBWS Website
Newsletter Index