Teesmouth Bird Club

The Riverside Road is closed in Stockton, so I have attached a document with some directions.

Dear Members,

The Teesmouth Field Centre has joined the Evening Gazette Wish 13 - Cash for Your Community scheme for the first time which formally started today. If you buy the Evening Gazette newspaper or know of someone else who does, then please collect the tokens printed in the newspaper each evening until January 2014 for the Field Centre.

You can pass the tokens on to me at club meetings or alternatively put them through the TFC letterbox next time you are out birdwatching around the estuary.

There are 200+ registered groups taking part in the scheme, so the more tokens we collect the greater the donation we would receive. The money received will help us keep the Field Centre going providing outdoor education and events for all ages around Teesmouth.

Thank you for your support.
Julie

Due to the poor response for bookings the planned coach trip to Tophill Low Nature Reserve has been cancelled.

Julie

I am in the process of planning the next batch of monthly outings for members covering October 2013 onwards. These are local walks lead by club members for club members at a location, date and time of the leaders choice. Typical duration is 2 hours.

If anyone is willing to lead a walk, please get in touch. If we don't have more volunteers there will be several months in 2014 onwards with no walks.

Thanks
Julie

I have received one offer from a member so far 

We have so many good birdwatchers and photographers in the club who I am sure could give a talk.

Possible suggestions to get the 'old grey matter' working.
Your Birding Year
Best Birdwatching Day
Favourite Birdwatching Site
Birdwatching in ?
Favourite species
My birding patch
All the birds I missed by 5 minutes!!

You might be aware that INCA with its team of dedicated volunteers has been monitoring the seal population (Harbour Seal and Grey Seal) in the Tees Estuary for the last 20 years or so.  All of our data is focused on the peak season which covers the pupping season for our breeding seal, the Harbour Seal, in June and the time that they moult in August and early September.  Sadly our resource doesn't allow us to monitor outside of this period, but we've suspected from anecdotal evidence that large numbers of seals remain throughout the year, including winter.   Dave Britton has confirmed this recently, when he reported an amazing 62 Harbour Seal at Greatham Creek on 9th February 2013.

If you're a regular visitor to the estuary , I'm interested to hear of any observations of good numbers of seals hauling out at Greatham Creek or Seal Sands, or observations of seals hauling out in new locations (note that small numbers of both species are already known to use Billingham Beck and the Tess Barrage). Any information will be welcome, particularly if you could be specific about the time, date and location of your observations.   

If you need any advice about differentiating the two species, or want to send any observations of the nature described earlier, you can contact me at robert.woods@inca.uk.com.    Thanks very much for your help. 

I am organising the next indoor meetings for 2013/14. In previous years we have had one night where members are invited to give short talks. These have been very successful and it would be great if we could have another in 2014.

Typically the short talks are 15 - 20 minutes long and can be about a bird trip/holiday, your birding patch, a favourite species, etc.

Two or three speakers are required and I would be willing to help anyone put a talk together if required.

Please contact me if you are interested.

Thanks
Julie

Thank you to all members who collected the Evening Gazette Wish Tokens for the Teesmouth Field Centre.

We managed to collect a total of 5500.

Julie

26 places booked on the coach, so there is room for more.

Send me an email for a place and pay on the day.   

Thanks
Julie

There are still some spaces available on the coach on Sunday 3rd February.

On the trip, members can expect to see a good range of wildfowl, grebes, divers and other birds. Lindisfarne has a healthy population of Pale-bellied Brent Geese, with Whooper Swan, Long-tailed Duck and Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes all being possible. There is always a good chance of raptors, such as a Peregrine, Merlin or even a Hen Harrier and the whole day should be enjoyable and bird-filled.

The 33-seater coach will collect members at the following pickup points:
Middlesbrough (Dorman's Museum) 08:00
Stockton High Street (ex-Swallow Hotel) 08:15
Hartlepool (M&S Car Park) 08:30

The cost will be £14.00 and a packed lunch will be required.

TO BOOK A PLACE, PLEASE CONTACT JOHN TODD AND SEND A £5 NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT:
Email: johnt0dd@tiscali.co.uk
Tel: 07810 347333

Address: 1 Henry Street, Seaham, Co Durham

Please make cheques payable to 'Teesmouth Bird 

Dear Members,

The Teesmouth Field Centre has joined the Evening Gazette Wish 12 – Cash for Your Community scheme for the first time which formally started today. If you buy the Evening Gazette newspaper or know of someone else who does, then please collect the tokens printed in the newspaper each evening until January 12th 2013 for the Field Centre.

You can pass the tokens on to me at club meetings or alternatively put them through the TFC letterbox next time you are out birdwatching around the estuary.

There are 277 registered groups taking part in the scheme, so the more tokens we collect the greater the donation we would receive. The money received will help us keep the Field Centre going providing outdoor education and events for all ages around Teesmouth.

Thank you for your support.
Julie

The coach trip to the Birdfair at Rutland Water is cancelled due to lack of bookings.
I will try to contact all members individually as soon as I can.

Julie

The admission prices have been published in the majority of birdwatching magazines.

Adults = £12.50
Children = free

Special Sunday prices for RSPB & Wildlife Trust members is £10

The club trip is planned for Sunday 19th August 2012, with coach costs of £14 each.

I will be offering coach seats to other clubs from this evening to avoid disappointing members who want to go.

Just a reminder that the closing date for bookings for this trip is 30th June.

So far only 13 people have expressed an interest in this trip.

For this trip to go ahead another 17 bookings are required.

Meet @ 9.30 am at Cod Beck Reservoir on 10th June.

Bird possibilities are Red Grouse, Cuckoo, Stonechat and Whinchat. In the woods around the reservoir there is a chance of summer migrants together with Crossbill, Redpoll and Siskin.

Leaders Mick & Sylvia Brennan.