Welcome to the first Bird Club newsletter of 2020. The dawn of the new decade has certainly not been without incident, with Britain battered by the weather, and now the world watching anxiously to see how the threat of Corona virus will affect us in terms of health, travel, economy and, in the short term at least, societal changes.
Thankfully, the birds are going about their business in blissful ignorance of such human concerns, and the following pages include the usual reservoir report – though the site itself has been adversely affected by the wind and rain of recent weeks – together with a report of what the club has been up to in recent months, and a quick look ahead at the calendar of events.
Before all that, though, I would like to pass on three important messages to members, as follows:
Firstly, it’s time to renew your annual memberships if you have not already done so. The fees are the same as they have been for many years – £7.50 for single and £10 for family memberships – and you can renew by sending a cheque for the appropriate amount to our treasurer, John Follett, at 8 Buckminster Close, Oakwood, Derby DE21 2EA. If you’ve any queries, the committee members’ (including John’s) telephone/e-mail contact details are included the back of the newsletter.
Secondly, if you have not already heard, the parking arrangements at Carsington were changed on 25 February to a system of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), whereby vehicles’ registration numbers are filmed on entry and exit and charged the relevant amount. People can pay at machines before they leave or online within 24 hours.
The Visitor Centre Car Park charge is £3 for 2 hours, £5 all day or £49 for an annual ticket (with those registration numbers automatically logged by the system). Millfields Car Park is £2.50 for 2 hours or £4 all day, again by ANPR. The only exception is Sheepwash Car Park, which has no facilities and remains a pay and display system, with drivers paying £1.50 for 2 hours or £3 all day. Blue Badge parking is free, but drivers must still initially register onto the system. If you’ve any doubts, please visit Severn Trent’s own website: https://www.stwater.co.uk/wonderful-on-tap/our-visitor-sites/come-visit-us/carsington-water/parking-at-carsington/
And finally, we have two future events to tell you about … A warbler walk is taking place at Carsington Water on Sunday, 17 May (9am, meet outside the Visitor Centre), led by Roger Carrington and Simon Roddis, who will help you find as many of our summer visitors as possible – by sight and sound!
Two weeks later, on the 31st, a members outing will set off to Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Far Ings, situated close to the southern end of the Humber Bridge. This reserve includes a number of different habitats, including reed-beds, wetlands and woodland, so should give us a good variety of birds. Time permitting we will also visit Alkborough Flats, a wetland where the Trent and Ouse meet to form the Humber. We will meet up in the Far Ings Visitor Centre car park at 10.15am (the address is Far Ings Road, Barton-upon-Humber, DN18 5RG). The centre has toilets and refreshments. If anyone would like to share a lift, please contact Chris Lamb by email at cflamb@yahoo.co.uk or on 01629 820890.
CBC COMMITTEE ADDS A NEW MEMBER … BUT MORE ALWAYS WELCOME!
Preceding the talk at February’s indoor meeting, we held our Annual General Meeting where we were able to announce a new member of the committee. Peter Fletcher had attended a meeting last year as an observer and agreed, in principle, to join the committee as club secretary but had to wait until the AGM to be formally voted on. At the same time, we announced that ex-officio member of some years Jon Bradley had decided to stand down, leaving six people on the committee (see panel at end of newsletter). This means we are still thinly spread organisationally and more help in future would be welcome.