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The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654

LOCAL GROUP AGM The AGM was held on 28 April, prior to the programmed talk. Alan Thorpe was ratified as the new Group Leader, and we are very pleased to welcome him aboard.

Viv Connett, who has effectively been acting as Group Leader in recent years, gave her report as follows:

GROUP LEADER’S REPORT FOR 2015 – 2016 Overall, I would summarise our local group’s past year as being a further period of consolidation. Membership has remained pretty well stable in net terms and although fundraising is down, raising the talks admission fee to £3.50 has ensured we cover our costs. We remain optimistic, but it would be good if you could encourage new people to come along in the future. In the meantime, a hearty thanks for your continued loyal support. As always, comments and ideas would be very welcome.

On behalf of everyone here, I wish to offer a very big thank you to our two key fundraisers, Jean Wilcox and Mike Logan Wood, for working so tirelessly on behalf of our local group – Jean with her sales of RSPB goods and Mike with his extensive programme of talks on the RSPB's behalf. I must also thank Robin Heafford for running another fun quiz last Christmas, and look forward to the one he has in store for us this Christmas. Thank you as well to all the other volunteers who help out at the monthly talks or in other ways, and to the staff here at the Northumberland Theatre for all their continuing help and support over the last year.

This venue is proving to be very successful and another excellent season of speakers has been enjoyed. David Lindo's talk in November – which required the opening of the other half of this lecture theatre – was a particular highlight. As well as tonight's talk from the Warden of Wallasea, we have an exciting programme of talks lined up for next autumn and spring and hope you will join us for all of those.

While fundraising is one of the main aims of our local group, we are also here to inform and educate the local community about wildlife and conservation. In terms of this objective, Tim and I have been pleased to welcome both regular victims and some new ones on our regular walks. We have lots of great walks planned for the next few months.

The Group's website and quarterly newsletter are well-established and well-used, as the main sources of information about our activities as well as interesting reading in their own right. We also still have a Facebook page – our thanks to Alexandra Hickman for running this – which we hope will attract younger people to join in our events.

CHELMSFORD & CENTRAL ESSEX GROUP NEWS

Spring 2016

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This year we have to express special thanks – in her absence – to Margot Grice who has been the group’s hardworking and meticulous Treasurer for many years but is stepping down at this AGM. She has kindly offered to take on the external audit in future years – but more about that later in the meeting. I am delighted also to announce that we have candidates for both Margot’s replacement and also a new Group Leader. We shall be voting on these later in the meeting.

Finally, on a personal note, may I extend my thanks to my fellow Committee members, I have done my best as the Central Point of Contact over the last few years but wouldn’t have been able to do it without their help. And without a Central Point of Contact, to hold the fort in the absence of a Leader, this group would have folded so a big thank you to them. Tim and I will still be doing the walks so you don’t get rid of me altogether – sorry!

Viv Connett 28 April 2016

₤₤₤₤₤₤ This is the report of the retiring Treasurer, Margot Grice:

Firstly, I wish to thank John Knott for examining the accounts.

We have a healthy bank balance of £2,277.02 and have donated £2,500.00 to the RSPB’s work in International Projects. £855.96 from last year’s sales figures make this a total of £3,355.96.

The expenditure remains more or less the same except for the increase in speakers’ fees, which was mainly due to the fee for David Lindo. This was an excellent evening which, together with the Russell Savory talk, increased our meetings income considerably. The raffle has also provided an extra boost at these events.

Mike Logan Wood raised the sum of £830.00 (with a further £120 to come) in donations for his talks.

Jean, still working hard selling sales goods to regular customers, made a profit of £558.19 and this figure will be carried over to the cause chosen for next year’s fund raising.

The quiz organized by Robin Heafford netted £191.00.

Our thanks go to all these volunteers who raise funds and to members who support our events.

Thank you for your support over the last 13 years and I leave the job of treasurer in the capable hands of Diane Thorpe.

NEW GROUP LEADER’S REPORT AND OVERVIEW – APRIL 2016 I gave a talk to our RSPB Local Group in March 2015 entitled “The Nature of Iceland” and partly on the strength of this talk (and partly, I suspect, out of desperation!), I was approached by a committee member and asked if I would consider taking over the vacant job of Group Leader. At that time, and as far back as April 2013, our group had been without an official RSPB-appointed leader. Already serving on the committee as Local Group Outdoor Meeting Secretary, Viv Connett had kindly agreed to be the RSPB Point of Contact and has acted de facto as leader of our group ever since the resignation of our previous leader, Graham Webster.

After a period of uncertainty, I agreed to take on the role and following interview by the RSPB Volunteering Department and supported by references, I was appointed Leader of our group in February 2016. I am pleased to report that this appointment was approved by the general membership at the AGM on 28 April.

I would like to make a few points that I consider important. First and foremost, I would like to thank all our excellent committee members and volunteers without whom our group could not flourish. Most are continuing their work, but one or two are retiring and we have one newcomer. Our long-serving treasurer, Margot Grice, has helped the group for more than 13 years and deserves our thanks and praise for all her sterling work (pun intended!). Margot is being replaced in the job of treasurer by Diane Thorpe (my wife) and I am sure we all wish her well and hope that she will have lots of money to count and channel into the coffers of the RSPB, to enable them to continue their vital work in helping wildlife.

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Another retiree is Inez Mason who has been a volunteer worker within our group for almost as long as anyone can remember. A big thank you is due to Margot and Inez for all their efforts over the years. Without the help of such stalwarts we could not exist as a group.

Secondly, I think you might want to know what my plans are to support and lead our local group and what my aims might be for its future development. I think my main aim is to continue to try and promote within the local community of Chelmsford and Central Essex a love of nature and the need to conserve and enhance our heritage, so that we can pass it on to future generations in good shape. We already do this through the excellent “Walks and Talks” programmes organised and run by committee members, Viv & Tim Connett and Sue McClellan respectively. The wildlife walks promote interest in our local, very beautiful and wildlife-rich environment, whereas the talks, as well as dealing with local nature, are sometimes aimed at taking us further afield, to Europe and the rest of the world, where various forces, both natural and man-made, impinge to bad effect on the wildlife of Britain. The RSPB promotes international programmes, e.g. on studies of migrating birds that face many difficulties as they travel thousands of miles back to Britain for breeding purposes. Our local group is happy to be able to support such ventures with our fundraising.

SWIFT, one of our migrating birds

All I would add to these two success stories is a plea to members to try and encourage their friends and relatives to come to a Walk or a Talk and join like-minded people in their enjoyment of nature. We do not have a specific membership fee and anyone reading this article may come along to a walk or a talk and become a ‘member’. At the talks, everyone pays £3.50 to cover costs, and refreshments (tea/coffee and biscuits) are available at the interval. Details are provided elsewhere in this newsletter.

I would like to pay a special tribute to one of our key volunteers, viz. Mike Logan Wood. Mike was a former leader of our group and has, over the years, sought to promote the aims and work of the RSPB through the many community talks he has given to various clubs and societies. In addition to the educational value of his talks he has provided many thousands of pounds by converting his fee into a donation to our group and ultimately to the RSPB. He is continuing with his talks and I hope to emulate him by also giving talks to outside groups.

Fundraising through various local events was a special and highly successful feature of the work of our local group a few years ago, especially so during the period when Roger Jordan was leader. His widow, Jill, remains a loyal and hardworking volunteer but the fundraising activities of the group

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have, for a variety of reasons, declined in recent years. In connection with fundraising I would like to make note of the efforts of Jean Wilcox, our local group Sales Organiser. Jean, aided by the aforementioned Jill, has sold various items of RSPB merchandise at our indoor meetings and she has also delivered RSPB goods ‘direct to the door’ as a way of supporting our group funds. She would welcome new customers and I urge our membership to get in touch with Jean if they require bird food or other items that are either in the RSPB catalogue or available online. Another venture that boosts our fundraising is the succession of quizzes organised by volunteer Robin Heafford. The fact that the winner of Robin’s latest quiz came from Liverpool shows the universal appeal of these competitions. Meanwhile Gerry Johnson, as well as serving on the committee, continues his excellent fundraising activity as co-ordinator of sales of the very popular RSPB pin badges.

Despite the difficult financial conditions that prevail, the fundraising activities mentioned above, allied to the successful indoor meetings that usually result in a profit, allow our group to continue providing the RSPB with substantial funds. However, we may need to come up with some innovative ideas in the future to enable us to increase our funds.

Since I have mentioned the creditable efforts of certain committee members it would be invidious not to thank the remainder. A mainstay of our small band is local group Secretary Janet Hawkes. She has a key role which she carries out with minimal fuss and maximum success. Finally, in Louise Fuller we have an excellent, hardworking editor of our quarterly newsletter. This publication is a most important means of communication both within and outside of our group and it truly represents an RSPB “Voice for Nature”.

I hope that these details of the goodwill of the people I have mentioned here might perhaps inspire others in the membership to offer their help in the form of volunteering or committee membership. You would be most welcome!

For my part, I hope I can help by leading our group forwards along the path to a better understanding and appreciation of the wonderful nature that surrounds us.

I conclude this, my first report, with an appropriate ornithological Chinese proverb on leadership which states: “It is not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, that leads the flock to fly and follow”.

Alan Thorpe April 2016

MALLARD – a wild duck flying

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OUR LOCAL GROUP WALKS On Valentine’s Day we went to Shut Heath Wood. Sixteen of us set off to explore this lovely Essex Wildlife Trust reserve on the border of Great Braxted and Great Totham. As expected it was very wet and muddy but the weather remained good throughout. When we arrived a common buzzard was circling over the wood and gave good views. A number of small birds were flitting about in the trees and we were pleased to have good views of treecreepers.

TREECREEPER

Redwings were foraging in the undergrowth. Sadly we didn’t see the resident tawny owl in its usual tree, nor did we see any lesser spotted woodpeckers which are sometimes found here. The highlight (at least for some!) was a woodcock flushed from just beside the path, which unfortunately flew into the wood before everyone could see it. We saw 17 species of birds. Primroses were already showing and from the leaves sprouting, it looked as though this site would be very good for bluebells a bit later in the year.

Our next trip was in March to another EWT reserve, Blue House Farm in North Fambridge, on the Crouch Estuary. Fourteen of us set out an a cloudy but dry day to see what we could find. The reserve is famous for its overwintering flocks of brent geese and its feral flock of barnacle geese, all of which we hoped to see.

We were pleasantly surprised that the paths were dry, albeit slightly rutted, but the walking was reasonably easy. From the first hide we saw several ducks and waders including the first returning pairs of avocets, hopefully to breed on the reserve as they have done in previous years, and two

snipe hiding in plain sight in front of the reeds!

SNIPE

From other hides we were rewarded with flocks of brent geese flying over and landing on the scrape, plus at last we spotted a marsh harrier flying past, usually a very easy bird to see here but we had struggled to find one!

We saw 55 species of birds, a very good total. Blue House Farm is a very rewarding reserve, there is always something to see. Very often there are brown hares, although we didn’t manage to spot any on this occasion.

Viv Connett

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THE MURMURATOR NO. 2 In the first instalment of my effort to describe this favourite bird of mine I tried to give a flavour of its history, plumage, song and partial development as a pet. I will now try to complete the picture.

As you will know so well, starlings are voracious feeders, squabbling amongst themselves as they eat their fill. Basically, they will eat almost anything. In the spring and early summer they feed mainly on insects, to give their young liquid of some form while in the nest. Later, they eat more vegetable material and fruit. They love fruit in season, particularly cherries which they eat on the tree, eating the flesh and leaving the stone hanging on the tree.

JUVENILE STARLING EATING HAWTHORN BERRIES

Where there are sheep they may be seen standing on their backs pecking into the wool to remove parasites.

You may have seen small flocks of starlings feeding in grassland, even when this may only be a small patch in the middle of an estate. If you look carefully, you will see them pecking away, stopping from time to time to probe more deeply into the grass. They are all after one of their favourite foods, leatherjackets, the grubs which will eventually mature to create daddy longlegs. Starlings are especially adapted to this work. If you look carefully at their heads, you will see

that the beak is a strong implement, with the eyes set very close to the join between the two parts of the beak. As the bird probes the ground it searches for the grubs and stops when it thinks it has found one. With the strong muscles there it will open its beak, making a hole, then look inside and pull out its prey. To do this the bird is especially adapted. To look inside the hole its eyes rotate forward to give binocular vision. The eyes can be rapidly rotated backwards to allow all round vision for detection of predators. This is a unique function.

STARLING AMONG SPRING GARDEN FLOWERS

You may have noticed and have read reports lately that starlings are not as common as they used to be. The vast flocks that entertain us were mainly composed of foreign birds on migration, which came here in their millions and are now no longer seen in Essex. The reasons are complex.

I first became involved with Essex farms when I began my training as a land agent in 1953 and I remember that the county farming community consisted of small farms of 80 to 200 acres in area, many being dairy farms. Essex, being so close to London, was well placed to supply milk to the

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capital. The countryside therefore consisted of pastureland, well farmed and stocked with cattle. This was ideal starling ground, just the place for leatherjackets. Farmers then looked upon starlings as the “farmers’ friend” as they would hunt for leatherjackets, a prey that lived on the roots of the grass and could kill it, creating less food for the cattle.

As time passed, all the little farms were swallowed up by larger neighbours and eventually dairying declined to the state that only one dairy farm exists in the county now. Arable land took its place. Fine, if the land was ploughed in the spring, because the starlings could feed on the stubble during the winter, but not so good if land was cultivated in the autumn, which is the case now. The population of starlings started to decline in the 1980s and is continuing today. This same agricultural revolution has now taken place on the farms of western Europe and the population STARLINGS AND CATTLE

of starlings has declined there also.

There is also the question of a rising temperature over Europe which means that slowly many birds do not need to migrate as they used to, or do not need to travel as far as the UK to over-winter.

In Essex we used to enjoy large movements of starlings. In the 1980s, for example 5,000 came in off the sea at Hamford Water and 4,350 at Foulness on 12/10/1980, 4,000 at Holliwell on 17/10/1982, 500,000 or perhaps a million roosted at Chantry Wood, Wickham Bishops in between 1978 and 1982, 400,000-500,000 roosted at Asheldham during 1983/4 and a roost at Wrabness of 500,000 in 1975 rose to 2 million in 1980, rising to 3 million in December in 1988, but could not be found in 1990. Five figure roost counts now rarely occur, and if they do, they are not much more than 10,000.

So, what about “murmurations”? Well, even a flock of fifty starlings can create a little side-show, but this does become tremendous theatre when you get into a few thousand, and a huge spectacle when you see a million or more celebrating their life, for a celebration it always seems to me. Swirling about, one moment densely packed and the next spread out like a light cloud, until at last in the gathering dusk they fall into their roost and disappear surrounded by their clamour.

This used to occur in cities and especially London where they displayed in their millions, but there is a downside however. This came to a head in London in 1949 when dense flocks landed on the hands of Big Ben and stopped the clock! The problem is the effluent that these flocks leave behind them and it was this that eventually caused them to be banned from urban England.

How do so many birds fly so closely and so fast without any crashes? The only answer I have seen is the fact that they all fly equidistant from each other. They get closer if danger appears and wider if all is safe. But who tells them when to change or when to turn or to dive for the roost? Nobody knows. Why do they fly in this way anyway? Well, the answer is easier to describe for it is to distract attacks by hawks and falcons. They are attracted by the huge gathering and think that there are easy pickings, but this is not the case as the starlings are so agile that they merely jink

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and create a funnel down which the preying bird flies, leaving them to pick up ill or injured birds on the outside of the display. Very frustrating for the predator!

Finally, a look at the worldwide spread of this incredible bird. In 1890 forty pairs were released in Central Park, New York with a further batch in 1891. Within 80 years they had spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north into Alaska and south to the subtropical Mexican state of Yucatan. They are now in pest proportions but, despite control methods, there is still a population there of over 500 million birds, perhaps a third of the world population. Similar releases were made in Australia (1862), New Zealand (late 1850s) and South Africa (1980s), but nowhere have they thrived so well as in North America.

So now, what is your opinion of this unusual bird? Should we ban it as a pest – and there are many that feel this way – or just marvel at the life of a bird with a great character?

Mike Logan Wood- February 2016

(with the aid of “The Birds of Essex” by Simon Wood – a splendid book published by Christopher Helm)

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BARN OWLS AT BLUE HOUSE FARM Regular readers will know how avidly I follow the fortunes of the barn owls nesting in the box at Essex Wildlife Trust’s Blue House Farm reserve. There is a webcam in the box so the owls can be seen all the time they are in situ at http://www.essexwt.org.uk/barn-owl-webcam.

A lone owl was seen regularly roosting in the box during the winter. Sadly the female from last year was found dead on the sea wall at the end of February, so it was assumed the roosting owl was probably the male. There was great excitement later in March when two owls were seen together in the box, and in fact I saw them mating. So there were great hopes for another brood to be raised this year.

This a picture taken from the screen of the two owls together – not a brilliant image, but you get the general idea.

Since then, the female has laid four eggs, one of which broke. I will be watching to see the eggs hatch, and the chicks hopefully grow and fledge.

Louise Fuller

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TIME TO TALK Finding good speakers with interesting topics, who don't charge the earth and are available, can be extremely tricky and time consuming. Added to this, some speakers don't (yet?) have digital presentations so they're unable to use our venue's built in digital sound and light equipment.

After most of our talks, I spend the rest of the evening musing over all aspects of the event…what went well, what didn’t, what we could do differently, etc. Also, as we won’t have Jean and her sales goods at our talks from September this year, we’ll have more space to utilise in the Northumberland Theatre’s entrance area.

So…knowing that many of our members and visitors frequent other organisations' events, I'd welcome any ideas, recommendations, speakers’ contact details, and/or feedback in general to suem@idnet.com or 01245 471576. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume that you’re happy with everything! Thank you.

Sue McClellan Talks Organiser

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH 2016 8,262,662 birds were counted in the 2016 Big Garden Birdwatch! What a magnificent total. Top bird was the house sparrow. The long-tailed tit was a new entry in the top ten, flying in at 10th position.

RSPB LOCAL GROUP COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2016/17

Alan Thorpe Group Leader 01245 222029 alan.thorpe.1@btinternet.com

Viv Connett Field Trips Organiser 07985 796657 vivconnett@mail.com

Tim Connett Field Trips Organiser 07913 896020 timconnett@mail.com

Diane Thorpe Treasurer/Joint Membership Secretary

01245 222029 diane.lay@btinternet.com

Janet Hawkes Secretary 01376 512628 janhma@aol.com

Louise Fuller Newsletter Editor/Joint Membership Secretary

01245 421614 louiserfuller@hotmail.com

Gerry Johnson Pin Badge Sales Co-ordinator

01245 356633 gerry2johnson@aol.com

Sue McClellan Meetings (Talks) Secretary

01245 471576 suem@idnet.com

EVENTS DIARY

Non-members are welcome at all events.

Talks are held at the Northumberland Theatre, Writtle College, Lordship Road, Writtle, Chelmsford, CM1

3RP, commencing at 8.00pm and finishing about 9.50pm, with an interval for refreshments. The lecture

theatre is across Lordship Road from the main college building, to the right of the Wilkins tea room, and

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there is free parking on site.

Entry £3.50 adults. No discount for postal group members.

Walks are all “own car” outings, suitable for all ages and birding abilities; help with bird ID will be available.

They usually last about 2 – 2.5 hours and involve walking some distance, although not at speed. Wear

suitable clothing and footwear and bring your own refreshments. Walking boots are advised for our walks

as the terrain could be wet and uneven. The sites are often exposed and you may need warm and

waterproof clothing, especially for our winter trips. There are no toilet facilities at most of the walk venues.

For further details of all events please see our web site www.rspb.org.uk/groups/chelmsford

If you are planning to attend any of our events, please check the website in case of any last minute

changes.

2016

WALK – a date in June/July to be confirmed

MARKS HALL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM, COGGESHALL CO6 1TG. 11.00am. Meet in the car park. This is

a butterfly walk in a lovely location and we will be looking out for a wide variety of attractive species. Their

appearance is very weather-dependent so once again the walk will only take place if conditions are

favourable i.e. warm and sunny, and not too windy. We have tried to run this walk for the past two years,

but were baulked by poor weather, which meant butterflies would not be flying, so we had to cancel on

both occasions. We hope for better luck this year. The plan is for Viv to keep a weather eye out (pun

intended) to decide when the best conditions for seeing butterflies are likely to occur. She will then pick a

date for the walk but this is likely to be at the last minute. It will probably be late June/early July.

The date of the walk will be posted on our website when known, or you can phone Viv on 07985 796657 for

an update.

Please note there is no charge for the walk itself but there is an entry charge to Marks Hall. RHS card

holders are free in May, June and July. There is a visitor centre, tea room, shop and plant centre on site.

For more information go to http://www.markshall.org.uk/

SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARY

There are no more talks until we start again in September, and no walks except the hoped-for butterfly

walk.

Dates for your diary – full details in next newsletter

SEPTEMBER

TALK – Thursday 8

Sharks and other marine life

WALK – Saturday 17

Old Hall Marshes

OCTOBER

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TALK – Thursday 13

Welney through the seasons

WALK – Sunday 23

Walton on the Naze

NOVEMBER

TALK – Thursday 10

The Western Isles – Outer Hebrides

WALK – Sunday 20

West Canvey Marsh

DECEMBER

TALK – Thursday 8

A polar odyssey

WALK- Sunday 18

Whetmead