White-tailed Eagle reintroduction: the Society is delighted to announce that project officer Steve Egerton-Read will give an online talk on the Isle of Wight project on Wednesday 17th November at 19:00. To register, click on the link under “upcoming virtual talks” below or here. The talk is free.
Category: Events
To help everyone through lockdown, we ran a series of much-enjoyed virtual talks at and after the Annual Conference.
With spring and the easing of lockdown, we have paused these events. Keep an eye on this website though, as we will have more, including an exciting one in July.
SOS Outings Programme 2021
Many thanks to Mark Wright (Outings Organiser) for arranging the following events from this month until the end of the year They will be subject to any future covid-19 restrictions that may be applied.
| Date | Event |
| Saturday
28th August |
Whitbread Hollow, Beachy Head: Meet at 9.00 a.m. at Dukes Drive, Holywell corner at western end of Eastbourne promenade. (199/TV601972.). Access: no-charge street parking; Public Transport: Southern Rail to Eastbourne Station; Stagecoach route 3 from station to Foot of Beachy Head/St Bede’s School. Habitat guide: chalk cliff-top grassland and coastal scrub. Half day. Leader: Mark Wright |
| Sunday 5th September | Arlington Reservoir: Meet at 09.00 at the reservoir car park (TQ527074). Public transport: Southern Rail to Berwick station (half mile south of reservoir); by car: reservoir car park (charge) or layby outside. Toilets; cafe. Two hour circular walk including footpath across fields and over R Cuckmere. Leader: Mark Wright |
| Saturday
11th September |
Thorney Island: Meet at corner of Thornham Lane at 9.30 a.m. 197/SU757049. All day, lunch required. Warm clothing recommended. Leader: Richard Senior |
| Saturday 9th October | Beachy Head (Birling Gap/Shooters Bottom): Meet at sea side of National Trust café at 9.00 (TV 5538 9611) accessible off A259 from East Dean on Beachy Head road. Parking at NT car park (charge for non-members). Half Day. Leader: Mark Wright |
| Sunday
17th October |
Cissbury Ring: Meet in National Trust car park (Approach from Nepcote Lane, Findon) 198/TQ139084 at 9.30 a.m. Parking at NT car park can be limited but an alternative is to use the car park signed from A24 Findon and take path to left and walk up to the meeting point. Public Transport: Stagecoach route 1from Worthing station. Half day. Leader: Mark Wright |
| Sunday 22nd November | Selsey/Church Norton: Meet at 9.00 a.m. in the Selsey seafront car park at southern end of B2145. 197/SZ851923. Afterwards to Church Norton. Half day. Leader: Andrew House. |
| Saturday
27th November |
The Burgh (South Downs): Meet 13.30 a.m. at “The Triangle”, Peppering Lane, Burpham (OS sheet 197 TQ042095); limited parking – careful parking required to allow as many as possible. Distance 3.5 miles. Half day. Leader: Bernie Forbes |
| Saturday
4th December |
Dungeness RSPB: Meet at 9.30 a.m. at the reserve’s ARC Pit Car Park (TR062197) opposite main entrance to reserve (membership card or entrance fee required for subsequent entry to main reserve). All day (bring lunch). Leader: Mark Wright |
Virtual Talk: A Journey Through the Landscapes, Flora and Fauna of Alaska
by Dr Samantha Franks
Saturday 10th July 19:00 to 20:00
I am delighted to confirm that this exciting online talk is going ahead as planned. In a year when most of us may well not leave the UK, here is a chance to visit Alaska under the skilled guidance of Dr Samantha Franks, a Senior Research Ecologist at the BTO.
Full details of this much-anticipated talk and how to register and watch it are here.
This is currently the only SOS virtual talk scheduled until November (details to follow), so do watch and enjoy it.
Mark Mallalieu
SOS Outing Blackdown
The SOS are endeavouring to kickstart the outings programme for 2021. We are going ahead with an outing to Blackdown on Sunday 30th May, limiting members to a group of 10/12 people. If you would like to attend this outing, please contact Bernie Forbes on 07852820886 or bernieforbes@talktalk.net to register your place.
Meeting place:
| Sunday 30th May |
Black Down: Meet at 9.00 a.m. small car park at the far (east) end of Tennyson’s Lane on the sharp bend at SU922306. From Haslemere (accessed from A286 and A287) leave on B2131, turn right up Haste Hill, follow onto Tennyson’s Lane. All Day (bring lunch!). Leader: Bernie Forbes. |
Seaford Seawatch – Sunday 2nd May (Members only)
Places limited and must be prebooked
Meet at 07.00 on the beach just to the right of the Splash Point groyne, as seen from the bathing huts, 198/TV488982. Telescope and deck chair useful, warm clothes advisable. Half day, leader Simon Linington.
In order to comply with covid regulations for groups of five plus leader, email Audrey Wende at mauwende@delta18.plus.com to book your place. Depending on numbers we will either have one group of five members, or possibly two groups, with Mark Wright leading another group nearby.
SOS Annual General Meeting 2021
The Sussex Ornithological Society Annual General Meeting will be held by Zoom on Friday 7th May 2021 at 7pm.
Members of Sussex Ornithological Society are invited to attend and vote at the Zoom AGM (if you have not already voted by post or email).
If you would like to be sent a Zoom link then please send an email for a “Request to Attend AGM” to secretary@sos.org.uk and we will be pleased to send a link to you.
Please also contact the Secretary if you have any other queries about the AGM. Thank you.
April mid-week walks (members only)
We are able to offer the following two walks this month led by Val Bentley in her local patch at Henfield. These were planned for February, but had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
Please note that the “rule of 6” applies, and hence the group will be limited to the leader plus 5 others, so places must be prebooked by contacting Val on chetsford@talk21.com or on 01273 494723
Other social distancing measures should also be followed, and there should be no sharing of optical equipment etc.
Wednesday 14th April: Henfield Downslink walk 1 (½ day)
A walk north along the old railway line and River Adur at Henfield. Meet 9 am at the Downslink car park, Upper Station Road TQ205161 (immediately after The Old Railway pub, formerly The Cat & Canary). Particularly suitable for those new to birdwatching as we will be aiming to identify different birds by their song. Wellies recommended if it has been wet beforehand. Approx 3 miles, level, no stiles.
Friday 23rd April: Henfield Downslink walk 2 (½ day)
A walk south along the old railway line, mill stream and fields between Henfield and Small Dole. Meet 9 am at the Downslink car park, Upper Station Road TQ205161 (immediately after The Old Railway pub, formerly The Cat & Canary). Particularly suitable for those new to birdwatching as we will be aiming to identify different birds by their song. Wellies recommended if it has been wet beforehand. Approx 4 miles, mainly level walking, one slightly awkward stile.
Virtual Talks Update
The SOS is grateful to all the guest speakers who helped us through lockdown with their fascinating talks. We hope you were able to watch them and of course if you missed them you can still watch on our YouTube channel. With the coming of spring, we are pausing these events, but check upcoming talks for a great talk on Alaska in July.
‘Lockdown birding in Kabul’ completed our current series. There was one question not answered live:
Are there House Sparrows in Kabul? Yes, there are, of a subspecies sometimes called Indian Sparrow. Oddly, these are more in the rural fringes of Kabul than the very urban and abundant Tree Sparrows.
Q and A: Dr Mark Eaton Talk
Dr Mark Eaton’s talk on the work of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel is now available to watch on the SOS YouTube channel and his answers to a few extra questions are below.
| Question | Answer(s) | |
| 1 | As a species that is fairly common as a breeder in the SE why is the Peregrine on the RBBP? | With an estimate from the last national survey of 1,701 pairs, Peregrine sits comfortably below the RBBP’s upper threshold. While it might be seen relatively frequently, I’d argue that they’re not ‘fairly common’ in the SE – the RBBP estimates around 140 pairs in our SE region (a wider definition covering ten counties including the likes of Oxon, Beds, Bucks & Essex) though obviously that’s a lot more than there used to be. Range expansions and population increases in lowland England in recent decades have unfortunately been accompanied by losses in coastal and upland populations in the north and west |
| 2 | Mark talked about value of Birdtrack, does that equally apply to BBS surveys? | The BBS is incredibly important in terms of wider monitoring of the UK’s birds. While the RBBP can access data submitted to the BBS, we would ask BBS surveyors to submit records of any species on the RBBP encountered on their surveys to their county bird recorder, (which can be done via BirdTrack) in addition to in their usual BBS submission. Results of BTO BBS surveys can be entered directly via the relevant section of the BTO website. |
| 3 | Any advice on finding evidence of breeding of ground nesting birds? Particulary Woodlark. | For Woodlark, it is best to watch from a distance for evidence of, for example, nest-building or food being taken to the young. Singing birds are easy to detect as their song and song flight are distinctive. |
Q and A: Jim Glover Talk
This was another very well attended talk with lots of questions (see SOS YouTube channel). Only two questions were left over and Jim has kindly answered these below.
| Question | Answer(s) | |
| 1 | You mentioned Hen Harrier. What are the conservation objectives at Pulborough, for this species? | It is quite a while since I was responsible for conservation objectives at Pulborough and I may not be up to date. I don’t think there are any specific objectives for Hen Harrier but the policy for leaving rough areas for feeding owls will benefit them. The problem for Hen Harriers is that they are persecuted by gamekeepers on heather moors. The first conservation job I had in 1979 was surveying the Forest of Bowland where I found keepers killing the harriers and destroying their nests. This problem continued for very many years despite every effort by the RSPB but I gather that the Forest of Bowland is now one of the very few places where they now breed successfully. Conservation can be a very slow process! |
| 2 | What reptiles and amphibians do you find there? | I know that there are pamphlets in the Centre at Pulborough listing all the reptiles and amphibians but unfortuntely I cannot get one because the centre is closed. However I can tell you from my own experience that it is particularly good for Adders which can be seen easily along parts of the trail in spring, Great Crested Newts kept moving into all the ponds we dug for schools pond dipping, we also had Smooth newts but I dont recall seeing Palmate. I have seen Slow Worms, Grass Snakes , Frogs and Toads but they are not very common, Common Lizards are quite common in some areas. The only species which have not been recorded as far as I know are Sand Lizard and Smooth Snake but it is quite possible that they will be introduced onto the heathland in the future, as this is quite common practice on heathland creation projects. |
