Birding South Glos                                                                                                                                            

Welcome to The Birds Of South Gloucestershire

Marshfield News | S. Glos News

The TBOSG team are off for a well earned break, yep! somewhere hot and sunny and hopefully some of these bad boys!

 

 

So unfortunately there won't be any updates for a couple of weeks! But to keep you interested there's a cold beer in my fridge for anyone who can correctly identify them, the island they were photographed on, the year and what the hell it is the EV is eating! Answers on a postcard!

 

Nearly 200 birds have been reported historically in September from S. Glos with a 'Baker's Dozen' in firsts. It's clearly one of the most productive and exciting periods of the year with some pretty spectacular 'finds'.

 

The month kicked off with an amazing Sooty Shearwater at Aust in 1974 on the 7th which lingered for around three hours and lies 3rd in the S. Glos Rarity League. Two new additions were realised on the 9th in the form of Scandinavian Chiffchaff (1995) and Woodlark (1941) and both at Severn Beach. Similarly two more were added on the 12th, another amazing seabird, this time Balearic Shearwater off New Passage in 1988 & 9th in the Rarity League plus the first of three transatlantic vagrants, a White-rumped Sandpiper at Severn Beach in 1985.

 

The 13th produced Sabine's Gull off New Passage in 1980 and on the 15th a Dotterel was found at Severn Beach where it lingered for four days. The 16th brought with it two vagrants from the Mediterranean region when in 1974 an adult male Red-footed Falcon (4th in the Rarity League) wandered into S. Glos airspace and a Red-rumped Swallow delighted observers at New Passage back in 1977.

 

With the exception of Willow Tit on the 24th at Stoke Gifford in 1940 the remainder of the month was dedicated to waders. The second transatlantic visitor, Pectoral Sandpiper, was 'bagged' on the 17th at Oldbury Power Station, next a truly staggering Terek Sandpiper graced the shores of Severn Beach on the 20th and holds 7th spot in the Rarity League. Finally on the 30th the third transatlantic speciality, Buff-breasted Sandpiper was watched at New Passage in 1989.

Wryneck on Northwick Warth. August 2010. © John Martin.   PR

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Since The Birds Of South Gloucestershire (TBOSG) was launched in November 2005 I have been compiling information about the rare and scarce birds, both full species and forms, seen in 'S. Glos'. It is by no means authoritative nor exhaustive but it does, I feel, capture the essence of 'birding' in this extremely important region of the UK. My aim initially was to satisfy my own curiosity but as you can imagine the project has grown in proportions... although the site is continually being updated and developed I hope you find it enjoyable and useful. Feel free to explore the many pages and let me know if there are any corrections to be made.

 

The information comes from a number of sources (and as far back as 1824) but specifically The Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society, the award winning Avon Bird Reports, the meticulous notes of Howard H. Davis and of course the 'birders' themselves. Omissions are probably due to records not being submitted and I would urge everyone to send details to the appropriate Area Recorder.

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