SBBOT: Meetings & Walks

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Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory Trust (SBBOT)

Tuesday / Wednesday Club

Outdoor Meetings for 2010:

You are welcome to join Mike Briggs and others from SSBOT to enjoy a gentle stroll through some of the most rewarding areas in East Kent. The walks start at 7.00pm from the venues indicated and finsih at around 9pm or dusk.

Mike shares hiw extensive knowledge on this informal and entaining evening. Please feel free to join him every week, or on an occasion that particularly interests you.

The cost is £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members.

Date Venue Meeting at
July    
6th Gazen Salts car park opposite Kings Arms pub, Sandwich
13th Seaton pits` park in Seaton Rd, east of Wickhambreaux
20th Boat trip Sandwich Quay
27th Stodmarsh Natural England car park down the track behind the village green
August    
3rd Reculver car park on sea front
10th Grove Ferry pub car park
17th Backsand Scrape the field centre
24th Sandwich Bay  
31st Backsand Scrape  
September    
7th Sandwich Bay the field centre`14th
14th in door program begins  

 

Indoor Meetings for 2010 will start again in September.

You are welcome to join us for our indoor meeting program. Tuesday evenings are aimed at those with some bird watching experience who wish to improve their skills whilst Wednesday evenings are for beginners. The classes are led by enthusiasts Mike Briggs, Dave Kirkaldie and Pete Findley.

The evenings are structured so that it is not necessary to attend every week; you can pick and choose which evenings you come along and can mix coming on a Tuesday or a Wednesday evening.

The evening starts at 7.30 and ends at 9.30 with free refreshments at about half time.

The cost is £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members.

September    
Tues 14th

General Field Craft

An introduction to good field behavior, what to wear, and what is essential to take with you. The evening will be rounded off by a fun (and hopefully enlightening) bird quiz.

Wed 15th

Review of the summer

We are right in the middle of the autumn migration. Why and how do birds do this? What species are migrating now?

Tues 21st

Bird nests and their eggs

Identification of birds nests and eggs and how to identify breeding behaviour - an essential aspect of the monitoring of local populations.

Wed 22nd

Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Lesser Whitethroats

Three warbler migrants moving at the moment – what are they like, where are they going and why?

Tues 28th

Bird Song I

The first of a series of evenings dedicated to understanding the significance of bird song and identifying songs / calls of a number of local species. This is a very important aspect of identifying birds and also ascertaining their breeding status.

Wed 29th

Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins

How to tell them apart and what we know about them. They are collectively called hirundines because of their Latin names.

October    
Tues 5th

Woodpeckers

An evening focusing on this fascinating and diverse group of birds: the breeding, distribution and identification of all four British Woodpeckers.

Wed 6th

Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Robins

Everything you ever wanted to know about these fascinating species – they are much more complicated than you might think! Sandwich Bay is on the main migration routes of these species and we have lots of bits of information about them

Tues 12th

The effect of urban development on wildlife

SBBOT have been involved in recording and surveying wildlife in East Kent for over six decades. The evening will use our and ther data collected by others to look at the effects of urban development in East Kent. There are a few surprises!

Wed 13th

Unpredictable birds

At this time of year we hope to find some of the rarer and less frequent types of bird. Most follow the rules but there are exceptions and we consider what these are and why it should be.

Tues 19th

Feeding birds

We join the debate about the harm or good that is derived from feeding birds in the garden and will also discuss the types of feed and feeders and their advantages / disadvantages.

Wed 20th

Winter visitors

As our summer migrants have almost all left, so the winter visitors are due to appear and we will talk about why this happens and what species we could hope to see and where they might be.

Tues 26th

The Sandwich Tern

The symbol of SBBOT has a checkered past that has been well documented here at the Bay. The story of this significant species will be explored.

Wed 27th

Winter ducks

The males are easier to identify than the females. Ducks arrive in Britain for the winter in huge numbers. Why is this and where can we see them?

 

SBBOT registered charity number 28934