6
In Defence of Birdwatching
The Bird Group met on September 28th when four members left the county to explore
Landguard Point in Suffolk.
The Point is a shingle spit south of Felixstowe at the mouth of the River Orwell and has
been the location of defence works for over 400 years. The Landguard Fort was built in
1540 to protect the harbour of Harwich and it was rebuilt in both the 17th and 18th
centuries but in many ways it is the evidence of World War II which tends to dominate the
scene today.
An unlikely location for a bird meeting you may think but not at all because a bird
observatory was opened here in 1983 utilising old defence buildings and ran by the
Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation for bird ringing. As it was their open day we were
able to watch them at work. Despite the endless activity at the nearby docks migrant
birds regularly drop in and include many rarities.
We recorded 26 species during our visit including numerous Wheatear as well as
Stonechat, Whinchat, Redstart, Siskin and Rock pipit with the more common Cormorant,
Brent goose, Herring gull, Black headed gull, Kestrel, Red-legged partridge, Wood
pigeon, Collared dove, Robin, Dunnock, Meadow pipit, Blue tit, Song thrush, Blackbird,
Starling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet and House sparrow.
High spot of the day however was the discovery of a Thrush nightingale, a resident of
central Europe presumably blown off course whilst migrating to the Middle East. The
bird was very secretive and difficult to see but in no time at all something like 30
twitchers had appeared from nowhere, it's sad that there were not more Field Club
members amongst them.
John Bath
Fungi identified in Norsey Wood by Tony Boniface
on a botanical recording meeting held on Sunday 14th September 1997
Scleroderma citrinum Common earthball
Scleroderma verrucosum Scaly earthball
Vascellum pratense Meadow puffball
Phallus impudicus Common Stinkhorn
Daedaleopsis confragosa Blushing bracket
Daedalea quercina Maze gill
Fistulina hepatica Beafsteak fungus
Piptoporus betulinus Birch polypore
Laetiporus sulphureus Chicken of the woods
Trametes versicolor Turkey tail
Stereum hirsutum Yellow Stereum
Xerocomus parasiticus Parasitic bolete
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 23, November 1997