West Midland Bird Club
| Founder(s) | Horace Alexander |
|---|---|
| Type | Registered charity |
| Founded | November 1, 1929 |
| Key people | Bill Oddie (President) |
| Area served | Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & West Midlands, England |
| Focus | Ornithology |
| Formerly called | Birmingham Bird Club |
| Website | www.westmidlandbirdclub.com |
The West Midland Bird Club is the UK's largest regional ornithological society. It has been serving birdwatchers and ornithologists in the four English counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and (since its separation from the aforesaid counties in 1974) the Metropolitan West Midlands, with lectures, field trips, research, a bulletin and an annual report, since 1929. It is a registered charity.[1]
There are branches in Birmingham, Kidderminster, Stafford, Solihull and Tamworth.
It manages the Belvide Reservoir nature reserve in Staffordshire, the Harborne Reserve in Birmingham, and the Ladywalk Reserve in North Warwickshire, as well as running an access-permit scheme for Blithfield Reservoir and Gailey Reservoir in Staffordshire. The Club sponsors bird feeding stations at Cannock Chase (Staffordshire) and Draycote Water (Warwickshire).
Bill Oddie has been the Club's president since 1999. His first published article on birds appeared in the Club's 1962 Annual Report.[2]
Contents |
[edit] History
The Club was founded as the Birmingham Bird Club, by W. E. Groves and friends on 1 November 1929.[3] The name changed to Birmingham and District Bird Club in 1945, to The Birmingham and West Midland Bird Club in 1947, and the current name was adopted in 1959.[3]
It co-founded and still helps to manage the Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory and was instrumental in securing Brandon Marsh as a nature reserve.[4]
A successful West Midland Bird Distribution Survey, published privately in 1951,[5] led to the club publishing the world's first bird atlas,[6] the Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands, in 1970.[7]
Until 2010, the Club operated an information centre at Kingsbury Water Park (Warwickshire).
[edit] Notable members
Past and present
- Horace Alexander
- Alan Dean
- Rob Hume
- Cyril Hurcomb
- Tony Norris
- Bill Oddie
- Mike Rogers
- Eric Simms
- William Brunsdon Yapp[8]
[edit] Publications
-
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- A regular Bulletin ISSN 1477-6111
- An Annual Report ISSN 1476-2862
- Lord, John; Dennis Johnstone Munns, T. K Beck, A. J Richards (1970). Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands. London :: Published for the West Midland Bird Club (by) Collins,. pp. 3–276p(chiefly illus, form, maps) ; 20cm.. ISBN 0002110407. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm#Atlas.
- Harrison, Graham R.; Alan R. Dean, Alan J. Richards and David Smallshire (1982). The Birds of the West Midlands. West Midland Bird Club. ISBN 0950788104. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm#BirdsofWM.
- Harrison, Graham; Janet Harrison (2005). The New Birds of the West Midlands. West Midland Bird Club. ISBN 0950788120. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/NBotWM.
- A Checklist of the birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands and Guide to Status and Record Submission (3 ed.). West Midland Bird Club. 2011. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/checklist.
[edit] References
- ^ West Midland Bird Club, Registered Charity no. 213311 at the Charity Commission
- ^ Oddie, W.E. (1963-07). "Birds in the Bartley Reservoir Area, 1931-1962 (Part I)". The West Midland Bird Report, 1962 (Birmingham: West Midland Bird Club) 29. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/archive/bartley-62.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ^ a b "Chronology". West Midland Bird Club. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/chrono. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, its Beginnings". Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. http://www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/reserves/brandon-marsh-sssi.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- ^ Norris, C A (1951). West Midland Bird Distribution Survey. West Midland Bird Club. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/bibliography/DistSurv51/. (published for private circulation)
- ^ Donald, Paul F.; Robert J. Fuller (1998). "Ornithological atlas data: a review of uses and limitations". Bird Study 45: 129–145. doi:10.1080/00063659809461086.
- ^ Lord, John; Dennis Johnstone Munns, T. K Beck, A. J Richards (1970). Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands. London :: Published for the West Midland Bird Club (by) Collins,. pp. 3–276p(chiefly illus, form, maps) ; 20cm.. ISBN 0002110407. http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm#Atlas.
- ^ Norris, C.A. (September 1960). "The Breeding Distribution of Thirty Bird Species in 1952". Bird Study 7 (3): 129–184. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a912516524?hash=1556122457. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
