Indoor Meeting - Weds 14th November

Investigating Raptor Persecution in the Peak District

Jack Ashton - Booth / Mark Thomas / Thomas Grose

The link between driven grouse shooting and the illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey has been widely documented. Raptors like peregrines and goshawk are sadly notable by their absence in many upland areas of the UK where they should be flourishing. The Peak District has become a particular black hole. The RSPB has received numerous reports of persecution in the Peak, including recently an eyewitness account of a red kite being shot out of the sky in the Park near Manchester.

Osprey found dead near Glossop 2015 - Copyright RSPB Investigations

Peregrine found shot in 2016 - Copyright RSPB Investigations

This summer, a scientific paper focusing on the Peak District National Park found a significant association between confirmed raptor persecution incidents and moorland burning – a practice associated with driven grouse moor management. It also showed that goshawk and peregrine populations were in catastrophic decline in northern Dark Peak, where most of the Park’s grouse moors are, yet increasing in the nearby southern White Peak, were there is virtually no driven grouse shooting.

Venue - Sheffield University Hicks Building, Lecture Theatre 5 and the meeting will commence at 7.15pm

Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust 

Blacka Moor Volunteer Work Day 3rd and 15th Nov

The next volunteer work day is on Saturday, 3rd November and we will be continuing on with our work to reduce the amount of Rhododendron in Strawberry Lee Plantation. It is definitely making a big difference and we were pleased to see native saplings popping through in the areas we have cleared. There will also be a little bit of walling work too.

The next mid week volunteer work day will be on Thursday 15th and the task will be Rhododendron clearing again but in a different location. We will be working in Blacka Plantation. 

Please remember to wear outdoor clothes and bring your lunch, water, sturdy boots and waterproofs.

I will be running the session on the 3rd so please can you meet me in the usual place, Stony Ridge Car Park car park (SK 29581 80251) at 10am. Please call me on 07706287737 if you arrive after 10am and need to find me. 

Community Wildlife Ranger ( Job share with Rachel Stevenson) 

Indoor Meeting - Weds 12th December

A Year on the Humber

Mike Pilsworth

Born and raised in Doncaster and have now been birding for around 35 years. I've been working in nature conservation for over 25 years in various roles from bird observatory warden, protecting stone curlews and little terns, working with farmers to deliver conservation on farms. For the last 14 years I have been RSPB  warden on the Humber based at Blacktoft Sands. I am fascinated by changing bird populations and migration we are living in exciting and challenging times to be a birder and work in nature conservation. 

Venue - Sheffield University Hicks Building, Lecture Theatre 5 and the meeting will commence at 7.15pm

 “Don’t forget to join us later for our traditional xmas tipple 🍷🍷🍷 and mince pies  !!"

SBSG 2019 Calendars will be available at the meeting!!

An account of the Birds of the Huddersfield District was written in 1915 by Huddersfield man Seth Lister Mosley and is one of the most important books in the history of local and national ornithology. However, it is very rare and little known outside specialist circles, but is full of interest for a present day public. Now Huddersfield Birdwatchers’ Club brings it to life again in digital form for the benefit of a modern day audience. And it is available to download free of charge here.

The HBC recording area starts at the SBSG's northern border, with Langsett Resr being shared between us, so this publication is of great interest to local ornithologists and gives a fascinating insight into bird population changes over the last century.

Atlas of Breeding Birds in the Barnsley Area 2006-2011 

The book will be officially launched at RSPB Old Moor on Sunday 30th September 2018

Birds in the Sheffield Area, 2016 - Annual Report  

The 2016 Annual Report -

Editors: Richard Hill and David Wood

Birds in the Sheffield Area, 2016 was published in July 2018, with help of the major sponsors The National Trust, Foothills and Harrison Cameras.

Main Contents

• A review of the birding year, 2016
• Systematic List of records for the year 2016
• Arrival and departure dates of migrant species in 2016
• Ring Ouzels of the Eastern Edges
• Freebird 2016
• New colour map of the SBSG recording area
• The cost is £6 if collected, or £8 to include postage and packing. It's free to qualifying members.
• Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of this, or any other of our annual reports, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further details

St George’s Peregrines a Ringing Success

On Friday 18th May, an experienced team of ringers, working under a schedule 1 license, climbed St George's church tower to ring the chicks.  The timing of the ringing was a very close match to previous years in terms of age of the chicks, and carefully chosen to be within the fairly narrow window available to do so safely.

Needless to say, the female - which had been feeding the chicks shortly before - kept a close eye on proceedings, circling the tower. Read the full report here.

The Ascent of Birds

Congratulations to John Reilly, the SBSG’s newest author of ornithological and evolutionary biology books

John has published over 200 peer reviewed articles in his medical career, published two books on Spitzbergen and now has turned his talent to publishing a great book for bird enthusiasts

After several years of hard research, travelling the world in search of rare and bizarre birds with stories to be told, John has finally completed his book ‘The Ascent of Birds ‘

It comes with top class plaudits form the likes of Peter and Rosemary Grant who consider it the best of its kind and Mark Avery who regards it as the most important and impressive book published so far by Pelagic Publishing.

Its very readable and comes in the form of self-contained chapters or stories that encompass the evolution of bird from over 100 million years ago to the present day.

Find out why parrots ended up in Australia and South America with just a few species in Africa.

Why do we travel to so many parts of the world to see different birds?

You can buy it from Amazon for £25 and get John to sign a copy at one of our indoor meetings later in the year.

Check out Pelagic Publishings You Tube advert for The Ascent of Birds, its brilliant.

 Neil Porter

Sand Martin Survey

Following on from the good work on the installation of two Sand Martin nest banks on the River Don (see item by Bob Croxton), we are undertaking a survey of Sand Martins on the Don through Sheffield to Rotherham.  This is a species that has colonised the Don in recent years as water quality has improved, but we do not have a clear idea of population levels and numbers of breeding pairs.  The flood prevention work that has deprived the birds of a number of breeding sites has brought home the need to have a better understanding of their breeding status.  With 14 sectors of the Don to survey, and opportunities to be mentored, we hope for a good take-up to improve our knowledge of this species and feed into measures to ensure their ongoing breeding success. To take part, access the survey form in PDF here or the downloadable Word version here and follow the instructions.

State of the World's Birds - Birdlife International

State of the World’s Birds is BirdLife’s flagship science publication, providing a global overview of the state of birds, the pressures they face and the actions underway to save them. Although the report provides a sobering update on the state of birds and biodiversity, and of the challenges ahead, it also clearly demonstrates that solutions do exist and that significant, lasting success can be achieved.

The report can be found here.

Sand Martin Nest Banks on the River Don

Read about the installation of two Sand Martin nest banks on the River Don at Kelham Island and Carbrook here (Sheffield Telegraph Fri 13th April).
It is early days, but it is hoped that the newly returned Sand Martins will take to the nesting banks, and it is hoped nest cameras can be installed.
The banks can be viewed from Ball Street Bridge near Kelham Island (SK350883) and the 5 Weirs Walk at Carbrook (SK387902).

Breeding Wader Surveys in the South West Peak District:

Volunteers required

SBSG member Leah Kelly is a PhD student at the University of Sheffield, working in association with the South West Peak Landscape Partnership (www.southwestpeak.co.uk). Her research involves investigating the declines of upland waders, focusing on the conservation needs and management for curlew, snipe and lapwing. The work would involve surveying specific focal fields and the immediately adjacent fields by walking to within 100 m of every part of each field. Surveys need to be conducted from two hours post-sunrise to 12:00 and from 15:00 to two hours pre-sunset. The majority of assistance would be required from 1st April to 15th May 2018. Any surveys would have to be done on a voluntary basis; although, we would be able to pay for mileage (26p per mile).
If you are interested, please contact Leah ASAP via e-mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Help Sheffield University and SBSG support the Sheffield Peregrines

With your help we can provide more opportunities for people to learn more about these amazing birds as well as carry out important research. You can support the Sheffield Peregrines Project by donating through the Virgin Money Giving page.

Click on this link to learn more about the plans for the project and to donate:

 EU General Data Protection Regulation

As you may know, the EU General Data Protection Regulation comes into force on May 25th.  To ensure that SBSG conforms to this regulation, we have reviewed the ways in which the Group holds personal data in connection with our membership, and have agreed a data protection policy.  If you have concerns about the data that SBSG holds in relation to your membership, or the ways in which that is held and managed, please contact the membership secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In particular we identified the holding of your telephone number as desirable but not necessary.  If you would like it to be deleted from your record, please contact Martin. We will assume that if you do not contact Martin on this front you are happy for your details to be held by the Group and used to manage your membership in the ways outlined in the policy.' Details of our policy can be found at the top of the page.

Appeal for legal challenge on behalf of Hen Harriers

An appeal from Mark Avery to raise funds for a judicial review with full details here.

“Instead of tackling the key issue of criminality, Michael Gove's Department for the Environment (DEFRA) has proposed something called 'brood management' which involves removing chicks from nests near grouse moors. That might help grouse moor owners but it won't help Hen Harriers”.

Sorby Proceedings

Arthur Whitaker (1882 - 1949) - Sorby Natural History Society

In 1929, the then-named Sorby Scientific Society published its first journal, entitled Proceedings Volume 1. The journal contains interesting papers on a wide variety of subjects. Of particular note is Arthur Whitaker’s paper “Notes on the Birds of the Sheffield District”, this being one of the first times that local bird observations had been published. Although widely referred to subsequently the following paper by Charles Wells detailing the record of a White-tailed Eagle in Derwent Dale makes for interesting reading.

Link to the proceedings which were scanned by Bob Croxton can be found here

Membership

Good news for younger members

Free membership is now available for persons under the age of 25.  The age limit was previously 22.  And it’s available regardless of whether you’re in full time education or not.  Existing members should by now have received revised membership certificates from Martin Hodgson, the Membership Secretary.  If you haven’t but you think you ought to have, or if you are a paying member who now qualifies for free membership, please contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Submitting your records

If you have submitted records recently you may have noticed that the calendar facility, when adding the date to your record, is no longer available. This has occurred following a software update, though should not affect users too adversely providing that they add the date in the specified format as shown below.