Twites at Titchwell Photo: Linda Witton
The Amersham Birdwatching Club
Our aim is to share and foster an interest in and enjoyment of birds and their environment.
We will be glad to see you at any of our monthly meetings.
Enquiries: Text 07958 792 488
NEXT Indoor MEETING:
Friday 20th September at 7:45 in The Barn Hall , Chiltern Avenue, Amersham , HP6 5AH
Saturday15th June Field trip to Chobham Common Leader Richard Tomlin
A nightjar hunt
Future Friday evening Meetings in 2019
January The Birdwatchers Time Machine Dan Field
February Wildlife of Southern Amazonia Graeme Wallace
March The Shetland Isles Bill Coster
April Kenyan Coastal Forest Ann Scott
May Undiscovered Norfolk Chris Ward
No indoor meetings June July and August
September The Lee Valley Paul Roper
A chilly but productive morning Sea Watching at Portland Bill , May 2019
On Friday 15th March Bill Coster treated us to a wonderful selection of his photos taken while he and his wife spent a month in the Shetland isles. The quality of the photos and the range of birds and habitats was stunning giving us views of birds which we would be unlikely to get ourselves without a great deal of effort.
***********************************************************************************************************************************
LOCAL SIGHTINGS
8/5 : 17 Black Tern : Marsworth Reservoir
7/5 : 2 Hobby : Marsworth Reservoir
5/5 Little Gulls are at College Lake mid morning (10:00)
6/5 7:00 : 2 Cuckoo : Ravenstone SP848517
3/5 They’re back! Turtle dove at Bucks section of Bicester MOD this morning no private access unfortunately
3/5 Turtle Dove Dorney Common, Bucks before flying to trees on Eton Wick, Berks
FIRECRESTS
!10th April Reports of Lots of Firecrests singing their hearts out in Wendover Woods and
RING OUZEL spotted at Steps Hill
The Birdwatchers Time Machine was the enigmatic title given by Dr Field for his talk on the paleontological evidence for the 'history' of birds. Drawing widely on his own work and research we were treated to a wonderful romp through the last 100M years ,give or take a few ,noting the presence or absence of ferns , dinosoaurs and the like prior to and post the cataclysmic collision with the asteroid 66M years ago in the Yucatan peninsula widely recognised as the most recent event dealing a severe blow to all life forms.This was the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction known to those in the trade as the "K-Pg" Birds emerged after this event but what was there before .. who were the ancestors?
Here are some links sent by Dr Field to help you further in your search for the truth. Yes it's definitely out there!
Articles by Dan Field
"How birds survived the dinosaur killing asteroid" an article in The Conversation
https://theconversation.com/how-birds-survived-the-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-97021
"Feathered fruit-eater frozen in fossil form" by Dan Field and Allison Hsiang https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2018/06/25/feathered-fruit-eater-frozen-in-fossil-form/
A couple of articles in National Geographic also touch on the subject with video supplied by Dan
"These are the Dinosaurs that didn't die" An article in National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/05/dinosaurs-survivors-birds-fossils/
"The unprecedented Ichthyornis fossil from Kansas offers fresh perspective on bird evolution." a short article in National Geographic which has rotating 3-D fossil bird skull photo
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/fossil-bird-skull-3d-dinosaurs-evolution-paleontology-science/
For information about Dan's work and papers published go to :
For information on some local sightings look on General News page
We look forward to welcoming you to any of our meetings. We will continue to do our best to keep you updated on our programme & activities together with any updates to our web site.
A few of our members like taking photos. If you find this of interest please contact us for further details or just to chat.
Field Trips are a regular feature of our activities many being local but a couple of times a year we go further afield for a few days residential to places such as Titchwell in North Norfolk, Minsmere in Suffolk or North Kent Marshes. This year we are going back to Portland Bill.
This site was last updated on 18th May 2019
Print