Steve Piotrowski has made several trips to Poland since 1992 not just to explore his family roots, but to look at the amazing areas of wildlife that Poland has to offer. During his talk Steve will describe and show us the diversity of the principal habitats and the creatures that inhabit them.
Left: Wet woodland in Poland – Steve Piotrowski

Venue: Bungay Community Centre
Time: 7.30 p.m.

Monday February 15th
Waveney Bird Brain Challenge—Quiz night

WBC has challenged The Lowestoft Lounge Lizards, RSPB Minsmere Volunteers and Suffolk Wildlife Trust for a wildlife-based quiz.  The teams will be strictly controlled by Quizmaster, Chris McIntyre.  Audience banter and participation will be actively encouraged and there will also be a prize for the most knowledgeable spectator!  Please come along to barrack/support your team!  There will be an spectator’s prize.

Venue: Bungay Community Centre
Time: 7.00 p.m.

Monday March 15th 
AGM followed by presentation on bird-watching in the Waveney Valley 50 years ago

The order of events will commence with the election of the club’s President.  Steve Piotrowski is our only nomination to date and, if duly elected, will preside over the remainder of the AGM.

Following our official business, Derek Moore OBE will talk to us about his exploits whilst bird-watching in the Waveney Valley as he knew it 50 (if not 60!) years ago.  Derek is now semi-retired, but continues to work very hard as an author, broadcaster, wildlife campaigner and ecological advisor to Welsh Water.  He is probably better known in East Anglian wildlife circles as the former Director of SWT, Suffolk Bird Recorder and Report Editor.  Derek was born and raised in Beccles and was bird-watching in the Waveney Valley when most of us were just a twinkle in our dear ol’ dad’s eye.  In other words, most of us hadn’t been born!  Derek’s nostalgic journey into the past will cover the personalities involved, the birds, the habitats and activities.  He will discuss optical equipment used in the days before the notebook replaced the mobile phone and when photographing birds was a major operation.

Venue: Bungay Community Centre
Time: 7.30 p.m.

Friday April 2nd 
Good Friday Dawn Chorus Walk (+ Hot Cross Buns)

Following on from 2009’s successful event at Carlton Marshes, this Easter we will be exploring the wildlife that frequent Outney Common and The Lows in Bungay.  Members have said that they would prefer an earlier start, so we will be there bright and early at 6.00 a.m. The Lows is one of the best areas of wet meadows in the Waveney Valley and often hosts good flocks of waders.  Last spring, otters were a regularly feature of this section of river, so we will need to keep our eyes peeled. The walk is approximately four miles long, over uneven terrain and there are a few obstacles to negotiate. Wellies are essential and the walk could prove challenging for those with walking difficulties. However, we are keen to ensure that all members feel comfortably welcome, so there will be a point, where those less able can meet up with the group to collectively complete the walk and then it will be on to Bungay Community Centre for teas, coffees and hot-cross buns.

Members who would prefer not to walk at all are of course more than welcome to simply come along to socialise at the review.  Kathy has offered to provide the refreshments, but is always glad of any extra pairs of hands!

Leaders  Steve Piotrowski & Roger Walsh
Venue     Meet Outney Common (Golf Course car park) at 6.00 a.m.

Thursday/Sunday April 22nd - 25th
“Puffin and Choughing” (Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire)

Dale Fort was built in 1856 in an attempt to deter the forces of Napoleon III from invading the west coast of Britain. Its spectacular location near the entrance to Milford Haven provides it with easy access to a wide variety of superb seashores. Dale provides an ideal base for exploring the spectacular scenery of The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and the famous bird-islands of Skomer, Skokholm and Grassholm.

Puffin on Skomer – Derek Moore

The island of Skomer offer extremely important breeding grounds for a great variety of seabirds. The island is managed by the Wildlife Trust South & West Wales under a lease from the Countryside Council for Wales.  Skomer is probably the most important breeding site of Manx Shearwaters in the world, with an estimated population of 165,000 pairs. It is difficult to find spots on the island which are not burrowed by them. Puffins breed on Skomer in large numbers as well: approximately 6,000 pairs have been counted. Other birds present in large numbers are Guillemots, Razorbills and of course the ever present gulls.

Steve Piotrowski will be running a BTO residential training course on bird identification at the Field Studies Centre at Dale Fort from 20th-22nd and will stay on to lead this WBC event.  Those members who would like to attend the course and have an extended stay at Dale Fort should visit the BTO Website (www.bto.org/notices/trgworkshops.htm) or contact Steve Piotrowski 01986 893311. You will need to book early for the course as places are being filled very quickly.

Leaders  Steve Piotrowski and Patrick Barker

Attendees will be expected to make their own way to Dale, although guidance can be given on the best modes of travel and car-sharing opportunities can be coordinated through Kathy.

Bank Holiday Monday May 3rd
Guided Tour of Minsmere

RSPB Minsmere will need no introduction to most UK birders.  It is one of the RSPB's most famous nature reserves and has been an RSPB reserve for over 50 years.  Minsmere pioneered the use of observation hides and management of wetland areas to enable visitors to see a sample of the huge range of birds that pass along the Suffolk coast.  In early May spring passage will be at its peak and you should see avocets, marsh harriers and bitterns.  Chris and Steve will guide you around the reserve and make sure that you don’t miss out on the Minsmere experience.
Leaders  Chris McIntyre & Steve Howell

Saturday May 22nd-27th
POLAND—visit to the Bialowieza Forest and Beibza Marshes

Update to Poland Trip - Click for Further Details

The National Parks of Biebrza & Bialowieza are the best in Europe and offer exceptional birding opportunities all in unique and spectacular landscapes. The enchanting shades of green amongst the dense foliage of Bialowieza support a dazzling diversity of plants and animals. It is the last of Europe’s native riverine forests, where birding is like stepping back thousand years! The average age of the forest stands are over 130 years and 400-600 years old trees are quite common.  The high biodiversity of fauna include approx. 9,200 species of insects, 13 species of amphibians, 58 species of mammals and nearly 250 bird species.  Access to the areas under highest protection is strictly controlled, but guides are available to take us there!  Packs of wolves and herds of bison roam the forest. Cranes, pygmy owls, black storks and nearly all European woodpeckers are just some of the delights that can be found.

The Biebrza Marshes are a complex series of wetland habitats, which were used by Napoleon to graze his cavalry horses during his Russian campaigns.  They are located on the Biebrza river valley, in Suwali, Lomza in the northeast of Poland.  The area encompasses river channels, lakes and extensive marshes.  There are wooded areas on higher ground and 1,000 km 2 of well-preserved peat bogs. The area shows a clear succession of habitats from riverside fen through to raised bogs until grading into wet woodland.  Because of this unique succession, the area supports vast numbers of wildlife with many birds and mammals common.

Lady slipper orchid will be a highlight of the trip – Steve Piotrowski

The group will visit Biebrza & Bialowieza and Siemianowka lake and surrounding marshes. Hazelhen, great snipe, pygmy owl, black, grey-headed, white-backed, middle spotted and three-toed woodpeckers, aquatic warbler, collared flycatcher, penduline tit and nutcracker are amongst our many targets.  We will also search for bison, elk and beaver and for clumps of the spectacular lady’s slipper orchid.

This event is likely to be well oversubscribed, so please register your interest with Kathy early to avoid disappointment if you haven’t already done so.  Potential attendees will be expected to book their own flights and pay their own hotel bills.  Guidance will be given on airlines that fly to Warsaw and car-sharing opportunities to and from the airport can be ordinated through Kathy.  A deposit to cover the hire of a mini-bus and to secure rooms will be required.

More details to be announced.

Leaders           Steve Piotrowski and Roger Buxton

Wednesday June 23rd     
“Midsummer Night’s Dream”— evening walk around SWT’s Redgrave & Lopham Fen Reserve followed by BBQ

SWT’s Redgrave & Lopham Fen Nature Reserve hosts the largest remaining river valley fen in England.  As one of the most important wetland sites in Europe, Redgrave and Lopham Fen has international protection. It forms the source of the River Waveney.  As well as open fen the reserve includes a mixture of wet heathland, open water, scrub and woodland. The underlying acid and alkaline geology has resulted in characteristic wildlife including many species now rare in Britain.  The reserve in one of Suffolk’s best inland sites for birds, bearded tit nest there and hobbies regularly complete their spectacular hawking displays on warm summer evenings.  WBC members were treated to an excellent evening walk in 2009, a taster of things to come? 

A member’s BBQ will take place alongside the Reserve Centre immediately after the walk.  If it rains, the centre will be open for shelter.

Leaders  Andrew Green & Andrew Excel (SWT Mgr)
Venue     Meet at Reserve Centre car park at 6.30 p.m.

Thursday August 5th
RSPB Minsmere Family Day (incl. WBC ringing demo)

For the third successive year, WBC has been asked to take a key role at RSPB’s prestigious family event. Alongside BTO, WBC ringers will host one of the marquees to give ringing demonstrations and explain the wonders of migration to the many visitors young and old.  WBC members are encouraged to support this event and, as an added attraction, RSPB Volunteer Guides, Chris McIntyre and John Grant (Rear Admiral Helmut Schienner) will be there to give exclusive guided walks to our members.  Another point to note is that the RSPB open their doors for FREE on these days, so why not bring along a few friends so they too can enjoy the Minsmere experience?

This year the RSPB plan to increase the family days to every Thursday throughout the school holiday period and there will other ringing demo opportunities in the spring.  Keep your eye on the website for further details.

If members have any free time to help with setting up, putting up our marquee, cutting net lanes, etc., on Wednesday 4th August, it would be very much appreciated, so please ring Kathy.

Leaders  WBC ringing team for ringing demos and Chris McIntyre & John Grant for guided tours
Venue     Meet at Ringing Tent at 09.30 a.m.

Saturday August 21st      
Waveney Stardust Cruise

If you are one of our members who look at the programme and think “wow – I would just love to come along, but would I manage the walk?” then this is the event for you?  The Waveney Stardust Cruise is designed primarily for disabled and/or elderly parties and the 42ft long boat is crewed by volunteers.  Passenger’s needs are catered for throughout from helping them aboard to preparing tea or coffee.  Hopefully, members will appreciate that as a club we pride ourselves in that we offer something for everyone.  We also hope that you will understand that priority for places must be given to those members who, perhaps, find some of our other trips too challenging to attend.  

WBC has reserved the boat for an exclusive, extended all-day cruise and to view spectacular landscapes such as those at Breydon Water, Berney Marshes, Somerleyton and Burgh Castle.  Wader passage will be at its peak and attendees will be guided by one of East Anglia’s top birders, Andrew Easton.

This will undoubtedly be a fabulous trip and the boat will berth at Berney Arms Inn for lunch, which will include a short walk down to the reed-screen hide behind the pub where we wil view the marshes. 

  Leader:   Andrew Easton
Cost:       £15/head (OAPs and/or those less-abled £12). The fee includes light refreshments, which will be served onboard, but attendees are advised to bring additional drinks
Venue:    Pick up at Hipperson’s Boatyard, Beccles at 09.30 for 10.00 hrs sailing and we envisage a return to the quay at around 19.00 – 20.00 hrs.  If you are delayed en route, please ring 07803 145672, otherwise the boat will not wait.

Please bring along a picnic lunch if you do not wish to eat at the pub.  Non-Berney Arms patrons are politely requested not to take advantage of the facilities provided by the pub.

For further details on the Waveney Stardust charity see: www.waveneystardust.co.uk  

Sunday Sept 19th        
Migration Watch—Dingle Marshes & Shore Pools

Dingle Marshes is one of the few places in Suffolk where you can have a near wilderness experience. This SWT nature reserve is a magnet for breeding and wintering wildfowl and wading birds including the elegant avocet, white-fronted goose, lapwing and redshank. The Westwood Marsh reedbeds hold a significant proportion of the UK’s marsh harrier and bittern – a shy bird of which there are only 13 booming males left in Britain. 
Our principal target will be migrating birds, although we will also search for other wildlife such as the otter and water vole.  The shore pools host a diversity of waders at this time of year, but are internationally important for starlet sea anemone – the rarest sea anemone in Britain. These animals live in the soft mud at the edges of the creeks, saltmarshes and brackish pools, are less than 20mm long and feed on small shrimp-like creatures and snails.
Leader    Roger Walsh & Carl Powell (SWT Site Manager)
Venue     Meet at Dunwich Beach car park at 08.00 a.m.

Sunday October 10th       
Migration Watch—Orford Ness National Nature Reserve – National Trust

Orford Ness is the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe.  This National Trust nature reserve contains a variety of habitats including shingle, saltmarsh, mudflat, brackish lagoons and grazing marsh and has proved to be a magnet for migrating birds. Regular monitoring by members of Landguard Bird Observatory has shown the importance of the site as a migrant stop off point. Recent rarities (all in this decade) include: Cory’s Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Green-winged Teal, White-tailed Eagle, Red-footed Falcon, Common Crane, Temminck’s Stint, Baird’s Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Bee-eater, Tawny Pipit, Bluethroat, Aquatic Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas’s Warbler, Radde’s Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Penduline Tit, so who knows? The Ness also provides an important location for breeding birds as well as for the coastal shingle flora and wildlife, including a large number of nationally rare species. It was a secret military test site from 1913 until the mid 1980s.

WBC trip to Orfordness 2009 –
Steve Piotrowski

There are toilets onsite and, although the tracks and paths that circumnavigate the reserve are level, access to and from “the island” is difficult for disabled visitors.

Leaders  Steve Piotrowski and Mike Marsh
Venue     Meet on Orford Quay at 8.00 a.m. 

Please park in the Orford Town Council pay-and-display car park close to the quay. The cost of the current permit and ferry fees will apply, which is payable with booking or on the quay.  Details of 2010 permit fees to be published at a later date.

Monday October 18th 
Birds of Mexico

When Roger organised a two week trip to the Yucatan region of Mexico at Easter in 2008 it was no ordinary basic birder’s holiday. Along with Mark Halliday as official photographer (see Birding World for his shots) and our wives, we arranged to stay in a variety of the regions superb 4/5* inclusive hotels, which had the advantage of excellent cuisine, superb beaches and pools while also offering superb wildlife habitats. It was possible to spend a lot of time birding solely within the hotel grounds and still see a good range of species. However, one fantastic element of birding in the Yucatan Peninsula is that some of the best birding areas happen to be located in some really superb ancient monuments. The first 5 days were spent in the south of the region near Tulum, followed by two nights at the World Heritage Site of Chichen Itza, then a further two nights near Playa de Carmen and finishing off with a 5 days on Cozumel Island. We left with a list of 197 species including some of the excellent endemic species of this area. This talk will share some of the exciting moments, scenery, historical sites and birds with thanks to Mark for the use of his photographs.

Above: Roger birding in Mexico (Roger’s the short one)

Venue: Bungay Community Centre
Time: 7.30 p.m.

Saturday October 23rd
Dunwich Forest/Westleton Heath

Dunwich Forest is currently undergoing a process of 're-wilding' with a long term plan to recreate and regenerate the natural landscape that existed prior to the conifer plantations. The management of the forest is now a partnership between the Forestry Commission, SWT and RSBP.  The more northern area is being managed by SWT and grazed by a herd of Dartmoor ponies. The area covered by heathland will increase as conifer crops are gradually harvested and areas of deciduous trees are allowed to revert to heather. Lowland heath is one of the rarest of all Britain's wildlife habitats and is vital to the survival of many rare species of birds, reptiles and butterflies.

The heathland area to the south is being managed by the RSPB and, from mid-afternoon, the group will go to an area frequented by lowland Britain largest herd of red deer. 

Red deer at rut – John Evans

Late October is in the deer rutting season when red deer gather in large herds on open ground, showing off the size of their impressive antlers, posturing and bellowing to prove who is the mightiest as they compete for the females attention!  You may even be lucky enough to see them clash antlers!

Leader    John Grant (RSPB Volunteer Bird Guide) and Jon Evans
Venue     Meet at Dunwich Forest car park at 8.00 a.m. until 4.00 pm
Explore the forest and heaths for birds finishing with deer rut at dusk. Bring a packed lunch.

Monday November 15th   
Poles Apart (birding the Antarctic and Arctic)

Stephen in the Antarctic

Fair Isle is about as far from the South Shetlands as it's possible to get, but this is where Stephen Dean’s Polar ambitions began.  A talk by Simon Cox (author of The Birds of Essex and global traveler) about his trip to Antarctica in the winter of 1992/3 fired Stephen’s imagination so powerfully that for the next ten years visiting "Terra Incognita" became his number one travel and wildlife ambition.  There is a saying "beware of what you wish for, it might come true", but the reality of making the trip was literally fantastic.  After Stephen’s amazing lifetime experience, he still sometimes find it hard to believe that he was actually there in a land for which no adequate superlatives have yet been coined!  Sharing his experiences of the place and its wildlife with WBC members will takes him right back.

There was only one way to follow a trip to Antarctica and that's to cross the Equator, and travel even further north than Fair Isle to the summer home of many of our winter visitors: the realm of the Polar Bear.  This trip leapt off Stephen’s "must do" list in a most unexpected way and with less than three weeks to prepare it was time for him to grab his cold weather gear and prepare to re-enter the parallel universe that is the expedition cruise bubble in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Icebergs, marine mammals, seabirds, a real sense of adventure and an acute awareness of history - from Pole to Pole.......... this is a talk not to be missed.

Venue: Bungay Community Centre
Time: 7.30 p.m.