Certificates of Merit

Up & coming Suffolk birder Oliver Slessor is the latest birdwatcher to receive one of the BBA/UK400 Club's prestigious Certificates of Merit (see above). It was whilst working at Landguard Nature Reserve that Olly discovered the first SHORT-TOED TREECREEPER for Suffolk.

Certificates are also available to those achieving other ornithological accolades -:

A Day List achievement, be it at national or county level

A Year List achievement, be it national, County or Patch

A Life List Achievement, 400, 450, 500, 550 or any increment of 1 above 550

All certificates cost £5.00, fully inclusive of postage & packing

Simply email Lee LGREUK400@aol.com any requirements

Up close and personal with yet another GREY PHALAROPE!

I just cannot resist the temptation of a GREY PHALAROPE and when I heard that yesterday's Farmoor 1 Reservoir's bird was still present, I had to get over there today and see it. They are such beautiful birds, so delicate and precious. I laid down and had the privelege of the bird swim to within inches of me - I felt the ripples from its incessant feeding. Heaven! Here is just a small selection of the 400 or so images I took today of one of my favourite birds.....

Dropping like flies: a sign that birders of my generation are getting old

It is very sad to have to report the deaths of two long-serving birders this week - firstly GRAHAM SODEN from Northamptonshire and secondly, MICK CASE from Ipswich in Suffolk. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time with both of them and shared some great moments on long twitches. Graham and I did a lot of trips together in the 1980's (I managed to get his life list up to about 450) and we worked together on Amersham market for nearly 15 years. He always had a keen interest in bird photography and delighted in sending me his best efforts whenever he returned home. This of course was the pre-digital era. Mick and I did several long twitches to Scilly together and he was a Suffolk birder that regularly phoned me for information and guidance in the early days of BIS. Both observers will be sorely missed and I send my heartfelt condolescences to the families concerned.