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THE FIRST 50 YEARS
This
document is a big thank you
to
all those members past and present
who
over the years have made the society
such
a success and continue to do so.
Our
special thanks must go to Bullocks Coaches
who
have provided continued good service during this period
especially
during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
We
must also thank our many guest speakers
who
have given talks on a variety of birding topics,
all
very interesting and informative.
Our
thanks also go to Heaton’s Sports Club
for
providing excellent and friendly service
since
our move there in 2010.
STOCKPORT BIRDWATCHING SOCIETY
This is a record of notable events
and members recollections
during the first 50 years of
the society, from 18 December 1972 until 17 December 2022
and is not intended to be a
complete record of the history of the society.
A total of 275
bird species have been recorded by the society during its first 50 years.
OFFICERS OF
THE SOCIETY
PRESIDENTS
Bill Mulligan from 1972 until his death in 1986, when
the position of President was suspended.
Charles Linfoot appointed President at the 25th
Anniversary in 1997 to the present day.
CHAIR
Gordon Williams until his resignation (date unknown).
Peter McConkey followed Gordon Williams, until his
death in 1990.
Charles Linfoot from 1990 until accepting the position
of President in 1997.
Les Henson from 1997 until his resignation on health
grounds in 2005.
Peter Bullock from 2005 until his death in 2006.
Paul Lewis from 2006 until his resignation in 2011.
Penny Laine from 2011 to the present day.
SECRETARY
Les Harris 1972 until his
resignation (date unknown).
Dave Lee until his
resignation in 1985.
Jack Williams from 1985
until his resignation in 1992.
Dave Evans from 1992 to the
present day.
OUTDOOR
MEETING SECRETARY
Charles Linfoot from the inaugural meeting until he
stepped down in 2011.
Tony Mossman from 2011 to the present day.
INDOOR
MEETINGS SECRETARY
Before 1982 this appears to have been an ad hoc
arrangement.
Audrey Marler from 1982 until her resignation in 1994.
Pat Bullock from 1994 until her resignation in 2005.
Mike Crawley from 2006 until his resignation in 2012.
Tony Kelso from 2012 to present day.
MEMBERSHIP
In the first full year of membership 1973, there were
63 members.
The highest membership was 85 in 2002 and the lowest membership
52 in 1986.
There are presently 58 members.
SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Prior to 1996 there were two annual subscriptions £11.00
for waged and £8.00 for retired members.
50p and 30p respectively also being collected for
attending indoor meetings.
From 1997 until 2004 the annual subscription was
£10.00 including indoor meetings.
From 2005 until 2018 the annual subscription was £15.00
including indoor meetings.
From 2019 until 2022 the annual subscription was £20.00
including indoor meetings.
OUTDOOR MEETINGS
Prior to 1995 the cost of outdoor meetings was the cost
of the coach being equally divided
between the number of members and guests on the
coach. In 1994 this approximated to
£8.70 per trip.
From 1995 until 2007 this became a fixed charge of
£10.00 per trip.
From 2008 until 2018 this became a fixed charge of £20.00
per trip.
From 2019 until 2022 this became a fixed charge of £25.00
per trip.
A FEW WORDS
ON OUR FOUNDER BILL MULLIGAN
The
Society evolved from evening classes organised by Bill Mulligan, covering bird
life and bird identification. There were
classes held in and around the Manchester area in a variety of places including
Altrincham, Chadkirk, Glossop, Lymm, Stockport and Wilmslow. He created interest in birdwatching and was
very captivating when talking about birds, enthusing all those who knew
him. When Bill retired, his classes
closed and he suggested that class members should create a bird watching group
of their own. Each class did eventually
form its own birding or natural history group.
Bill became Chairman of Manchester Ornithological Society and President
of our society, attending the early meetings of the society suggesting places
to visit. Bill died in 1986. Bill was the main organiser of the society
and by profession was a journalist writing articles in both the Manchester Evening
News and Sunday Chronicle. Bill was a
great friend of A W Boyd (1885 – 1959) who was described as a countryman and
naturalist, writing ‘A Country Parish’, first published by Collins in 1951. Bill Mulligan was once described as one of
the last old-style naturalists.
Bill
Mulligan could not drive and consequently, did not have a car. He was therefore naive and oblivious to the
challenge of getting to places and had little understanding of suitable routes
to take with a large coach, leading to numerous predicaments. In the days of car trips people were wary of
giving Bill a lift. He would throw the
car door open, regardless of whether or not you were parked next to a stone
wall. He was a big man and would lever
himself out of the car by leaning on the door.
After giving Bill a few lifts in your car, you usually had a badly
fitting door. On one occasion on a coach trip, near Leighton
Moss, Bill told the driver to ‘follow this road, it is OK’, only to find that
there was a hump backed bridge with a 4ton weight limit. For a 12ton coach!!
Bill was
not in favour of bird ringing, as he claimed it put birds under stress and was
not averse to cutting birds free from any trapping nets that he happened to stumble
across.
The
first members of the society together with Bill Mulligan were Pete McConkey,
Ray Gumbrill, Les Harris, Charles
Linfoot, and Gordon Williams, all having previously attended Bill’s birding
classes. Charles Linfoot had joined
Bill’s Didsbury class in 1964 aged 19, and sadly as I write, only Charles
Linfoot the present the President of the Society is still with us.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1972 The
inaugural meeting was held at Pendlebury Hall, Stockport, on the 18th December
1972 attended by 21 people, where it was agreed that the title should be: - STOCKPORT
ORNITHOLOGISTS.
1973 The first
outdoor meeting was arranged for 6th January 1973 - to Southport by car, ‘members
to meet at the Pineapple Inn, Heaton Lane, Stockport at 8.00am’. The first
indoor meeting at Pendlebury Hall, was to be held on 29th January 1973 -
“speaker to be arranged”. The name of
that first speaker is not known.
1985 By 1985, and
indoor meetings were being held at Tiviot Dale Methodist Church, Stockport and the
name had been changed to STOCKPORT BIRDWATCHING SOCIETY.
1987 The January trip to the Shropshire Meres
was cancelled owing to inclement weather.
New birds for the society that year were a Sooty Shearwater and a
Forster’s Tern seen the Menai Straits.
1990 This
was the year of the infamous voyage out of Bridlington in September, on the ‘Yorkshire
Belle’. The only bird of note being
observed on the cruise, was a single Sooty Shearwater. Charles’ wife Hazel was lying on a seat below
decks in the lounge bar, feeling very sorry for herself, and the boat was still
tied up in the harbour. After the trip the
committee was banned from ever again organising a boat trip, as most members
were seasick and looking rather ‘green’ on their return to the harbour. Members
must have recovered quickly from the trip, as some were eating fish and chips after
arriving back on dry land.
The
year was marked by the sad death of Peter McConkey, one of the founder members,
who had been on the committee assisting in selecting venues for the outdoor
meetings etc. since the early days of the Society.
1994 This was the year of the famous Black-faced
Bunting at Pennington Flash, a first record for the Western Palearctic. The bird was found on a Friday afternoon and
we had a trip the next day! About 500
people from throughout Britain queued on the Saturday to catch a glimpse of the
bird. Subsequently, many members of the
Society managed to see the bird, as it stayed around for quite some time.
1995 There
are some half dozen newspaper articles relating to the Society, mainly at the
instigation of one of our members, Dave Kenny, who was often writing to local
and national papers on birding matters, but always adding a few words on behalf
of the Society. Members who joined as a
result of these articles include Pat Brown, Tony Beever, Mike Crawley, Eric
Cookney and Cliff Carrington.
1996 In February
there was the case of the coach stopping on the road outside Mere Sands Wood,
to drop members off. A cyclist, who
obviously had neither seen the coach, nor its flashing hazard warning lights,
ran headlong into the back of the coach.
Luckily, we had ‘Bicycle Repair Man’ in the form of another of our
members Merlin Evans, who was able to remove the figure of eight from the
youth’s front wheel and resile it, by the advanced engineering method of
standing on it and jumping up and down.
Dave Evans the secretary had overslept that morning and was not on the
trip. The trip report written by Dave
Kenny was headed ’Secretary misses coach, cyclist doesn’t’
On
the March trip, it rained so much at Woodwell, that Charles Linfoot was getting
back on the coach before Dave Evans had got off. Almost all the members did the exactly what
Charles had done and got back on the coach.
We then sat waiting on the coach for a full hour, as Jean Milner was nowhere
to be seen. She eventually returned to
the coach, at the appointed time, exclaiming that she had been sat in the cafe
waiting for the time to depart!
In September of this year a no smoking policy was
introduced on the coach. Much to the
pleasure of those members who did not smoke and who were generally seated at
the front of the coach.
In
December the monthly trip will be remembered for the amount of fog encountered. The trip was to Tittesworth Reservoir,
Blithfield Reservoir and Chasewater.
There was dense fog all the way to Tittesworth Reservoir, where we found
the reservoir so low you could almost walk in the bottom, but but were unable
to see the other side. We set off for
Blithfield Reservoir only to find the fog getting thicker. On the journey to Blithfield Reservoir, a few
members reported that they had seen a Shorelark on the far side of Tittesworth
Reservoir. It was decided not to proceed
to Blithfield Resersvoir or Chasewater and to return Tittesworth
Reservoir. Fortunately, the Shorelark
was still there giving excellent views to those who walked to the far side of
the reservoir from the car park.
1997 The year
that Charles forgot to book the coach for the June trip, only realising his
mistake whilst driving back from holiday in Scotland, on the day of the
trip. On the Friday afternoon before the
trip, Dave Evans realised that he had not received the paperwork from Bullocks,
that Charles had said he would receive.
On telephoning Bullocks, they informed him that no coach had been booked
and no coaches were available for the next day but said they would ring back in
twenty minutes. Bullocks had tried to
obtain a coach from one of their ‘friends’ but sadly none were available. Many telephone calls were made by Dave to
inform members that the trip had had to be cancelled. He followed this up by driving to the pick-up
points on the Saturday morning as not all members could be contacted. It was a good thing that he did. Jack Williams looked a forlorn sight standing
alone at The Pineapple and Sheila Davis at the Gateway was convinced she had
turned up on the wrong day. There is of
course a trip report written by Dave Kenny!
25th Anniversary Celebration
held at Heaton Mersey Conservative Club, date
un-recorded.
There was a welcoming drink,
followed by Charles Linfoot and Dave Evans each making
a short speech.
Charles was elevated to the position of Honorary
President for his work in the early days the society.
At the same time Les Henson was appointed as Chair of
the Society.
We then enjoyed drinks and a buffet followed by a
pleasant natter for a couple of hours.
1998 This
year was marked by the sad death of Cynthia Roberts. Cynthia had for many years been on the
committee assisting in selecting venues for the outdoor meetings.
1999 A Woodchat
Shrike found at Sutton Park, on the Sandwell Valley trip in June, was a new
species for the Society. This particular
bird appears in many members recollections of society trips and we shall
mention it again later.
2000 Around this
date there were a lot of members attending our outdoor meetings and a system of
booking for the Anglesey and Tregaron trips became essential. On one particular trip to Anglesey there were
more members and friends than seats on the coach, 57 to be precise. Les Henson, Charles Linfoot and two members had
to travel by car, following the coach all day.
Arctic
Warbler was another new bird for the Society, seen in Kilnsea Churchyard at
Spurn Point.
2001 This was the
year of the National Foot and Mouth Outbreak, with Government Regulations causing
the March outdoor trip to be cancelled.
In October we
detoured from our plans for the day, for a ‘twitch’ and visited Hornsea Mere to
see a White-winged Black Tern, again a first record for the society. We then continued to Spurn Point our original
destination, clocking up 100 species in the day, a club record at the time.
The
December trip was the first trip where Ian Tennant was mentioned as being our
driver. He recalls being told to remove
his coach from the car park at Arkwright’s Mill in Cromford, as “it was only to
be used by coach parties visiting the mill”.
Many of our members did visit the mill, or at least the cafe. Not a good start for Ian.
2002 A
‘twitch’ in September was to ‘the dell’ at Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve for
another new bird for the society a Greenish Warbler, picked up by the many
‘pagers’ on the coach. This was a brief
stop between our advertised destinations of Flamborough Head and Filey Brigg.
2003 A
small detour on our way to Blacktoft Sands RSPB Reserve in May provided another
‘twitch’, to add Dotterel to our ever-growing society tick list, when three
birds were located in a very very large field, close to the road.
Common
Rosefinch, again a new species for the society was located on Beacon Lane, Easington
on the only ever trip made to Spurn Point in September.
The usual trip to Spurn Point in
October produced another new bird for the society, in a private garden near
Easington Churchyard, a Subalpine Warbler was seen by a few members.
2004 Spurn
Point was the place of yet another society first record, a Bluethroat found by
Pat Brown on the October trip. This trip also produced the highest ever bird
count of 102 species seen in the day.
This beat the previous record of 100 birds seen in a day on the same
trip in 2001.
Roadworks
on the A55 in November caused Ian Tennant, our driver, to try a detour between
Aber Ogwen and Llanfairfechan. That is to say driving along a narrow road that
finished up in a dead end. A three -point
turn in a farmer’s gateway and we were soon returning in no time, past bemused
householders whom we had passed only minutes before.
2006 At exactly the time the coach was due to
leave Spurn Point in October an Olive-backed Pipit was located at ‘The
Warren’. A word with Ian Tennant our
driver and our departure was delayed for half an hour. This was another new species for the society,
fleeting glimpses being seen as the bird was chased from bush to bush by the
many birders at Spurn Point that day.
In
December, following storms in the Bay of Biscay, many migrating seabirds were
forced to return back North and a Leach’s Storm-Petrel with a broken wing, was picked
up in a distressed state off Crosby, by Paul Lewis. It was euthanized and the corpse
sent to the Marine Biology & Ecological Research Centre, at the University
of Plymouth. They were carrying out DNA
tests in order to establish whether birds from the vast colonies of the species
in North America, were integrating with the colonies in Scotland, Ireland,
Iceland, The Faroes and Norway. The
letter in reply gave no indication of the two groups having cross-bred.
2007 In
February the coach air conditioning unit on the roof became jammed under the
stone arch at Devils Bridge, whilst the bridge was wrapped in scaffolding. This bent coach was yet another first for the
society. After we had left the coach Ian
Tennant, the driver, was obliged to turn the coach round in the gateway of a
friendly farmer’s field, at the instigation of the farmer, who had apparently
appeared from nowhere. Sadly, the
spinning rear wheels of the coach sank into the ground, causing a rather large
muddy crater.
The
April outdoor meeting produced an explosive encounter with the attendant at
Penmon Priory, demanding money for parking the coach. This outburst was quite abusive and
apparently contained some very bad language.
We had been visiting Penmon for many years, parking at the same spot,
with no person in attendance and therefore no request for payment. He later calmed down as he was told that the
estate manager was coming. A telephone
call to the local highways department a few days later clarified the situation
regarding parking at Penmon Priory. The
road is private from a point approximately 50 metres before the actual car
park, so the owner is in his right to charge for parking if he so wishes. The highways department have told the owner
on many occasions to make this point clear, so far without any success. There is a sign I am led to believe, but it
is not very distinctive.
This
was also the day members were told off for being in the “Quarry” at Penmon
Point. This quarry now houses a
commercial fish farm. It was pointed out
to the gentleman concerned that we had been using this path without problem for
many years and in addition pointing out that there were no signs. He eventually relented and everyone continued
on their way.
The first ever society trip to Rutland Water in June
produced a new bird for the society, an Osprey, and to date our last sighting
of a Turtle Dove and our last visit to Rutland water.
2008 Cliff
Carrington who had been a member of the society since 1996 died this year. He very kindly bequeathed £2000 to the
society. His favourite trip had always
been Spurn Point and it was decided that members should have a free trip to
Spurn Point, in his memory. In
subsequent years it was decided that there would be one free trip every year, a
draw being organised on each trip, to be drawn by the coach driver. For the next two years the free trip
mysteriously fell on the October trip to Spurn Point. How mysterious was that.
Marshside
RSPB in December produced a Glossy Ibis, another first for the society.
2009 On the way
to Tregaron in February travelling along the A44, there were road signs
informing motorists that there was a road closure at Devil’s Bridge, half a
mile from our destination. This caused
us a detour lasting one- hour along the north bank of the River Ystwyth to
Aberystwyth and back along the south bank of the river to our destination, The
Arch (Y Bwa) Car Park on the B4574.
In
May on our way to Ynys Hir our coach became embroiled in a car rally at
Welshpool. The car park that we use as a
comfort stop (20p payable at the door on this occasion, but recently reverted
back to being free) was being used as a service centre for the rally cars. There were pieces of bodywork, bits of
engines and oilcans everywhere.
In
June a Spotted Sandpiper was located by Ray Schofield at North Cave Wetlands. A telephone call to the reserve recorder,
who’s number was clearly displayed on the walls of Turret Hide, soon brought
the recorder and many other local birders to view this bird. This find was another ‘first’ for our society
and also a ‘first’ for the reserve. Very
sadly Ray died the following year.
2010 Manchester Ornithological Society was formed in 1954
and at its peak had a membership of over 200.
Lately the membership had declined to 60 members, mostly pensioners over
70 years of age. No one volunteered to
take up the reins and the club ceased to exist.
Peter Wolstenholme was the last president at the final meeting of the
society, held in a church hall in Gatley.
Hale ‘Haloes’ Ornithological Society also closed in
this year having been formed in 1959.
April brought our last indoor meeting at Tiviot Dale
Methodist Church. Already mentioned
earlier there is no record of when we moved from Pendlebury Hall to Tiviot Dale
Methodist Church, but it is recorded that meetings were being held at the
church in 1985. The reasons for leaving
were the many years of suffering cold nights at the church, latterly the lack
of on-site parking and the general condition of the building. Not to mention that we (that is the ladies of
course) had to make our own teas in a very cold kitchen. Despite the secretary writing many letters to
the church over a period of six or seven years complaining about the lack of
heating, no reply was ever received. The letter informing the church that we
would be ending our evenings at the church after the April 2010 meeting, again
received no reply. This total disregard
and acknowledgement of the letters is quite appalling, especially from a church
that prides itself on being a caring church.
From
September the indoor meetings were moved to The Heatons Sports Club, Green
Lane, Heaton Moor, Stockport. SK4 2NF.
This Club had been formed in 2006 by the merger of Heaton Moor Rugby
Club and Heaton Mersey Cricket, Tennis and Lacrosse Club.
New birds for the society records, again at Spurn
Point in October, were Rose-coloured Starling and Little Auk.
The December trip had to be cancelled, owing to snow
and icy weather conditions nationwide.
2011 The
May trip to Ynys Hir produced the second bent coach for the society, when the
luggage compartment door was damaged.
The driver Tony had been warned against bringing a long coach, as there
is a hairpin bend between the main road and the car park. However, he would insist on bringing it, as
he wanted to have his tea brewing facility and video player with him for the
day.
The
September trip to Flamborough Head, Filey Dams and Filey Brigg started off
badly. Bullocks have never let us down,
but this year, those waiting at the first pick-up point began to wonder what
had happened, when the coach failed to arrive.
Thanks to modern technology, Bullocks phone number was obtained and
Bullocks were contacted. Yes, they had a
booking and the coach would be there for 8.00am. They were reminded that the pick-up time had
been 7.00am for over 35years. To give
Bullocks credit they had a coach out very quickly and by the time it reached
the Gateway it was only a few minutes behind schedule. Anne Whelan who gets on at a non-scheduled
stop on Didsbury Road had waited so long she was about to walk back home, when
the coach suddenly appeared.
Another
new bird for the Society again at Spurn Point in October was a Sabine’s Gull.
The November trip to Conway RSPB probably produced one
of the biggest shocks for the society, when it was found that the lagoons had
been completely drained of water. Apparently,
this was due to a build-up of algae over the summer months and could only be rectified
by waiting until the high tides next spring to bring in salt water, which would
allegedly kill the algae.
2012 In
April a few members were to witness yet more provocation at Penmon Priory, when
a car full of youths refused to pay the parking charges. Sounds familiar. Their car was driven at the attendant on two
occasions. The police were called and
our driver, Ian Tennant, made a statement to the police having felt sorry for
the poor attendant, who at one point was sprawled over the bonnet of the car,
causing the windscreen to be cracked.
This was also the last time we were to be driven by Ian Tennant, who was
dismissed later in the year by Bullocks, for a tachograph infringement on the
Continent. He will be missed by many in
the society and also by many other bird groups who he also took on trips. A sad day for the society and probably more
so for Ian who had driven us round the bend for 12 years or more. I met Ian later and was informed later that
he had no further contact with the North Wales Police regarding the Penmon Priory
affair.
After
many years of trying to get his way with the committee Nigel Collison finally
got his way and a new venue was added to our portfolio in May, Attenborough
Gravel Pits. Unfortunately, Nigel failed
to turn up for this inaugural trip!! It
was also the day our Chair and a few other members were admonished by the un-named
coach driver for attempting to bring ice creams on to the coach. Naughty! Naughty!
In June of this year was yet another first for the
society, we unable to reach our destination.
Poor Dennis our driver got the coach stuck in a country lane on our way
to Cemlyn Bay and was forced to reverse some considerable distance in order to
extricate the vehicle from its predicament.
An epic piece of reversing. He
was apparently warned not to bring a long coach, but he would insist. Fortunately, drivers are now helped by cctv
cameras fitted at the rear of the coach to assist in reversing.
2013 The
trip to Tregaron in February is a very popular trip, with the climax of the day
being a visit to the Red Kite feeding site, at the bridge on the outskirts of
Tregaron. Unfortunately, this particular
trip turned out disappointing when the time for the feeding came and went, with
no sign of offal being put out for the Red Kites and consequently no Red
Kites. We soon learnt that the feeding
of the Red Kites at this location had ceased the previous year. During our numerous visits here, we had seen
the feeding station grow from a handful of Red Kites to over 60 being
observed. Regrettably, the breath-taking
sight of so many Red Kites jostling for the best position to fly in and grab a
piece of offal, at this particular site at least, would now have to be
committed to the memories of those that witnessed it.
In June we visited Cemlyn Bay, where John Taylor knocked his telescope
and tripod into the sea off the newly erected footbridge. We continued the same day to South Stack,
where Brenda Moore knocked over a pile of plates in the cafe. Her comment “By the look of the pile of
debris on the floor, at least six plates had been broken”. We found out later that John had also broken
his camera that day. Not one of John’s
better birding days I suspect.
On Sunday
25th August an informal meeting was held at Heatons Sports Club
between 1.00 and 4.00, to discuss the latest position regarding the finances of
the Society and also members views on the society. Sandwiches, tea and coffee being
provided. Most thought it useful and
enjoyed the afternoon. It was agreed by
the 28 members in attendance, that we should have a similar day next year.
The
September trip came across a vehicle fire on the M60 near Sale, this was yet another
‘first’ for the society and took more than twenty minutes to pass, before
continuing our journey to Flamborough Head and North Cave Wetlands.
The
October trip to Spurn Point came up with a Dusky Warbler in the area of the
Canal, that could also be seen from Canal Scrape Hide. Yet another new bird for the society found at
Spurn Point.
40th Anniversary Celebration
held at Heatons Sports Club on 20th
January 2013 at 1.00pm
The celebration was attended
by the following 42 members: -
Charles Linfoot (President), Penny Laine (Chair), Dave
Evans (Secretary),
Tony Mossman (Outdoor Meetings Secretary), Tony Kelso
(Indoor Meetings Secretary),
Pat Brown, Nigel Collison and Jenny Samuelson
(Committee Members)
Harry Abbott, Tony Beever, Kevin Bentley, Alan
Brocklehurst, Roy Brocklehurst, Frank Burd,
Hilda Burd, Phil Burns, Michael Coombes, Kath Edwards,
Margaret Evans, Merlin Evans,
Charlie Gallagher, Ray Gumbrill, Anita Gumbrill,
Margaret Halton, Julie Henry, Peter Hugo,
Jane Jackson, Tom Jackson, Vanessa Jackson, Sheila
Kilduff, Bob Mantle, Peter Renshaw,
Sheila Renshaw, Jenny Samuelson, Ann Stewardson, Julie
Stokes, John Taylor, Dave Wells,
Anne Wheelan, John Wilkinson, Kathryn Wood and Maureen
Worsley.
Penny Laine opened the event by thanking everyone for
attending,
introduced the afternoons programme and
hoped everyone would have a pleasant afternoon.
Memorable events of the first 40 years of the
society’s history were then portrayed by
Penny Laine and Dave Evans
At around 2.00pm there was a refreshment break,
members helping themselves to a bowl of leek and
potato soup,
followed by platters holding a variety of sandwiches.
A presentation of the DVD “Birdwatching in England” by
Paul Doherty
was made to Hilda Burd, Ray Gumbrill and Charles
Linfoot
all three having been members of the Society since its
inaugural year, 1973.
A presentation was also made to the Secretary, Dave
Evans
for the work carried out for the Society over the past
two decades
A DVD of David Attenborough’s “The Life of Birds”
A celebration cake was then cut by the three longest
serving members of the Society
Ray Gumbrill, Hilda Burd and Charles Linfoot
before being distributed to the guests
Dave Evans concluded the celebration thanking the
members for supporting the society throughout the years, reminding them that it
is their society and its success is wholly due to members attending the events
organised by committee. He pointed out
that only recently two local bird watching societies have ceased to exist,
Manchester Ornithological Society and Hale Ornithological Society. He added that we are the only local Society
to run ten coach trips a year and have a monthly indoor meeting during the winter.
A free draw was made by Ray Gumbrill for a copy of the
Manchester Bird Report 2010
Won by Tony Mossman
Tony Mossman then drew again for a box of chocolates,
donated by Nigel Collison
Won by Penny Laine
At around 4.00pm. Penny Laine closed the formal part
of the afternoon.
Members were then invited to stay and watch a film
entitled
“WINGED MIGRATION”
The film ended at around 5.30pm.
Below are the names of 17 members who were at the 25th
celebration and are still members today.
Margaret Alderson, Tony
Beever, Alan Brocklehurst, Roy Brocklehurst, Pat Brown, Frank Burd,
Hilda Burd, Nigel Collison,
Mike Crawley, Sheila Davis, Dave Evans, Margaret Evans,
Ray Gumbrill, Anita
Gumbrill, Tony Kelso, Charles Linfoot and Tom Jackson.
2014 In
this year we were sad to hear of the deaths of two of our recent members. Both
Jeff Clements (1999-2010) and Alan Brocklehurst (1998-2014) passed away in
December.
2015 Sadly another recent member Phil Burns
(2007–2013) died in January.
The usual February trip to Devil’s
Bridge and Tregaron, had a replacement for Tregaron. Bwlch-Nant-yr-Arian had been chosen, as there
was a Red Kite Feeding station. About 300 birds were seen on this our first
visit. What an incredible sight!
After a long battle with cancer, we
also sadly learnt of the death of Sheila Kilduff in May (1998-2015).
Traffic chaos in Stockport, caused
by a lorry overturning on the M60, meant that the AGM had a delayed start of
about 30 minutes and with only 16 members in attendance. The secretary, Dave Evans, was laid low with
labyrinthitis and missed the whole event!
2016 In January Janet Cummings donated £1000,
in memory of her late brother Jeff Clements, who had died in 2014.
Sheila Davis died in the May, having
been a member of the society for almost 30 years.
At the end of the month Gordon Yates
gave his last talk to the society, “In Search of Himbrimi”. Gordon, who is a legend amongst birdwatchers
in the North West, had made 43 films in 40 Years and our society has seen every
one of them and the last film twice. In
admiration of his undoubted talent, patience, delightful and educational films
the society made Gordon an honorary member of the society and wished him all
the very best for the future.
3 new bird species for the society
in this year – Great White Egret seen at Old Moor RSPB, a Siberian Accentor at
Easington and on the last trip of the year a Ring-necked Parakeet on overhead telegraph lines in Lawson
Road, Blackpool during a trip to the Fylde Coast.
2017 The Leighton Moss trip in April produced a
new bird for the society as two Cattle Egrets flew in and landed if front of
the outer hides.
2018 The year started with the announcement
that Charlie Gallagher had died (1988-2017).
A man with a dry sense of humour always asking about Johnny Kingdom (of
television fame) and always asking “have you seen any walrus today or any
warthogs?” Sadly missed. A couple of weeks after his death the first
ever walrus for Britain turned up on the north coast of Scotland. Later in the year Johnny Kingdom also died
when a digger fell on top of him.
News also came in that Peter
Wolstenholme had died. Peter was never a
member of our society, but was well known to many members of our society and to
many birders in the North West. Peter
ran Manchester Ornithological Society (MOS) for over 40 years.
The trip to Cromford and Carsington
Reservoir in February was possibly the wettest trip the society has ever
witnessed with incessant heavy rain throughout the day.
The trip to see Red Kites in Mid
Wales, which is usually in February was changed to March this year and was
probably the coldest trip the society has ever witnessed, with a biting wind,
sleet and snow. The gales were nicknamed ‘the Beast from the East’ by the ‘weathermen’.
2019 The year started rather badly for Paul
Davies with him emailing to say the coach on the January trip had gone without
him. Only to email again later to say he
had the wrong timings, arriving for the coach at 7.30am. instead of 7.00am.
The January indoor meeting was
cancelled due to bad weather. Ice and snow were the problem this time. The manager of the Heatons Sports Club had
closed the car park for safety reasons, as it was impossible to stand up on the
covering of ice.
The March trip was planned to visit Cors
Caron and Bwlch Nant Yr Arian for the Kite feeding, but we were warned by
weather forecasters that ‘Storm Gareth’ was approaching from the west. We gathered at 7.30am. and took a vote on the
coach before setting off. We decided to
go to Leighton Moss instead, where there are hides and a handy café. Apparently one month of rain fell in the day.
The water was almost over the paths to Grizedale and Tim Jackson hides, as was
the public causeway. A superb close view
of a male Hen Harrier was the bird of the day for most observers.
The June trip to Cemlyn Bay and
South Stack promised to be a good day of birding. Unfortunately, the coach was unable to reach
Cemlyn Bay. As coaches have got wider
and higher with their AC units on the roof, the roads seem to have got
narrower. The car park South Stack was
closed, due to renovation work to the café.
At both these venues members had to walk the last half mile or so to the
destination. Sadly, we had to announce
that there would be no more future trips Cemlyn Bay.
2020 The February outdoor meeting to Cors Caron
and Bwlch Nant Yr Arian to see the Red Kites had to be cancelled owing to ‘Storm
Dennis’ that was forecast for the Saturday.
High winds and heavy rain were forecast for the whole of Wales and the
North West of England. Floods to fields
and property along the rivers Wye and Seven lasted for many weeks.
A year that had started badly
suddenly got worse. The coronavirus
pandemic, labelled covid-19, arrived on our shores. A Government lockdown followed on 23
March. This meant that all indoor
meetings after that date including the AGM had to be cancelled. The outdoor meetings of April, May and June
were also cancelled. Lockdown was eased
over the summer months, but by the end of August we were virtually back in a
lockdown situation, named Tier 3. We
managed a visit to Frampton Marsh RSPB in September. The coach had plastic screens fitted between
each row of seats and everyone had to wear a face covering. The day was excellent. John Wharton photographed a Nuthatch, which it
transpired was a first ever record for the reserve. We also managed a trip to Spurn Point in
October, but another lockdown ensued and the November and December trips were
cancelled. Sadly, Derek Carr and Noel
Halton had died this year.
2021 Covid-19 lockdown continued through the
early part of the year, with no indoor or outdoor meetings being allowed. Trips to Whisby in May and Bempton Cliffs
RSPB in June were the only trips in the first half of the year. The trip to Frampton RSPB in September added
a new bird to the societies list of birds seen, as a juvenile Black Stork favoured
a field next to the car park. The
October trip to Spurn Point produced yet another new species for the society, a
Two-barred Greenish Warbler. It was
found by Pete Welsby, late on in our visit and photographed by Al and Glo. It
turned out they were the only members to see this very rare bird. It was only the 10th record of the species in
Britain and a first for Spurn Point.
2022 This would turn out to be our first year
free of lockdowns for the covid pandemic, when the Government ended the
lockdown on 23 March, three years to the day since its inception. At the time not all members of the public were
happy with this decision.
The recent weeks had generally been
rather wet and our first trip of the year to Wirral was excessively wet. We had chosen to visit Slimbridge WWT for our
February trip. This was to be our first visit
to Slimbridge since 1981. The day was
dry and bright, but there was a chill wind.
It produced a new bird for the society, a pair of Common Cranes on the
reserve and a further 7 birds could be seen out on the estuary, from the new
Tower Hide.
The April trip to Cors Caron and
Bwlch Nant Yr Arian had a long journey to Cors Caron, caused by numerous road
layout alterations since our last visit.
There were new roundabouts and sections of the highway now had speed
restrictions. It has meant the cancellation of future trips to Cors Caron, but
hopefully we shall find a new venue to combine with Bwlch Nant Yr Arian.
Middleton Lakes RSPB was a new venue
for our May visit and proved very popular with our members. We shall no doubt visit here again in the
future.
The last trip of our first 50 years
was a very cold trip to Leighton Moss, in December. We arrived at Leighton Moss to find all the
water frozen and the reserve experiencing freezing temperatures, that lasted
all day. The paths to Grizedale and Tim
Jackson Hides were treacherous, being covered in ice. In spite of these uninviting conditions, we
still managed to record a total of 74 species for the day including, Bittern,
Little Egret, Great Egret, Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Kingfisher (surprising in
the conditions), Cetti’s Warbler and Bearded Reedling.
The final meeting of the year is
always our Annual general Meeting, held in mid-December. This year of all years, the 50th
AGM had to be postponed, as England were due to play France in the Fifa World
Cup 2022, kick-off at 8.00pm. The result
was not good for England, as France won 2-1, and went on to play in the final
where they lost to Argentina.
50th Anniversary Celebration
Held at Heatons Sports Club on 26 July 2023 at 7.30pm
The celebration was attended by the following 25
members: -
Penny Laine (Chair), Dave Evans (Secretary),
Tony Mossman (Outdoor Meetings Secretary), Tony Kelso
(Indoor Meetings Secretary),
Nigel Collison, Paul Davies and Nick Hilton (Committee
Members).
Peter Aird, Pat Brown, Margaret Evans, Simon Gough,
Brian Hilton, Peter Hugo, Jane Jackson,
Vanessa Jackson, Paul Lewis, Bob Mantle, Brenda Moore,
Colin Rushmer, Jenny Sameulson, Ann Stewardson, Mark Walsh, John Wharton, Anne
Wheelan, Jill Woodward.
Apologies were received from Alan Barratt and Gloria
Byron.
Penny Laine welcomed members to the Members Evening
and 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Members were invited to help themselves to the variety
of sandwiches and snacks, together with tea or coffee.
Penny Laine covered the first 40 years of the
society’s history, reporting on the highlights and reminiscences of members,
which although they had been covered at length at the time of the 40th
anniversary meeting, not all current members were present. Dave Evans followed
on from Penny, covering the memories of the past 10 years.
Penny Laine informed members that Dave Evans would now
be updating his notes and produce a booklet covering the first 50 years of the
society’s history. It was not intended
to include everything and everybody, nor the dates and location of every new
bird.
It was noted that: -
Pat Brown, Nigel Collison, Dave Evans, Margaret Evans
and Tony Kelso
had been in attendance at the 25th, 40th,
and 50th Celebrations.
Penny Laine then asked Nigel Collison, being the
longest serving member of the society, to cut the cake.
Please note that this celebration was held on a
weekday night, with some members having to work the following day. The 40th Celebration had been on a
Sunday afternoon and had lasted over 4 hours.
This celebration had lasted just 2 hours. Thanks to both Penny Laine and Jenny
Samuelson for arranging and providing the delightful snacks and wonderful cake,
which received laudable comments.
INDOOR MEETINGS
The
early talks were exactly that, just talks, perhaps with a picture or sketch to
illustrate a particular point. We then had
many years of talks with slide shows and eventually, we moved into the digital
age.
One
of our earliest speakers was David Hunt.
David was the warden on the Isles of Scilly and was later to be killed
by a tiger in the Jim Corbett National Park, Northern India in 1985. He had a book published called ‘Confessions of a Scilly Birdman’.
Early cine films were shown by Eric Soothill
and Peter Whitehead, who incidentally also had a book called ‘Wildfowl of the
World’ published in 1978. The only other
speaker to show films since those early days has been Gordon Yates.
Over
the years there have been a multitude of speakers that have enthralled,
entertained and astonished us with their illustrated talks. Who can ever forget Gordon Yates, showing 40
films between 1973 and 2011 and his own special catch phrase, known to all
North West birders, ‘what a subject’.
Those
of you that were there on the night will never forget March 2003, when Dave
Tideswell came and gave his “camp” talk on Robins, or April 2004 which brought our first and only birds of prey flying display, given by
Dean and Andy from Cheshire Waterlife. Who
remembers the young Spectacled Owl brought out from behind the curtains?
COACH STORIES
Coaches
have always been hired from Bullocks and we were very relieved that they were
still operating after the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. One of the earliest drivers was a man called
Alan Diamond. Alan was at the helm when the coach sank into
the shingle on Llandulas beach and had to be towed out by a tractor. He was a grumpy man and had to have his
palmed greased before he would drive to some of the destinations. He was followed by Alan Hudson who can best
be described as ‘a glass half empty’ sort of person, who had to be cajoled into
taking the coach to some of the destinations. In the mid to late 80’s and
probably early 90’s the main coach driver was Fred Molyneux. From 2001 until 2012, as has been previously
mentioned, Ian Tennant was the main driver on our trips. Over the next few
years we had a variety of drivers, but since February 2014 Glenn has been our
regular driver.
There
have been no major breakdowns as far as anyone can recall, but there have been
a few mishaps. Who remembers the
‘Lapwing Gates’ at Conway RSPB Reserve that did not allow coaches to pass
through, until they were eventually widened. There was one occasion at Ferrybridge Services,
sat on our coach prior to leaving, when someone spotted Jack Williams sat on an
adjacent coach totally oblivious to his predicament.
Tony
Kelso recalls a trip to Gibraltar Point.
The coach had to travel down Gibraltar Road to the reserve entrance and
had to pass over a small humped back bridge spanning one of the drainage
ditches. As the front wheel passed over
the bridge there was a noise from the underside of the coach, which had
obviously bottomed on the hump of the bridge and would go no further. The solution was, everybody had to disembark
from the coach, which allowed the suspension to rise enabling the coach to
drive over the bridge. Everybody then
got back on the coach and proceeded to the visitor centre.
The
only serious problem we have had with members and friends on the coach, was
when a friend of Dave Kenny felt unwell on arrival at the Bluebell Café, on the
Spurn Point trip. An ambulance was
called and he was taken to a nearby cottage hospital. His young schoolboy son, who was accompanying
him, was looked after for the day by Margaret Alderson and Margaret Evans. The gentleman concerned was collected from
the hospital on our return journey, with a note to take to his doctor. It appears he had viral vertigo. Dave Evans was fortunate enough to bump into
Dave Kenny, the gentleman concerned (whose name he cannot remember) and his son
in Wilmslow in August 2011 and is pleased to report that the gentleman has
never had a recurrence of the problem.
That little boy was 25.
We
have never lost a member on one of our trips and have never left anyone behind,
but there has been the odd occasion where there has been lack of attention as
to the time the coach was due to leave.
On one trip Ian Yeoman and his wife were left behind. Fortunately, it was on the way to Penmon
Point and they were picked up some two hours later on the return journey.
We
did almost lose Alan Andreasen on a trip to Wales, taking almost an hour to
find him. What had apparently occurred
was that we had all climbed a wooded hillside, but on the return journey
instead of turning right to get back to the coach Alan, who was on his own, had
turned left.
Gordon
Tewson was a quiet unassuming person whose main interest was flowers. He was prone to going off on his own and on
one occasion at Gibraltar Point, he failed to turn up to the coach at the
appointed time. Gibraltar Point is a
vast area of dunes and scrubland and it took 1¼ hours to locate him.
On
one of the Shropshire Meres trips there was the case of the sheep caught up in
barbed wire. The sheep was on the far
side of the canal, caught fast in barbed wire.
Some members crossed the canal by means of a footbridge and got into the
field. Fortunately, there was a male
nurse on the trip who, on reaching the sheep, decided he needed a knife. Dave Kenny obliged with a large knife that
would nowadays acquire the interest of the police. He was still on the towpath side of the canal
and threw the opened knife into the field sticking the 4inch blade into the
grass. Twenty minutes later and after
much hilarity from those watching on, the poor sheep was released.
MEMBERS RECOLLECTIONS
Charles
recalls that all the outdoor trip venues had to be notified in writing that
there would be a coach party visiting.
In the early days, in addition to arranging outdoor meetings Charles
also arranged speakers for the indoor meetings.
There was no internet so you had to develop your own network of friends
to find out where the birds were. If you
were lucky enough to have a phone you could call friends, if not a postcard was
sent to arrange to meet up the following weekend. Sadly, Charles adds, that things are very
different now with birders taking excellent photographs with expensive cameras
and equipment, but with little knowledge of the birds themselves. You will not be surprised to know that
Charles still retains his original telescope - a mariners draw tube that he saw
in the window of a shop in Stockport. He
has a full set of British Birds magazines and has a set of BTO Bird Studies
going back to 1975. He considers most,
if not all, modern bird guides as rubbish!
In
the mid to late 80’s Charles ran a bird class at Parrs Wood School attended by
Pete and Pat Bullock, Sheila Davis, Dave
Evans, Ray Gumbrill, Margaret Halton, Tom Jackson, Tony Kelso and others.
When
asked ‘How long ago did you join the society?’ Anne Wheelan replied, “When
Little Egrets were scarce”. That was
about 16 years ago she thinks. Her first trip being to Clumber Park, where she
saw Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, for the first and only time (pointed out by
Charles of course). Anne also recalls
having a very good view of Woodchat Shrike on a trip somewhere near
Birmingham! Whilst looking for Cetti’s
Warbler on a trip to Brandon Marsh, she recalls seeing young Willow Warblers
sitting tightly huddle in a row.
Tom
Jackson a member for over 25 years also recalls the Woodchat Shrike trip. He also recalls a coach driver (Malcolm we
believe) having difficulty getting round the hairpin bend at Ynys Hir RSPB. Every time he tried to reverse the coach it
lurched forward. We did of course
eventually damage a coach on this trip in June 2011, as has been mentioned
previously.
Nigel
Collison has been with the society for many years and as all members who
regularly attend the Outdoor Meetings know, he is currently the person who
counts us all before the coach sets off, making sure that no one has been left
behind. Nigel Collison joined in 1986,
at the suggestion of Alan and Ethel Jackson, sadly no longer with us. His first trip was to Cannock Chase and
Blithfield Reservoir in the West Midlands, on a very frosty January day. Other trips Nigel particularly remembers from
his early days include Tregaron for Red Kites, and more recently Rutland Water
for the Osprey. Birds he remembers well
include Woodchat Shrike at Sutton Park in 1999, the 3 Dotterel near Blacktoft
in May 2003, Spotted Sandpiper found by Ray Schofield at North Cave in 2009 and
the Red Flanked Bluetail that he found in the car park of The Crown and Anchor
at Spurn Point, also in 2009.
Margaret
Alderson recalls the days when smoking was allowed on the coach. If you got on at The Gateway you risked
having to sit at the back of the coach along with the smokers. She remembers coach drivers having to remind
members that the no smoking applied to Stockport Birdwatching Society members
as well as everyone else. Pete Bullock
threatened not to come on another trip if a no smoking ban was introduced on
the coach. Of course, Peter being Peter
he never carried out this threat.
Sheila
Kilduff joined the society in the nineties, her favourite trip was actually one
of the ‘foreign’ holidays to Israel. She
also recalls a visit to South Stack where it was so windy that it blew Audrey
Marler over.
Penny
Laine heard about the society at Manchester Airport, where she met a birder
with a loud voice, who happened to be on the same flight to Majorca. Guess the name of that mystery birder? Answer Dave Wells. Penny’s first trip was to Leighton Moss and
also recalls often being told by Dave of rarities, by means of regular updates
on his pager, which was then relayed to the rest of the coach, as only Dave
could. In 2011 she got rid of her old
phone for a new smart phone which came in handy the day she had to find
Bullocks telephone number and make a call as they had got the start time wrong
and the coach had failed to appear on time.
Calling Dave was not an option as his phone was switched off. Since then, he too has now got a smart phone
and has it switched on. So, we now have
a Chair and a Secretary who are both “switched on”.
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