- Magog Trust News
- Bird Reports 2019
- Bird Reports 2018
- Bird Reports 2017
- Bird Reports 2016
- Bird Reports 2015
- Earlier Bird Reports
See also...
If you are interested in birds, you may also like to read what's on our Birds on Magog Down page.
Bird Club - come and join us!
If you have never given birdwatching a try do come along on the first Saturday of the month (meeting in the car park at 8am from April to October; slightly later at 8.30 am from November to March).
Membership is very informal–– just turn up and enjoy the birding walk. It is a healthy way of getting fresh air and exercise, and de-stressing while learning about birds.
We welcome new members of any age from beginners to life-time bird watchers. Sorry, no dogs
Photo: Skylark (Alauda arvensis) © Garth Peacock 2015
Long-term Survey of Breeding Birds
In February 2012, Bryan Davies and Robin Cox of Cambridgeshire Bird Club proposed a long term breeding bird survey on Magog Down.
Full reports of the first six years of this survey can be found here:
Bird Club first Saturday meetings under review
The monthly meetings of the Stapleford Bird Club have not taken place since March 2020, because of the Covid-19 epidemic. The walk leader has continued to visit most months, and his reports can be read under our News section. He hopes to be able to take a group round again before too much longer.
Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
Report of Stapleford Bird Club - July 2017
When we met on the 8th (a week later than usual) in the car park at 8.00am, it was pleasantly warm, with just a slight breeze and the sun was bursting through thin cloud.
“BioBlitz”! What can that be? It is in fact participation by any members of the public, alongside experienced naturalists, ecologists and scientists, in a 24 hour race to document as many species of organisms as possible on a given site. It happens at least once a year over many sites including some in Cambridgeshire, and seeks to gather data on all wildlife to feed into national databases.
The Bird Club is not involved in this, but during our two hour walk this time, I did feel very much that we were doing a mini “Bioblitz”. July can seem to be a quiet period for birdlife: the young are feeding up, out of sight; many adults are exhausted and are no longer singing or nest building. The total numbers of birds seem to drop but this is not at all true, particularly as in the dense leaf canopies it is not easy to pick out a bird that is quietly feeding.
But the Bird Club has enthusiastic individuals
who not only enjoy seeing birds but also like to stop to look at plants and butterflies. And as a leader it can be very hard work to keep people moving along to keep to our two hour schedule! If I were to mention one person who would stop to look at something, I would have to name most of them. We found Marbled White, Ringlet and a Skipper species, to name just three butterfly types there. Flowering
plants were in profusion – including Scabious, Musk Mallow, Sainfoin, Birds-foot Trefoil, Wild Marjoram, Ladies Bedstraw and Hedge Bedstraw, Clustered Bellflower, and Toadflax. All these plants were by the footpaths, we did not have to explore to find them.
We found 20 species of birds, none of which were rare, but a few of them are important indicators of countryside bio-diversity. We were thus very pleased to see and hear several Yellowhammers in the hedge-rows, and Linnets there too.
The list of birds seen was: Goldfinch, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Bullfinch, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Skylark, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Linnet, and Lesser Black-backed Gull flying over.
Mike Foley
Birds on Magog Down
We publish the monthly reports of Stapleford Bird club here, plus other occasional bird-related articles; hot links in each report will take you to the RSPB information page for each bird spotted.
The gallery below shows a random six of the birds that have been seen on Magog Down.
