Members might be interested in the following Wild Bird Suppliers established by volunteers to raise funds for Lyng Village Hall.

Price List

                                                            5kg                   20kg                 25kg

Wild Bird Seed                                   £4.00                 £12

Crushed Peanuts                                 £5.00                 £18.50

Whole Peanuts                                    £4.50                                         £21

Black Sunflower Seeds                       £4.50                 £12

Sunflower Kernels                              £5.00                                         £23

Niger Seeds                                                                 P.O.A.

Fat Balls           Small 12 for £1.99                    100 for £14

Other sizes P.O.A.

Feeders also available

Free delivery on minimum order of 40KG

For orders or further details contact Keith Meader on 01603-873385

Saturday July 21^st a guided tour of Pensthorpe Conservation Centre by staff member Andrew Reeve followed by a picnic lunch and a further chance to do some more birdwatching at Pensthorpe in the afternoon.The Tour will take about an hour. Meet in the car park at Pensthorpe at 10.15am & please bring your own lunch. There will be an admission charge of £5 (£4.50 for senior citizens). Contact Alwyn (01362-637752) for further details.

Thursday August 16^th Indoor meeting.

An illustrated talk “A History of Bird Art” given by Clive Byers.

I am writing to let you know about the forthcoming Bird Atlas 2007-11, a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and SOC.

This is an exciting and challenging project that will map the distribution of birds in Britain and Ireland.

Given the scale of the project, we will need help from birdwatchers and bird clubs throughout the country to achieve this.

I’m sure you will be aware of the three previous atlases (two breeding and one winter atlas) and probably have copies on your bookshelves, or even taken part in them yourselves. They have contributed enormously to our understanding of bird distributions and played a vital role in providing information for bird conservation.

This message was posted to the WVBS group and repeated here for all the members’ information.

From: Ray Gribble

Date: 2007/06/18 Mon 10.49

To: WVBS E-group

Subject: (Wensum ValleyBS) Tern Raft - Update

I rec’d a message from Charles Sayer on my answer phone last week while I was away that the tern raft was being swamped due to rising water.  I went to evaluate the situation this morning only to find that the raft was completely submerged.  The water level was higher that I’d ever seen it, even in winter floods.  This is a disaster with a total breeding failure for the terns using the raft.

Thursday 21^st June Pub Grub and Nightjars at Marsham. Leader Ray GribbleFor those wanting pub grub we will meet at the Marsham Arms at 7pm.  We plan to leave the pub at about 9pm to go to Marsham Heath to watch and listen for the Nightjars an other species like Woodcock and Owls.  If you don’t fancy any pub grub then join us at anytime before 9pm.  The Marsham Arms is situated on the B1149 Horsford to Holt road just NW of Horsford (TG173200).  Details of menus, etc can be obtained on www.marshamarms.co.uk.  There is no need to order food in advance but so we can let the pub know how many people to expect would you please let Sue (01603 879980) know by Thursday 14^th June.  Thank you.

I will be visiting the Tern Raft at Sparham Pools w/c 18th June to record progress and ring any young that are of a suitable size. It is likely to be in an evening and I will arrange for access if any members wish to visit. If you are interested please contact me closer the time when I’ll have more details.

Ray Gribble

Tags: bird watching, birding, bird watching club

We have a new Recorder.

Member Andrew Brown has volunteered to be Recorder for the Society from the beginning of June so would members please send any records to him his by email at werdna(AT)aol.com (Remembering to change (AT) for @

Or by post at 6 The Glade, Old Costessey, Norwich NR8 5EB

Or by telephone on 01603 - 745556

We would like to express our thanks to Andrew for accepting this task and wish him well in his endeavours.

Tags: birding norfolk, norfolk birdwatching, wvbs

Weather permitting (light winds and no rain) Ray Gribble & Allan Hale will be ringing birds on Whitwell Common on the evening of Sat 7th July / early morning Sunday 8th July. All members are welcome to come along and see birds in the hand. In fact it is an excellent opportunity to see many of the Warbler species close up. I suggest you arrive from 5pm in the evening or before 8.30am in the morning (after then the number of birds we catch is very limited).

A great day was had by all at the Wild About the Wensum event at Pensthorpe on Saturday 19^th May. The day stayed fine although it was rather windy, The first walk of the day was led by Alwyn, Bill Shepherd and Colin Fenn and although the small birds were in short supply the walk lasted almost two hours and was enjoyed by a group of sixteen people showing a great interest in all aspects of birding. The day was greatly enhanced by the opening of the event by Professor David Bellamy OBE which took place in front of the Wensum Valley Birdwatching Society stand, followed by a photograph in Mondays EDP of Josh Leeder standing by the Professors‘ side in front of the WVBS stand. The club stand featured a mural of a wetland scene (kindly painted by Carole Jackson) and children and adults coloured or cut out birds and then stuck them onto the mural. By the end of the day it was completely covered and made a lovely display, - it was obviously a wonderful success.A big thank to all the people who worked hard to make the day so successful.

A big thank you to all the members that have contributed to this months newsletter.

We are looking for an artist who would be willing to do a few line drawings to enhance  your articles - know anyone? - give Alwyn a call.

Tags: norfolk birdwatching, birding, wvbs