LONDON BIRD CLUB
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2015 of the London Bird Club held on Wednesday November 18th at
The LookOut, Hyde Park at 6.30pm.
Acting Chairman Kat Duke
Committee Secretary Angela Linnell
There were 31 members and guests present.
1) Apologies for Absence had been received from Neil Anderson, Robin Blades, David Howdon, Andrew Self, Bob Watts and Ian Woodward.
2) The Minutes of the last AGM were proposed by Pete Lambert, seconded by Dougie Garlick, approved nem con and signed by Kat Duke.
3) Reports from Section Officers
- Report on LBC activities July 2014-June 2015 Kat explained that this would normally be the Chairman’s Report but, in the absence of a Chairman, Angela Linnell had compiled this report.
- Section Accounts [Please see the balance sheet on page 4]. George Kalli, the Treasurer, had prepared the Section Accounts. There were no questions.
- Indoor Meetings Kat Duke said that Indoor Meetings this year remained at the Royal Parks’ venue in Hyde Park, The Lookout/Isis Education Centre. The £2 door charge remained (and Council and Committee members were no longer exempt this year as this is not permitted by the Charity Commission’s guidelines), and the total raised from this charge over the course of the last talks programme, from September 2014 to March 2015, was £220.00, up from £202 the previous year, (but there was an extra talk this year, in April). These funds help with the venue fees but with those fees rising again as of September 2016 we may have to consider a venue change in due course. Our first sponsored event (from the Speyside Wildlife holiday company in February), went down well, with the sponsors generously providing wine and nibbles at the event as well as paying for the venue and providing the speaker. However, the idea that one talk a year could be a sponsored event has been thrown into question by problems with the latest sponsor, so sponsorship will have to be examined carefully moving forward. Kat acknowledged that MINOX had covered the venue cost for tonight's AGM and talk.
The 2014/2015 season of talks began in September 2014 with a joint talk by Carol Rawlings and Nathalie Mahieu on ‘London’s High Fliers – A Look At London’s Urban Peregrines’, which attracted 25 people. The October talk from Rick and Elis Simpson on their highly-regarded ‘Wader Quest’ charity, had just 15 people in attendance. November’s scheduled post-AGM talk from Chairman David Darrell-Lambert was replaced, further to his sudden resignation in the Summer, by the so-called ‘inked naturalist’, Tristan Reid, who gave his talk ‘Giving My Right Arm – A Very Unusual Conservation Initiative’, about the environmental perils facing birds in Turkey. Having had to postpone his talk from the previous February it was good to finally hear this presentation but this evening also only attracted a small number of people, with an audience of just 16. Numbers picked up a bit for January’s talk from Graham Ekins, called ‘Birding Adventures In Thailand’, which attracted 22 attendees, and in February we had our sponsored talk delivered by John Picton talking about ‘Wildlife Of Speyside – A Tour Through Speyside’s Unique Habitats & Exciting Wildlife’. This event attracted the season’s highest number of attendees with 32 people, including 5 non-members enjoying this evening’s wine and wildlife event - a good combination it seems and a resounding success for our first sponsored event. As usual the season wrapped with a talk in our London's Finest Birdwatching Sites series which is held every March, when the talks programme comes to a close and people prepare to go out birdwatching in the Spring and Summer. Tom Mason gave this talk on RSPB Rye Meads which attracted 30 people. In April an E&E subject talk was tacked onto the end of the ornithology talks programme, the Vincent Wildlife Trust’s Lizzie Croose delivering a fascinating talk called ‘The Pine Marten – Conserving Britain’s Rarest Mustelid’, which attracted 27 people. Well over 20 non-members came to these talks over the year, which was positive, and if only half of those were to eventually join the charity that would be a good result.
Overall talk attendance numbers are still reasonable and similar to the previous year’s but are down on the highs of the 2012/2013 programme. Despite the loss of David Darrell-Lambert’s proactive social media efforts, which helped a lot in publicising the talks via Twitter etc., there were still sustained efforts to publicise the talks widely, including advertising talks online via Yahoo, The Lecture List, the BirdGuides events page, the Royal Parks Foundation website and through other birding groups such as the Marylebone Birdwatching Society who promote our events in exchange for reciprocation. All these efforts broaden our audience and spread the LNHS’s reach.
We are always interested to hear what talks would interest you most. For example, would you like more UK oriented talks or more talks on birds and bird watching around the world? Please let the Committee know or email your suggestions directly to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
d) Field Meetings Pete Lambert reported: “I have arranged 33 walks round London this year and the average attendance for the walks was about seven people. These included three walks to new places: Kempton Nature Reserve, a site not open to the public; Kelsey Park, where we were searching for Blue-crowned Parakeets which have been reported in that area for over ten years and once bred, although we did not see any on our trip; and to Stockers Lake. At Stocker's Lake we had excellent views of Red Kite, seeing three in the air together and perhaps ten sightings in total.
If you would like to suggest a walk near London – or even lead one – please let me know.”
e) Bird Recorder for London In the absence of Andrew Self, Angela Linnell read his report. “Data for the 2013 Rare Breeding Birds Panel was compiled from the database and sent to them prior to their end of year deadline. It was decided in March that the Recorders Committee was no longer needed but that Derek Turner, the Data Manager, would convene a meeting of Recorders at least once a year, to which the Chair of the Rarities Committee and the Chair of the Editorial Boards should also be invited. Andrew Self was appointed Bird Recorder for London.”
f) Rarities Committee In the absence of Bob Watts, Kat Duke read his report:
“The Rarities Committee has expanded to include Sean Huggins (also Middlesex Recorder) and Rob Innes (who has extensive knowledge and links around the West London Reservoir area and North Surrey). David Bradnum stepped down from the Committee in early November 2015, following his move out of London. Having six members on the Rarities Committee was considered adequate for the time being, Rob Innes having been added earlier in the year in advance of David stepping down. However, Essex is an important sector for records and the Committee will discuss recruiting a suitable candidate from that region. The use of Dropbox in 2014 should facilitate more accurate record keeping and allow Committee members to interrogate the rarity spreadsheet on a regular basis. Derek Turner’s scrape of description species from the 2014 Wiki will also facilitate gathering rarity descriptions and awareness of the records well in advance of previous LBRs.”
The LBC Committee ratified the Rarities Committee decision on the six species for which all records are accepted in the Lower Thames area when it was decided to extend this stretch to the Thames Barrier. It previously stretched from Crossness to the edge of the recording area. Those 6 species are Caspian Gull, Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Merlin, Hen Harrier and Arctic Skua. It was also decided to add Northern Gannet and Guillemot to this list. In addition it was agreed to accept all Hen Harrier records in the London area for October to April but descriptions are required for the May to September period. The Rarities Committee had also agreed to accept non- description species for counties bordering London. A Recorder can seek a description should they not have confidence in the veracity of the record but the LBC Committee wants further clarification on this. I am currently updating the 2014 rarity spreadsheet with decisions, after which I will circulate it amongst the Recorders as well as the Rarities Committee, so that both Recorders and the Rarities Committee members can assist where decisions are lacking, by chasing observers, accessing photos on blogs/websites etc.
g) Library Committee Gehan de Silva reported:
“In March 2015 I was elected as the LBC representative to the Library Committee. I attended the first of two remaining meetings for the year. Recommendations were submitted by email for the second meeting which I could not attend, as outside public visiting hours there is no access to the BMNH. The Library Committee is exploring alternatives as a meeting venue to overcome limitations on late attendance when meeting times conflict with the day job.”
Ornithological Books Acquired:
Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature (2015), by Nick Davies
Urban Peregrines (2014) by Ed Drewitt.
Waterbirds in the UK 2013/14: The Wetland Bird Survey C. A. Holt published in 2015.
Birds of Hertfordshire (2015) by Ken W. Smith.
h) Reading Circle Angela Linnell reported:
“The LBC Reading Circle now has nine subscribers who pay a small subscription to receive a Dutch journal, Ardea, British Birds, Dutch Birding, Ibis, Irish Birds or Scottish Birds. I send these out and the recipient passes the journal on to the next person on the list and they eventually end up in the LNHS Library at the Angela Marmont Centre. Unfortunately, some of these journals are increasing their prices considerably so the future of the Reading Circle will have to be reviewed next year. So if you are interested, please join now.”
i) BTO Bird Atlas Kat read Ian Woodward’s report:
"Ian Woodward and Richard Arnold had worked hard on the Atlas all year and it is hoped to send out the Atlas species accounts to reviewers for comments in early 2016, and to publish the Atlas in early 2017."
j) London Bird Report Pete Lambert reported:
“The LBR 2012 was published in August 2014 and the LBR 2013 was distributed to members at the end of June 2015. Work is now under way on the 2014 edition. Hopefully, LBR 2014 should be with members by the end of May 2016. The report involves thirty people, including twenty who write the species reports.”
4) Election of Officers and Committee Members for 2016
Kat clarified the procedure to be adopted. We were electing the Chairman separately, as all the other Officers (with the exception of Gehan de Silva as a member of Council and David Campbell as Surrey Recorder) are long-standing Officers and are seeking re-election but we needed to elect the Chairman separately.
Kat introduced Gehan de Silva as the candidate for Chairman. “He was a member of the LNHS over 10 years before an 11 year stint away in Sri Lanka where he did much to popularise natural history and birding in particular. After his return 5 years ago, he resumed his membership and in the last few years, as he settled into life back in London, he has become an increasing regular presence at the London Bird Club talks and coach trips. Gehan is a regular at the London Wetland Centre where he is often to be seen photographing birds and other wildlife, some of his photos having appeared on our Newsletter.’
He was proposed by Kat Duke, seconded by Helen Baker and elected nem con.
Gehan thanked everyone for supporting him and said that a key task ahead of him and the Committee would be to work with the existing membership to attract more members by increasing the brand presence of the London Bird Club.
Kat also said that there were vacancies for at least two non-post holders on the LBC Committee, which meets three times a year. There was no need to be an expert on birds – just to have ideas on how to improve the Club.
| Position |
Nominees |
| Chairman |
Gehan de Silva |
| Treasurer |
George Kalli |
| Committee Secretary |
Angela Linnell |
| Indoor Meetings Secretary |
Kat Duke |
| Field Meetings Secretary |
Pete Lambert (Local trips) Neil Anderson (Coach trips) |
| Representative on Council |
Gehan de Silva |
| Bird Recorder for London |
Andrew Self |
| Chairman of the Rarities Committee Members: John Archer, Richard Bonser, David Bradnum, Rob Innes, Sean Huggins, Andrew Moon and Andrew Self. [This is a matter of record only] |
Bob Watts |
| Bucks |
Andrew Moon |
| Herts |
Joan Thompson |
| Kent |
John Archer |
| Surrey |
David Campbell |
| Ringing Enquiries |
Paul Roper |
| BTO South London Contact |
Richard Arnold |
| BTO North London Contact |
Ian Woodward |
| Representative on Library Committee |
Gehan de Silva |
| Reading Circle Secretary |
Angela Linnell |
Chair: Pete Lambert. Members: John Archer, Jonathan Lethbridge, Mike Trier, Derek Turner, Bob Watts, Gus Wilson.
The other Officers were put forward en bloc. They were proposed by John Macmillan, seconded by Helen Baker and passed nem con.
5 Any Other Business
1) Kat said that there were vacancies for at least two non-post holders on the LNHS Council, which meets three times a year. There was no need to be an expert on wildlife – just to have ideas on how to improve the Society.
2) Kat also appealed for suggestions for a new LNHS president since we are about to lose Helen Baker.
The AGM was followed by a talk by Dr Darren Naish on “Dinosaurs and Bird Evolution.”
The meeting closed at 8.30pm.
L ondon Natural History Society
London Bird Club Accounts
For the year ended 30th June 2015
2013/2014 2014/15
£ £
148.92 OPENING BALANCE 217.21
INCOME
536.90 Deposits 577.00
0.00 Interest 0.00
______ ______
685.82 794.21
______ ______
EXPENSES
243.00 Lecturers’ fees and expenses 415.80
225.61 Officers’ expenses 237.11
______ ______
468.61 652.91
______ ______
217.21 Balance carried forward at 141.30
30th June 2014
______ ______
NOTES: Deposits include :- 1) From Central LNHS funds 300.00
Reading Circle receipts 57.00
Entry 220.00
Total deposits 577.00
2) Officers’ expenses include Reading Circle Subs. Payments of £172.00