This is serious!

More to the point....very serious. I'm not going to 'get out' again today and staring at this monitor is definitely not good for the mind or soul but that's what I'm doing right now. So to help combat the ill effects all this is having on me I did the following research with my thanks to John Wilson who allowed me access to the LDBWS Annual Reports from the societies birth in 1959....

I did some 'digging' into the archives and as always came up with some interesting results from the 1990 LDBWS Annual Report. I also decided to give Lamberts (Lancaster) Ltd a plug with the front and back cover of the report from 20 years ago.

The year was noted in the report as an interesting one which included a Night Heron, Serin, and singing Marsh Warbler all at Heysham. Other notable records included a mass arrival of 95 Black Terns at Leighton Moss on 2 May which represented the largest number recorded in the area but which was a fraction of the in excess of 1,000 recorded in North-West England as a whole.

There was two attempts of breeding by the same pair of Mediterranean Gulls both of which ended in failure. Other negative news for 1990 was the no breeding success of 'terns' or Bowland raptors the latter which thankfully has now changed for the better  in 2010. Another record which had a particular interest for me was that of a Black Stork which many observers saw soaring over Leighton Moss. Five years later this is a species which I myself had the good fortune to find in flight over Little Fell Lane east of Lancaster on 24 April 1995. More interesting records appeared in this report with up to four Black Grouse recorded on Beatrix Fell, and two pairs near Hollins. This was the year my birding friend JB had the the good fortune of finding a White-winged Black Tern at Leighton Moss and then earned himself some honour in pursuing the bird to Dockacres, and then went on to Heysham to alert fellow birders who were there out of 'telephone' circulation which resulted in a large number of people having cause to be grateful to John for his efforts regarding this sighting and getting the news out. Of course I take particular note that no breeding records of Stonechat were discovered in 1990. It was noted in this report that a Subalpine Warbler found in Freeman's Wood in Lancaster in 1989 had been accepted by BBRC. 

To end, I note my name is absent from this report as of course it will be, a clear indication of my 'late' arrival on the birding scene....How I will always wish I'd have taken an interest in birds many years sooner than I did. 

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING!