L.O.S. Erects Bird Boxes for Wigan Hospice

Eddie King has made some bird boxes and he and Tony Bishop have erected eight of them in the grounds of Wigan and Leigh Hospice. This was initiated by a friend of the Society who informed us that the hospice were creating a facility for day patients to visit and wished to include some bird related interest.

The committee also agreed to fund some feed and feeders for the facility and Martyn Jones will be advising them on the fitting of a camera to one of the bird boxes so that the birds might be watched using the boxes. 

We have received an email thanking the Society and a feature will appear in the Hospice's next newsletter.

L.O.S. Fieldtrip to the Local Mosslands - Saturday 17 February 2018

In a break to our usual Sunday tradition, today’s Saturday L.O.S. fieldtrip to the 'Local Mosslands' of Irlam, Barton and Chat Moss was a complete success, with twenty people turning out on what was a wet start to the day. But the rain soon disappeared and starting from the Irlam Fisheries, Dave Steel led the group on a five mile circuit of this fascinating area.

The highlights of the day were Brambling, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, large flocks of what were mainly Chaffinch and Goldfinch, a male Stonechat, some Snipe as well as two Roe Deer and a Brown Hare. We finished off with tea and cakes at the lovely cafe which is alongside the Fisheries.

Many thanks to Dave Steel for leading us on this fieldtrip and imparting all his endless knowledge of the Mosses to us, and also thanks to Eddie King for organising the day.

Alan Wilcox

L.O.S. Presentation - Friday 2nd February 2018

Kevin Briggs is a retired environmental consultant who has been studying Oystercatchers in the Lune Valley for over 40 years. His talk will illustrate the changes which have occurred to Oystercatchers, Ringed Plovers, Goosanders and Yellow Wagtails, and the habitats they use.

We meet in the Derby Room upstairs at Leigh Library at around 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start. Everyone is welcome and entry is free, although would appreciate it you'd buy a raffle ticket or two.

Do come and join us, bring a friend, and perhaps become a member. Just ask one of us on the door for information on how to join.

Water Pipit Identifciation

With the recent appearance of a couple of Water Pipits at Astley (Rindle Road), some people were struggling to I.D. them. The following BTO video may help:

The L.O.S. '12 Birding Months of 2017' Photo Album

Why not have a look at our excellent L.O.S. '12 Birding Months of 2017' photo album on Facebook here:

The 12 Birding Months of 2017

Probably the best way to view them is to click the above link and scroll through the photo thumbnails. From here any photo can be clicked to to enlarge it if required.

Unfortunately, you will need to be logged in to Facebook to see them I'm afraid, so if you're not a member yet why not try it out by joining now - it's free.

From Boxing Day onwards over the 12 Days of Christmas, some members of the L.O.S. Nature Photography group on Facebook submitted one photograph per month from 2017.

Then, on 12th Night (6th January 2018) these were compiled into a single album so that they could be viewed as a whole.

UPDATE: https://youtu.be/F1StFupy1vM

I've just made the above video slideshow of the photos with a bit of music. Please don't sit down to watch this as it's over 20 minutes long. Put it on your computer when you're doing something else, turn the sound on to enjoy the music and you can just look up now and then and see some great bird photos .

L.O.S. Presentation - Friday 5th January 2018

This is the premier showing and the sixth in the series of 'A Shot at Wildlife' presentations by Pauline and Ian Greenhalgh. As with the previous five presentations it includes their favourite images of British wildlife photographed during 2015 including birds, mammals, flora, insects and fungi.

We meet around 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start. Do come and join us, bring a friend, become a member. Just ask one of us on the door for information on how to join.

PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THERE IS A CHANGE OF VENUE FOR JUST THIS PRESENTATION

It will be held at:

Chowbent Unitarian Chapel
Alder Fold Street,
off Bolton Old Road,
Atherton
M46 9DS

There is parking close to the hall for 15 cars, plus street parking around the Chapel and hall.
There is disabled persons access and toilet facilities

NORMAL SERVICE AT LEIGH LIBRARY WILL BE RESUMED IN FEBRUARY 2018.

Friday 5th January 2018

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS A CHANGE FROM OUR NORMAL VENUE 

FOR THE PRESENTATION ON FRIDAY 5th OF JANUARY 2018

Unfortunately Wigan Council have found it necessary to close Leigh Library for the first week in January for repairs to heating. This means the LOS will be unable to hold their presentation there on 5th January. The presentation will now be held at Chowbent Unitarian Chapel in Atherton as shown on the map below. The presentation will be in the hall next to the chapel. 

NORMAL SERVICE AT LEIGH LIBRARY WILL BE RESUMED IN FEBRUARY 2018.

LOS Pennington Flash Volunteers - 18th December 2017

Thank you to the 13 volunteers who called in today, litter picking, cleaning seed feeders, planting Bluebells and Wild Garlic, spreading bark chippings and erecting fencing. 👷‍♀️🔨⛏️🔧

Henry Dresser and Victorian Ornithology: Birds, Books and Business

Henry McGhie, who some L.O.S. members met on a recent trip to Manchester Museum, has written a new book about the museum's main bird collector entitled:

Henry Dresser and Victorian Ornithology: Birds, Books and Business

It's due for publication on 30 November 2017 by the Manchester University Press:
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781784994136/

Henry wrote this post about it on the Manchester Birding Forum:

I’ve written a book about Manchester Museum’s main bird collector (Henry Dresser), one of the most important ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries , and used his life to explore transformations in scientific society and the whole collecting endeavour, from wealthy people in the west to a vast variety of lighthouse keepers, travellers, speculators and explorers farther afield. I saw the first hard copy yesterday and it looks really nice, if I say so myself.

The book will be launched in the beautiful John Rylands Historic Reading Room at 6pm on 30th November, with a very short talk from me, and no need to book in advance. I’d be very grateful if you could forward this date to your contacts, as it would be great to see as many people there as possible; I’ll be signing copies for anyone who wants one (don’t feel obliged). 

The book would make a nice Christmas present for anyone interested in natural history, beautiful 19th century illustrated books, history, travel and exploration, or who is really fond of museums (especially Manchester Museum).

Of course, everyone is very welcome to come along. Some of you will know a lot of the story already, as I’ve talked more or less endlessly about it for years, but it was a lot of fun to write.

I hope you can come along.
Best wishes, Henry

Henry McGhie BSc MA AMA
Head of Collections and Curator of Zoology
Manchester Museum

L.O.S. Presentation - Friday 8th December 2017

Due to unforeseen circumstances there is now a change of date and topic from the one originally advertised on 1st December 2017. Ian Newton will now be presenting a talk on Friday 8th December entitled:

"Ecuador, a Birding Heaven"

Ian's presentation, is about a trip to Northern Ecuador in January 2013 visiting many of the famous lodges, Tandyapa, Guango, San Isidro and Napo Wildlife Centre in the Amazon jungle. This talk is mainly images of birds including multi flash flight shots of some of the many hummingbirds seen, but much more besides.

We meet in the Derby Room upstairs at Leigh Library at around 7:15pm for a 7:30 start. Do come and join us, bring a friend, become a member. Just ask one of us on the door for information on how to join.