2024 Annual General Meeting

The Club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held online via Zoom on Saturday 14th September 2024, beginning promptly at 08:00 GMT (09:00 local time in London). 

Everyone is welcome to attend but note that only OBC members can vote. 

It is essential for anyone planning to attend to pre-register through the following link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0uc-irpzotH9NdZBzc_vHlnl8oQ-jrbMGw

You can download the following documents needed for the meeting in advance: 

AGM 2024 agenda
AGM 2023 minutes
DRAFT OBC Annual Report and Accounts 2023

We hope to see you there. 

OBC Autumn meeting: Saturday 16th September

A reminder that on Saturday 16th September 2023 the OBC and the British Ornithologists’ Club (BOC) are holding a joint meeting in collaboration with the Natural History Museum (NHM), London.

A stellar lineup of speakers includes a keynote speech on Avian Taxonomy in the Era of Citizen Science by Dr Pamela Rasmussen—the lead taxonomist for Birds of the World at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University. Pam’s long list of achievements include co-authoring Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide and 11 descriptions of new Asian bird species. In India, she was in the team that rediscovered the endangered Forest Owlet.

Other speakers include: Sayam Chowdhury on saving the critically endangered Masked Finfoot, James Eaton on the quest for new and lost birds, and Mike Edgecombe on birds and wildlife of Asia’s wild wilderness—Mongolia.

The meeting, which is free and open to all, takes place in the Flett Theatre of the NHM. Entrance is via the Exhibition Road entrance (what3words: ///limit.take.admits) which is a five minute walk from the nearest Tube station, South Kensington.

Doors open at 10.00am for a 10.30am start. Tea and coffee will be available mid-morning and mid-afternoon. The meeting will end at about 4.30pm.

PROGRAMME

10:00 Natural History Museum Opens

10:20 Welcome

10:30–11:10 Avian Taxonomy in the Era of Citizen Science
Dr Pamela Rasmussen, lead taxonomist for Birds of the World at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University

11:15–11:45 BREAK

11:45–12:25 Can we still save the Masked Finfoot?
Sayam Chowdhury, PhD Candidate at the Dept. of Zoology, Conservation Science Group, University of Cambridge.

12:25–14:00 LUNCH

14:00–14:45 Mongolia – Birds and more in Asia’s wild wilderness
Dr Mike Edgecombe

14:45–15:15 BREAK

1515–15:55 Successes and failures; the quest to find new and lost birds.
James Eaton, Birdtour Asia

15:55 Closing Messages

Surprise Cley Spy visitor leads to OBC windfall

Steve Gantlett took this superb photo of the Long-eared Owl at Cley Spy shortly before it flew off to hunt one evening.

Birdwatchers have been flocking to Cley Spy, one of OBC’s Corporate Sponsors, for the rare opportunity to observe a Long-eared Owl at its day time roost.

The bird was first seen by a visitor to Cley Spy, located in Glandford in north Norfolk, UK, who was testing out the wide range of optics sold by the company.

As he scanned the vegetation behind the buildings he was astonished to find a Long-eared Owl roosting in one of the bushes.

Word quickly spread of the owl’s presence that has led to a steady stream of birdwatchers coming to see it in recent days.

A suggestion box put out by Cley Spy staff asking for donations from grateful owl watchers to the OBC Conservation Fund has already led to more than £2,200 being collected for the Club.

“The Oriental Bird Club is hugely grateful to the quick thinking and generosity of our corporate sponsor Cley Spy and the generosity of the birdwatchers making donations to the OBC Conservation Fund,” said Chris Gooddie, Chairman of the Oriental Bird Club.

“The Long-eared Owl’s surprise appearance has resulted in a significant windfall for the Club’s bird conservation efforts in the Asian region.”

Cley Spy commented: “Cley Spy are delighted that such a great bird has given so many people so much pleasure and that visitors have been so generous in their support for the OBC, with some even donating more than once.”

OBC Young Conservation Scientist Award for shorebird research

Introduction: The Oriental Bird Club is offering research awards aimed at nurturing young scientists from Southeast and South Asia who are dedicated to developing their careers in conservation science with a focus on shorebirds. The selected grantee will be awarded up to £2,000 for a one-year research project focused on shorebirds. 

Research Focus: Shorebirds, especially research which supports conservation of shorebirds and their habitats. Research which may lead to clear outcomes to support the conservation of globally threatened migratory shorebirds will be prioritized. Proposals do not need to target a species but can be focused on a site, habitat type or a group of shorebird species. While proposals on the biology and ecology of shorebirds are expected, we also encourage proposals on social research (e.g. surveys with local people on hunting).

Eligibility: Young scientists aged less than 30 years old on 31 August 2022 from Southeast and South Asia (see list of countries below), where the research should take place. Applications may be for projects that are part of on-going studies, a conservation project, or stand-alone studies or research. When applying, please indicate the names and institutions of supervisors and their related backgrounds in the application form. Applicants will be expected to have the necessary permits to carry out their projects.

Award Limit: £ 2,000 

Deadline for application:  Friday 8th July 2022

Starting date for projects: It is expected that projects could begin in September if necessary. 

Countries eligible: 

Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, The Philippines, Indonesia and Timor Leste

South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan

Download the application form here: https://www.orientalbirdclub.org/s/OBCGrantApplication.docx  

Submit to: conservation@orientalbirdclub.org with “Shorebird Research Award” in the Subject field.  

Global Birding Day – Join the team and help set a new World Record!

Cley Spy, one of the Club’s corporate sponsors, will be participating in Global Birding’s Big Day (GBD), www.globalbirding.org, on Saturday 9th October 2021 and have invited OBC members around the world to join the team and contribute to the worldwide attempt “to set another new world record for the largest number of birds seen by the greatest number of people on this peak migration weekend.”

The GBD days in October 2020 and May 2021 both set new records. 

In addition, the collection of data on birds across the world will be invaluable to scientists and conservationists fighting to help protect many of our vulnerable and endangered species.

Cley Spy are also raising funds for BirdLife International’s “Conserve Coastal Wetlands, Save Threatened Migratory Birds” campaign through their fund-raising page, another important purpose of the Global Birding Day.

Full details of how to take part can be found on the www.globalbirding.org website but the key things that you need to do to participate are: 

• Register as an individual to take part at https://globalbirding.org/individual-registration. When registering enter yourself as Name / Cley Spy Team.

• If you do not already have an Ebird account register for one for free at https://ebird.org/home and select Create an account.

• On 9th October go birding and record whatever you see and then enter the details on Ebird. You can enter data for any number of different locations.

• Finally, once you have entered and saved your checklists, please use the Share button, to share the checklists with CleySpyTeam. Please be careful to select CleySpyTeam (no spaces), and not CleySpy, from the options to ensure they are recorded correctly.

• Please note that it does not matter if you are already signed up to another team, you can also share your records with CleySpyTeam, the records will not be double counted.

OBC are also hoping to have a team, or a joint team with Cley Spy, at future Global Birding Day events and hope that many members will take the opportunity to have a great day out birding, and in doing so contribute to an exciting project.

If you do participate have a great day’s birding.

Postponement of Conservation Fund Tour to Taiwan

Mikado Pheasant © Rich Lindie / Rockjumper

We regret to announce that we have decided, in conjunction with Rockjumper, to postpone the planned Conservation Fund tour to Taiwan, from May 2022 to April/May 2023.

When we announced the tour, we were very hopeful that the tour would be able to run. Unfortunately, the emergence of the Delta variant has complicated the COVID-19 pandemic situation considerably and at present it is unclear as to when things might improve to the extent that visits to Taiwan will be possible.

Given this we believe that it is sensible to postpone the trip for a year to make things easier for potential participants to plan ahead. The revised dates in Taiwan will be 28th April to 9th May 2023. We are sorry to have to take this decision but hope that it will be possible for Rockjumper to run a highly successful tour in 2023.

OBC Young Conservation Scientist Award for shorebird research

Great Knots © Sayam U. Chowdhury

The Oriental Bird Club is offering a research award aimed at nurturing young scientists from Southeast and South Asia who are dedicated to developing their careers in conservation science with a focus on shorebirds. The selected grantee will be awarded up to £2,000 for a one-year research project focused on shorebirds. 

Research Focus:

Shorebirds, especially research which supports conservation of shorebirds and their habitats. Research which may lead to clear outcomes to support the conservation of globally threatened migratory shorebirds will be prioritised. Proposals do not need to target a species but can be focused on a site, habitat type or a group of shorebird species. While proposals on the biology and ecology of shorebirds are expected, we also encourage proposals on social research (e.g. surveys with local people on hunting).

Eligibility:

Young scientists aged less than 30 years old on 31st August 2021 from Southeast Asia and South Asia (see list of countries below), where the research should take place. Applications may be for projects that are part of on-going studies, a conservation project, or stand-alone studies or research. When applying, please indicate the names and institutions of supervisors and their related backgrounds in the application form. Applicants will be expected to have the necessary permits to carry out their projects.

Award Limit: £2,000 

Deadline for application:  Saturday 4th September 2021

Countries eligible: 

Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam.

South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Download the application form here. 

Submit to: conservation@orientalbirdclub.org with “Shorebird Research Award” in the Subject field.  

Rockjumper Conservation Fund Tour to Taiwan, May 2022

Fairy Pitta © Rich Lindie/Rockjumper

UPDATE AUGUST 2021: Unfortunately, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular additional complications arising from the Delta variant, this tour has been postponed until 2023. More details and the new dates here.

We are delighted to announce that Rockjumper, a longstanding corporate sponsor of the OBC, will be running a tour to Taiwan in May 2022 raising funds for the OBC Conservation Fund.

Taiwan currently has twenty-nine recognised endemics and many endemic subspecies, a number of which will almost certainly be elevated to full species in the next few years. This along with its position on the exceptional East-Asian Flyway creates superb birding for both the serious and casual birder and consequently we hope that the tour will prove popular with OBC members.

Full details of the tour can be found on the Rockjumper website.

To whet your appetite, on 19th June OBC hosted a special webinar entitled Taiwan - The Beautiful Isle - Its Birds and Conservation.

Speakers included:

Da-Li Lin (Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute)
Scott Pursner (Taiwan Wild Bird Federation)
Glen Valentine (Rockjumper) who is leading the Conservation Fund Tour.

Watch the webinar here:

Oriental Bird Images website is closing...

Hundreds of thousands have visited the incredible collection of Asian bird photographs held in the Oriental Bird Images website in recent years and many have contributed their own photos.

The OBI collection was built up over many years through the generosity of thousands of bird photographers throughout the region and maintained by a core team of unpaid but passionate enthusiasts.

However, the OBI team is ready to retire and it is clear to OBC Council that we are no longer able to maintain the database in its current form and the OBI website will soon have to close.

The good news is that after a search for a suitable solution, OBC is partnering with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With this partnership, the OBI collection will persist indefinitely as a separate and valuable image database, but will be hosted by and become integrated with the Macaulay Library and eBird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

If you contributed photos to OBI, we need your help. We need permission to transfer your photographs to the Macaulay Library or they will be lost from the OBI collection. If you have already given your permission, thank you very much, your assistance is hugely appreciated. If not, there is a very simple opt-in process to give your permission for the transfer.

Simply visit https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/oriental-bird-images/

Once there, you will be asked to sign-in with your Cornell Lab account if you already have one, or if not to create one, and then asked to give your consent to the transfer of your images.

You will also need your OBI ID number.

If you don't remember your OBI ID, please visit your OBI profile and select the last numbers in the URL.

For example the OBI ID of this profile is 102:

http://orientalbirdimages.org/photographers.php?action=birder&Birder_ID=102

If you still need help, please contact imagemaster@orientalbirdimages.org for assistance.

Please note the opt-in period ends on 16th April 2021.

After this date it will not be possible to accept any further transfers. Many thanks to the owners of more than 85% of the collection who have already agreed to the transfer. If you are one of the 15% minority ACT NOW or your images will disappear.

Ideally we would like to transfer the entire OBI collection to Macaulay—and we're well on the way there, but time is running out.

If you have contributed to OBI over the years, please do consider the merits of maintaining the collection intact. Of course if you chose not to opt-in, that's your decision and will of course be respected, but please be aware that the OBI website and associated images will disappear once the transfer to the Macaulay Library is complete.

Moving forward, OBI will remain a distinct collection within the Macaulay Library, but it will no longer be possible to upload directly to it and users should instead upload their photos via eBird.

As always, all contributors and visitors will have free online access to view uploaded materials in the Macaulay Library, and contributors can download copies of their own media at any time.

OBC thanks all members for their ongoing support of the Club, especially during these difficult times. We hope all members stay safe and well.

Best regards,
OBC Council

Spoon-billed Sandpipers and the East Asian-Australasian flyway webinar

Leg-flagged Spoon-billed Sandpiper © Sayam Chowdhury

On Saturday 20th March 2021, OBC hosted the Club’s inaugural webinar, on Spoon-billed Sandpipers and the East Asian-Australasian flyway.

If you were one of the unlucky ones who missed out on this fabulous event, don’t worry, you can catch up with all the latest news and information in this recording.

This webinar will introduce you to the conservation of threatened migratory shorebirds in the Oriental Region, with a special focus on the highly charismatic and Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a species that many of you may have observed in the coastal wetlands of Thailand. 

The guest speakers are: Dr. Christoph Zockler, Dr. Nigel Clark, and Mr. Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok. 

Christoph and Nigel are leading scientific authorities on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and play key roles in the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force. Ayuwat oversees the shorebird conservation work led by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, including the OBC-supported project at the famed Pak Thale wetlands, and is also a well-known bird artist. 

Besides learning about conservation efforts targeted at some of the region's most threatened species, attendees will also able to hear updates from the OBC, including our conservation priorities going forward, and have a chance for feedback and discussion. 

The webinar is supporting fundraising for a satellite tagging Spoon-billed Sandpipers project to understand better their migration patterns and where to focus future conservation action. 

A huge thanks to all those of you who have already donated to support our work on satellite tagging Spoon-billed Sandpipers! You can show your support by making a donation here.

OBC supports breeding centre for Critically Endangered Indonesian species

Captive breeding is a lifeline for the Critically Endangered Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush Garrulax rufifrons
© Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center.

The Oriental Bird Club (OBC) is providing co-funding alongside ASAP (Asian Species Action Partnership) to keep the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center going during the uncertain economic times.

This special Wildlife Center, located in West Java, Indonesia, has the goal of breeding endemic Indonesian species that are threatened with extinction with the long-term aim of re-establishing viable wild populations. They include Critically Endangered species like the Black-winged Myna Acridotheres melanopterus, Javan Green Magpie Cissa thalassina and Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush Garrulax rufifrons. With the combined threat of habitat destruction and poaching for the caged bird trade, all three species teeter on the brink of extinction in the wild.

Conservation breeding programmes are one of the final tools in the conservation toolbox for the survival of species. For now, the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center is managing captive populations to maximise their genetic diversity, with the future aim of reintroducing birds into a safe habitat.

The funding from OBC will enable the team at Cikananga to provide a high-quality diet to the birds, which should encourage them to breed. The funding will also support a locally employed member of staff who has a wealth of avicultural experience with these species.

The team at Cikananga © Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center.

The funding from OBC will enable the team at Cikananga to provide a high-quality diet to the birds, which should encourage them to breed. The funding will also support a locally employed member of staff who has a wealth of avicultural experience with these species.

A message from the Chairman

OBC John Gregory speaking at the recent virtual 36th Annual General Meeting of the Club

Dear All,

Many of you attended our recent virtual Annual General Meeting where I apologised to all members for the delay in both of our publications: BirdingASIA and Forktail. I explained that this was partly related to issues with editorial boards and in finding volunteers to take on critical roles in the process.

I am now extremely pleased to announce that we have managed to bring together a great new team to help get things back on track. Alex Berryman will be taking on the role of Chair of the Oriental Bird Club Publications Committee.  Alex will not only chair the Committee but will also take on the Managing Editor role for BirdingASIA. 

This is after the retirement of Brian Sykes who had made that publication his own. Once again I would like to thank Brian for all the hard work that he and his wife Margaret put into the Club; for many years they were the ‘glue’ that kept the Club operational—a truly monumental effort. We wish Brian and Margaret all the best in their new found retirement. 

With the new publications team on board and with Professor Frank Rheindt now firmly installed as Editor in Chief of Forktail, we have a target to get all our publications back on schedule by the end of 2021.

Thanks once again from everyone on OBC Council for bearing with us during this difficult period in our Club’s history.

Kind Regards

John Gregory
Chairman Oriental Bird Club

OBC virtual 36th Annual General Meeting 2020

In view of the ongoing COVID-19 global health pandemic, the 2020 Annual General Meeting, No. 36, will take place online via Zoom on Saturday 19th September 2020 at 12:00 noon British Summer Time (11:00 GMT).

Attendance is by prior registration only, and only fully paid up members are entitled to vote. The meeting will cover essential Club business only and is not expected to take more than 45 minutes.

Under the Club’s constitution, this essential meeting must take place each year with a quorate of OBC Members attending, so we encourage as many members as possible to attend.

Please register to attend here: https://bit.ly/2YzNuM2

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Oriental Bird Club 36th Annual General Meeting - Agenda

1.Apologies for absence
2.Approval of minutes of 35th Annual General meeting
3.Matters Arising
4.Treasurer’s Presentation  - 2019 Financial Statements and review of 2020
5.Approval of 2019 Financial Statements
6.Election of Independent Examiner
7.Chair’s Review
8.Election of 2021 Council
The following Council members have agreed to stand for re-election :Drew Lyness, Alex Berryman, Chris Goodie, Simon Roddis, Richard Thomas, Billy Rodger, Tim Loseby, Mike Edgecombe, John Gregory & Yong Ding Li  The following have agreed to stand as new Council members: Paul Insua-Cao , Russell Childs, Vivien Fu & Sayam ChowdhuryThe following are resigning as Council members: Lisa Whiffin (resigned 11th January 2020), Tony Sawbridge, Dave Buckingham,  Jo Thomas The following have agreed to stand as Executive Officers : John Gregory – Chair; Chris Gooddie; Vice-Chair; Mike Edgecombe – Treasurer; Russell Childs – Secretary9.Any other business

Minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting are available here and the Club’s Annual Accounts for 2019 here.

We look forward to welcoming you on 19th September!

Forktail updates

Forktail 35

New issue mailed to 2019 members

2019 members should shortly be receiving their issue of Forktail, the Journal of Asia Ornithology. You can find the full contents here.

Congratulations to the new editorial team, led by Frank Rheindt and Ding Li Yong for another fabulous issue.

If members have not received their printed copy by the end of July 2020, please email membership@orientalbirdclub.org for assistance. Thank you.

Non-members can purchase the latest issue as either a printed or electronic copy here.

In line with OBC policy, that means the papers for Forktail 32 are now all freely available. You can download them here.

Membership Secretary sought

Fancy helping the Oriental Bird Club to look after our membership ?

We’re looking for fresh volunteers to help run the Club.

If you’ve got what it takes, please contact membership@orientalbirdclub.org for further details.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Forktail: new editorial board appointed

The new Chief Editor of Forktail, Frank E. Rheindt

A new editorial board, chaired by renowned ornithologist Frank E. Rheindt has been created for the Oriental Bird Club's peer-reviewed journal, Forktail.

Frank, who is based at the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor, will be ably supported in running the journal by OBC Council Member Dr Ding Li Yong, and an impressive team of knowledgeable bird experts from across the region, specifically:

Dr Carmela Española (University of the Philippines, Diliman); Dr Chang-Yong Choi (Seoul National University, South Korea); Assoc. Prof. Chongleong Puan (Universiti Putra Malaysia); Dr Colin R. Trainor (Charles Darwin University, Australia); Dr Fangyuan Hua (Peking University, China): Dr Geoffrey W.H. Davison (National Parks Board, Singapore); Dr James A. Eaton (Birdtour Asia (based in Malaysia)); Dr Le Manh Hung (Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi, Vietnam); Dr Pavel Ktitorov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch); Assoc. Prof. Philip Round (Mahidol University, Thailand); Sayam Chowdhury (Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Project); Shashank Dalvi (Birdtour Asia (based in India)); Dr Simon Mahood (Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia); Tim Inskipp; Dr Wieland Heim (University of Münster, Germany); and Dr Yuda Pramana (Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia).

Forktail is the premier journal of Asian ornithology. Under the new editorial team, the journal continues to pursue academic excellence by providing a forum for impactful research on Asia’s avifauna.

With the on-going global environmental crisis worsening across Asia, Forktail will give particular consideration to submissions that have important conservation implications. At the same time, the journal continues to be open to submission of manuscripts dealing with ecology, physiology, bioacoustics and taxonomy, and has a new focus on field survey work that produces significant findings in an Asian context.

The new Forktail editorial board is currently seeking new paper submissions from established and up-and-coming bird researchers from across the Oriental region.

Correspondence and manuscripts for consideration should be sent to the newly created email address: forktail@orientalbirdclub.org

We look forward to reading the results of your ornithological research!

OBC supports Big Month Java & Bali 2020

Sunda Forktail (c) Lip Kee Yap / Singapore. CC-by-sa-2.0

OBC funding is supporting Big Month Java and Bali 2020 — a new citizen science project that aims to gather occurrence data for birds across the islands of Java and Bali, with a focus on areas that currently lack information.

For the whole of January 2020, birdwatchers across the islands are being asked to concentrate on areas away from the well-known national parks and other protected areas whose avifauna is relatively well-known and explore areas that are visited less frequently, such as agricultural areas, village edges, small forest patches, rivers, and urban areas.

Less experienced birdwatchers will be able to receive assistance in bird identification through the use of Burungnesia, a smart phone app, through which all bird records can be directly uploaded.

Burungnesia is one of the partners organising the Big Month Java and Bali 2020 initiative, alongside the Indonesian Ornithologist Union (IdOU) and Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Data from Big Month will be used to provides a baseline against which future changes in bird populations can be measured and to identify areas requiring targeted conservation effort.

Several songbird species in Indonesia are known to be in severe decline as a result of excessive trapping to supply demand for the cage bird trade and for their use in songbird singing competitions.

In 2015, ornithological experts met at the first Asian Songbird Crisis Summit and later developed an action plan to help restore populations of some of the most heavily impacted species.

"The idea for Big Month Java & Bali 2020 came out of the Singapore Asian Songbird Crisis meeting where it was seen as important to demonstrate the extent of declines in common birds across Java. It was also suggested that a good way to bring this to the attention of civil society on the islands would be for civil society itself to be involved in building the report on the State of Java’s birds," explained Professor Stu Marsden of Manchester Metropolitan University.

To find out more about Big Month Java & Bali 2020, and how you can become a supporter and take part, download this document which gives further details (in English and Bahasa) or visit the following websites:
https://www.birdpacker.com/big-month-en (English)
https://www.birdpacker.com/big-month (Bahasa Indonesia)

OBC AGM to be held in Cley, Norfolk

Cley Mill © Andrew Dunn / CC 2.0

Advance notice that the Oriental Bird Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 21st September 2019 in Cley Village Hall, Norfolk, UK.

As ever, there will be a packed agenda of top quality speakers during the day – details to follow. For the time being, be sure to make a note in your diary.

At that time of year, autumn migration is in full swing, and given favourable winds, we can reasonably expect birds from the Asian region to be reaching the UK’s shores.

So why not make it a full weekend and include some birding in fabulous Norfolk at this prime time of year? We hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Volunteers sought

The OBC is seeking volunteers to help with running the Club.

You don’t need to be an expert on birds – you simply need to have the enthusiasm and willingness to donate a few hours a month to support bird conservation efforts. For logistical reasons, volunteers should ideally be based in the UK.

Interested? Simply send a message to mail@orientalbirdclub.org to find out more

Forthcoming book auction

Dominic Winter will be selling books from Martin Woodcock’s collection on 12th December. It includes scarce titles on Asian and African birds, and much else, including a number of extra-illustrated “one-offs,” some with original watercolur vignettes by Martin.

The catalogue will be online on the Dominic Winter website on 30th November and the hard copy catalogue will be available from 3rd December.