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Colin Bradshaw
Colin Bradshaw is an English physician, ornithologist, and musician who was chairman of the British Birds Rarities Committee from 1997 to 2008. He was active in the BBRC for almost 20 years, both as a committee member and as chairman. He is a medical doctor by profession and travels extensively for birding, and among his other hobbies are guitar, cricket, and photography. Life and career As chairman of the BBRC he was responsible for running the organisation, and leading their adjudications of rare bird records in the United Kingdom. Some testimonies about him given on or after on his retirement in 2008: * "After 18 years involvement with the British Birds Rarities Committee, the last 11 as chairman, Colin Bradshaw will retire in 31 March 2008. His outstanding managerial skills and vision have steered the committee through times of great and often difficult change. These have included unprecedented developments in identification and taxonomy, the move to electronic submission and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Birds Rarities Committee
The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video recordings submitted by observers. Its findings are published in an annual report in the journal '' British Birds''. The BBRC covers around 280 species whose annually recorded sightings in Britain fall below a threshold deemed to signify rarity. Since the establishment of the committee, some previously included species have become more common—or at least better recorded; this has resulted in their removal from the committee's list and their reclassification as "scarce migrants". The committee has a chairman, a secretary, and ten voting members, and is supported by others who serve in an advisory capacity. Since its inception, a total of 69 people have served on the committee as assessors. In addition to assessing annual records of rare bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birding
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope, by listening for bird sounds, watching public webcams, or by viewing smart bird feeder cameras. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists, who engage in the study of birds using formal scientific methods. Birding, birdwatching, and twitching The first recorded use of the term ''birdwatcher'' was in 1712 by William Oldsworth. The term ''birding'' was also used for the practice of ''fowling'' or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeare's ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' (1602): "She laments sir... her husband goes this morning a-birding." The terms ''birding'' and ''birdwatching'' are today used by some interchangeably, although some participants prefer ''birding'', partly because it in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front and behind, stretching across the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large Castra, forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening Turret (Hadrian's Wall), turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts. Hadrian's Wall Path generally runs close along the wall. Almost all the standing masonry of the wall was removed in early modern times and used for local roads and farmhouses. None of it stands to its original height, but modern work has exposed much of the footings, and some segments d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'. The Tyne Rivers Trust measure the whole Tyne Drainage basin, catchment as , containing of waterways. Course North Tyne The Ordnance Survey records 'the source of the North Tyne river' at grid reference NY 605974 at Deadwater, a few tens of metres short of the Scottish border. It flows southeast through the village of Kielder before entering first Bakethin Reservoir and then Kielder Water, both set within Kielder Forest. It then passes by the village of Bellingham, Northumberland, Bellingham before the River Rede enters as a left-bank tributary at Redesmouth. It passes Hadrian's Wall near Chollerford before joining the South Tyne near Warden to the northwest of Hexham. South Tyne The South Tyne rises at Tyne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brier Island
Brier Island is an island in the Bay of Fundy in Digby County, Nova Scotia. Geography The island is the westernmost part of Nova Scotia and the southern end of the North Mountain ridge with Long Island lying immediately northeast; both islands constitute part of the Digby Neck. Brier Island measures approximately long and wide and is made up of basalt. The island's shoreline measures approximately in length. Brier Island is separated from Long Island by the Grand Passage. Westport is the only village on the island. The population, as of 2016 was 218. There were 98 private dwellings occupied year round. The island is an important stopover point for migrating sea birds. The island's name is believed by some to come from the wild brier roses found there, another possibility is that the original name of the Island was "Bryer's" after a sea captain from New England who was one of the first settlers to spend any time on the island. Another idea is that the name came from A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Birds (magazine)
''British Birds'' is a monthly ornithology magazine that was established in 1907. It is now published by BB 2000 Ltd, which is wholly owned by The British Birds Charitable Trust (registered charity number 1089422), established for the benefit of British ornithology. Its circulation in 2000 was 5,250 copies; its circulation peaked at 11,000 in the late 1980s. The current editor is Stephen Menzie. ''British Birds'' is aimed at serious birdwatchers and ornithologists, rather than the more casual birdwatchers catered for by some other magazines on the subject. It publishes the findings of the British Birds Rarities Committee. Its mascot, and later logo, the red grouse, was chosen because at the time it was then considered an endemic British species; though subsequently long considered a subspecies of the willow grouse, further study resulted in it being returned to separate species status in 2024. In 1916, ''British Birds'' magazine absorbed ''The Zoologist'', due to the latter's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
The eastern olivaceous warbler (''Iduna pallida''), known simply as the olivaceous warbler when its Western olivaceous warbler, western relative is referred to as the 'Isabelline warbler', is a small passerine bird with drab plumage tones, that is native to the Old World. For the most part it breeds in southeastern Europe, the Middle East and adjacent western Asia, and winters in the northern Afrotropics. Taxonomy The eastern olivaceous warbler (''Iduna pallida'') is a "warbler", formerly placed in the Old World warblers when these were a paraphyletic wastebin taxon. It is now considered a member of the acrocephaline warblers, Acrocephalidae, in the tree warbler genus ''Iduna''. It was formerly regarded as part of a wider "olivaceous warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, this species is now usually considered distinct from the western olivaceous warbler, ''Iduna opaca''. Etymology Alexander Keyserling, Keyserling and Johann Heinrich Blasius, Blasius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blyth's Reed Warbler
__NOTOC__ Blyth's reed warbler (''Acrocephalus dumetorum'') is a species of reed warbler belonging to the family Acrocephalidae, which also includes the tree warblers. Blyth's reed warbler breeds across the Palearctic zoogeographical region and winters in South Asia. The species has been expanding its range westwards in Europe. Taxonomy Blyth's reed warbler was first formally described in 1849 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth with its type locality given as India. It is classified in the reed warbler genus '' Acrocephalus'' which was formerly included in the polyphyletic family Sylviidae but is now included in the family Acrocephalidae. Etymology Blyth's reed warbler is named in honour of Edward Blyth, its describer. The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and Naumann thought ''akros'' meant "sharp-pointed". The specific ''dumetorum'' is from Latin ''dumetum'', "thicket". Description ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paddyfield Warbler
The paddyfield warbler (''Acrocephalus agricola'') is a species of marsh warbler (family Acrocephalidae). It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage. The Manchurian reed warbler (''A. tangorum'') was (and sometimes still is) included in ''A. agricola'' as a subspecies. The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and Naumann thought ''akros'' meant "sharp-pointed". The specific ''agricola'' is from Latin and means "farmer". It breeds in the temperate central Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe although there are small breeding populations along the western shores of the Black Sea around the border between Bulgaria and Romania. This passerine bird is a species found in low vegetation such as long grass, reeds and rice. 4–5 eggs are laid in a nest in grass. At long with a wingspan of , the pad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
