A one day course for those relatively familiar with birds that will help you with the challenges of identifying waders and will give you the confidence to put a name to them when you are out birding on your own.
This course assumes you have the basics of how to identify birds, but wish to advance into the more difficult areas. Waders are one of the more difficult groups of birds to identify and many bird watchers find them confusing. However, by looking at certain features and grouping species with similar characteristics together, all species can be identified with relative ease.
As with all Project Fred courses we intend to give you the tools with which to identify the subject, so that you can then use them after the course has finished to identify waders when you are on your own. The morning starts with a classroom session and then we go out in the field to put what we have learnt into practice.
The course includes the following:
- Lecture to highlight what you should look out for on a wader in order to identify it.
- Class discussion on where, when and how to watch waders.
- Unique hand outs to help you ID waders including features of settled birds, features of flying birds, feather tracts that are key to the identification of some waders and grouping waders according to certain characteristics.
- Identification practice in the classroom using photographs and a laptop.
- Field work - to develop identification skills. It is most effective to be able to visit a coastal estuary where there will be the highest diversity of species.
Equipment and things to bring
Bring your own binoculars. If you have a telescope and tripod bring this along too. We have a telescope that will be available for the group to use.
A notebook and pencil are useful, as is a field guide. However we shall be using the hand outs as our primary identification aid during the field trips. The book we recommend is Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstrom, Peter Grant Bird Guide. Published by Collins (1999) ISBN = 0 00 219728 6 for the hardback version and 0 00 711332 3 for the paperback version.
The course will involve some walking, but there will be nothing too strenuous. Strong, comfortable walking boots or shoes are therefore important, as is a good selection of appropriate clothing to the time of year - all in natural colours as far as possible please - greens and browns are preferable. A small rucksack will also be useful for carrying your equipment. Wellingtons may be needed at some sites. Drinks and snacks can also be bought along.
This course is most effectively run during winter (October to April) as this is when there are higher numbers of waders in southern England. We intend to time the course so that we will be in the field at the most appropriate time of tide, as wader watching is very tide dependant.
Cost
£40 per person. Group size minimum 5 and maximum 15 people. Smaller groups can be catered for at a standard cost of £200 per course. Larger groups may also be accommodated. Conservation Groups and Charities may be able to get a discount. Please contact us to discuss.
