Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust is going to build a new Bird Observatory, which is set to open in 2010. It will be a modern, eco-friendly place for you to stay and for scientists and students to continue their long-term research. It will cost £4 million, and major grants have already been acquired from Shetland Islands Council, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Rural Development Programme. The grants, together with FIBOT funds and the Observatory Appeal (including a generous donation from the Shetland Bird Club), have brought us to within just over £200,000 of the total amount. Applications have been made to charitable trusts and commercial businesses for donations and there have been possible initial responses. Planning permission for the project has been granted and the old building cleared to await its removal; building will start in the summer. Nevertheless, it is important that we raise the last £200,000+ as soon as possible.Many folk who have had enjoyable holidays on the island and seen good birds, or have worked there in the past, have already contributed; if you wish to make an individual donation or know someone who may wish to contribute, please check out the FIBO website for more information.
To find out more click here.
Killer Whale Photo ID
Project The new website is up
and running and it includes photo-id shots of quite a few of the
individuals seen around Shetland (which will increase next year if the
site proves successful). It also gives a chance to download scientific
papers as pdfs if you are interested in finding out more. The site is
northatlantickillerwhales.com but
click here to go to the Scotland page.
Shetland Bird Report 2007
The new report is now
available, with a full
colour
systematic list and literally dozens of colour photos. If you saw any of
these birds you need this report. Shetland Bird Club members
should already have copies. The 2007 report costs
£10 inc. p&p, and now includes a complementary membership of the
Shetland Bird Club for a year! If you would like further details on
membership, or back copies of the report, then
contact the Treasurer & Membership Secretary:
Russ Haywood Lamnaberg, Wester Quarff,
Shetland ZE2 9EZ. Tel: (01950) 477419.
The 2007 report is later than
usual, but one way of helping to ensure that the 2008 report is back on
time is to start submitting records NOW. The great majority of records
now come in electronic form, so they can be compiled and submitted at
any time.
Breeding
Atlas 2007-11
The second season of the winter Atlas
has now begun. Actual coverage in Shetland is
shown on the map to the right. Black squares are completed
tetrads, yellow or white squares have had single visits. There still
many areas which require visits, and roving records are still required
for all areas.
To find out how YOU can help, visit the
Bird Atlas website or contact
Dave Okill.
It is hoped that we can get enough data to produce a local
Atlas. Lots more maps, including tetrad distribution for some species which give
an idea of what a local Atlas would look like , can be seen
here.
Please request that all your records are forwarded to the
County Recorder.
Submitting
Photos This website is run on a voluntary basis and so there are limits on both time and server space. Therefore, we are not in a position to use all photos submitted. The following guidelines are intended to help contributors decide what photos to send and how to send them:
- it would be greatly appreciated if all photos are resized first, preferably to a maximum of 800 pixels on the longest dimension.
- as contributors often add website links to their own photographs, we will no longer provide links to external websites on photographers' names.
- we will normally only use two photos of commoner species, and at peak migration times photos of commoner species may not be used due to time constraints.
- if your picture is a 'record shot', please consider whether it adds anything to the website.
- 'record shots' of rarities are always welcome, but will normally only be used if there are no better photos.
- we reserve the right not to use photos taken at or near the nest if they involve 'Schedule 1' birds, or those that are scarce breeders in Shetland, as we do not wish to encourage disturbance to breeding birds (note that some species require licences for such photography).
New Shetland Checklist A pdf of the Shetland Bird List,
and a new checklist showing island lists, are downloadable
here.
New Braer
pages The pages on the Braer oilspill have been
revamped and moved to a new site
www.braer.net. The pages on this site will be deleted soon, but a
link to the new pages will remain from this homepage.
Nature in Shetland
