CR5 Issue 162 Dec 2018

Looking for a Christmas present or a New Year
resolution? Consider Camera Club membership.
Jon says “I took this picture in Trelissick Gardens in
Cornwall last year. I was immediately struck by the
spiky plant, a Globe Thistle, being visited by three
bees at the same time, the picture title “Three’s
Company” came to me immediately. At this time of
year our thoughts are towards the festive season,
and with a bit of added frost, the flower would look
great hanging as a decoration from a Christmas
Tree. The bright Summer conditions meant I could
take the picture hand held on my Nikon DSLR.”
DIARY
4 Dec: Colour Print Competition (2 of 3)
11 Dec: Christmas Social
8 Jan: “London from the Rooftops”
talk by James Burn
15 Jan: Monochrome Print Competition (2 of 3)
22 Jan: Workshop: Drones – D Eastley / All about
bracketing, HDR & RAW
29 Jan: Digital Image Competition (2 of 3)
We meet each Tuesday evening at 8pm in Cameron
Hall, Canons Hill, Old Coulsdon. Visitors £5 (refunded
on joining). Visit oldcoulsdoncameraclub.org. uk, see
us on facebook or contact
lynda@oldcoulsdoncameraclub.org.uk
Bird’s Eye View, December 2018
John Birkett, RSPB Croydon Local Group
As we think about Christmas and buy presents for
our loved ones, perhaps you may want to add the
birds that visit your garden to the list.
A nice new bird table or feeder along with peanuts,
sunflower hearts, fat balls, meal worms or any of
the vast array of foodstuffs you can now buy would
go down a treat and keep the birds going through
a long, hard winter. Cut up apples spread on the
ground may bring in thrushes, including Redwings
and Fieldfares that spend the winter with us. Too
late for this year, but if you do not have any already,
think about planting a berry bearing shrub or two.
Large numbers of Waxwing have started to arrive on
the east coast and we can but hope they will appear
in Croydon on a few berry laden bushes. (Maybe
ones in a supermarket car park?) another present
you could buy is some pet friendly
disinfectant cleaning spray. It is important to keep
your feeders clean and regularly disinfected to
ensure you are not responsible for spreading
diseases from one bird to another on your feeders.
Birds, and other wildlife, need homes for breeding
and to keep safe and warm at other times of year.
Why not put up a nest box or a bug hotel?
Whatever you do, even if it only to put out a few
scraps for the birds, we hope that you will see a wide
variety of species come into your garden during the
winter. As well as taking part in the RSPB’s Big
Garden Birdwatch in January, we are always pleased
to welcome people to participate in our ongoing
survey of Croydon’s birds, which helps us to monitor
our local avifauna. The RSPB Croydon Local Group
also has a team of speakers who can give illustrated
talks about birds to local organisations.
For more information about the activities of the
RSPB Croydon Local Group, including our bird survey
and the talks, look at
http://www.rspb.org.uk/groups/croydon/
If you do see anything interesting, please let us
know. Perhaps come along to one of our meetings
to tell us about it or email me at
johnbirkett@hotmail.co.uk or you can record them
on the Croydon Birders website:
http://croydon-birders.wikia.com/wiki/Latest_News
Waxwing by John Birkett
To advertise call Lucy on 01737 557888 or 07703 209292
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