AGM ...........................................................................................Eddie Bathgate

Great excitement was caused recently when a SOG member sent in a photograph of an odd-looking bird (see photo) in her garden, asking for help in identifying it. It had the sniff of a Yank sparrow with its heavily streaked markings and looked very interesting indeed. It eventually turned out to be a Dunnock – the result of back-of-camera reproduction of a slightly over-exposed image – and the twitch was called off, but not until car parking and fundraising plans were being dreamt of. SOG has a series of field events and the last spring talk coming up. It’ll be great to see

you at any of these, especially the April talk, where Val Lockwood and I are the speakers. If you’re going to bring fruit, please make sure it’s ripe. If you’ve never visited the STANTA area in springtime do book yourselves on the Dunnock upcoming SOG trip, last year’s trip was unforgettable. I hope the Trip Reports will inspire and encourage some of you to come along – there’s always a warm welcome. Finally, massive thanks go to the correspondents & photographers who’ve contributed to this edition; it’s been a pleasure putting it together and I hope you enjoy it too.

AGM

A great evening was had by all at this year’s AGM, held on 24th February at the Holiday Inn in Ipswich. Over £100 was raised by the raffle with additional monies raised by the prints, second hand books and magazines.

The Garrod Award

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the inaugural 2016 Garrod Award is Ben Moyes. This award, which is to be presented annually, has been set up in memory of Ken Garrod and in recognition of both his past – and his wife Jean’s ongoing – huge contribution to SOG and Suffolk birding and honours the year’s most promising young birder.

Aged 16, Ben already volunteers for both the BTO and the RSPB, the latter as a guide at Minsmere. During 2015 he completed two spells of work experience at the BTO, taking part in a number of activities that included nest recording and writing for their website, as well as encouraging young birders at the Birdfair. He also completed both a Breeding Bird Survey and a House Martin square survey. As well as all this, Ben competes in the Patchwork Challenge competition and has already had a Suffolk rarity (an extremely well-documented Honey Buzzard) accepted by SORC. We’re sure he’ll go on to find other goodies in the future. Ben was nominated by, amongst others, David Walsh, who was particularly taken with Ben’s abilities as a birder, citing both his superb knowledge and quick recognition of Ben Moyes & Jean Garrod bird calls – a high accolade from David, who is himself no slouch! – and his interest in the wider natural world, which has led to visits with David to look at Emerald and Scarce Emerald Damselflies at Redgrave and orchids at Market Weston Fen. Jean Garrod herself presented the award to Ben at the AGM.

Photo: Gi Grieco