WELCOME TO THE NEW LOOK WEBSITE

It seems fashionable nowadays to get a "makeover" and the Ogston website is no exception. Welcome to the new look Ogston website.

On the site you'll find most of your old pages and a few new ones too. Just take a look around by clicking on the navigation buttons at the top and the bottom of the pages. The site will be developing over the next few months so at the minute it's still a work in progress.

As this "Front Page" is meant mainly for news items, anyone that would like anything of interest added, please let the Web Team know. If you have anything for sale, please get in touch. I doubt if we'll ever be a rival to eBay but you could have something other members are looking for and make yourself a few bob as well.

OGSTON DAILY REPORT

All the latest sightings at Ogston will be updated and can be found by clicking on the Ogston Daily Report button at the top of the page.

LOCAL NEWS

All sightings from other parts of Derbyshire can be found by clicking on the Local News button at the top of the page.

OGSTON WEBSITE MEMBERS ONLY AREA

Over recent weeks, quite a number of members have mentioned they're having difficulty in getting in to the Members Only area of the Ogston Bird Club web site. This part of the website site is administered through the Yahoo Groups option and you need a Yahoo e-mail address to access the area.

We have now created a .PDF file with all the instructions about how to get on there. This can be downloaded by clicking Here

If you have any problems, please get in touch with the Web Team and we'll do all we can to help.

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER

As mentioned in the recent Newsletter, some members are still trespassing on Severn Trent land by going out onto the feeder areas.

Club members are only allowed onto the paths and in the hides. Anywhere else at Ogston is out of bounds. We have keyholders who feed the birds regularly so there is no need for anyone else to go onto the feeder areas. Our Landlords, Severn Trent have made it very clear that any encroachment onto their land could be taken as a breach of our lease conditions. It is also an Ogston Bird Club ruling.

As a reminder, anyone seen or reported to be on the banks or on the areas in front of or around the hides will have their Ogston membership reviewed.

20th May: NOT ONE TV PRESENTER BUT TWO
 
If you're a fan of the BBC One Show programme, here's your chance to meet two of the presenters. Read More....

18th May: WHAT A GREAT SHOW
 
Just to say a big thank-you to club member Steve Williams for his presentation "A Nature Photographer's Year" at last night's Annual General Meeting. Steve took us through a year in the eyes of a nature photographer. It not only showed the skills Steve has but the patience and dedication he gives to wildlife.
 
The presentation was greatly enjoyed by all who attended and left many inspired to go out with their cameras in search of that special moment.
 
Thanks must also go to Des Haslam who so ably assisted Steve with the smooth running of his presentation.

16th May: REMINDER - OGSTON BIRD CLUB AGM 17th MAY

As a reminder to all club members, it is the club's Annual General Meeting on Thursday the 17th of May. This evening event starts at 7.30pm and will be held in the Ogston Sailing Club building. All member are encouraged to attend and will be made most welcome. It is an excellent chance to meet other members and put names to the faces you see around the hides.

During the evening, there will be a club raffle and there is also a bar in the Sailing club so remember to put a few bob in your pocket. As usual there will also be a presentation as part of the AGM. This year the talk will be given by club member Steve Williams from Chesterfield and is called "A Nature Photographer's Year". Steve will take us through the months of the year showing images of various Birds, Fauna and Flora, Insects, Reptiles, Flowers and Mammals that are all found in local places.

15th May: JIM MART WORKS PARTY 19th MAY

The next organised work party at the Jim Mart lower reserve is this Saturday, 19th May, Read More....

10th May: OGSTON BIRD CLUB AGM 17th MAY
 
As a reminder to all club members, it is the club's Annual General Meeting on Thursday the 17th of May. This evening event starts at 7.30pm and will be held in the Ogston Sailing Club building. All member are encouraged to attend and will be made most welcome. It is an excellent chance to meet other members and put names to the faces you see around the hides.
 
During the evening, there will be a club raffle and there is also a bar in the Sailing club so remember to put a few bob in your pocket. As usual there will also be a presentation as part of the AGM. This year the talk will be given by club member Steve Williams from Chesterfield and is called "A Nature Photographer's Year". Steve will take us through the months of the year showing images of various Birds, Fauna and Flora, Insects, Reptiles, Flowers and Mammals that are all found in local places.

6th May: REMINDER - OGSTON BIRD CLUB OPEN DAY TOMORROW

As a reminder to all club members, it is our "Open Day" on Monday the 7th May. The Open Day takes place on the Ogston Sailing Club grounds, starting at 12am and goes on through to 4pm.

We would like to meet as many of our club members as possible as well as anyone interested in becoming part of the Ogston Bird Club. Hopefully putting faces to some of the names we see on our newsletters would be a good thing. If anyone would like to help by putting up a few tables etc, this again would be most appreciated. Just come along to the Sailing Club around 11am. We'd love to see you.

There are a number of stands, these include InFocus where you can see all the latest in binoculars and scopes, Birdnet where you can get the latest in bird pagers and of course our very own Tombola stall that has some really great prizes just waiting to be won.

Don't forget most of all because It's Free To Get In, this must be the best value event you can find on Bank Holiday Monday.

29th April: OGSTON BIRD CLUB OPEN DAY NEXT WEEK

As a reminder to all club members, it is our "Open Day" on Monday the 7th May. The Open Day takes place on the Ogston Sailing Club grounds, starting at 12am and goes on through to 4pm.

We would like to meet as many of our club members as possible as well as anyone interested in becoming part of the Ogston Bird Club. Hopefully putting faces to some of the names we see on our newsletters would be a good thing. If anyone would like to help by putting up a few tables etc, this again would be most appreciated. Just come along to the Sailing Club around 11am. We'd love to see you.
 
There are a number of stands, these include InFocus where you can see all the latest in binoculars and scopes, Birdnet where you can get the latest in bird pagers and of course our very own Tombola stall that has some really great prizes just waiting to be won.
 
Don't forget most of all because It's Free To Get In, this must be the best value event you can find on Bank Holiday Monday.

22nd April: THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP


We finally floated the club's new Tern raft today. A big thank you once again goes to those who gave their time in achieving this. It was good to see the usual faces doing their bit for the club. Once again a special thank you to Dick Johnson for all his hard work and to the Ogston Sailing club for their help and input.

We now have to make a suitable anchor to secure the raft, this held by chain rather than rope. This will hopefully be sorted in the next few days.

22nd April: WEB SITE HITS, AN ALL TIME HIGH

We've just had the figures for website hits and the 10 day moving average for unique hits for the Ogston website as just reached an all time high at 94.5. This basically means on average for each of the last 10 days over 94 different people have accessed the Ogston Website.
 
Thanks to everyone for your continued support of the website.

20th April: VOLUNTEERS TO LAUNCH THE TERN RAFT

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!!! On Sunday the 22nd April we will have the final push to launch the Tern raft. We need to install bouyancy blocks to the underside of the raft and this is the hardest and most important part of the project. Once this is done, we can launch the raft then sit back and watch as we wait for the Terns to breed.

It must be stressed that WITHOUT YOUR HELP WE CANNOT COMPLETE THIS PROJECT. Please make every effort to be at the Sailing Club at 10am on Sunday the 22nd April. We really need your help.

If you can help please contact John Parlby on 01773861262 or 07767652036 or by emial on john.parlby@homecall.co.uk

20th April: STRETTON HANDLEY SCHOOL NESTING BOX NEWS
 
We have had news from club member Nikki Mahadevan who runs the nesting box programme at the Stretton Handley school. Read More....

15th April: APRIL 2012 NEWSLETTER NOW ONLINE
 
The Ogston Bird Club April 2012 Newsletter can now be viewed online here....

12th April: MEMBERS TRIP TO PADLEY GORGE
 
Ogston Bird Club are organising a members walk to Padley Gorge on Sunday the 17th June. Read More...

10th April: NESTINGBOX SURVEY AROUND OGSTON
 
Earlier this year, committee members Andy Marshall and Steve Shaw were asked to undertake a survey of all the nestingboxes that are in our close area. As part of the survey, Andy and Steve produced a good map showing the newly numbered boxes.
 
Lower numbers are around the Sue Worsey and Recording hides and the higher numbers on the way to the Alder Wood hide.
 
To view the locations of the numbered nestingboxes CLICK HERE.

10th April: VOLUNTEERS TO LAUNCH THE TERN RAFT
 
On the 22nd April we will have the final push to launch the Tern raft. We need to install bouyancy blocks to the underside of the raft and this is the hardest and most important part of the project. Once this is done, we can launch the raft then sit back and watch as we wait for the Terns to breed.
 
It must be stressed that WITHOUT YOUR HELP WE CANNOT COMPLETE THIS PROJECT. Please make every effort to be at the Sailing Club at 10am on the 22nd April. We really need your help.
 
If you can help please contact John Parlby on 01773861262 or 07767652036 or by emial on john.parlby@homecall.co.uk

8th April: A BIG THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP
 
A big thank you to all who turned up this morning to help with the Tern raft. Your help and hard work was greatly appreciated.
 
We managed to turn over the raft, move it to the waters edge, install the wire mesh side panels and fit the safety covers for the birds when they hatch. The next stage is to fit the bouyancy blocks to the underside of the raft and tow it out to its final site. To do this we again have to call on volunteers and this time, more than ever before.
 
A date for the final launch will be published here on the website. I hope you all will be able to attend. 

25th March: COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS 2012/2013
 
If any member wishes to be considered for a position on the Committee of Ogston Bird Club, please complete the Nomination Form which will be posted in the Members Main Hide from 2 weeks before the date of the AGM.

24th March: A FEW MEMBERS HAVE ASKED ABOUT….

Quite a few members have asked about Tony Macey recently. If, like me, you miss his bulk around the hides, his non-stop jokes and most of all his wealth of birding knowledge you'll want to know how he's keeping.

I called in to see him and in typical Tony style and in his own words, he's "Sound as a pound and having a bit of a lifestyle change".

He hopes to renew his membership with the Ogston Bird Club for the summer months and then he can spend some time up at Ogston. I'm sure you'll all join in with me and wish him well with whatever he does.

Mike Swain

22nd March: A THANK YOU TO THE BIRD RECORDERS
 
Since the two new bird recorders Steve and Tim have taken over their duties, the bird sightings at Ogston have been updated on a daily basis. I'm sure that all the club members will join in with me and say a big thank-you to Steve and Tim for all their hard work. The hits on the website have recently gone up and I'm sure a lot of this is down to members wanting to know what's showing up at Ogston. Thanks for all the hard work.

12th March: SOME DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
 
We have a couple of dates of forthcoming events that you can put in to your diaries. These are Bank Holiday Monday the 7th of May which is the club's annual Open Day. This as always will be held on the Sailing Club's grounds at Ogston. The second date is Thursday the 17th of May and this is the club's Annual General Meeting. This is a provisional date as we need to confirm the Sailing Club's room is available on that night.
 
Everyone is welcome at both events. The Bank Holiday Monday Open Day is always a good event with quite a bit to see as well as the usual faces from the club. More information on both events will be posted here on the website as it becomes available.

7th March: MORE ON THE MEMBERS ONLY AREA

Sometimes when accessing the Members Only area there can be a problem where you get the words THIS CONTENT CANNOT BE DISPLAYED IN A FRAME, this is a browser specific problem. Not everyone has this problem or sees this wording.
 
Thanks to Nikki for the following short term work around to this problem. If you hold down the SHIFT key then click on the Members Only button, this should take you straight into the Members Only area. As mentioned, this problem only happens with some browsers. We are working on a new piece of code that stops this happening and works with all browsers.

2nd March: OGSTON WEBSITE MEMBERS ONLY AREA

Over recent weeks, quite a number of members have mentioned they're having difficulty in getting in to the Members Only area of the Ogston Bird Club web site. This part of the website site is administered through the Yahoo Groups option and you need a Yahoo e-mail address to access the area.

We have now created a .PDF file with all the instructions about how to get on there. This can be downloaded by clicking Here

If you have any problems, please get in touch with the Web Team and we'll do all we can to help.

17th February: THE OGSTON FOR SALE PAGES

Just a reminder to all members that there is a For Sale section on the Ogston website where you can list as "For Sale" any items that you feel other club members may be interested in buying. You can also place any "Wanted" adverts on the same page too.
 
Just get in touch with either Mike or Paul from the Web Team, their e-mail addresses can be found on the Contact page.

10th February: LEICA SPOTTING SCOPE FOR SALE
 
A Leica Televid APO77 spotting scope has been added to the FOR SALE pages. Read More.... 

31st January: SOME AUSTRALIAN BIRDS

Club member Dave Simmons has just returned from his trip to Australia and he has added a few images of the Australian birds he'd like to share with everyone to his website. Great sounding names that include a Fairy Wren, a Silvereye and the Red Wattlebird
 
Just visit Dave's Site and then click on the "Australia 2012" link.

30th January: BIG SCHOOLS BIRDWATCH

Over the three days that included Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last week, Nikki Mahadevan and the children from Handley school took part in the Big Schools Birdwatch and Read More....

27th January: SITE IMPROVEMENTS AT OGSTON

Late last year, the Club announced their decision to close down the feeder station adjacent to the new hide. Since that time there has been a lot of discussion about feeders in particular and club facilities in general.

To capture member's enthusiasm for this we have agreed to hold a Site Meeting on Sunday 5^th February at 12.30 pm where improvement possibilities can be identified.

26th January: BIG SCHOOLS BIRDWATCH - BINOCULARS

Nikki Mahadevan has asked if we can help and was wondering if anyone has any old spare binoculars that they could donate to Stretton Handley Primary School for children to use for birdwatching activities.
Preferably in time to take part in the Big Schools's Birdwatch next week. The school is in the hamlet of Woolley Moor and within walking distance of Ogston Reservoir. Please contact the Web Team if you can help.

26th January: BINOCULARS APPEAL

Do you have any old binoculars that would enjoy a new lease of life? Former Trust education officer Carole Beavis is appealing for donations of old binoculars for the Bharaptur Bird Sanctuary in Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, India. This important wetland reserve offers refuge to a huge number of migratory birds and other flora and fauna. 

If you'd like to help, please email Carole on c.hockey@virgin.net

12th January: NEW PAGES ADDED TO WEBSITE

If you navigate to the bottom of each page on the website, you will see two new buttons have been added. These are Bird Report Index and Bird Report Archives.

The Bird Report Index page shows a list birds seen at clubs during 2012 and these include, Carsington Water, Carr Vale, Ogston and Wyver Lane.
 
The Bird Report Archives shows all the above club reports for earlier years. A complete mine of birding information.

9th January: ITEMS ADDED TO FOR SALE PAGE
 
Items of Canon photographic equipment have been added to the FOR SALE page....

30th November: FEEDERS AT OGSTON

At the meeting on November 23^rd, the committee decided that the bird feeder adjacent to the new Sue Worsey hide should be removed and planted as per the original intention. Feeders have to be filled and it has proved very difficult to control access to the bank area on which it is sited. Additionally, access to the hide has, at times, been difficult as the hide door opens against the viewing window. Severn Trent have stated that, in accordance with the terms of our lease, reservoir bank areas are 'out of bounds' and we are obliged to comply.

14th November: BIRD FOOD DONATIONS
 
A big thankyou to those who have kindly left donations of food and seed for the birds at Ogston. Your help and kindness is greatly appreciated.

8th November: PLEASE CLOSE THE DOORS AND GATES
 
There's been a problem recently with members leaving either the hide doors or the path gates wide open. Can everyone please remember to close and lock the path gates and, if you're the last to leave the hides, close and lock the doors and windows.

3rd November: OGSTON "FEED THE BIRDS" FUND

With the Winter months just around the corner and, if the weathermen are to be believed, it could be another bad one. Read More....

23rd October: NEW LINK AND IMAGES ADDED

A new link to birding holidays and more images have been added to the site.

18th October: A BIG THANK YOU

16th October: OGSTON TRIP REPORT
 
On Sunday 9th October the OBC trip took place to Frampton Marsh, Read More....

14th October: OGSTON WEASEL HITS THE BIG TIME
 
If anyone happens to see a Weasel that seems to be strutting around more than they normally do, it's because he's hit the big time, the Countryfile Calendar.
 
During a cold, early morning session in the big hide along with yours truly, Ogston member Mark Blake took a photo of the Weasel as it ran over the frozen, snow covered pond to the left of the hide. He then sent it off to the Countryfile Calendar competition where it was eventually chosen as one of the 12 finalists.
 
This gives us all the more reason to go out and buy the calendar and support the Children In Need cause at the same time. Well done Mark.
 
Mike Swain

9th October: BIRD REPORT ARCHIVES ADDED
 
The Bird Report Archives have now been added to the new look site. The button can be found at the bottom of the pages.

6th October: ITEMS FOR SALE & MORE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES ADDED

More of the old Newsletters have been added to the Archives and a new item has been added to the For Sale page.

5th October: NEW IMAGES & LINKS ADDED

A new link and new images have been added to the site. Click on the Links and Gallery pages to see the new items.

OGSTON BIRDS OF PREY WORKSHOP

On Saturday, the 7th of May this year, 10 members took part in the Ogston Birds Of Prey photographic workshop. A full day's workshop taken by Sheffield based professional photographer Paul Hobson with help from yours truly.

The venue for the workshop was Grange Farm, which is situated in the picturesque village of Unstone on the outskirts of Chesterfield. Grange Farm is made up of a very old, listed farm house and a number of outbuildings. These and the surrounding areas were used as a backdrop for the birds which included Barn Owl, Peregrine, Tawny Owl and Kestrel. With Paul Hobson making full use of all the natural looking settings to show the beautiful birds at their very best.

Although the early morning rain left the ground and grassy fields a bit on the wet side everyone taking part had a really excellent and most enjoyable time. The only problems met were photographers running out of memory cards for their cameras, one very busy photographer coming away with over 1200 images.

There is a similar event planned for early next year and a further workshop for those with a wider taste in wildlife which will include, snakes, frogs, newts and other reptiles. It is hoped this event will also take place in the grounds of Grange Farm.

A big thank you from me to all those who took part and for making it such a great day out.

Mike Swain