April 2020

15 Buckden Roundabout April 2020 Village News Spotting Spotted Flycatchers Have you got this increasingly rare bird breeding in your gar- den? Let us know! In recent years many Cambridgeshire community and parish newsletters, magazines and websites have helped with a Coun- ty - wide survey of Spotted Flycatchers. These are attractive little migrant birds which are summer visitors to village gardens and churchyards. Although they breed with us, they spend up to nine months of the year travelling as much as 16,000 miles a year between here and their wintering grounds in Southern Africa – Angola and Namibia. This is an increasingly dangerous journey for them, and sadly they are in deep decline. Wide- spread losses amounted to a 50% decline during 1995 - 2010, continuing an 90% decline since 1970. Only a few hundred pairs remain breeding in Cambridgeshire, but most villages still have a pair or two; they rarely breed out in the wider countryside. We are continuing our work to find and monitor nesting pairs. It ’ s almost certain that there are many additional pairs out there of which we are not aware. Do you have flycatchers in your garden? Will you see one this year, or have you in recent years? The few that remain are here from mid - May to September . And there ’ s lots more to read about our project and Spotted Flycatchers in general at www.bit.ly/SpotFly Please email: spofl@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk with any sightings. Speedwatch Volunteers We have a newly trained village Speedwatch group in Buck- den. We did our first group speed watch meet at Taylor's Lane (High Street end) recording speeds of motorists. So far eight people have been trained and we hope to have regular meets at various locations around the village, includ- ing the Osiers, Manor Gardens, and Taylor's Lane. We hope to be stationed at Mill road and School Lane at some point in the near future. The equipment is being kindly shared by Grafham village so we can get up and started. If you are in- terested in Speedwatch or have queries please get in con- tact via Buckden Residents Facebook page. Speedwatch volunteers come to Taylor ’ s Lane