Talk on British Owls and Woodpeckers

By David Beer

Eastbourne group committee member

Yesterday evening the Eastbourne regional group were treated to a highly informative and entertaining talk on British Owls and Woodpeckers. Our guest speaker was Christine George a local birder and bird ringer. Christine explained the various adaptations of these iconic birds from the ability of owls to rotate their necks through 270^o  to the modification of woodpecker skulls, beaks and musculature which prevent them getting brain damage when drumming on trees.

There was plenty of useful information on how to identify the individual species both by sight and sound. Unfortunately a number of the species that Christine described are in decline and  I am sure many of us left the hall keen to help Ken Smith [email protected]. with his long term project looking at the breeding success of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.