SUFFOLK BIRD 1961
REPORT
Editor W.
H.
PAYN
assisted by The Recorders H.
R . BEECROFT a n d
C. G.
D.
CURTJS
and The County Records G . B . G . BENSON, F . A.
K . COBB, F .
Committee
C . COOK, P .
C . C . HERVEY a n d A . E .
H . T . HARTLEY,
VINE
GRATEFUL acknowledgement is made to the following societies for supplying information and for permission to publish records from their reports :—The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Cambridge Bird Club, the Lowestoft Field Club and the Dingle Bird Club. Will observers please send their 1962 records to H. R. Beecroft, Hall Lane, Witnesham, nr. Ipswich by the end of January, 1963' without fail. All other correspondence in connection with the Bird Report should be sent to the Editor at Härtest Place, Bury St. Edmunds, telephone Härtest 224. Separate copies of this report, as well as back numbers, can be obtained from the Editor or Recorders, price 4/-. INTRODUCTION :
T H E YEAR IN
RETROSPECT
1961 was chiefly noteworthy for the addition of two new species to the county list. In April a Bonelli's warbler was trapped and ringed at Walberswick and on September 1 a buff-breasted sandpiper was seen at Minsmere. Although examples of this American wader had previously occurred on Breydon, they had all been claimed for Norfolk. Thanks to the intensive watching that now takes place in all likely areas on the coast, as well as the increase in mist-netting and trapping, it will be surprising if one or more species that are new to Suffolk are not recorded annually for some time to come. T h e year also produced a number of rarities. Most of these were reported from Minsmere which is now so well watched that it is doubtful if any visitor, feathered or otherwise, could pass through the area undetected.