{"id":21,"date":"2018-10-11T12:21:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T12:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2026-10-06T19:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T19:10:05","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Welcome to the North Northumberland Bird Club \u2014 a friendly club for anyone who enjoys birds and the wonderful places in which they live.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The NNBC was founded in 1984 by a group of local birdwatchers who recognised that North Northumberland deserved its own bird club. With its varied coastline, estuaries, farmland, moorland and woodland, the area is one of the richest and most rewarding parts of the country for birdwatching.<\/p>\n<p>Our founder and first Chairman, <strong>Graham Bell<\/strong>, guided the club for an impressive thirty years. Although he eventually retired from the Committee, Graham remains very much part of the club&#8217;s history and is now our <strong>Honorary President<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>More than forty years on, the NNBC continues to flourish, with <strong>over 180 members<\/strong>. Our membership includes people who are completely new to birdwatching alongside experienced birders and knowledgeable ornithologists. You don&#8217;t need to be an expert \u2014 just someone who enjoys birds and wants to learn more.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Something for everyone<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Throughout the year we organise a programme of <strong>indoor meetings, talks and field trips<\/strong>, providing opportunities to discover new places, improve your identification skills and, perhaps most importantly, enjoy birdwatching with other people.<\/p>\n<p>Our members also keep in touch between meetings through our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/700918532928213\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook Group<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and, for members, the <strong>NNBC Chat WhatsApp group<\/strong>. These provide a great way to share sightings, photographs, news and information about what&#8217;s happening locally.<\/p>\n<p>The club is run by a Committee elected by its members. Volunteers give their time to organise meetings and field trips, produce the Newsletter, maintain the website and social media, manage our bird records and support a range of conservation, survey and recording projects.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What we aim to do<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>At the heart of everything we do are five simple aims:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To encourage people to enjoy and learn about wild birds<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>To increase our knowledge and understanding of birds and their habitats<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>To bring people together to share their enthusiasm for birdwatching<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>To encourage the recording and sharing of local bird sightings<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>To support conservation projects, surveys and other initiatives that benefit birds and their habitats<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Whether you&#8217;re an experienced birder looking for new challenges, someone keen to improve your identification skills, or you&#8217;ve simply started to take an interest in the birds visiting your garden, <strong>you&#8217;ll find a warm welcome at the NNBC.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Our recording area<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The NNBC&#8217;s bird recording area covers a large and remarkably diverse part of Northumberland. It extends approximately from the <strong>River Tweed and Scottish border in the north to Amble in the south, and from Rothbury in the west to the Northumberland coast in the east<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Members are encouraged to submit their sightings from across the recording area. These records are an important part of the club&#8217;s work, helping us to understand how bird populations change and where different species are being found.<\/p>\n<p>Members&#8217; sightings are published in the following month&#8217;s Newsletter and are also passed to the <strong>Northumberland County Recorder<\/strong>, contributing to the wider county bird recording effort. County bird recording forms part of a much wider network across the UK, co-ordinated nationally by the <strong>British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Although our recording area is firmly rooted in North Northumberland, the NNBC attracts members and visitors from much further afield. People regularly travel to our meetings and events from St Abbs and Duns in the north, Newcastle and Durham to the south, and even from Surrey and Kent.<\/p>\n<p>That says something about both the quality of the birdwatching in this part of the world and the appeal of the NNBC itself.<\/p>\n<h3>Come and join us<\/h3>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to know every bird by sight or be an experienced birder to become part of the NNBC. <strong>Birdwatching is for everyone<\/strong>, and sharing that interest with others makes it even more enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p>We hope you&#8217;ll come along to a meeting, join us on a field trip or get in touch to find out more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Wherever you are on your birdwatching journey, you&#8217;ll be very welcome.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold;\">Ring Ouzel &#8211; Emblem of the NNBC<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/RingOuzel_001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-135 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/RingOuzel_001-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/RingOuzel_001-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/RingOuzel_001.jpg 421w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Ring Ousel Photo by John Wilson<\/p>\n<p>No bird symbolises the wild uplands of North Northumberland more than the Ring Ouzel, and it is also a typical migrant along the coast. In 1984 a Thomas Bewick engraving of this bird was chosen for our Club logo.\u00a0 The Ring Ouzel is one of his most natural-looking engravings, and its clear, sharp outline makes a distinctive and appropriate symbol for our Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the North Northumberland Bird Club \u2014 a friendly club for anyone who enjoys birds and the wonderful places in which they live. The NNBC was founded in 1984 by a group of local birdwatchers who recognised that North Northumberland deserved its own bird club. With its varied coastline, estuaries, farmland, moorland and woodland, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3561,"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northnorthumberlandbirdclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}