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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = West Midland Bird Club
| image =
| type = [[Charitable organization|Registered charity]]
| founded_date = {{Start date|1929|11|01|df=y}}
| vat_id =
| registration_id =
| founder = [[Horace Alexander]]
| ___location = <!-- this parameter modifies "Headquarters" -->
| origins =
| key_people = [[Bill Oddie]] (President)
| area_served = [[Staffordshire]], [[Warwickshire]], [[Worcestershire]] & [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], [[England]]
| product =
| mission =
| focus = Ornithology
| method =
| revenue =
| endowment =
| num_volunteers =
| num_employees =
| num_members =
| subsid =
| non-profit_slogan =
| former name = Birmingham Bird Club
| homepage = {{Url|westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk}}
| footnotes =
}}
The '''West Midland Bird Club''' is the [[United Kingdom|UK]]'s largest regional [[ornithology|ornithological]] society. It has been serving [[birdwatcher]]s and ornithologists in the four [[England|English]] counties of [[Staffordshire]], [[Warwickshire]], [[Worcestershire]] and (since its separation from the aforesaid counties in 1974) the Metropolitan [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], with lectures, field trips, research, a bulletin and an annual report, since 1929. It is a [[Charitable organization|registered charity]] in England and Wales, number 213311.<ref name="CC">{{EW charity|213311}}</ref>
There are branches in [[Kidderminster]], [[Solihull]], and [[Stafford]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk/local-branches |title=Local Branches |publisher=West Midland Bird Club |accessdate=27 November 2023}}</ref>
It manages the [[Belvide Reservoir]] nature reserve in Staffordshire, the [[Harborne Reserve]] in Birmingham, and the [[Ladywalk Reserve]] in North Warwickshire, as well as running an access-permit scheme for [[Blithfield Reservoir]] and [[Gailey Reservoir]] in Staffordshire. The Club sponsors bird feeding stations at [[Cannock Chase]] (Staffordshire) and [[Draycote Water]] (Warwickshire).
[[Bill Oddie]] has been the Club's president since 1999.
== History ==
The Club was founded as the '''Birmingham Bird Club''', by W. E. Groves and friends on 1 November 1929.<ref name="chrono">{{cite web|url=http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/chrono|title=Chronology|publisher=West Midland Bird Club|accessdate=7 September 2011|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921053229/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/chrono|archive-date=21 September 2011}}</ref> The name changed to '''Birmingham and District Bird Club''' in 1945, to ''' The Birmingham and West Midland Bird Club''' in 1947, and the current name was adopted in 1959.<ref name="chrono" />
It co-founded and still helps to manage the [[Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory]] and was instrumental in securing [[Brandon Marsh nature reserve|Brandon Marsh]] as a nature reserve.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/reserves/brandon-marsh-sssi.htm |title=Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, its Beginnings |publisher=Warwickshire Wildlife Trust |accessdate=2009-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507172226/http://www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/reserves/brandon-marsh-sssi.htm |archive-date=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
A successful ''West Midland Bird Distribution Survey'', published privately in 1951,<ref>{{cite book|last=Norris|first=C A|title=West Midland Bird Distribution Survey|publisher=West Midland Bird Club|year=1951|url=http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/bibliography/DistSurv51/|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402070048/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/bibliography/DistSurv51/|archive-date=2 April 2012}} (published for private circulation)</ref> led to the club publishing the world's first [[bird atlas]],<ref name=donful>{{cite journal|title=Ornithological atlas data: a review of uses and limitations|last=Donald|first=Paul F.|first2=Robert J. |last2=Fuller|year=1998|journal=Bird Study|volume=45|issue=2|pages=129–145|doi=10.1080/00063659809461086|doi-access=free}}</ref> the ''Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands'', in 1970.<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Published for the West Midland Bird Club (by) [[HarperCollins]]
| isbn = 978-0-00-211040-2
| pages = 3–276p(chiefly illus, form, maps) ; 20cm
| last = Lord
| first = John
| first2 = Dennis Johnstone
| last2 = Munns
| first3 = T. K
| last3 = Beck
| first4 = A. J
| last4 = Richards
| title = Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands
| ___location = London
| year = 1970
| url = http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm#Atlas
| url-status = unfit
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020726041334/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm
| archive-date = 26 July 2002
}}</ref>
Until 2010, the Club operated an information centre at [[Kingsbury Water Park]] (Warwickshire).
== President ==
[[Bill Oddie]] has been the Club's president since 1999. His first published article on birds appeared in the Club's 1962 Annual Report.<ref name="Oddie-1963">{{cite journal|last=Oddie|first=W.E.|date=July 1963|title=Birds in the Bartley Reservoir Area, 1931-1962 (Part I)|journal=The West Midland Bird Report, 1962|publisher=West Midland Bird Club|___location=Birmingham|volume=29|url=http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/archive/bartley-62.htm|accessdate=2010-02-13|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514235149/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/archive/bartley-62.htm|archive-date=2011-05-14}}</ref> He is first credited in the 1956 report, in which reports of his bird observations are tagged with his initials "WEO".<ref name="NWS">{{Cite episode | title = Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie - Bird Watcher |series=Nature Watch | station = ITV Central | date = 1985-07-30 }}</ref>
He discussed his membership of the Club in one of his first forays in the world of television natural history, as the subject of a Nature Watch ''Special: Bill Oddie - Bird Watcher'', in which he was interviewed by [[Julian Pettifer]], at [[Bartley Reservoir]] and the [[Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve]].<ref name="NWS" />
==Notable members==
Past and present
<!-- alphabetical by surname-->
*[[Horace Alexander]]
*[[Alan Dean (ornithologist)|Alan Dean]]
*[[Rob Hume]]
*[[Cyril Hurcomb]]
*[[Tony Norris]]
*[[Bill Oddie]]
*[[Michael John Rogers|Mike Rogers]]
*[[Eric Simms (ornithologist)|Eric Simms]]
*[[William Brunsdon Yapp]]<ref name="Norris-1960">{{cite journal|last=Norris|first=C.A.|date=September 1960|title=The Breeding Distribution of Thirty Bird Species in 1952|journal=Bird Study|volume=7|issue=3|pages=129–184|doi=10.1080/00063656009475969}}</ref>
==Publications==
{{Expand list|date=August 2008}}
* A regular ''Bulletin'' {{ISSN|1477-6111}}
* An ''Annual Report'' {{ISSN|1476-2862}}
* {{Cite book
| publisher = Published for the West Midland Bird Club (by) Collins
| isbn = 978-0-00-211040-2
| pages = 3–276p(chiefly illus, form, maps) ; 20cm
| last = Lord
| first = John
| first2 = Dennis Johnstone
| last2 = Munns
| first3 = T. K
| last3 = Beck
| first4 = A. J
| last4 = Richards
| title = Atlas of breeding birds of the West Midlands
| ___location = London
| year = 1970
| url = http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm#Atlas
| url-status = unfit
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020726041334/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/biblo1.htm
| archive-date = 26 July 2002
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Harrison
|first=Graham R.
|author2-link=Alan Dean (ornithologist)
|first2=Alan R.
|last2=Dean
|first3=Alan J.
|last3=Richards
|first4=David
|last4=Smallshire
|title=The Birds of the West Midlands
|publisher=West Midland Bird Club
|year=1982
|isbn=978-0-9507881-0-4
|url=https://archive.org/details/birdsofwestmidla0000unse
|url-access=registration
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Harrison
|first=Graham
|first2=Janet
|last2 = Harrison
|title=The New Birds of the West Midlands
|publisher=West Midland Bird Club
|year=2005
|isbn=978-0-9507881-2-8
|url=http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/NBotWM
|url-status=unfit
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920194945/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/bibliography/NBotWM
|archive-date=20 September 2011
}}
*{{cite book
| edition = 3
| publisher = West Midland Bird Club
| title = A Checklist of the birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands and Guide to Status and Record Submission
| year=2011
|url=http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/checklist
| url-status = unfit
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305092820/http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/bibliography/checklist/
|archive-date=5 March 2012
}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|West Midland Bird Club}}
*{{Official website|http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Conservation in England]]
[[Category:Ornithological organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Charities based in Staffordshire]]
[[Category:Charities based in Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Charities based in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Charities based in Worcestershire]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1929]]
[[Category:Clubs and societies in the West Midlands (county)]]
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