Along with Norfolk Wildlife Trust which celebrates its 90th year, 2016 marks the 30th Anniversary of the foundation of the Cley Bird Club.
On 6 May 2016 nearly 100 members and guests gathered at the
Cley Marshes Visitor Centre to mark this significant milestone. After short speeches by the Club Chairman John Dicks and David North, representing Norfolk Wildlife Trust, members enjoyed a fine spread prepared by the centre staff including a birthday cake emblazoned with the Club logo of the rare and now famous Cley white-crowned Sparrow.
By 1986 Cley and the surrounding area was already known as the ‘Mecca’ of British birdwatching. It was local resident, Eddie Myers who brought together friends to form the
Cley Bird Club, to share records of birds seen, to publish a regular Newsletter, to meet regularly at The George for discussion and to listen to speakers on subjects of mutual interest. Some of these founder members were, and remain, acknowledged experts in the field of ornithology. Today the Club includes and welcomes members with a wide range of ‘birding ability’, and as the years have passed, the Club has grown to over 500 members nationally. Many have come to live in the area and fondly remember their first visits to the NWT’s Cley Marshes reserve or the formative influence of meeting well-known individuals such as Cley resident Richard Richardson; the illustrator of one of the most significant bird guides of the 20th century.
For the anniversary Annie Abrams co-ordinated memorabilia material from members for a comprehensive exhibition of photographs, original paintings by Richard Richardson, stories, and old binoculars and telescopes provided by Steve Harris of BIRDscapes Gallery. Depictions of the history of the Cley reserve also featured the work of Wardens Billy Bishop and his son Bernard. John Dicks and David North both spoke of the importance of the Club and its activities. The Club has contributed to many of the NWT’s projects including the very fine Visitor Centre and the
Simon Aspinall Wildlife Education Centre. The Club continues with its original aims of bird study, recording and conservation as well as the tradition of winter meetings in Cley Village Hall, which are now open to the public. Members have helped with volunteering tasks on the reserve, have organised and carried out bird surveys, and amassed an unrivalled amount of data to help the NWT with species monitoring in an era of rapid environmental change. In the 1980s bird records were shared either via a newsletter produced on an ink-duplicator in a Cley garage or by telephone from Nancy Gull’s in Cley! Regular readers will know that for 17 years some records were also shared through Chris Wheeler’s monthly GVN ‘Bird Notes’. Today a more modern Club members’ Newsletter is produced, while a Club website to be found at www.cleybirdclub.org.uk provides quicker and more detailed information on membership, meetings, bird news and topics of interest.
Tom Green, on behalf of the Cley Bird Club Committee