What our members tell us about CHOG…

Membership

“Dear Chairman and team, I just wanted to send a quick e mail to say how much I appreciate your e-Bulletins. Although I never make the Wednesday meetings and rarely the outdoor ones I love to look at the fantastic photos on the facebook page and very much enjoy reading your Bulletins to see all the wonderful work you do to support our birdlife in the area. It is a very interesting read and I wanted to thank whoever puts the bullletin together as I am sure it is a lot of hard work. Thank you from an appreciative but not very active member of CHOG.”

“I would like to make a donation towards the additional fencing/signs.  Thank you for all the amazing meetings you all put on and the knowledge you give so freely. “

“Thanks for the very informative CHOG Bulletin.”

“CHOG is really evolving well, fencing, buoys, pools, ditches, website and free membership to 18 – 25 is a great idea.”

Workshops

”Thanks for organising another brilliant event. Very successful. I’ve seen plenty of Marsh Harriers over the years but never that many at the same time! Beautiful evening as well.”

“Many thanks for organising this interesting Warbler ID workshop. We learnt a lot today – sadly I just need to retain some of this information!”

“Today was very much ‘our patch’ in terms of where we walk frequently from home, so it was great to see much so local to us – sadly we never see so much when we walk on our own!”

“I think we’ve been CHOG members now for about a year, so although we still have so much to learn, we are really enjoying learning about birds. We really appreciate everyone’s kindness and patience.”

“I just wanted to say how much we enjoyed yesterday’s gull ID workshop. I felt that we learnt a lot. We would certainly be keen to do any future bird identification workshops or similar. The small group format with lots of knowledgeable people assisting the leader worked really well for this sort of bird identification session. Thanks for organising it and to the leader for sharing his extensive knowledge with us. We’ll see you again soon and thanks again….”

Website

“I travelled from Poole to visit Hengistbury on Sunday and had an excellent morning around the fields including several wheatear and a whinchat. I wanted to drop you a short email to congratulate you on the website, in particular the interactive map which is fantastic for a visitor and I used the previous evening to plan the route having checked recent sightings.
Your Harbour bird list with the historic records of less common species gave me the added bonus of tracking down the date I had lost of when I heard Golden Orioles calling in the wood from the Batters back in 2011. Many thanks and well done.”

“My wife and I visit Christchurch on holidays, and have been doing so for many years, We love Hengistbury, Stanpit, Mudeford  so your daily sightings page, and photos are most welcome. We live in Staffordshire, and like your area. Thank You. Keep up the good work.”

Birds of Christchurch Harbour Annual Report

“New subscription rates still very reasonable! Thank you for all your continued labours. The annual Birds of Christchurch Harbour is a remarkable record and astonishing read!”

“I enclose cheque renewing my membership……Thank you for the excellent Bird Report.”

Hengistbury Head bird hide

“We were very pleased to meet one of your members in the hide at Hengistbury Head – he was so friendly and great at explaining to my children what we were looking at, and when to come back to see birds nesting etc. We are all keen to learn more about our local birds!”

“For the second Sunday in a row, I have had the pleasure of spending time in the hide at Hengistbury – a quiet place where I can teach my son about birds, sitting still and the art of recording observations. I am sure many individuals enjoy the experience at Hengistbury hide but I felt obliged to make contact today. After seeing what I suspected was a female marsh harrier (a life first) on the reed beds (Stanpit direction) it was so nice to be able to go to the hide and look at the bird books for verification – it’s not everywhere nowadays where things can be left for community sharing and enjoyment and that should be thanked and congratulated. Thank you to your organisation and what you do – most appreciated.”

Outdoor meetings

“Thank you for sending through the bird list and organising such a lovely morning with great information and lovely people.”

“I am really glad to have joined CHOG and hope to go on the next walks.”

“Thank you for introducing me to Acres Down. It will definitely be a place I will visit again. It was fabulous to see the Lesser Spotted woodpecker, stock doves and wood larks in such beautiful scenery.The people who supported the event were so welcoming and knowledgeable, please extend my thanks.”

“Thank you for a great meeting yesterday, even if the weather, the sky and the lighting could have put in more of an effort lol. At least we were able to see the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which is always a bonus and good to get the size comparison with the Greater Spotted!”

“Thank you for organising such a lovely morning with great information and lovely people.”

“I am really glad to have joined CHOG and hope to go on the next walks.”

“I had such a wonderful time yesterday morning and it was lovely meeting many members, who were really friendly.  It was so great to see the lesser spotted woodpecker, which I’d never seen before.”

“Just to say thanks so much for organising  yesterday’s walk – we were so lucky with the weather and saw so many birds – the water rail, bullfinch and long tailed duck were particular highlights for me!
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the walks this year and really appreciate the expertise, kindness and patience of the leaders and of everyone who lets us look through their scopes and patiently explains and shares their knowledge with us.  We’ve now seen 125 different bird species this year, which for us as near beginners is a real achievement, and nearly all of those have been at CHOG meetings. Some of them are birds we’ve seen for the first time ever.”

“Just wanted to say a huge thanks for the lovely afternoon yesterday and to all the wonderful ‘leaders’ who have already taught me so much, inspired me and given me a much greater appreciation of our natural world.  Everyone is so welcoming, warm and so willing to share their knowledge.  It is such a privilege to be part of this group.”

“I just wanted to thank you for arranging yesterday’s meeting. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon and so good to spot the Hawfinch.”

“Thank you very much for organising the CHOG event on Sunday. I really enjoyed it and it was exciting to see the Hawfinches (and Nuthatch!). I always learn so much when I come to these events and am grateful that everyone is so happy to share their knowledge.”

Birding and Coffee

“Thanks for organising today’s bird walk at Hengistbury – hugely successful with plenty of new faces! I look forward to the next one.”

“We thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the coffee time with others. Great idea and looking forward to the next one! Another great outing. I enjoyed the walk and the chatter.”

“Thank you very much for today. I met some nice people and enjoyed it lots. It was a slight shame that the area was so busy but hey I’m also pleased that people are getting out there especially the kids, our future ornithologists. Many thanks again for all the work you put in.”

“We just wanted to say thank you for being so welcoming and for guiding a lovely bird walk yesterday morning. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and enjoyed meeting existing members who were also very welcoming. We are very much looking forward to the next walk.”

“I just wanted to say thank you for making both of us feel so welcome at the CHOG meet at Hengistbury Head on Sunday.”

“I found the morning to be really informative and I hadn’t realised how many different birds were literally under my nose (as I live the other side of the harbour!).”

If you would like to tell us about your experience of being a member of CHOG, we would love to hear it.
Please email engagement@chog.org.uk