March 2009
Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers: Notebook, 1946
Reference: DD2619/1/3
This watercolour is one of a series made by local birdwatcher R J Raines. He kept a series of notebooks between 1941 and 1953 in which he recorded bird sightings throughout the British Isles on an almost daily basis.
He recorded the species, descriptions of their behaviour and the weather conditions at the time. In addition he often added paintings of many of the birds, such as this one showing green and wood sandpipers.
His home patch was along the River Trent, between Colwick and Gunthorpe. In one of his notebooks he includes a sketch plan showing the section of the Trent where he made most of his observations. Many of the meadows, plantations and sewage works featured in his notebooks are recorded on the map. He also visited Mansfield Reservoir, Thoresby, Clumber and Rufford Parks, Oxton Forest, Moorgreen Reservoir, Hoveringham gravel pit, Attenborough and Blidworth.
Outside Nottinghamshire, he recorded sightings at many places including Seacroft and Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, Swithland and Cropston reservoirs in Leicestershire, the Broads in Norfolk, Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, and Kew Gardens. He also visited the Lake District, Scotland and Wales.
After September 1951 there are no entries for Nottinghamshire, and the frequency of recorded sightings around Formby suggest he may have moved to Lancashire.
See a larger scale version of the watercolour here [PDF 1775KB] 
These notebooks are recently catalogued and can be viewed at Nottinghamshire Archives. Find out more about visiting the Archives here.
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