The Clive Minton Medallion
The establishment of this award was instigated when Clive stood down from the Chair as a way of acknowledging his enormous input into the future and to recognise great contributions to the group by an outstanding member. The award is a Medal of Merit for Outstanding Contribution to the VWSG.
The award is made annually, at the AGM. The 2023 medalist was Jeff Campbell. Jeff is the ultimate quiet achiever and a very worthy winner of this prestigious award.
Jeff Campbell Citation
Jeff has been banding waders for 30+ years with the Victorian Wader Study Group and the Australasian Wader Studies Group and holds an A class ABBBS Banding Licence with Cannon Netting and Mist Netting endorsements enabling him to take a leadership role in the VWSG field work program in SA and Victoria.
Whilst living in Melbourne he regularly attended VWSG field work, including the annual migration to Werribee, expeditions to South Australia and to AWSG NWWA. Since moving to South Australia he has become a distinguished lead and mentor for the VWSG and was foundation Chair of the Friends of Shorebirds SE in 2005, a position he still holds.
Jeff has ably and willingly undertaken many administrative tasks for the VWSG, AWSG and FoSSE including:
- Conservation Officer AWSG 1987 – 1994, VWSG 1993 – 2004, FoSSE 2018 – present.
- Committee member VWSG 1994 – 2004.
- Editor of the AWSG journal The Stilt 1989 – 1995, Assistant Editor The VWSG Bulletin 2017, Editor VWSG Bulletin 2018 – present.
- Population monitoring Count Co-ordinator for SE SA sites 2007 – present (including reporting).
- Hooded Plover Count Co-Co-ordinator SE SA ?2018 – present (including reporting).
- Flag making parties whilst living in Melbourne, and now all SA flags.
- Jeff is a regular contributor to the Bulletin, with his first article appearing in 1989.
In collaboration with District Ranger Ross Anderson (Department for Environment and Water, SA), he designed and reported on a project to assess the amount of disturbance shorebirds are subjected to on the Limestone Coast in South Australia.
He also designed and published the study – “The Importance of Beach-wrack for Migratory Shorebirds” Stilt 72 (2018).
A foundational member of the Australasian Wader Studies Group, this year marks 40 years that Jeff has been counting waders. Commencing in 1983 with monthly counts of Mildura area he has been involved in special monthly counts in Victoria at Cheetham Saltworks, Inverloch and Lake Hawdon South in South Australia as well as routine biannual counts of PMP sites. Presently he is involved with counting PMP sites in SE SA, Lake George, Lake Bonney, Lake Hawdon and the Coorong.
Reading leg flags
Jeff and Sarah have made over 1,300 flag sightings of 15 species since 1992. Including over 547 Sanderling, 214 Australian Pied Oystercatcher and 444 Ruddy Turnstone flag sightings. Helping elucidate the habitat use of these species along the coast.
Discovery Bay Sanderling project
In addition to regular field work in SA, he has been pivotal in the VWSG Sanderling tracking project over the past two years, spending many hours in the field with his wife Sarah, looking for flagged birds and checking for birds with tracking devices. Jeff and Sarah have made over 491 flag reports for Sanderling over the last two years – a huge effort. They were key members of the field teams that deployed the tracking devices in Discovery Bay, Victoria and along the SA coast.
Jeff’s commitment and effort to all facets of protecting and monitoring shorebirds is boundless. His contribution to the group over 40 years makes him a worthy recipient of the Clive Minton Medallion.