The
2018-19 Bangor bird-group season starts again on the 3rd
October. Ian Hawkins, RSPB site manager for Cors Ddryga will be
talking about his trip to New Zealand. He was in search of the birds
and wildlife in this country rich in endemics and famous for its
seabird spectacles and amazing scenery who's landscape was carved
out by fire and ice. Then we will be having a talk from Tarik
Bodasing. Tarik was as one of the Cemlyn wardens this summer. He was
originally from near Durban in South Africa until relatively recently
when, he met a Welsh girl whom he married and is now living with, and
their young child down in Mid Wales. He will be telling us how the
Vulture Lost it's head and other Wildlife tales from Zululand. Then
Wader Quest are coming to town. Wader Quest are a charity that was
set up to raise funds for Shorebird projects and to raise awareness
about the problems they are facing around the world regarding
diminishing populations and threats to the world Shorebird fly-ways.
Elliot
Monteith is a young Birder from the Wirral. He will be coming over to
give us a talk on the Cornell laboratory of Ornithology. It provides
the highest grade of ornithological research in the world and is a
leader in the drive to engage, educate and inspire the future
generation of ornithologists. Elliot was one of the three young
British Birders that won a Scholarship to the labs young birder camp
courtesy of their partnership with the Cameron Bespolka trust about
how the lab is changing the face of conservation across North America
and the World, along with how the lab is helping the next generation
in methods that are just making their way across the pond.
Keeping
on the North America theme Dennis Atherton is coming over from Bolton
to talk about the Western USA and Pelagic birding. It was a rush
flight that Dennis took to catch the last Pelagic of the season in
the World Famous North Pacific Waters around Southern California.
After 26 hours with no sleep and only aeroplane food he then went on
a bumpy boat for 12 hour to see an amazing Seabird spectacle.
Following that he spent 2 weeks going up and down the California
Coastline looking for all the local special birds. From the Seas
around San Diego to the to the Mountains of California, Dennis was
searching for all the local specialities and was trying to see all
the Californian named birds.
Then
Marc Hughes will be giving us an update of how the Leica Red Kites
got on in the Champions of the Flyway birdrace, raising funds and
awareness for the plight of migrant birds across the Mediterranean
and through the Middle East.
Fellow
Leica Red Kite Robin Sandham will then be talking about Rare birds in
North Wales. There's nobody better to talk on this subject as at the
end of the day, he wrote the book. I'm sure he will have a few books
at the talk available for people to buy, and its a must read for
anyone interested in the birds of North Wales or rare birds in
general.
Then
we have Ben. After he finished University in Cornwall we've finally
managed to tie down Bardsey's Ben Porter for a talk about a Message
from the Arctic. Ben will be talking about his findings from Sail
against plastic. A student led research expedition to the icy
archipelago of Svalbard during June in the Summer of 2018. Then we
finish the year with the Christmas Party with a buffet and Steve's
Quiz, with assorted prizes and the chance to be the winner of the
Birdbrain of Bangor Bird-group Shield!
In
January Chris Jones is talking about Birding in Wellies: an Autumn
week on Shetland, Chris, Robin, Henry Cook and myself experienced
Shetland proper for the first time in October 2017 and Chris will be
talking about what happened when Four North Wales Birders went to
Shetland in the wind and the rain.
Then
Henry Cook will be talking about Birding North Peru : A travelogue
from an independent trip around the little known and mega-diverse
area of North Peru, featuring Spatulate-tails, Cresent-chests and
Inca-finches.
Then
Kelvin Jones from the BTO will then be giving his new talk on
Hawfinches in Wales before Mark James Pearson arrives to give his
talk on Filey Internation. Mark is well travelled and well known on
the UK circuit. He will be talking about the seasonal migration
around Filey Brigg on the Yorkshire coast. He will be talking about
hammering his patch constantly for five years showing us what common
migrants and rarities have moved through the area over this time.
Then
Ben Stammers from the wildlife trust will be talking about the
wonderful life of our local Swifts before Julian Hughes from the RSPB
talks about the breeding birds of Cyprus and migration of birds
through this region.
Then
we go back to the USA, where local birder Alex Jones will be talking
about the Eastern United States this time. Summarizing his trips to
New York, Michigan and Florida.
As
we go into the home run in March, former Bangor Student Mathew Bruce
will be talking about his work on Wildlife Crime at the Lodge for the
RSPB investigations department.
Following
this local Naturalist Richard Birch will be showing us the Second
instalment of his film on Chile, after he returned to the country
again to witness more of its amazing scenery and wildlife.
Finally
I will be bringing the season to a close at the AGM with my talk on
Himalayan Gold. In the Spring of 2018 I went with two other North
Wales Birders, Rhion and Gareth to the North East Indian regions of
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Its an interesting area bordered by
Bhutan, China and Myanmar. We has a vast assortment of fantastic
birds from Bengal Florican, Fire tailed Myzornis, Himalayan monal and
Beautiful Nuthatch to the critically endangered and range restricted
Bugun Leochicla, just to name a few. It was a really special trip!
As
well as these talks, Birdgroup members can also see the North Wales
Wildlife trust talks. This season they include Living Landscapes in
action. Jonny Hulson (NWWT Project Officer) talks about the amazing
diversity of wildlife found on Wrexham Industrial Estate, home to 300
businesses. Roy Tapping has been involved with our North Wales Local
Records Centre since its start-up. He will be talking about it, in
his talk Cofnod - making wildlife data count. Then Chris Baker, the
NWWT People & Wildlife Manager talks about Our Wild Coast, on how
young people are getting stuck in on the North Wales coast. Then the
Wildlife Trusts final talk is by our very own Spiderman. Richard
Gallon from Cofnod is the most enthusiastic spider man you will ever
meet and he will be talking about Spiders on Welsh mountains and
bogs!
So
hopefully we will see you this season in the Brambell Building,
Deiniol Road, just down from the station. Wednesday nights, doors
open at 7pm for a 7.30pm kick off.
Non members £2 per meeting. Annual Subscription £15, Concessions £12, Students (free)
