Rare Bird Club - Calendar of Proposed Trips 2016
2017
1 December 2016: RBC Annual Dinner event at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London. The dinner venue is an elegant Georgian-style building in Pall Mall, just a short walk from Piccadilly Circus underground station. We will start with a drinks reception at 19:00. The Save-the-Date cards will be sent out this week, to be followed by the formal invitations in the next few weeks. Please contact sarah.bull@birdlife.org or sophie.channon@birdlife.org to reserve your seats or to book a table for your guests. Full details will follow very soon. 28/29 May – 4 June 2017: A week of birding and fascinating archaeological culture in Orkney, hosted by the RSPB. This trip to the Northern Isles will start in Edinburgh on the evening of 28th May, with flights to Kirkwall on the morning of 29th May. The full trip brochure has now been circulated to those who have previously expressed interest and we are now taking confirmed bookings and deposits for this very popular trip. 16 June 2017: TENTATIVE – Provisional date for Farne Islands visit. Building around this visit to the spectacular Farne Islands seabird breeding colonies we will organise a weekend in Northumberland to include a dinner hosted by RBC member Viscount Matt Ridley at Blagdon Hall (near Seahouses). As well as the trip to the Farne Islands with the Farnes Committee we will also try to visit Coquet Island where Roseate Terns breed. Exact dates and itinerary cannot be confirmed until early in 2017 so dates for this trip may need to be changed nearer the time. Thursday 18th July 2017: Summer Dream musical event in Monaco. This will be a very special concert at the Monaco Grimaldi Centre, followed by a reception with HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco to benefit the joint conservation projects of BirdLife and the Prince’s Foundation. We expect to be able to offer a “package deal” with hotel accommodation from Friday to Sunday for those who wish to spend the whole weekend in Monaco. Further details will be available in the new year. 9-14 October 2017: Singapore. This is BirdLife’s World Congress, the 5-yearly gathering of the whole Partnership in Singapore and all RBC members are invited to join us at this incredible event to learn more about the BirdLife Partnership in action. More details will be provided in due course.
2018
3 -20 February 2018 (plus travel to/from South America): Antarctica cruise with One Ocean Expeditions on the “Ioffe”. The cruise will include stops at the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands, Elephant Island, South Georgia and the Falklands. Details are being planned now and more information will be shared very soon. The cruise will have a special focus on BirdLife’s Penguin Campaign!
18-28 May 2018: Cruise around Svalbard led by photographer and guide Pete Oxford. This will be a private charter for 12 RBC members to see the fantastic wildlife around Svalbard (including polar bears, seabirds, cetaceans). September 2018: Botswana; Details to follow. 2019
Spring 2019: Romania – Birds and Bears in Romania, including a Danube Delta cruise. This trip is being organised with Ibis Tours and the BirdLife Partner in Romania – it will start with arrival into Bucharest and a tour up into the beautiful Carpathian mountains, followed by a cruise along the Danube Delta on a floating hotel. Dates and the itinerary are currently being confirmed and will be announced very soon. September 2018: Pantanal, - Jaguars and Birds with Pete Oxford, with an optional add-on visit to Iguazu Falls (Brazil side) Other trips being considered for 2020 include: PNG/Indonesia Bhutan India Details for these 2020 potential trips and others as they develop will be announced in the near future.
We hope to expand this schedule as new opportunities arise. Please do let us know if you are, in principle, interested in joining any of these trips and we will keep you updated as plans develop. As with all our trips, the profits will go towards the most appropriate and urgent BirdLife/national Partner conservation project and we will give you full details for each trip. We take this opportunity to thank you all most warmly for your continued support for BirdLife through the Rare Bird Club. We are planning a number of exciting developments for the Club and look forward to updating you on our plans in due course. In the meantime, do try one of our trips if you haven’t been with us before!