COMMUNITY | Conference round-up
Welsh Ringing & Nest Recording Conference attendees, by Kelvin Jones / BTO
Conferences round-up Regional conferences provide a fantastic opportunity for ringers and nest recorders to hear first-hand about projects in their area as well as to meet other local volunteers (when circumstances allow these to happen face-to-face again). We are delighted that as well as the annual BTO conference in December, there are now regular demographic conferences in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In this article, the organisers of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh conferences provide a snapshot of their most recent events.
Attendees at the Welsh Ringing & Nest Recording Conference engrossed in a talk.
IRISH RINGERS’ CONFERENCE
There have been several informal one day ringing conferences tagged on to the University College Cork Ornithology Conference, held every five years. In 2017, a Committee was formed to organise more regular, standalone, Irish Ringers’ Conferences, the first of which was a two-day event held at Cabragh Wetlands Reserve in Tipperary, 30 November – 1 December 2019. Over 70 ringers attended (about half of the ringers in Ireland), surely helped by the fact that National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht kindly funded the event. The conference included a great variety of project talks, including two on Lesser Black-backed Gulls; Katherine Booth Jones’ project in Belfast and Sam Bayley and Brian Burke’s projects on Cape Clear and Lough Ree; Susan Doyle and Kendrew Colhoun’s research into the changing fortunes of Barnacle Geese; and Ash Bennison on satellite tracking breeding seabirds on the Saltees. Helen Boland spoke about wader and tern studies in Dublin Bay whilst Steve Newton discussed Roseate Tern studies on Rockabill. Richard Donaghey and 14 – LIFECYCLE
Steve Wing gave talks on the histories of Copeland and Cape Clear Bird Observatories. An overview of the longest running CES in Ireland was given by Alex Copland, and James O’Neill gave a talk about how to catch Woodcock. Lee Barber gave a talk on some of the recent changes within BTO and the changes to the permit system. Jane Lenahan of the Health Products Regulatory Authority gave a talk on their responsibilities and sampling requirements, providing clarification on licensing issues within the Republic of Ireland; Alyn Walsh (NPWS) followed, speaking on what his department needs from ringers. A series of workshops included one-to-ones on using DemOn, alternative trapping techniques, open floor discussions on facilitating better communication, training and experience across the island, and developing multi-ringer projects for Irish birds. Thanks so much to all the speakers; NPWS for the funding and specific support of the Birds Unit; BTO for providing support, advice and staff to attend; and Cabragh Wetlands for a great venue. Getting so many Irish
ringers in one place was fantastic and the many discussions outside the talks and workshops were great for the overall community. Conference Committee – Sam Bayley, Alex Copland, Richard Donaghey and Alan Lauder SCOTTISH RINGERS’ CONFERENCE
The 45th SRC in mid-November 2019, was organised by Lothian Ringing Group (LRG). Around 150 people attended over the weekend at the Carrbridge Hotel, which has become the regular venue for the conference in recent years. A number of attendees made it up on the Friday night to start the regular catch-ups and were greeted by the open log fire in the entrance hall, a place where the traditional stovies were served later in the evening. The conference got off to a shaky start as the first speakers had a puncture on the way up to Carrbridge, but in true SRC tradition, some slight reordering and the show went on! After the usual greetings, introductions and house-keeping, there was a great mix of talks on Saturday morning and then again in the late afternoon. The morning talks focused around Black Grouse in Perthshire, Peregrines and Winter 2020
