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Speaker: Simon Gillings
Reporter: Sue Gale On 17th September our Chair, Keith Walker, welcomed Simon Gillings of the BTO to Zoom. Our second Zoom talk delivered by a guest speaker was every bit as successful as the first. Simon has been with the BTO since the mid-1990’s and before that did his first degree and PhD at UEA so he is a real local. He talked to us about the study of birds flying by night using recordings of their vocalisations, known as ‘nocmig’. This technique requires only a small expense and enables birders to experience night-time migration from their own homes or gardens.
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Speaker: Dr Paul Noakes
Reporter: Sue Gale For our second virtual indoor meeting we were lucky to welcome Paul Noakes, who is a local GP but more importantly, a Swift enthusiast and expert. The response to this talk has been without exception enthusiastic. It was not just full of great information, it was also of practical help to those who would like to encourage Swifts to nest on their homes. Paul is a real fan of the Swift, a bird he regards as unique and remarkable. Its life is almost completely aerial, everything except nesting being done on the wing. Speaker: Allan Hale
Reporter: Sue Gale Covid-19 has prevented much of our normal club activity, but thankfully not all of it. In June, Allan Hale had promised another of his near-annual presentations, and he kindly, and bravely, agreed to go ahead via Zoom. I am sure this was a new experience for many WVBS members as well as for Allan himself, but it was a great success. Around 50 devices were signed in to the event, and as many of these had more than one person watching, there was a very good turnout. Lots of us are becoming more proficient with on-line events, and this went well. Speaker: Dr Hugh Hanmer
Reporter: Cath Robinson One of the benefits of the BTO being based in Norfolk is that we seem to have a limitless number of speakers for our club! Tonight, we had a full house to hear Dr Hugh Hanmer who among his many responsibilities has been coordinator of the Project Owl scheme. He started off explaining some of the charm of owls with their appearance; massive eye sockets; amazingly flexible necks; adapted wing feathers which help deaden flight noise, but he thought as there was very little space left in the skulls for brains maybe not so wise! Speaker: Nick Acheson
Reporter: Alan Hughes Before Nick started his talk, both he and Keith warned us that this was not going to be for the squeamish, and if we were not up for this, perhaps we should leave now – although only joking, we all knew that we were in for a tough listen! Born and bred in North Norfolk, Nick works tirelessly to support a number of local conservation organisations, particularly the NWT. In 1926, Cley Marshes was up for sale, and Sidney Long, a doctor from Norwich, assembled 11 of his friends at The George Hotel in Cley village and thereby formed the Norfolk Naturalists Trust, the very first of the Wildlife Trusts. |
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August 2021
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