WHAT PROGRESS CHOUGHS IN WALES AND NIGHTJARS IN NORFOLK?

COUNTDOWN TO THE 2016 BTO ANNUAL CONFERENCE

 

NIGHTJARS, choughs, marsh tits,  guillemots, red kites, gulls  and pied flycatchers are among the species that will fall under the spotlight at next month's (December 2-4) eagerly-awaited BTO annual conference.

Nightjar - Greg Conway and  Ian Henderson will provide an update on this strange species'  fortunes in Thetford Forest, Norfolk

                                                        
As well as informative presentations, the event - to be held at Swanwick, near Alfreton in Derbyshire - will incorporate an art exhibition and sales of bird-related gifts, Swarovski optics and secondhand books, plus plenty of birding bonhomie.                                          

An enthusiastic welcome is assured from BTO's ever-enthusiastic director, Andy Clements

The proceedings will be opened by BTO director Andy Clements.

Following registration and a drinks reception on the Friday, there will just be one talk - Tony Cross and Adrienne Stratford will  describe 25 years of ringing choughs.

Chough - Tony Cross and Adrienne Stratford have spent a quarter of a century monitoring the progress in Wales of this rare corvid

Saturday's packed programme will include illustrated talks on the aforementioned and other species, with Ben Sheldon delivering The Witherby Lecture - Coping with a Variable World: Plasticity and Social Learning in the Great Tit.
                                                 

Nicholas Watts will describe how he has made his farm near Spalding a haven for a range of species including tree sparrows and various raptors

Sunday morning's session will focus on  the decline of curlews, latest migration-tracking data and technology plus  the fate of farmland species, with one of the speakers being  Nicholas Watts, a bird-friendly Lincolnshire farmer.                                                            

The Hayes conference centre in Swanwick - venue for the conference

The full programme and booking details are  on the BTO website at: 
https://www.bto.org/news-events/events/2016-12/bto-annual-conference