News archive
May 2009
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Wildlife Heritage Day
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Weekend Outings
The next outing will not be until September 2009.
For further details of weekend outings please contact Alan Hill 01389 730 696.
Note: For all outings, please wear appropriate clothing and bring a packed lunch.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Group Leader's Report for 2008-09
Membership & Indoor meetings
Membership this year has continued at just over 110 and the attendance at indoor meetings has been between 50 and 60 with 10 of those being on the committee. Pam Lee performed an excellent job as Indoor Meetings Secretary and we have had some really good talks using our new digital projector and laptop etc. One of the highlights of the year was Eric Meek's talk on the Natural History of Orkney where the audience was swollen following a poster and mail shot. What has come as a major shock is the resignation of Pam due to an overload of school work. I must thank Pam again and, it goes without saying, we are desperately seeking a replacement. In the meantime, Lynda is heading a small group putting together a programme for next session.
The Group membership fees have stayed at £3 pa for at least 10 years and the committee proposed to increase this to £5 pa. This should enable us to continue to attract more high profile speakers and to consider alternative venues. This was approved by the membership at the AGM and so the proposal was carried.
Outings
The Weekend Outings Programme carries on into the summer but, so far, Alan Hill has provided a great mix and I am really looking forwards to the remaining outings. I find it difficult to pick out one particular outing but our trip to Holy Isle was terrific and was flanked by day outings to Fife Ness, Caerlaverock, Loch Ryan and Glen Affric. Wonderful birding. We were told the Brent Geese always return to the same stretch of shoreline; and there they were, just beside the road.
With Gordon Jamieson relinquishing control over the Mid-week outings these have been led by a variety of group members picking largely on sites that Gordon might have chosen. Numbers have stayed in the teens even if the participants haven't!
Events
We have continued to feed the birds at Millichen Farm and I must thank all those who have helped put out the seed and monitor the birds. We are continuing to attract tree sparrows (the main target species) which makes our efforts worthwhile. Jim is maintaining records on his web site (see Links page) for all to see.
We organised an event in Hogganfield Park for Big Garden Birdwatch day. The idea was to encourage passers by to complete the form either on the spot or later when they returned home.
Fund raising
Fund raising efforts for this year have included the on-going 50/50 club and the promotion of pin badges and I would encourage you to continue your support for these ventures. In particular, over the year, our income from pin badges has been very gratifying.
In March a group of us got together for a dinner at the Café Connect. Although we did not make too much money we had a great time and our after dinner speaker was Andy Christie from the animal rescue centre at Hessilhead.
As a group we seem to have few members with gardens and our plant sales have not been too successful as many plants remain unsold. So this year our Plant Sale was postponed to April 18th where we had a stand at the Glasgow University Vet School Rodeo. The weather was fine and we had a steady flow of visitors and we made over £300 from the sale of plants and other goods.
The idea of fund raising by the local group members it to enable us to support the work of the RSPB. For 2008-09 we decided to support a project called 'Bird Friendly Schools'. This involves supporters of the project going round to talk to schoolchildren and to get involved in bird friendly projects in schools. We have raised, and already handed over, £1500 for support within the Glasgow area. Raising money like this is a really valuable objective and is one of the aims of local group.
At the time of writing, we have not received the list of projects that need support for the coming year but I will report back to you when this is available.
Roger Adams
Group Leader
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Mid-week Outings
The next mid-week outing will be in September 2009.
All mid-week outings are by car. For more general information about mid-week outings contact Roger Adams 0141 942 6920.