Jennifer Gill is Professor of Applied Ecology at the University of East Anglia. Her research spans bird population responses to environmental change, conservation management for breeding birds and migration ecology. Much of her research involves collaborations with citizen scientists and tracking individual birds on migratory journeys to understand how migratory routes form and change.

Reversing the fortunes of declining populations often requires conservation actions, but how do we know where and when we should target these actions to be most effective? Through analyses of Constant Effort Scheme ringing data, field studies of breeding curlew and long-term tracking of individual black-tailed godwits we explore these questions, and the power of citizen science data to inform conservation targeting.

Our exciting annual competition for both experienced and budding photographers. There are the usual three categories of Flight/action, Portrait and Birds in Berkshire with prizes for 1st and 2nd and the overall winner being presented with the Gordon Langsbury Cup.

Ken Smith is now retired and lives in Sussex but for almost 30 years he worked for the RSPB in what is now the Centre for Conservation Science. Over that time, he worked on a wide range of species and habitats and contributed to many conservation initiatives. In the 1980s he completed his first RSPB project on woodland birds – a national survey of woodland breeding birds which was repeated in 2003/4. That first project was enough to kindle an enduring interest in woodlands and especially woodpeckers. In 2015, Ken with his wife Linda set up www.woodpecker-network.org.uk with the express purpose of promoting the study of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and collecting important data on their nesting success.

When he lived in Hertfordshire Ken was a long-standing committee member of the Herts Bird Club, was BTO Regional Rep for 10 years and organised much survey work in the county. He has the unique distinction of being an author of three successive county atlas/avifaunas – 1968/72, 1988/92 and 2007/11. He was Chair of the BTO Ringing Committee for six years and since moving to the West Sussex/Hampshire border has been a member of the scientific committees of both Sussex and Hampshire Ornithological Society.

Compared with the rest of northwest Europe, Britain has a relatively impoverished woodpecker avifauna with only three widespread species – Green Woodpecker Picus viridis, Great Spotted Dendrocopos major and Lesser Spotted Dryobates minor. Green and Great Spotted woodpeckers are increasing in Britain whereas Lesser Spotted is in serious decline and is red-listed. We use our long-term studies to explore the reasons for the contrasting trends of Great and Lesser Spotted woodpecker populations and the prospects for the future.

Globally mosquito-borne diseases are expanding into new areas with concerning regularity. Usutu virus was first detected in the UK in 2020 in wild birds in Greater London. Since its detection Blackbird numbers have dropped by 51% in the capital. To improve our understanding of this virus and how it affects Blackbirds we worked closely with bird ringers to enhance surveillance in birds and mosquitoes combined with analysis of the British Trust for Ornithology’s Garden Bird Watch data.

Arran completed his PhD at Royal Holloway researching bumblebee diseases, before starting at the Animal and Plant Health Agency investigating mosquito-borne diseases. He currently leads Vector-Borne RADAR, a multi-agency research project, is a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, and has presented and published on a variety of diseases, including making appearances on television and radio.

We’re welcoming Keith back to the BOC again to give us a talk on some of the best of the 9000 species he has seen in over 100 countries that he has visited! This should be a treat! 

Come along to the social for tasty seasonal refreshments, a quiz and a short talk from David Massie on a trip to Vietnam.

Dr Michael Leach is a zoologist, wildlife author and photographer. He has worked with animals on all 7 continents. He started as a BBC wildlife cameraman, filming more than 150 TV natural history programmes. He has written 38 wildlife books that have been translated into 22 languages.

This talk is based on Michael’s best-selling book of the same name. It reveals our resident British owls in folklore and fact. It looks as various owls and the special techniques they have to help them hunt. It dispels misleading myths and reveals the realities of an owl’s life. The talk is illustrated with dramatic high-speed photographs of flying owls.

This is Steve’s third season visiting the BOC! His final talk entitled Peregrine Falcons and Northern Goshawks has new graphics and new science!