BTO Berks, Bucks & Oxon Conference 2021

Short-eared Owl Photo by Amy Lewis/BTO
Presenter
BTO Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Regions
Date
Saturday, March 6, 2021 - 15:00 to 17:30
Places
Fully booked

Join us online for the BTO Berks, Bucks & Oxon Conference 2021.

This year the BTO Berks, Bucks & Oxon conference is going virtual with an afternoon of talks you can watch from the comfort of your home for just £5. The conference will be held online using Zoom.

15.00 Welcome and housekeeping – Dawn Balmer

15.10 Welcome Juliet Vickery, BTO CEO

15.20 Short-eared Owls John Calladine
Unusual amongst predatory birds, the numbers of breeding Short-eared Owls have declined markedly over recent decades. The talk will describe recent attempts to better understand what has arguably been one of the least understood birds in Britain and explore how that information could be used to secure their future. Included will be new and some very surprising findings on habitat use, movements and behaviour from ongoing satellite telemetry studies.  

John has a lifelong interest in birds and natural history and has worked in conservation and associated research for 37 years. Much of this time has been spent in the British uplands with the odd foray into seabirds, woodlands and farmland.  John has worked for the BTO for 18 years and is now a Senior Research Ecologist based in Stirling where he leads research programmes on upland land use, waders and still with the odd foray into seabirds, woodland and farmland.

15.45 Goshawk - Steve Watson
Steve will describe the Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group's studies of Goshawks in the Forest of Dean, their hunting methods, population dynamics, ecology and breeding information. He will provide his insights into the life of the 'phantom of the forest’ - one of our most impressive and elusive raptors.

Steve is a raptor fanatic and member of GRMG (Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group) and Raptor Aid CIO.

16.10 Break

16.30 Monitoring your local breeding birds – Sarah Harris
How do we keep track of breeding bird populations and how does that feed into the big picture? A bird monitoring tour with a focus on the Breeding Bird Survey and the difference taking part makes.

Sarah is responsible for the national coordination of the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS) at BTO. Sarah has always been interested in bird monitoring and making that data available for use in research and conservation. Occasionally, Sarah is allowed out the office to carry out fieldwork, such as tagging Arctic Skuas.

16.55 Youth Update Luke Marriner, BTO Youth Representative

17.00 Conservation of breeding Curlews in lowland England - Mike Smart
Mike will show how studies of colour-ringed Curlew on the Severn estuary, and of breeding Curlew in the Severn Vale in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire have led to the development of the Curlew Forum (www.curlewcall.org) and the WWT Severn Curlew Project, which monitors breeding Curlew in the Severn Vale more intensively, and in addition raises young Curlew at Slimbridge for release into the breeding population. 

Mike has worked tirelessly on breeding waders for decades, undertaking meticulous fieldwork to monitor breeding outcomes. By winning over landowners and involving them in conservation measures, he has laid the foundations for the establishment of new nature reserves.

17.25 Closing RemarksFran Buckel, BTO Regional Rep (Oxfordshire North)