Hazel Graves writes:

There was an initial discussion of recent sightings including a female Sparrowhawk seen by Russell in his garden, and Cowslips in flower and  the lichen Parmatrema perlata seen by Ivan, who brought in a specimen of the lichen. Ivan also recommended the book Otherlands: A World in the Making by Thomas Halliday. Ivan made a plea for more members to bring items in at the start of meetings.

Our speaker for the evening, Dr Kate Moore, was introduced.  Kate has previously taught at the University of Leicester covering Ecology and Wildlife Conservation amongst other subjects. She has been training as a bird-ringer for 6 years and has obtained qualifications reflecting a high degree of proficiency.

Amongst the topics covered were the reasons for ringing, the history of ringing, various trapping techniques for different species, how to ring, how to ID and sex species in the hand, what data is recorded and why, all accompanied by superb photography.

Kate enthusiastically discussed the thrill of the re-catch. Re-catches are leading to a better understanding of population changes and shifts, and of migration routes some of which are changing, all with a possible links to climate change.  Data is being recovered which can better inform conservation management, so vital in our changing times.

A wide range of questions followed the lecture, amongst which was the discussion of disease bearing ticks.