Branch Events
Branch talks are held in the Glen View Hotel on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Admission to indoor meetings is free and open to everyone, however, we would be very grateful for contributions towards covering the cost of the meeting room. Outdoor events are free of charge and are open to everyone.
Tuesday January 8th: Wicklow’s Wonderful Wetlands presented by Faith Wilson.
Join us for a talk by Faith Wilson which is set to be an entertaining evening of exploration through Wicklow’s wonderful wetlands. Wetlands are among the most biodiversity rich habitats on earth and we are lucky enough to have an important wetland complex stretching along the east coast of Ireland. An informative and engaging evening awaits!
Glen View Hotel at 8pm.
Saturday January 19th: Outing to East Coast Nature Reserve
Join us for a family friendly guided walk along the seaside boundary of the East Coast Nature Reserve. We will be spotting the visiting winter migrants such as Redshank and Greenshank. Expect also; lots of waders and wildfowl, including Oystercatcher and Curlew, Shoveler and Shelduck. Merlin and Peregrine have also been quite regular here of late.
Meet at railway crossing at end of Sea Road, Newcastle, at 10am.
Niall Keogh the former main stay of the Wicklow Branch has asked us to let you know about the Dublin Bird Race on January 12th:
Date: Saturday 12th January 2019
Meet: Booterstown DART Station car park
Time: 07:45 (for team registration)
Race Start: 08:00 (sharp)
Race Finish: 18:15 at The Lord Mayors pub, Main Street (Dublin Road), Swords village (area reserved in the lounge)
Teams of 3-4 people per car at €5 per person (fees cover organisational costs of the event with proceeds going to BirdWatch Ireland local branches).
Objective: To record as many species as possible in one day within the Dublin County boundaries.
In order to encourage participants of all levels of skill and ability to take part, teams will be allocated at their request into one of two groups:
Category A (i.e. experienced teams)
Category B (i.e. beginners/improvers teams)
There are prizes to be won for the teams in each category with the highest number of species recorded. Bird racing is great craic and a good way to start off the new birding year. Furthermore, records from the day will be compiled and entered into the BirdTrack database.
Rules:
1. Birds recorded in Co. Dublin only.
2. Each species seen scores one point.
3. Each species heard only scores half a point (mark with ‘H’ on the score sheet).
4. A species must be seen by at least 3 team members to count as one point.
5. A species must be heard by at least 3 team members to count as half a point.
6. Feral Pigeon, Pheasant etc. count but not escapes (e.g. Black Swan, Bar-headed Goose etc.) or those feral or re-introduced species whose populations are not self-sustaining yet (e.g. Mandarin Duck, Red Kite).
7. Teams finishing late will be docked points as appropriate!
8. Record birds on the score sheet and tick the provided check-list as a cross-check.
9. The race is just a bit of fun and anyone taking it seriously will be eliminated!
To give an idea of what species are likely to be seen on the day, please check out the 2017 Dublin County Bird Race sightings round-up:
http://www.southdublinbirds.com/notes/notes/2017DBR.pdf
We hope to see you at some of our upcoming events.
