On Thursday 14th May, we have an additional indoor meeting (the last of the season) starting at 7.30 pm at the Victoria Hall. Our speaker is Inés López-Dóriga presenting ‘Antarctica on a tall ship’, a report on the wildlife and landscape characteristics of Antarctica, as encountered during a recent trip sailing through the Drake Passage from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

The talk will illustrate the unusual wildlife (micro and macrofauna
and, incredibly, flora) that can be found on the white continent and
the ocean around it, as well as the landscape characteristics
of geography, sea currents, ice, icebergs and volcanoes that make it so special.

​As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests. ​​

Please view the details of each field trip by clicking the link to the document that's been loaded onto the Field Trips page. We may need to update this document during the summer, but we'll always notify you here in the Blog or by email.

There has been a change to the programme for our April meeting which will now hear from local resident, Nick Radford.

Nick, whose home is in Sutton Mandeville, has more than a decade’s experience working on conservation in Africa, where he spends a large portion of every year. For his employer, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, he is the Markets & Conservation Finance Lead for Central Africa & the Gulf of Guinea. His work involves finding ways to deploy private sector investment that can simultaneously mobilise capital and deliver nature-positive outcomes.

In his talk, titled ‘Conservation at a Crossroads: The Future of the Congo Basin in One of the World’s Most Overlooked Regions’ Nick will explain what he does, and reflect on how conservation in Central Africa is changing, and on the growing role of investment, markets, and private sector partnerships in supporting conservation. Drawing on more than a decade of experience in the region, he will discuss how sustainable finance, tourism, and responsible supply chains are helping to fund conservation, while pressures on forests and wildlife continue to grow.

As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests. ​We look forward to seeing you then.

Please make a note that we have cancelled the Fernhill Farm trip which had been listed for 3rd June and there is now an updated programme for the Society accessible on the Field Trips page. As Peter mentioned at our last talk, Fernhill do run their own events from time to time and perhaps you may wish to attend one of those in the future. 

We now have the Constitution and the Safeguarding Policy available for download from a new page under Home. Please locate them at Documents & Policies

Our indoor meeting this month is a talk on Thursday March 12th at 7.30pm by Gareth Harris talking about Wiltshire bats. Gareth is the Wiltshire Recorder for Wiltshire Bat Group and Wiltshire Mammal Group.

This talk will highlight the importance of dark skies for these amazing mammals.
​
As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests. 

Just a note to say that the Field Trips now appear on the Field Trips page as a list. We're finalising the details of times and meeting points so bear with us until then. It should give you an idea of which ones you want to pencil in your diaries!

Although not always appreciated by those who live nearby, the calls of rooks from a busy rookery are all part of the arrival of spring. Rooks are sociable birds and generally nest communally. From February onwards, they have been repairing damage to old nests or building new ones for the breeding season. Frequently, they will steal twigs and other nesting material from a neighbouring nest, leading to noisy squabbles over ownership.

​Although youngsters, with their all-black beaks, can be mistaken for crows, adults are distinguished by the visible, large area of white skin in front of the eye at the base of the bill. This makes the beak appear longer than it actually is and, to some, makes the bird look rather sinister. They also have somewhat shaggy plumage around their legs—something absent from the similar-sized crow. So sociable are rooks that they are usually seen in flocks. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but I remember being told years ago: “if you see a flock of crows, they’re rooks; and if you see a rook on its own, it’s a crow.”

In winter, they often flock together with jackdaws, but as spring approaches they go their separate ways, as jackdaws prefer to nest in holes and on buildings. A rook’s diet includes fruits, nuts, seeds, acorns, and berries. The strong, anvil-like beak is well-adapted for probing soil to seek out earthworms and insect larvae, which make up most of the rest of their diet. To find such food, they prefer open agricultural land, pasture, and arable land, provided there are tall trees nearby in which to nest. They appear more than happy to build rookeries in and around farms, villages, and towns, and are willing to fly good distances between rookeries or roosting sites and where they gather food.

However, they don’t seem to like large woodlands; while you will often hear crows and ravens in Great Ridge or Grovely Woods, rooks will only be found in the surrounding farmland. They also avoid heaths and moors and are generally confined to lowland areas. Like other corvids, they are clever and resilient creatures. There was a one-legged bird that frequented our garden for several years, but as the average lifespan is only six years, it may have led a full life despite its disability.

​Andrew Graham

The programme for 2026 is now available for viewing!

Thanks to our hardworking volunteer committee for preparing this.

Download a PDF here.