Photograph: Abby Eaton (Dunnock)

Guests are warmly invited to attend our autumn/winter series of talks for which the fee is £2 per evening (free for members, but of course you are most welcome to join on the night).

All meetings take place in the Hinton Hall, next to St John's Church, in Tisbury, at 7.45pm on the third Tuesday evenings in the month. Below are details of the 2019/20 series with the organiser's name in brackets in case you would like further information, or just email us at tisnathist@gmail.com - and go to the 'What you missed' for details of past talks.  

Join us next on:

Tuesday 18 February at the Hinton Hall, 7:45 p.m.

Marilyn Korkis will be joining us to talk about the work of the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital at Newton Tony, where they provide a 24-hour rescue and advice service for Wiltshire’s sick or injured wildlife. Marilyn and Mike are helped by many volunteers to care for and prepare for release back to the wild in and around the Wiltshire area any wild animal that is rescued - mammals, birds and reptiles. At any one time there may be over 250 hedgehogs as well as foxes, herons, seagulls - you name it it's probably being cared for, even on one occasion a missing leucistic (white) pet skunk! All with donations! All animals admitted are given the same care and attention, regardless of species.

As it's February, we shall be holding our (brief) Annual General Meeting immediately before Marilyn's talk.  So, please turn up a few minutes earlier than normal to pay the annual fee of £10, and permit us to start the AGM on time.  Alternatively, you can pay online to the society's NatWest account.  The sort code is 54-41-19, account number 03123480. Please be sure to use your surname and initials as the reference (and plus a second initial, if the payment is £20 for two people) so we know who you are. The more of you that pay online, the shorter the queue next Tuesday evening!

We now have the programme for meetings and excursions over the next twelve months so please see the calendar below and on the Field Trips page.  As you'll see, the programme is full of good and really interesting things and builds on a number of your suggestions in the recent opinion survey, so we're sure you will want to take part. But to do so you now need to renew your membership.

We hope to see you on Tuesday

The talks for the rest of this series are:

Tuesday 17 March
Rebecca Twigg, Kingdom of Sticks: Salisbury's secret garden and the bee trail
A talk about bees and other pollinators. Rebecca runs several community wildlife projects, including the Salisbury Bee Trail and The Secret Garden at St. Clement’s churchyard in Salisbury.

Tuesday 21 April
Simon Ford, The National Trust: Wessex hillforts and habitats project (Elizabeth Forbes)

The programme for Autumn/Winter 2020/21 is as follows - please note these talks are now on the third THURSDAY of the month and start at the earlier time of 7.30pm:

Thursday 17 September 2020 - Martijn Antheunisse, CEO, Wessex Chalk Stream & Rivers Trust 
Things we can do for wildlife in the streams and rivers of Wessex

Thursday 15 October 2020 - David Waters, director, Great Bustard Group
The Great Bustard Project

Thursday 19 October 2020 - PC Neil Turnbull, Wildlife Crime Officer, Wiltshire Police
Wildlife Crime

Thursday 17 December 2020 - Simon Smart, Black Sheep Countryside Management
Farmer conservation groups (plus Xmas party food & drinks)

Thursday 21 January 2021 - Bob Gibbons, botanist, photographer and author, Natural History Travel
Why is the Isle of Purbeck so special?

Thursday 18 February 2021 - Nick Tomalin, RSPB's Wessex Farmland Project Manager
The Stone Curleew Conservation Project (plus AGM)

Thursday 18 March 2021 - Anna Lewington, ethnobotanist, author of Plants for People and Birch
The bounty of birches - the natural history and uses of birches in the northern hemisphere

Thursday 15 April 2021 - Tom Morah, Hawk Conservancy Trust
The work of the Hawk Conservancy Trust and the National Bird of Prey Hospital.