Chairman’s Report, March 2014
Sixteen events
were organised in 2014 with trips to the Old Head of Kinsale also being run
throughout April to look for migrants on days when the weather was
suitable. We will be running the same
system this year, so if you want to see migrants at the Old Head, please sign
up to receive text notifications. Our
trips ranged from the local, with walks at Courtmacsherry and Clonakilty to
slightly further afield with a weekend trip to Castlegregory in Co. Kerry. Sadly, the response for the trip to Kerry was
poor and so we will not be running something similar this year.
Perhaps
the highlight event of the year was the annual talk , this time given by Jim
Wilson at the Cork Airport Hotel. This
event was run in conjunction with the Cork Branch and turned to be a popular
and successful event with further monies being raised that will be used to fund
work on conservation and education in County Cork.
The Dawn
Chorus event was held at the Liss Ard estate and my thanks go to Nicholas
Mitchell who stepped in to cover my absence, I’ll book my holiday for a
different time of the year this year!.
My own
personal highlight was autumn trip to Cape Clear, where we had good views of
Whinchat, Turtle Dove and for the lucky few, Melodious Warbler.
In
organising events, the Committee have tried to put on a range of different
types of events, we hope that they are the sort of events that people want to
attend. We are always very open to hear
suggestions as to the type of events or venues that people want. So please get in touch if there is anywhere
that you would particularly like to go to or any birds you would like to
see. We have considered running weekend
trips away but following the response to the Kerry outing, we will rethink this
unless we get feedback that this is the type of outing that people would like
to attend.
Nicholas
Mitchell attended the Birdwatch Ireland AGM, and what an eventful AGM this
turned out to be with a number of new Board members being voted. The organisation has gone through some
turmoil and upheaval over the last 18 months or so but once the new Board
settles in, we are hopeful that a period of stability will allow Birdwatch
Ireland to grow.
As always
my thanks go to the members of the Committee and to all the leaders who have
given their time to lead our events and to all of those involved in organising
the trips. In particular, my thanks go
to Pete Wolstenholme who despite standing down as Chairman has continued to
provide invaluable advice and lead outings for the Branch.
I would
appeal to any Birdwatch Ireland members that live in West Cork to become
involved with the Branch and we are always looking out for memebrs to join the
Committee, we would welcome fresh ideas and input. A strong committee can only lead to a strong
branch.