Chairman's Report - AGM March 2015

  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.

2015 looks set to be a good year for the Branch, our finances are relatively healthy and we have an excellent programme of events planned and some ideas for future events.  I look forward to a succssful year for the West Cork Branch.