BTO Conference in N. Ireland

swifts need our help!

http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/u182/booking_forms/btoirelandconf_2011.pdf

Tim Birkhead [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is a professor of behaviour and evolution at the University of Sheffield. His research on promiscuity and sperm competition in birds helped to re-shape our understanding of bird mating systems. His undergraduate teaching (for which he has two awards) includes courses in animal behaviour and the history and philosophy of science. He hates administration.
Tim’s research has taken him to Canadian High Arctic, Labrador, California, Australia, Africa and Europe. Since 1972 he has maintained a long-term study of guillemots on Skomer Island, Wales which is where he did his D.Phil. Tim has been president of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology and currently serves on the management committee of the Darwin Correspondence Project. Tim initiated the on-going biennial Biology of Spermatozoa (BoS) meetings in 1992. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004.
As well as a passion for research, Tim is committed to undergraduate teaching and to the public understanding of science. He has given talks to non-scientists at book festivals, the Royal Institution, at Café Scientifique and elsewhere. He has written for New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, Natural History magazine and the Independent and had for seven years a regular column in the Times Higher Education. He has written or edited 10 books, including Promiscuity (2000 Faber & Faber). His popular science books have gained widespread recognition and The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Ornithology was awarded the McColvin medal for best reference book (1991), and The Red Canary (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2003) was awarded the Consul Cremer Prize. The Wisdom of Birds is an illustrated account of how we know what we know about birds (see: http://wisdomofbirds.co.uk), and won ‘bird book of the year award’ from the British Trust for Ornithology and British Birds.

[/FONT][/FONT]Speakers
David Cabot [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is an Irish writer and naturalist living in Co Mayo. Educated at University College, Oxford and Trinity College, Dublin before obtainimng a PhD in ecology of bird parasites at University College, Galway. He founded the Irish Wildfowl Conservancy in 1964, which later became BirdWatch Ireland. He is the author of two New Naturalist titles: Ireland: A natural history and Wildfowl. He tells us his story of conducting research on barnacle geese over a 50 year period.
Brian Cahalane is a retired teacher and a founding member of the Northern Ireland Swift Group. He hosts a significant colony of swifts at his home in Co Antrim and has been working on a voluntary basis for 25 years to investigate the biology of swifts and to raise awareness of the declining population.
[/FONT][/FONT]Pat Flowerday [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]– Pat is the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch Ambassador in Northern Ireland. Over the past two years she has made an impressive difference to the number of people participating. Here she outlines why the survey is important, why it is suitable for everyone and why NI needs more ambassadors.
[/FONT][/FONT]Kerry Leonard [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is a birder and consultant based in Bangor. For this conference he has liaised with Hugh Thurgate of National Trust and Matthew Tickner of RSPB to bring together an overview of the status of terns in Northern Ireland. This family of seabirds is causing considerable conservation concern – Kerry will explain why.
[/FONT][/FONT]Graham McElwaine [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is the Resightings Co-ordinator for the long running pale-bellied Brent goose colour ringing project. This is a mammoth task undertaken with a professionalism and humility that would overwhelm many others. Graham details how he does it, what the resightings are telling us, and why more would help.
[/FONT][/FONT]Nick Moran [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]organises BirdTrack for BTO, RSPB, BWI and SOC. He has been passionate about bird recording since his first scribbled notes at the age of 6 and he is particularly interested in the use of birdwatchers’ everyday records to map distribution and monitor changes in the timing of migration. His talk will highlight some of the exciting new developments to BirdTrack and demonstrate how these can be used to enhance your bird recording experience. In particular, Nick will focus on the features that will make for a smooth transition from Atlas to BirdTrack, and show how your records are contributing to our understanding of migration.
[/FONT][/FONT]Lucy Quinn, [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]originally from Northern Ireland, is a seabird ecology PhD student from the University of Aberdeen researching individual differences in foraging of northern fulmars. This has involved tracking birds at sea from two different colonies and also analysing feather contaminant levels from colonies across the fulmar's Atlantic range.
[/FONT][/FONT]Kate Risely [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is the National Organiser of the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). BBS is the primary scheme for monitoring the population trends of the UK’s breeding birds. Kate is responsible for the overall running of the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey, including maintaining the BBS database, producing the annual report, promoting the scheme, and liaising with BBS volunteer surveyors and the network of volunteer BBS Regional Organisers. Kate outlines for the conference why BBS is such a high priority for 2012.
[/FONT][/FONT]Shane Wolsey [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is the BTO representative in Northern Ireland and is responsible for overseeing the implementation of all BTO bird surveys in the region. He will update us on the progress of BTO development in NI and give an indication of priorities for the next year, and strategy for the future.
[/FONT][/FONT]

swifts need our help!

I've booked have you?