To help everyone through lockdown, we ran a series of much-enjoyed virtual talks at and after the Annual Conference.
With spring and the easing of lockdown, we have paused these events. Keep an eye on this website though, as we will have more, including an exciting one in July.
‘The Barn Owl’ talk by Terry Hallahan
SWT Eastbourne Regional Group talk – ‘The Barn Owl’ by local ornithologist Terry Hallahan on Thursday 19/03/26 at 7.30pm
Part 1: Barn Owl physiology, with some facts you may not know!
Part 2: Our Sussex Barn Owls, including the conservation work of the Sussex Barn Owl Group & what they do to preserve and protect the local populations in our county.
Venue: Victoria Baptist Church, Eldon Road, Eastbourne, BN21 1UE, where there is a large, free, car park. TQ594002 or what3words ///types.flames.pace
*Everyone is welcome, no need to book, please just come along! *
Entry by cash only (no electronic payment system): £4 for SWT Members and £5 for Non-SWT Members. Refreshments – £1. Janet Nott, Secretary, SWT Eastbourne Regional Group, email: secretary.swteastbourne@gmail.com
Janet Nott
Young Birders Event in Lewes
SOS is running a free social and networking event for young birders aged 16-25 on 5 July at the Linklater Pavilion, Railway Land Wildlife Trust, Lewes BN7 2FG. As well as being an opportunity for sharing experiences, there will be some short video presentations and a chance to explore some of the bird life on this unique Reserve. SOS members will be there to chat about the Young Birders Support Scheme and membership of the Society.
The event is open from 10.00a.m. to 3.00p.m, but people are welcome to come for all or part of the day. It is free, but tickets must be booked through Eventbrite so we know numbers in advance. SOS may also be able to help with travel costs from within Sussex.
For further information, please contact Jack at jackthompson.work@gmail.com.
Restore Nature Now – London 22 June
SOS is proud to be registered as a supporter of this important initiative.
Most of the large conservation and wildlife groups are encouraging their members to attend this event. The urgent need to reverse the decline in nature, and the scale of the issue, have brought many different organisations together. The Woodland Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and WWT will be represented on a march to Parliament Square where a wide range of voices from across many organisations and societies will be demanding a brighter nature-filled future.
As our members will be only too aware, the decline in bird populations has been catastrophic, with a BTO survey showing 73 million birds lost in the past 50 years and the Government’s own figures revealing that 48% of all bird species have declined in numbers in just 5 years, from 2015 to 2020.
If you would like to lend your support to this peaceful and non party political event, further details can be found at https://www.restorenaturenow.com/.
The aims of this event are to see UK politicians show strong domestic and global nature and climate leadership by:
1. Giving a pay-rise for nature
2. Making polluters pay
3. Delivering more space for nature
4. Putting a right to a healthy environment in law
5. Ensuring fair and effective climate action
Nearer the date more details will be added to the website, with answers to frequently asked questions such as about toilet facilities, or disability access, during the day.
This will be a fully family-friendly occasion, with many children present (and lots of fun posters and costumes to amuse them!). It will be stewarded with safety and well-being in mind.
Key dates
Sat 22 June
12 noon assemble
2pm March starts
2.30pm Parliament Square
SOS AGM – Saturday April 13th
Members are reminded that the 2024 AGM will take place on Saturday 13 April (not the 20 April as advised in the 2024 programme).
It will be held at The Adastra Hall in Hassocks with a 2.30 start. After the AGM and a refreshment break there will be a presentation on the currently ongoing Downs to Sea project including the regeneration of the Ferry Pond at Pagham, the Society has committed funds to this project and we thought it would be interesting to see how things are progressing.
All members are welcome, please contact Alan Swetman – secretary@sos.org.uk – for any further information.
Upcoming SOS webinars
Two engaging online sessions are now open for bookings, speeding us towards lighter, brighter days.
Join rising star in the birding world and SOS Council member Mya Bambrick, who takes us on a journey sharing her birding highlights from her recent ‘21 Walks before 21‘. This session takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 27th February.
This will be an engaging and informative look at birding through Mya’s lens as a young naturalist. Register here to reserve your place.
Are you concerned by the impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on our local bird populations? Join us on Tuesday 2nd April 2024 at 7.30pm led by expert, Claire Smith, RSPB Senior Policy Officer and lead on HPAI.
Entitled ‘Population Impacts of Avian Influenza‘. Claire will be talking about her HPAI work and the steps being taken by the RSPB to mitigate the risks. Sign up here to register.
Q&A sessions will follow the 40 minute talks and all are most welcome.
Annual General Meeting
Come along to our AGM to hear more about the wonderful Knepp story from Penny Green.
Date/Time: April 1, 2023 14:30hrs
Place: Adastra Hall, 31 Keymer Road Hassocks BN6 8AH
Important note: There is a rail strike scheduled for this day, so please travel to this event by other means.
Sorry, this event is for Sussex Ornithological Society Members only, if you wish to join, which is only £14pa for individuals or £17pa joint/family, please do so by this link, https://sos.org.uk/join-online.
Penny Green is Knepp’s resident ecologist, managing the Knepp Safaris team, volunteers and research students, and co-ordinating the biological monitoring of the rewilding project. She studied countryside management at Brinsbury College and went on to work with the National Trust, the Sussex Wildlife Trust and then the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre.
Penny’s presentation will no doubt include things about Knepp’s turtle doves, purple emperors and the plethora of other wildlife that have made Knepp their home.
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Penny is passionate about biological recording and loves to enthuse others with wildlife-watching. In her spare time, she’s having adventures moth trapping and bird-ringing, and loves to do a bit of trail running.
She sits on various committees including the Sussex Mammal Group, the Sussex Dragonfly Group, the Sussex Moth Group and the Sussex Committee for Biological Recording.
[Photos: Ben Andrew ©rspb-images.com]
Raptor Persecution Webinar
Raptor persecution and its impact on wildlife – a recording of an SOS webinar presented by Jenny Shelton of the RSPB’s Investigations Unit is now available here.
SOS Conference 2022
Sussex Ornithological Society Online Conference 2022
The Conference is online again this year with events on the evenings of the 29th and 30th January. We are pleased to welcome four great speakers over the two nights.
Saturday 29th January will be a wader special with talks on Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. Pete Potts and Ken Smith will be revealing the secrets of these two amazing migrants from their long-term studies.
Sunday 30th January we welcome our special guest, award winning author of the fantastic book Rebirding, Ben Macdonald. As a prelude, Tim Squire will talk about the conservation of the South Downs.
Saturday 29th January 7-9 pm
Ken Smith, Sussex Ornithological Society
Tracking Green Sandpipers in space and time
Ken Smith is now retired and lives in West Sussex, but for almost 30 years he worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in what is now the Centre for Conservation Science. Over that time, he worked on a wide range of species and habitats and contributed to many conservation initiatives. Since moving from Hertfordshire, he has joined the scientific committees of both Sussex and Hampshire Ornithological Societies.
Although best known for his long-term studies of woodpeckers, especially the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker project with his wife Linda, these are not his only long-term studies. With a small group of fellow Hertfordshire bird ringers, he carried out intensive studies of Green Sandpipers in the county since the mid-1980s. In this talk he will reveal many new features of the behaviour, ecology, habitat usage and movements of this enigmatic and difficult to observe wader species.
Pete Potts
Greenshank geolocator studies in Chichester Harbour
Pete Potts lives in Hampshire and has run a series of shorebird ringing projects in the Solent for over 30 years with the Farlington Ringing Group, including the Greenshank study. Actively involved with wader research projects from Iceland to west Africa, he has led over 50 international expeditions studying primarily Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits. Pete is an active member of the International Wader Study Group presenting papers & chairing conference sessions.
Pete worked for 32 years in nature conservation and reserve management and was awarded an English Nature SSSI Award. Pete was awarded the BTO Bernard Tucker medal for shorebird work in The Solent. He presented the annual Bernard Tucker Memorial Lecture at the Ashmolean Museum on the Greenshank project. He now undertakes ecological & habitat management consultancy work.
Sunday 30th January 7-9 pm
Benedict Macdonald
A journey into a richer natural and wilder UK full of birds
Ben is a conservation writer, producer in wildlife television, and naturalist, passionate about restoring Britain's wildlife, pelicans included. He has worked in television as a producer for the BBC, ITV, Netflix and Apple. Sir David Attenborough's Our Planet (Netflix), a series he worked on for three years, was awarded two Emmy's in 2019. He is the author of Rebirding, winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation, which is a vision for the Rewilding of Britain and its birds. He will talk about how there is space for incredible wildlife to return to the UK and how changing the vast ecological deserts that dominate our landscape can benefit us all and see wildlife in abundance again.Tim Squire, Sussex Ornithological Society
Conservation of the South Downs
Tim Squire, as well as being your humble SOS Conference Organiser, is a Ranger for the South Downs National Park Authority. He has worked on many restoration projects of the precious chalk grassland habitat that is so special to the South Downs. He will tell the story of what makes chalk grassland the amazing habitat that it is, the threats to its continuing existence and what we can do to save it.
Non-members are welcome to join us for all or some of the sessions; any donations via the “Donate to SOS” button would be much appreciated!
January events
The SOS apologises that, due to unavoidable circumstances, the winter newsletter, accompanied by the events programme, has been delayed and will not be despatched until the New Year.
The dates for events during January are:
| Date | Venue |
| Sat 8 Jan | Rye Harbour LNR: Meet in car park at 09.30 hrs 189/TQ941189. Half day. Leader: Chris Bentley, Warden (a small donation to the reserve welcomed). New Visitor Centre has toilets and food. |
| Sun 16 Jan | RSPB Pagham Harbour: Meet at RSPB Pagham Harbour Visitor Centre at 09:30 hrs 197/SZ857966 access from B2145 south of Sidlesham. Public transport: Stagecoach route 51 link service from Chichester bus station to Selsey stops outside visitor centre. Half day. Leader: Andrew House |
| Wed 19 Jan | Amberley Wildbrooks: Meet in Amberley Village at 14.00 at the junction of Church Street and High Street. 197/TQ032132 Please park considerately in the village best near the school and walk to meeting point. Our aim is to walk out over brooks until dusk for raptors and owls. Wellingtons are essential, it will be muddy 2.5 miles. Leader Bernie Forbes (07852 8208860)
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| Sat & Sun 29/30 Jan | SOS Conference: See separate post for details of online events and how to attend. |
SOS virtual talks 2022 and your videos
A heads up that the society will be offering more online talks in 2022 after the SOS Conference. These will include one on Barn Owls and one on the important work that the society does on conservation issues in Sussex. Full details of these and other talks will be announced in the New Year.
Also, you will see on our Youtube channel two excellent additions to the “Your videos” playlist, including one just added showing in slow motion young Barn Swallows being fed by an adult, filmed by Tom Forbes.
If you would like to give an online talk, do please let me know, and likewise I would be delighted to add short videos that you have recorded to the society’s Youtube channel.
Mark Mallalieu
mallalieum@gmail.com
