This “double-header” of pond and river dipping in the last week of September is now becoming well-established, well-attended and very popular, for all ages!

Despite severe weather warnings for high winds and heavy showers, 16 members still felt it was worth the risk, and were not disappointed. In the warm and dry purpose-built hut, head bird ringer, Mike Bailey, gave us an informative and interesting talk about the history of bird ringing and recent advancements.

On a hot, muggy late June afternoon 11 members met BOC Peregrine Falcon watcher Gareth to find out more about these magnificent and enigmatic avian raptors, and hopefully to see them.

Ten AWT members were invited to Folly Farm on the 10th June, on a warm and sunny day. Although thunderstorms had been forecast, they didn't materialise to mar our day! This is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) owned by Avon Wildlife Trust.

At the end of May nine members met up with the invertebrate expert Ray Barnett for a field trip that linked up with Ray’s excellent “How to Read the Signs” talk given to the group last February. Priddy Mineries is on the outskirts of the village of Priddy on the Mendips. It is grassland/heathland mosaic with an area of valley mire and some nutrient-poor pools. The site was worked for lead for many centuries up to just before the First World War. The legacy is a landscape full of pools, mounds and spoil heaps. 

On Sunday 14^th May, 15 of our members met up for a 2-hour walk around Keynsham Memorial Park looking at wild flowers, guided by committee member Liz Wintle. We were lucky to have a warm, sunny (and dry) day!

Our first field outing of the 2023 season in late April was “Dave’s Dawn chorus”, starting at Saltford shallows with a 4.30 am start, and led by chairman Dave Sage as usual. 12 of us enjoyed a magical morning, starting on the cycle track River Avon bridge near the Bird-in-Hand, listening with eyes closed as the robins and blackbirds started to sing. Very mindful, as some people noted! 

It is with great sorrow that we have to write about the passing of our dear friend and former colleague, Cynthia Wilson, who passed away peacefully this week, with her close family at her bedside, following a fall a week ago, aged 89. Our thoughts go out to her family at this sad time, but they should be immensely proud of all she has achieved in her long and active life. Read more about her wonderful work for Keynsham Group HERE

Anyone attending our last trip of the season would have been disappointed if they were expecting to see a large diversity and number of species. Yet everyone agreed that the late evening walk in Priddy with bird experts Chris and Helena Craig was absolutely magical and a thrilling and memorable experience.

It was a warm, dry and wind-free afternoon in July, when members Andy and Jane Daw led us around Bannerdown Common in search of summer butterflies. We were rewarded with a plethora of species within open grassland and natural woodland.

Following her superb Zoom talk earlier in the year, we were delighted that Dr Helena Crouch was able to lead 12 of us on a botanical walk along Sand Point, near Weston-Super-Mare. She expertly found, identified and described over 45 different plant species between the car park and the windswept headland, showing a wind range of adaptations to survive in the challenging conditions.

Early in June we went on an exciting field trip to see native and tropical orchids in Cley Hill and Writhlington School. This was a follow-up to our Zoom talk last December by orchid expert and school teacher Simon Pugh-Jones. It was a perfect afternoon, and with the help of some very knowledgeable pupils we soon discovered five different species of native (hardy) orchids

Our final online talk of the season this April welcomed botanist Dr Helena Crouch. Helena is  Vice-County Recorder for the north part of Somerset on behalf the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland and an active member of Somerset Rare Plants Group. During “The Coastal Plants of Somerset” she discussed the plants she studies on the Somerset Coast between the estuaries of the Rivers Avon and Parrot. Some of these have amazingly made their way inland to places like Bath and Keynsham, especially in the vicinity of salt storage facilities where conditions mimic those at the coast.

A secret ancient orchard in the heart of Herefordshire, was the subject of a long term study to understand the true value of this habitat for native wildlife by our March speaker, BBC natural history producer Nick Gates and fellow naturalist Ben MacDonald. “Orchard, a year in England’s Eden” is the title of the award winning book they have written about their work.

In February we enjoyed another outstanding Zoom presentation in February as 58 screens shared an enthusiastic and inspiring talk on Ospreys, given by Liv Cooper, who works for the Birds of Poole Harbour charity, and is the projects coordinator of the Poole Harbour Osprey Translocation Project (PHOTP).
Ospreys are migratory raptors, arriving in the UK in March or April, breeding over the summer, then flying south from August to October to overwinter. Some travel as far as the Gambia or Senegal, others to SW Europe. Younger birds fly south, but often delay returning for 2 or 3 years until when they are sexually mature. Poole harbour is an excellent stopover location for these migrating birds.