Meetings

The next meeting will be on 17^th May 2012. Put a note in your diary now before you forget!

Click here for a detailed map of where the meetings are held.

We have not yet booked a guest speaker, but have a read of the following to see the range of informative and entertaining meetings we have had in the past.  Doors open at 7pm and the meeting will start at 7:30pm. This will be at the Memorial Hall in Binfield and everyone is welcome to attend.  Remember there is no entrance fee.

Please remember to put the date in your diary now and tell all your friends.

Thank you to everyone that came to previous meetings, we have had fantastic talks, see below for details.  The meetings were all well attended and the raffle and sales stand takings will help the Group pay something towards the care of injured badgers.

2011 meetings:

At the October meeting we had a talk by Chris Ward entitled "Our Changing Wildlife".  Chris showed us some amazing photos that he had taken over many years showing how many species had declined, but also how many that are historically more common in warmer areas of the continent are now growing in numbers in the UK.  An observation that supports the view that our climate in the UK is changing.

The April meeting starred our very own John Fennell who gave his popular slide presentation on badgers.  His talk was engaging, amusing and very informative for anyone from complete beginners to those that have been involved in badger protection for years.  We were also able to show live CCTV footage from one of the setts in Binfield, so John's co-stars were two adult badgers - the others must have been camera shy!  If you want to see some of the CCTV clips, just click on the "video" button on the left.

2010 meetings:

 In April the guest speaker was Brian Clews giving a talk entitled "Birds of Berkshire". Brian has been studying birds in our region for over 35 years and his illustrated talks claimed to "keep the listeners enthralled from start to finish".  This was no false claim with everyone at the meeting eagerly suggesting names for some of the rarer visitors to our local gardens.  Brian has written many books, some of which he made available for purchase after the meeting. He also contributes to local bird watching newsletters and is active member of the RSPB.

On the 2 October 2010 we held a Field Craft Training Day which was held in the rolling countryside near Henley.  Dave Lee and John Fennell showed members and friends leant how to identify badger field signs such as paw prints, hair identification and sett entrances.

On 21 October 2010 the guest speaker was Roger Kemp on the subject of butterflies.  Roger clearly has a huge amount of experience of butterflies. His illustrated talk described the habitats of UK butterflies, at what time of year each appears, and their sort of food.

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2009 meetings:

In October we had a special guest speaker - Hugh Warwick talking about hedgehogs.  Hugh has been studying hedgehogs for over 20 years and as a journalist and photographer, has worked for the BBC Natural History Unit.  More recently he published a book called "A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs".  Hugh was a very engaging speaker and everyone enjoyed his photos and talk about the research work he has done around the world and the people he met on his travels.

In May we had Graham Cornick of Hydestile Resident Animals. Graham has visited the Group a couple of times before and his talks on rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife were both informative and engaging.  This talk was about his work at Hydestile Resident Animals, which provides for long-term needs of animals unable to go back to the wild or be re-homed.  Graham was able to bring with him some of the long term residents and we had the pleasure of getting close to hedgehogs and other small mammals, plus owls flying around the hall. 

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2008 meetings:

In October 2008 we had a slide presentation by Nigel Snell, who is the RSPB Project Coordinator for the Reintroduction of Red Kites. 

Photo courtesy of Helen Olive - www.redkites.net

It seems such a short time ago that these beautiful masters of the air were completely absent from England and on the edge of extinction in Wales and Scotland, and yet today (certainly in our part of the world) we have a healthy and it seems steadily increasing population. In days gone by these birds served a useful purpose helping keep our towns and cities clean of carrion and discarded food.  The talk was interesting and illuminating with Nigel frequently having us all laughing at the antics of these amazing birds.

In April we had a talk on wildlife photography by Helen Taylor, ARPS.  Helen is a freelance photographer and designer with a special interest in wildlife, landscapes and travel. A Masters in Biological Photography has given her a solid background to her career and she now provides photos for all kinds of publications and organisations and teaches outdoor photography at the University of Nottingham. She gave an illustrated talk on wildlife photography, providing insider's tips on how to get those top shots and how to enjoy watching wildlife. 

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2007 meetings:

The last public meeting was on 18 October 2007. The talk was on our favourite subject - badgers!  Dr. Pam Mynott travelled all the way from the Leicestershire Group and we certainly appreciated all her time to come and talk with us about a local sett that she has been watching for many years.  All the proceeds from the donations and sales stand will be donated to the Badger Trust.

On 19^th April 2007 we had a talk on badgers and the tremendous work done at Secret World in Somerset (www.secretworld.org), by Pauline Kidner.  Secret World is specialist centre focused on the rescue, rehabilitation and release of orphaned and injured wild creatures.

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2006 meetings:

In October 2006 we had an excellent talk on otters, by Philippa  Burrell.  Did you know that otters are related to badgers and gradually they are repopulating the Berkshire?

In April 2006 we had a special talk on Wolves by the UK Wolf Conservation Trust www.ukwolf.org. The Wolf Trust was formed in 1995 and now has over 2,500 supporters.  The Trust has both North American and European wolves and they regularly visit schools, clubs and in April 2006 live wolves visited Binfield! 

Picture taken at Binfield Badger Group meeting in April 2006.

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2005 meetings:

At the April 2005 meeting the guest speaker was Barry Kaufmann-Wright, Wildlife Crime Officer in Essex Police, who gave a talk entitled “The Role of a Police Wildlife Crime Officer”, with particular reference to badgers and their protection. We heard that a major element of Barry's work is education and he gives about 200 talks each year, not just in Essex but over much of Southern England and the Midlands using his collection of 36,000 slides.    In 2003 he was named 'WWF Wildlife Law Enforcer of the Year'. He has published a book 'The Wildlife Man' and is working on a second book 'Running Wild' due to be published during late 2005.  It was a very engaging talk with excellent slides.

The October 2005 meeting was a talk by Chrissie Harper on the History, Life And Conservation of Owls. The meeting was the best attended for a number of years, with over 90 members and non-members of all ages.  Chrissie brought a few owls to the meeting, including Pearl the beautiful barn owl that you can see in this photo. 

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