The programme for the 2024 Wildlife Training Workshops by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cams & Northants (WT BCN) has been issued to their members and will be added to their website for everyone else in the next few weeks. The following kinds of day course are planned for 2024, among many others:

1. ‘Introduction to Winter Tree Identification’
2. ‘Introduction to Wildflower Identification’
3. ‘Grasses I : A Beginner’s Introduction’
4. ‘Grasses 2: Practising Grass Identification’
5. ‘Pond Dipping for Adults’
6. ‘Introduction to Dragonflies’.

If any of these interest you, keep checking the WT BCN website: https://www.wildlifebcn.org/get-involved/training-workshops

But check the date of the programme, as currently they are still showing the 2023 Training Workshop programme. Book early because most of their courses book up quickly.

Mike LeRoy
October 2023

Stop Press: Last few places, last chance to book for the ‘Freshwater Invertebrates in Bedfordshire’ conference run by the Bedfordshire Natural History Society on 11^th November at Marston Moretaine. Good value at £25: seven illustrated talks, and it includes hot drinks, finger buffet lunch and free parking. Book now using the attached booking form.

Bedfordshire Natural History Society (BNHS) will be hosting the upcoming conference titled “Freshwater Invertebrates in Beds” on Saturday 11 November at the Forest Centre in the Millenium Country Park, Marston Moretaine, MK43 0PR.  This one is about Freshwater Invertebrates in Beds (not to be confused with the current news scare about ‘bugs in beds’!) .  BNHS used to run these conferences every two years, so this will be a welcome return of day conferences that have been to a very high standard.

The conference is open to members and non-members, and it would be good if plenty of MKNHS members to go to this conference on 11^th November. But you will need to book soon as these events usually get fully booked and tightly fill the conference room at Marston Moretaine Country Park centre. If you do book and can share transport, please do.

Full information can be found through the BNHS website: https://www.bnhs.co.uk/index.php
Further details and ticket booking form can also be found here.

BNHS say: “If you would like to attend the conference please complete and return the form according to the details featured. Payment is preferred by online bank transfer. Alternatively cheques can be sent – again details are provided.
Once the form and payment have been received an email will be returned to confirm your successful application. Tickets and programme can be collected upon arrival at the Centre.

We look forward to seeing you at this important event.
The BNHS Conference Working Group”

Members living in Bedfordshire may be interested in nominating a local project for a CPRE Bedfordshire Living Countryside 2021 award. For full information go to

https://www.cprebeds.org.uk/category/awards/

Government advice now allows travel to other places in England so you may be thinking of visiting nature reserves further afield. If you are a member of either the BBOWT or BCN Wildlife Trusts you will have received an up-date on the current situation on reserves access. If not, do check out the advice on their websites: https://www.bbowt.org.uk/covid-19-update and https://www.wildlifebcn.org/news/how-we-are-responding-covid-19.

In both cases most reserves are open, but car parks, visitor centres and bird hides remain closed.

The world’s rarest wader has been thrown a lifeline after two Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatched at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

Click here for more information.: Fresh hope for Spoon-billed Sandpipers after chicks hatch, news via @RareBirdAlertUK

Making a beetle stack is a way of providing beetles and many other insects with shelter through the winter. This stack is simple to make and costs next to nothing, but will make a world of difference to garden wildlife.

Source: Build a Winter Home for Beetles – BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine

Female Parasitic bee, Nomada ferruginata, by Peter Garner, Thornborough and Coomb Community Woodlands, 2 May 2016

This page is a very useful guide to bee identification guides:

Source: Identification Guides | BWARS

Chaotic mobs of jackdaws suddenly get organised once enough birds join in, new research shows.

Click here for more information.: Jackdaw mobs flip from chaos to order as they grow, #ornithology research news via @RareBirdAlertUK

A new survey has revealed that the corncrake population has decreased by over 30% in the last 5 years.

Click here for more information.: Future of corncrakes uncertain – Discover Wildlife

Early return to breeding areas is widely acknowledged to be ‘a good thing’ but why? Some people suggest that early migrants can choose the best territories, others argue that early chicks have a disproportionately high chance of fledging but there are other explanations too. In their paper in Ecology & Evolution, Catriona Morrison and her colleagues ask how much of the advantage of being an early migrant could be associated with having an option to nest again, if the first attempt fails.

Click here to read the rest of the article.: Time to nest again? | wadertales

Federal Aviation Administration aims to stop millions of birds dying each year by changing static red lights, which attract birds, to flashing lights

Source: FAA aims to save millions of birds by changing static red airport lights | Environment | The Guardian

Hybrid goose

Above is a photo of a goose taken by Julie Lane on 4th May. I think it may be a cross between a Canada and a domestic goose as both are in the park but maybe its just a melanistic Canada goose. He/she was all alone so obviously not accepted as a partner by any other self respecting goose!

Ian Saunders has has emailed that in his opinion “Guess the Goose” in News – despite its slim build, I don’t think that Julie’s bird is a Canada hybrid, as all the ones I have ever seen have been dark, and look more like Canadas “gone off” than this mainly white bird (which would be albinistic, rather than melanistic).

Judging by its leg and bill colouration (which are both dark in Canadas), I would guess that it’s more likely simply an “ugly” domestic goose, or a hybrid between two (or more) domestic breeds.”

Ian invites other members to submit their opinions on the bird in Julie’s photo.

10May15 Julie’s response:
“In reply to Ian’s interesting and welcome contribution  I would just add that the reason I thought it might be a hybrid between Canadas and domestic geese is that historically those two hang around together in mixed flocks in the park and have done for many years. I thought that this might be the result of so much hanging around together!! He/she seems to be a slimline version of the domestic white geese (the ribbed affect on the neck is also a domestic goose attribute) with some dark feathers thrown in. I should have checked my terminology re the use of the word ‘melanistic’ which I was a bit worried about at the time, but when you think about it this goose could also be a very slim melanistic domestic goose or a albinistic canada goose!! Haha!!”