BTO Hosts National Bird Club Forum

The National Bird Club Forum was held at Lea Marston Hotel, Sutton Coldfield on Saturday 21 February 2004 and was hosted by the British Trust for Ornithology and the West Midland Bird Club.

Forty-seven bird clubs attended the meeting and there were representatives from the Association of County Recorders and Editors, Rare Breeding Birds Panel, British Ornithologists’ Union, RSPB and BTO.

The programme for the day was divided into two main themes: Membership (am) and Research (pm). In the morning session David Cromack (Peterborough Bird Club) and George Candelin (Oxfordshire Ornithological Society) each gave 15 minute presentations. These were followed by four concurrent 50 minute workshops looking at a) Promotion and Recruitment and b) Services to Bird Club Members. Four talks were given in the afternoon under the theme of Research. Judith Smith (ACRE), Colin Bibby (Rare Breeding Birds Panel) Stephen Baillie (BTO) and Rob Fuller (BTO). These were followed by three concurrent 50-minute workshops looking at a) Electronic Data Management b) Survey Planning, and c) Training Needs. Outputs from the workshops were identified.

All clubs and organisations at the meeting felt that the day had been very constructive and worthwhile in identifying common interests. There was overwhelming opinion that many of the outputs from the day should be taken forward and developed. However, it was also felt that this could only be achieved through a closer working practise of the bird clubs themselves and other organisations that interact with them. Most club representatives agreed that further meetings hosted by the BTO was highly desirable in order for these outputs to be realised.

Proceedings of the meeting have been sent to all bird club representatives, regardless as to whether they attended the meeting or not. Any bird club member interested in seeing the Proceedings can request a copy from me at BTO HQ. Electronic version can be requested from or downloaded the pdf file by clicking here*

We have now set up a e-mail discussion groups for Bird Clubs, using the well-established Yahoo! Groups website. The idea of the groups is to promote discussion, exchange ideas and news, especially in respect of the outputs from the meeting. Membership of the groups is free. All messages will be moderated (checked before they are posted).

Join the e-mail Bird Blub Forum discussion group click here

* Needs Adobe Acrobat Reader - download a copy here

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