BMIG’s annual gathering in 2024 will be in North Wales from Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th April. We will be based at Plas Tan y Bwlch near Maentwrog. This is ideally placed for coastal parts of north-western Wales such as the Llyn Peninsula and for the varied landscapes and habitats of Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri). BMIG has block-booked accommodation at Plas Tan y Bwlch. The TOTAL COST (Thursday pm to Sunday am) will be £295 per person including VAT for single use of an en-suite room with full catering.
BMIG Bursaries are available to reduce the costs of the meeting for members attending the meeting for the first time. In return we would expect a short, written report on your experiences of the field meeting for the newsletter. If you have attended a BMIG weekend before then you know what to expect but we would warmly welcome anyone thinking of coming along for the first time. There is no expectation of attendees being able to identify everything or even anything they find and many newcomers get started by joining more experienced workers on field visits and picking up tips on collecting and identification as they go. Discussions and microscope work may go on long into the evening and the social side of the meetings is something regulars look forward to every year.
LAST DATE for booking is 31st January 2023, but PLEASE BOOK EARLY.
MHMG are delighted to have a great selection of wildlife and habitat specialists to talk about how we can manage the land for nature:
• Mark Avery – What Wildlife Needs – your Role
• Catherine Hughes – Pond Design and Management for Wildlife
• Sorcha Lewis – Nature Friendly Farming – Delivering for Wildlife and Habitats
• Tammy Stretton – Gardening with Wildlife in Mind
• Tim Ward – A Passion for Meadows – Creating and Managing Small-scale Species Rich Grassland
• Megan Gimber – Hedgerow Value and Management
Welcome to all. You do not need to be a member of the BSBI, just interested in plants and understand that you come at your own risk. No need to reserve a place. Lifts from Ruthin Rugby Club SJ118578. This season we’ll be looking at un-recorded monads and checking out older, rarer records.
The field visits to record plants are led by Jo Clark and Heather Garrett, volunteer BSBI Joint Vice-County Recorders for Meirionnydd. We welcome beginner and more established botanists to join us, so please email Jo or Heather to register for our group emails giving joining instructions etc. We meet at 10am and usually finish around 3:30 pm. Bring your lunch, drinks, and wear clothing appropriate to the weather, season and terrain. Members attend at their own risk.
For more details please see the attachment
NEW DATE.
Microscopic plants and animals form the beginnings of the food chain that supports invertebrates and vertebrates. Following an illustrated introduction of what to expect, basic taxonomy and representative assemblages from North Wales, the workshop will sample the Treborth ponds and examine specimens under microscopes which will be provided. A quick-look guide will also be provided, and specialist reference books will be available. Aspects of photomicrography will be explained, including stacking and phase contrast approaches.
The workshop should equip you with sufficient information to enable you to prepare samples and identify, to generic level in some cases, cyanobacteria, microalgae including diatoms and desmids, rotifers, protozoa and small crustacea. Recording North Wales microbiota distributions into Cofnod, and the application of microbiota to environmental monitoring will be discussed.
The course is limited to 12 places and is led by Wyn Hughes.
Bookings. (£12 per person).
The National Forum for Biological Recording's annual conference will take place in person at the YMa Pontypridd in south Wales (near Cardiff) on Thu 09 May 2024 until Sat 11 May 2024.
The conference will consist of two days at YMa Pontypridd hearing from a range of biodiversity professionals and volunteers about how they have been involved in taking recording to the "next level". Sessions will cover themes such as recorder development, extreme geography, novel technology and the discovery of new species. Sat 11 May 2024 will be an optional field trip to a nearby site to undertake some next-level recording of our very own. Recorders of all abilities are welcome.