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Our two winter talks (UK Little Owls in December 2016 and UK Honey-Buzzards in January 2016) were very successful and we’re grateful for so many of you attending.  It has been very heartening to meet many of the faces behind all the emails, re-tweets, queries and sightings. GRMG will be hosting two talks again over the winter of 2016/17 and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. We cannot give much away at this early stage, however we are in talks with two more high calibre speakers and we are already looking forward to organising these events.

GRMG wishes all of our supporters a very merry Christmas, and a big thank you for supporting us in what has been a very busy and productive first year.
We already have lots of plans for 2016. Our next public event takes place on January 26th, when Steve Roberts will be delivering a talk on Honey Buzzards. Tickets are selling well, but there are still some available from our shop. We look forward to seeing you there.
Until then, from everyone at GRMG, we wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy Christmas and New Year.

Some thoughts from Rob Husbands on winter fieldwork…

Winter, short days and poor weather usually, although bright cold days I always rather enjoy something of interest on those days. So although it may seem unworthy to venture out over the winter period it can be a productive time for later in the coming season.
Nests that were well hidden in the previous spring /summer can be obvious now the leaves are fallen, and even conifer stands {larch} are easy to search now, having shed their needles, and the dark conifer stands also seem more isolated and easier to pinpoint as nest sites somehow. It is amazing how these same nests so obvious in winter can seemingly disappear in spring/ summer and Common Buzzard nests which are numerous in my area can be some of the most difficult to locate in summer. To illustrate the point two nests that I regularly monitor become actually invisible from the ground and it is only the tell tale whitewash beneath that pinpoints the nest tree, the under-storey having blocked any view from below. I suspect there are few Buzzard nests monitored in the county despite the Buzzard now being our most common raptor.
Over the years I have built up a mental picture of known territories and walking the area noting any coming and going of target species as well as careful looking at potential stands of timber has proven well worthwhile.
Raven and Goshawk will very soon be displaying and looking at potential nest sites once again. Ravens are particularly early nesters usually having eggs in February, nest refurbishing /building can be well underway in January.  Goshawks were displaying with gusto in late January early in 2015 which was a new spectacle for me so early on, but proves the value of just going out on my local patch and having a look.
I believe and hope the strength of a group such as ours is the ability of local people to take part at the local level, building up a picture of what we have at the county level eventually.
Looking forward to the coming season already.

Please note that the Little Owl talk on December 10th has now sold out. We look forward to seeing everyone there. Tickets are still available for the Honey-buzzard talk on January 26th, but will no doubt sell out soon too. Head over to the shop to get your ticket(s).

Our Autumn 2015 newsletter has now been sent out, and can also be downloaded from our documents page.  In this issue, you will find an overview of our raptor ID day hosted by Jimmi Hill, our 2015 Peregrine survey results, analysis of our sightings so far this year as well as a few other articles and news stories that will be of interest (we’re still working on the analysis of our Goshawk survey and hope to circulate that soon). If you have any stories or suggestions on items you think we should include in our next newsletter, or you would like to write a guest article, send us an email ([email protected]) with the subject as ‘Newsletter’.  If you’d like to receive future newsletters in your inbox, just send us an email to let us know.

To lighten your winter evenings, GRMG is pleased to offer two talks by well-known species specialists:-

Little Owls, with Emily Joachim

Thursday December 10th 2015 – 7.30 start.  Pub food available from 6.30.  £5.

The Cheese Rollers Inn, Shurdington, near Cheltenham, GL51 4XJ.

Emily will talk about this fascinating and photogenic owl, which is in rapid decline. Emily is a raptor ecologist and researcher who specialises in Little Owls in the UK; she recently completed her PhD on UK Little Owl breeding ecology.  She is the founder of, and runs, the UK Little Owls Project and is devoted to supporting the species.  Her recent talk to a group in Wiltshire received excellent reviews online.

Breeding Honey-buzzards in the UK, with Steve Roberts

Tuesday January 26th 2016 – doors open 7pm for a 7.30 start. £5.  Refreshments available for a small charge.

Ribston Hall High School, Stroud Rd, Gloucester (GL1 5LE),

Steve will talk about this enigmatic and hard-to-find species.  He has been studying breeding birds all his life and Honey-buzzards for the past 25 years, which has resulted in him having two major papers published in British Birds as well as other papers elsewhere. Steve is well respected in birding circles, and is an excellent speaker.

Numbers for both events are limited and therefore they are ticket-only. Tickets are now available online via our shop.You will be sent email confirmation once your booking has been received. Please bring proof of booking with you on the night.  As GRMG doesn’t have members paying subscriptions, we need to make a charge to cover the costs of these talks.  Any surplus made on ticket sales will be used by the group for raptor conservation in Gloucestershire.

Following the 2014 national Peregrine survey led by the BTO, GRMG organised a county wide survey to follow up for 2015 and the findings of this can now be found on our documents page. The GRMG will conduct the survey again next year and if you would like to be involved in any way please email us on the usual address; [email protected] with the subject ‘Peregrine survey’.

The Gloucestershire Naturalists Society have got Chris Sperring MBE speaking on ‘British Owls, their Natural History and Practical Conservation’ on Friday 13th November at 7.30. This will be at Watermoor Church Hall Cirencester (GL7 1NE for satnavs) and will cost a couple of pounds for non-members. Chris Sperring is an engaging, well-informed speaker and supporters of GRMG are most welcome.

Since GRMG first began, we have been asking people in the county to submit their raptor sightings throughout the county via our online submission form. This has proven really successful, with nearly 4000 records in the database in less than a year. A big thank you to everyone who continues to take the time to submit your records. If you regularly submit multiple records, and have found the form to be less efficient than it could be, then you might be interested to know that we now have a spreadsheet that you can download and record your sightings on, and send them as a batch. The online form is still there too of course, and we welcome records sent via either method.

Just when did the Little Owl first arrive in Gloucestershire? Many thanks to Andrew Bluett and the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society and Andrew Bluett for the use of this article.

Andrew Bluett has been analysing records for Little Owl in the county. Little Owls are still considered to be alien introductions rather than native, consequently they have no conservation status which makes it very diffcult to attract funding for research in spite of the fact that marked declines have been noted. The suggestion is that there is something amiss causing the declines but no clear indication of what that might be. You can download a copy of Andrew’s document here, or from the documents page.