Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group was established in 2014 to contribute to the scientific knowledge of raptor populations within the county of Gloucestershire, to contribute to conservation, educate and inform others and to increase awareness of raptor persecution.
Little Owl survey
You may be aware of the fact that Little Owl populations are in decline in Britain, so we have decided to make the Little Owl our main survey species for 2016 in the hope of learning something about how local populations are faring and seeking possible causes of the decline….
Climber required
Are you a climber and a keen birder, or know someone who is? Each year our resident ringer Robin Husbands (fully licensed with the BTO and Natural England) rings a large number of young birds of prey over the course of the breeding season here in Gloucestershire. Although Rob is…
Raptor breeding observation notes
Following on from Steve’s excellent breeding activity chart which we featured last month, Steve has now produced a companion document, in the form of some raptor breeding activity observation notes. The previous chart illustrated when to look out for the different phases of breeding for each respective raptor species. This chart expands…
BAWC Conference
Last weekend two of the team attended the Birders Against Wildlife Crime conference in Bristol. Thanks to Gareth for this summary of the day. Birders Against Wildlife Crime was founded by a group of birders that were fed up with Wildlife Crime in general and wanted to do something about…
Spring 2016 newsletter
The spring 2016 GRMG newsletter has been sent out to people on our mailing list, and is now available to download here. In this issue, you will find a review of the talks we hosted over the Winter period, the results from our 2015 Goshawk survey, an update on our Tawny…
Raptor breeding activity
Steve Watson has prepared a chart that illustrates exactly what breeding activity can be observed from our raptors, and at what time of year. Courtship is already well under way with more species expected to join the quest for a breeding partner in the coming weeks, as indeed is nesting…
Raptor Sightings
Your sightings of birds of prey in the county are hugely important to us and allow us to monitor these birds, analyse their numbers and locations and keep track of any potential problems within the different population groups. Over winter, understandably, there has been a slight decline in the number…
Winter Talks
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…
Seasons Greetings
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…
Winter fieldwork
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…