This is a year of celebration, because as well as being the 40th Anniversary of the North Ayrshire RSPB Local Group this is also Eglinton Country Park’s 30th Anniversary, so we agreed to a joint venture.

What do we celebrate? Nature’s Home, of course!

Eglinton Park is a rich example of the Ranger Service in action for nature conservation and education, which is why the RSPB is delighted to partner with them in the bioblitz event. Supervised by scientists, this will not be a day of passive entertainment, but one of ecological discovery and recording, from lichens and micro-invertebrates to trees, and, of course, birds. Results will be collated at our specially set up Bio-lab.

Our Autumn 2015 Newsletter is now available to read and download by clicking here

As we trudge through a wet and underwhelming summer season we look ahead to the start of the new season. A season packed with special guests and events as we celebrate 40 years of the North Ayrshire RSPB Group and a season that brings a new group leader, Andy Shand. We hope you can all join us at some point throughout the year to celebrate and congratulate!
 

As we approach our group's 40th birthday and finalise all the special plans for the upcoming season, we thought this would be a good time to expand our presence online through social media. Many know we already have a Facebook page and a Flickr group where people can interact and share with us. And now we are on Twitter! Join us - tweet tweet!
 
@rspbnorthayr
 

Not one, but two newsletters! As an oversight we never uploaded the Autumn 2014 newsletter to the website, so we have rectified that, along with publishing the new Spring 2015 newsletter for you to enjoy.

Spring 2015

Autumn 2014

The past year has been successful and we remain financially sound, thanks to Susan’s careful stewardship. While John’s planning of talks produced a wide variety of talks and speakers.
 
“Giving Nature a Home” was the theme and Hayley Douglas, Ranger at Clyde Muirshiel stole the season with her track-cam videos of badgers, otters and other fauna. I am very concerned, therefore, about the dwindling Renfrewshire Council support of the Ranger Service there.
 

It may have come to your attention over the last couple of weeks a series of allegations against the RSPB from another organisation going by the name 'You Forgot The Birds'. Their statements have managed to capture the attention of the media and are seemingly representing the thoughts of conservationists and nature lovers across the UK, throwing doubt onto the credibility of one of the largest nature conservation charities in the world.

A detailed response from the RSPB can be found at the link below, which we hope will clear up the misleading information this group has peddled recently and reassure you that the RSPB is still a leading voice in nature conservation.

RSPB Response

Not quite!

A funny visitor to Treasurer Susan's garden this summer caused a few raised eyebrows. Take a look at the photo to the right showing the young sparrow feeding from the garden feeder with a bright yellow crown. An unusual sight.

The Spring 2014 newsletter has now been published online. It can be downloaded from the Newsletters page or by clicking the thumbnail.

If you have had the chance to read the newsletter, you will have noticed a new feature that will include an insight in the committee members of our group. A lot of readers will only know our committee members by name, mentioned in articles or on the syllabus, so this was seen as a chance to delve a little deeper into those who give their time and energy into running the group. Susan had quite a bit to say, so we took a brief summary and published it in the newsletter, but you can read the full interview here.