News & Info

22nd - 30th June 2019  

http://actionforswifts.blogspot.com/p/2019-swift-awareness-week.html for local events see "News"

A young male satellite tagged hen harrier “Vulcan” has disappeared in Wiltshire. The final transmission on 16th January came from a location south of Calstone Wellington, near Calne. The police and RSPB are working together to try and establish the circumstances around Vulcan’s disappearance. If anyone has information please contact Wiltshire Police on 101 or Contact Crime stoppers on 0800 555111, if you would prefer to remain anonymous.

Alternatively, anyone with information can call the RSPB Raptor Crime Hotline confidentially on 0300 999 0101. 

Follow @RSPB_Skydancer for the latest hen harrier news.

The Indoor Meeting on Tuesday 15th January at 2pm will be held in St Andrews Church Hall, Long Street, Devizes SN10 1NJ.

WOS is sad to report that founder member John Govett has died. John was elected as secretary at the Inaugural Meeting of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society on 18th January 1975. Later during his long membership he served as Editor of the WOS News. John was a fine artist and his artwork has featured in Birds of Wiltshire and many an edition of Hobby and WOS News.

John’s funeral will be a humanist service at West Wiltshire Crematorium on Friday 14th December at 11.30 am. No black is requested.

Our chair, Matt Prior will be on BBC Wiltshire Radio on Wednesday 12^th December from 1900-2000 hrs. Matt will be talking about Tree Sparrows and answering any questions about other species of bird.

On Saturday 1st December, there will be a bird ringing demonstration at Swindon Lagoons starting at 0745 hrs and finishing at 1100 hrs. Places are limited so please with Matt Prior at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Chris Packham's Walk for Wildlife on 22nd September in Central London. For details, see www.chrispackham.co.uk

Some members may remember the excellent presentation given by Nick Upton last November “Wildlife and Conservation Photography of Birds, Beavers and more”. In the July edition of Wiltshire Life, there is an illustrated article by Nick about the return of Cranes to the Southwest including confirmed breeding at a confidential site in Wiltshire in 2015 http://www.wiltshirelife.co.uk/current-issue/