Programme

Our programme for 2018/2019

Details are added here as soon as meetings are arranged and confirmed.

Indoor meetings start at 7.30pm in Room 0.23 (ground floor) of the Cardiff School of Management Building, Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Western Avenue, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2YB - unless otherwise stated (*).

	Outdoor Meetings 2018
Saturday 12 May 10am to 1pm.	Taf Fechan Reserve- a joint trip with the Wildlife Trust Taf Fechan is one of the Wildlife Trust’s most beautiful reserves.  It is just north of Merthyr Tydfil and is a broadleaved woodland reserve running along a limestone river valley.  A great place to see riverine birds such as dipper and grey wagtail, as well as many woodland species.  The Wildlife Trust’s Valleys Reserve Officer, Lorna Baggett, will be showing us around.  Meet at 10 am in the Lon Maes Du layby on Vaynor Road (http://goo.gl/maps/XRS1L).  The visit will finish at 1pm.	Lorna Baggett
Thursday 17th May 10.30am	Wenvoe and Goldsland This wildlife walk is also part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival. It starts outside St Mary's Church in the middle of Wenvoe and heads towards Goldsland Farm via some orchards. Goldsland has possibly the only surviving constructed watercress beds in Wales, a newly planted orchard, sunken lane, lichen trail and bee hotel. From there we head back via St Lythans burial chamber and some more orchards. Distance 5/6 miles with several stiles, finishing by 3.30pm. Bring lunch.	Bruce McDonald
Saturday 9th June 11am	Insole Court, Cardiff As part of the Insole Court Heritage Day, Cardiff Naturalists' Society have arranged for Chris Powell to lead a walk around the grounds looking at the many interesting specimen trees to be found there. Duration around 1 hour 30 minutes. Meet outside the visitor centre at 11 am.  Parking, cafe and toilets are available at Insole but bear in mind that there will be many other visitors there enjoying the other events on offer on that day. For more information on Insole Court: https://www.insolecourt.org/
Saturday 30th June  10am to 1pm.	Pentwyn Farm and Wyeswood Common - a joint trip with the Wildlife Trust We will be visiting two of the Gwent Wildlife Trust’s flagship reserves and will be shown around by Tim Green, their Senior Farm and Wildlife Development Officer.  The site includes one of the largest remaining areas of flower-rich grassland in Gwent and provides an opportunity to see hay meadows as they would have looked in the past, before the advent of intensive farming.  Meet at Pentwyn Farm (SO 523 094, NP25 4SE) at 10am.  After visiting the two reserves, we hope to retire to a local hostelry for lunch.	Tim Green
Saturday 14th July  10am to 3pm.	Dare Valley Country Park - Insects of Colliery Spoil Tips - a joint trip with the Wildlife Trust Recently we have begun to appreciate that old colliery spoil tips can be great habitats for a wide range of invertebrates and other wildlife, mainly due to the free-draining nature of the spoil substrate and the dry grassland and heathland that develops there. The visit to Dare Valley will be led by Liam Olds, who has set up the ‘Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative’.  Amongst many other butterfly and bee species, we hope to see grayling and small pearl bordered fritillary.  Meet at the car park at Dare Valley Country Park (SN 98307 02702, CF44 7PT) at 10am.  There is a nice café in the visitor centre so we will probably break for lunch about 1pm.
Monday 24th September	Provisional Indoor Meetings 2018/2019 AGM  followed by a talk on “Alaska" by Eirian Edwards.
Tuesday 16th October	“Wildlife responses to habitat fragmentation and degradation in the Kinabalangau Landscape Sabah Borneo” with speaker Benoit Goossens.
Monday 29th October	Linda and Rob Nottage talk about wildlife in India/Sri Lanka
Thursday 15th November	PC Mark Goulding (of Rhys to the Rescue TV series) talks about “Wildlife Crime”. (*) This is a combined meeting held with WTSWW and WILDSOC. Wallace Lecture Theatre, Main Building, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff.
November  Monday 17th December	TBC XMAS BASH speaker TBA
2019 Monday 14th January	“Members Evening”   members contribute wildlife photographs etc.
January second meeting  February first meeting	speaker and date TBA speaker and date TBA
Thursday 28th February	Gavin Jones on "Recapturing, enhancing and celebrating the unique Gwent Levels Landscape—the work of Living Levels Landscape Partnership". (*) This is a combined meeting with WTSWW and WILDSOC. Wallace Lecture Theatre, Main Building, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff.
Monday 11th March  Tuesday 19th March	Student Bursary evening Student Bursary Award evening. When the Ursula Henriques and Dr Mary Gillham bursary is awarded to a School of Bioscience Cardiff University second year student Our second speaker Mike Scott subject “Costa Rica-coffee, cloud forest and  coast”. -----------------  Phill Blanning on “Butterflies Flora and Fauna of N E South Africa".