GOS is a charity. Donations are welcome and it is only £12 to join (for which you get the annual bird report, email updates concerning events and an invitation to attend all of our walks / field trips free of charge). Walks are £5 for non-members. We welcome members and non-members alike to the free online talks. For in-person talks there is a nominal fee of £1 on the door to help cover room hire.
We encourage all to join the society and contribute to the bird recording and conservation initiatives GOS promotes.
Magical Merlins
Raptor expert Keith Offord will talk to us about merlin, a species he has monitored in the Berwyn Special Protection Area, northern Powys, for many years.
Merlin are a non-breeding visitor to Gower, being seen between autumn and early spring over the north Gower marshes and occasionally on the inland commons where they typically hunt small birds such as meadow pipits and skylarks. While they do breed on the fringes of our recording area, they do so in very low numbers. They are more widespread in upland Powys, which supports important breeding populations. The south and mid-Wales nest in trees, often in commercial plantation, but further north, in the areas Keith monitors, they nest on the ground in heather moorland.
We are very pleased to welcome Keith back; he previously did a fascinating talk for us on hen harrier.