NERF Conference - a reminder!

Northern England Raptor Conference20 November 2010
Rishworth School, Rishworth, Halifax, HX6 4QA

This year's annual NERF Raptor Conference is being hosted by Calderdale Bird Conservation Group at the prestigious venue of Rishworth School. The conference committee has drawn together an exciting and varied program that will address a wide range of issues that are of interest to Raptor Workers, including habitat management, the use of technology to track and monitor individual birds as well as contributing to the debate surrounding the status of eagle owls and lowland hen harriers. There is ample on-site parking. Registration, coffee and exhibits will be available for delegates from 0830 and the conference will open at 0915. Lunch and afternoon refreshments will be provided. This year’s conference has four themes and each theme has two highly respected speakers. Some of the issues are extremely contentious and delegates will have an opportunity to put in-depth questions to the speakers at the end of each session. Paul Irving, NERF Chairman, will also bring us up to date with current developments within the Forum.

Speakers are:

Dr. John Edwards 'Raptor Conservation – a Biologist’s Perspective’

Simon Thorp, Heather Trust 'Heather Burning Regulations, three years onAnalytical science'

Lee Walker, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology 'Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme'

Arjun Arun, RSPB 'Peregrine persecution in the NERF region, a 10 years study'

Stephen Murphy, Natural England 'Hen harrier dispersal - satellite tracking'

James Leonard, RSPB 'The use of technology, including cameras for monitoring, research and crime detection'

Dr Andrew Kelly, Belfast University 'New research into the status of eagle owls'

Paul Castle, Wiltshire Raptor Group 'Montagu’s harriers and lowland hen harriers'

Delegate Fees £10.00 for delegates aged 14 – 18 years and £20.00 for adults.

Demand for places at this year’s conference has been high therefore please book ASAP to avoid disappointment.

This is a high profile national conference and one for which we are proud hosts, any birder with an interest in raptors is bound to find something of interest here, to book please contact midgleybirder@yahoo.co.uk