2017 Spring BioBlitz

It's less than a week to go till our 2017 Spring BioBlitz!

The BioBlitz will be held over the bank holiday weekend of Friday 28th April to Sunday 30th April.

Note: For those of you who bought one of our calendars, this is a week earlier than shown on the calendar.


The activities for the weekend have been finalised and include:

• A weekend-long bird ringing demonstration (run by Roger Dickey).
• Guided bird watching walks around the site.
• Small mammal trapping (run by the Surrey Mammal Group).
• Small mammal footprint tunnels.
• Moth trapping.
• Bug hotel building (run by Archie & Keith Kerr).
• Pond dipping.
• A willow weaving demonstration - Saturday (run by Judith Needham).
• http://judithneedham.co.uk/
• Bird feeders made from Tice's Meadow willow will be available to buy for a donation to the Tice's Meadow Bird Group.
• Water quality testing and analysis (for the Freshwater Habitats Trust).
• http://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/projects/thameswaterforwildlife/cleanwatersurvey

The schedule for the weekend is as follows:

• Friday 28th April, afternoon: setting-up camp and informal bird watching.
• Satuday 28th April, 10am: checking the mammal traps with the Surrey Mammal Group.
• Satuday 28th April, 11am: guided bird watching walk around the site.
• Satuday 28th April, 8pm: guided bat walk using bat detectors.
• (Note this is an hour later than advertised).
• Sunday 29th April: 9am: emptying and checking the moth traps.
• Sunday 29th April: 10am: guided bird watching walk around the site.

There will be displays on site from:

• The Tice's Meadow Bird Group,
• Copies of our 2016 Annual Report will be available to buy for £15.
• The Surrey Bird Club,
• The British Trust for Ornithology,
• The Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership,
• The Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust.

There will be a portaloo (with disabled access) on site for use by visitors.

All activities will start from Horton's Mound. Please follow the signs from the site entrances.

For those of you on Facebook, the BioBlitz has an event page - please share amongst your friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/962460213890304/

Over 90 members of the public enjoyed last year's BioBlitz, with 86 species of bird recorded, and one well known birder called it "The highlight of the Surrey birding year". We hope to see you all at Tice's Meadow this coming weekend.