You don’t have to be an RSPB member – or a bird expert – to join us at our meetings. We have lively, interesting speakers who are experts on wildlife and bring us fabulous photos and a wealth of information.
If you are interested in wildlife and nature, then come and meet some likeminded people for a great evening.
Meeting times and costs
Indoor Meetings start at 7.30pm. Local Group Members £3.50 and other visitors £4.50.
Annual local group membership £5.00; £8.00 for two at one address.
Meeting place
Harwood Methodist Church Hall, Longsight, Bolton BL2 3HX
2026
Thursday, September 10th, Dennis Atherton, ‘Isn’t Bolton Birding Brilliant’.
What’s on your doorstep?
You don’t need to travel far to enjoy nature. For this year’s talk I am enjoying everything on offer throughout all the seasons while staying local, watching changing bird migration patterns, chasing rarities, hoping for a local mega?
Doing a lot of local patch watching at Elton, and talking about some historical rarities I was lucky to see and enjoy, and some I missed by only a few minutes!
It’s genuinely amazing what can turn up locally.
Thursday, October 8th, Russell Hedley, ‘British Bird Songs’.
Discover the world of British birdsong. With audio clips and photography, we’ll dive into the world of song and call, and discuss how you can start to recognise each species by the songs they sing. We’ll be focussing on the most common garden and park species you might encounter.
Thursday, November 12th, Jeff Clarke, ‘Inspiring Avians’.
This talk was created in response to the question that Jeff gets asked most frequently, “what’s your favourite bird”? so this talk is all about those charismatic birds that capture the imagination and explores their life stories to try and work out what it is that gives them ‘The Edge’!
Thursday, December 10th, David Winnard, ‘Pan-species Listing – a 2026 Year List’.
Most birders have lists of some sort, a garden list, life list or even a year list, but what if in one year who were to count everything species and see how many you can find. In 2026 I am exploring my home region of North Wales to see how many species from the coast to the mountain tops I can see in a single year. Covering plants, fungi, birds, butterflies, moths, lichens, mosses, algae and more, this talk takes you on an adventure across habitats, seasons and genera to explore the question of how many species can you see in one year.
2027
Thursday January 14th, Steve Settle, ‘Birding in Turton’.
A photographic record of birds seen while rambling around Turton carrying a camera. Sometimes targeting areas for what probably should be about, a few examples of local twitching, but mainly on a ‘see what you see’ basis, hoping to get lucky.
Thursday February 11th, Gary Prescot, ‘Wild Costa Rica’ – ‘The Biking Birder Goes To Africa!’.
Another continent, another country and another steep climb! This time Gary’s cycling and birding adventure, the ever modest and intrepid Biking Birder, is about his visit to Rwanda, the Land of a Thousand Hills – and didn’t he know it.
Surprised and delighted by what Gary found there, prepare for tales of fun, fur and feathers, and of course anecdotes of amazing encounters.
A most beautiful country with such wonderfully friendly people, Rwanda deserves to be more widely known about and this talk will hopefully satisfy your curiosity.
Thursday March 11th, Laurence Rose, ‘British Birds – the first 10,000 years’
Britain’s Birdlife has rarely stayed the same for very long. Of course, there were people and birds here before the last Ice Age, but the present relationship between birds, land and people started only 12,000 years ago. What has changed and what has stayed the same? How have birds shaped our lives and how have we shaped theirs?
Thursday April 8th, Alasdair McKee, ‘Finding Fire Ravens’
The ecology and mythology of Choughs, based on my sabbatical supporting the Isle of Man Chough survey. I talk about the birds, where they live, what they do, etc, but then also talk about the mythology and language around them, which is quite a story. It will all come with my trademark humour and fabulous dance moves.