Talk – “The Galapagos: wildlife, birds and Darwin”, 20th November 2024

Our speaker is a widely travelled naturalist and an excellent photographer. This talk followed his voyage 7 years ago around several of the islands of the Galapagos, which consist of a chain of volcanic islands off the coast of Ecuador. Much of the terrain is lava fields but there are areas of lush forest and some mangroves. The resident human population is swelled by approximately 200,000 visitors per annum. Access to the islands is strictly controlled, tourist boat numbers being restricted and allotted times for landing visitors.

There is a comparatively small number of bird species, but many are endemic to the islands. We saw photos of many of these, with interesting information about their feeding and breeding habits. Of special interest were the 12 different species of finch found on the different islands and Ian quoted some of Darwin’s research notes which lead to his Theory of Evolution.

Of course, the islands are also famous for the Giant Tortoises for which there is a breeding programme. There are many marine animals, including iguanas, sea lions, seals and crabs, all of which have little fear of humans.

Introduced animals such as goats, cats and black rats, also plants, cause problems for the indigenous species in different ways, particularly through predation and contamination, so eradication measures are undertaken. To give the scale of the problem, 15,000 goats have been removed.

Ian’s talk included some short videos and his presentation provided a very interesting, informative and enjoyable evening.

Pat Thomson