SBBOT has a long tradition of offering courses, lectures and talks. Apart from the presentations below we also present evening programmes via zoom, such as our Wednesday Courses.
Thursday Evening Lecture Programme
Live at the Field Centre at 7.30pm
£5 per person including a hot drink and a biscuit - payable at the door on the night.
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After a long hot summer, our Thursday evening talks will be starting again on September 18th (make a note in your diary) and we look forward to welcoming you back to hear from some great speakers on some fascinating subjects.
We have booked a wide range of speakers and subjects and although most talks will mainly be about birds, there are other wildlife subjects included, such as talks on Dragonflies, Flowers and the Mink eradication project!
Our talk programme also covers lots of different countries, with one in November taking us on a whistle-stop tour around the world in 80 minutes!
(Volunteer request - we do need some people to help out again with the teas/coffees and car parking on each evening. Therefore, if you are able to help at either of the first couple of talks, then please email the talks organiser Ian Searle Once we are up running, Ian will be putting the volunteer sheet on the notice board for people to add their names too, the same as last year - thank you.)
Here is the programme for Autumn 2025 through Spring 2026 - some are outline with dates for your diary... details will follow in due course...
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9th October - The wonders of Bird Migration - John Buckingham
Many birds make incredible seasonal journeys, including some that travel from Arctic breeding grounds to winter in the distant southern oceans around the Antarctic. In the UK we sit on an important flyway for many migrant species and here at the Observatory ringing has revealed much of what they accomplish. We see summer and winter visitors, and many passage migrants stopping off with us during their awe-inspiring travels.
Which birds migrate? Why do they do it? Where do they go and how do they accomplish such amazing feats of endurance. These and other questions will be answered during John’s fascinating and well-illustrated talk.
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16th October - China - Land of Pheasants and Cranes - Brendan Ryan
China is a great birding destination but it is not without its challenges and frustrations. As well many species of pheasants, there are many other "must see" birds in China.
Brendan will talk about his experiences of three birding trips to the Land of the Dragon
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23rd October - Lighthouse birding - Norman McCanch
Back in the latter half of last century, Norman spent nearly four years working as a Lighthouse keeper with Trinity House, serving in a number of sites around England and Wales. This gave him plenty of opportunity for studying birds and other wildlife as a general pastime.
Today there are no manned lighthouses in Britain so this way of life has ended. The birds, however, are still there and for Norman lighthouses are still magic places.
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30th October - The Damsels and Dragons of Sandwich Bay and Worth Marshes - Andrew Lipczynski
32 species of Damselflies and Dragonflies have been recorded at Sandwich Bay of which 29 breed. There is no other site in the UK that has a greater biodiversity.
Andrew’s presentation will introduce the order Odonata, their basic anatomy and life cycle and then a whistle-stop tour of all 32 and the wonderful world of demoiselles, emeralds, bluets, bluetails, redeyes, hawkers, emperors, chasers, skimmers and darters, their phenology and some identification tips.
If time he will look at local hot spots and predict the future!
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6th November - Birds and People - Travels Through Time - Ralph Todd
This popular talk takes us back in time drawing on visits to Egypt and China. We go back some 3000 years BC for our first look at man's association with birds depicted in some amazing tomb paintings, moving rapidly through to the 17th and 19th centuries and the resulting changes in land use.
Finally we look at the changes in our relationship and appreciation of birds over the last 100 years or so using sites in the UK, North America and Antarctica as examples.
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13th November - Around the world in 80 minutes - Chris Collins, Limosa
**special ticket only evening**
In “Around the World in Eighty Days”, Jules Verne’s character, Phileas Fogg, took eighty days to circumnavigate the world. In this lecture, Chris will spend eighty minutes (or there abouts !!) on a similar journey travelling around the world visiting some amazing destinations for birds and wildlife.
These include locations as diverse as Antarctica, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Island and Guyana with some stunning shots of the incredible birdlife which inhabit these remote locations.
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20th November - Nonington Farm and re-generative farming - Emma Loder-Symonds
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27th November - British Bees - Simon Springate, Kent’s Plan bee officer, The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Simon’s illustrated talk will cover what Bee species we have, the current threats, their ranges, what food plants different species like etc. especially in Kent plus explaining what the Bumblebee Conservation org is about and what it does.
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4th December - Mediterranean wild flowers - Sue Buckingham
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11th December - Sharing thin air: birds, herds, and people of Dhaulagiri Himalayas of western Nepal - Joy Stephens
Joy lived in Nepal for 20 years, working in community development. The Dhaulagiri Himalayas are a stunning mountain range yet one of the least touristed and developed areas - home to the elusive snow leopard, red panda and a variety of high-altitude birds.
The talk will focus on the people who live in these mountains as well as the natural environment in which they live – including birds, of course!
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18th December - A look back through 2025 at SBBOT - Steffan & Jonny
Our warden Steffan, will be giving us an illustrated update on the past year at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory. Steffan will take us through the year with photographs and commentary of the many birds, dragonflies, flowers and reptiles that occurred.
It will be a great look back for all of us, but for new members it will provide and an excellent introduction into what to look out for and when during 2026.
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15th January- “Jewels in the air” - Wilf Powell
Wilf will give us an illustrated talk about the lives of Hummingbirds, describing aspects of their behaviour and natural history. He will also show some of the places he has visited to see and photograph these beautiful birds and mention a few of the other birds he encountered.
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22nd January - Birds and animals of Northern Tanzania seen in November ’24 - Brian Summerfield
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29th January - Cuba: Cigars, Cars & Mojitos - but more importantly, the birds - Andrew Dobson
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5th February - Life on Bardsey - Greg Lee
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12th February - Komodo - Ian & Sally Hunter
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19 February - Bats in Britain - John Puckett
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26th February - Pine Martin reintroduction project - Suzanne Kynaston, Wildwood Trust
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5th March - A journey to the Hebrides - Paul Hale
We stop off in Teesdale for Black Grouse on our way north to the Inner and Outer Hebrides including St Kilda, a dual World Heritage Site both for its culture and nature.
On our journey we see a range of species from Golden Eagle to Corncrake, from Otter to St Kilda Wren, and a range of breeding seabirds. We also look at the lifestyle of the St Kildans and somehow end up at a whisky festival on Islay.
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12th March - TBC - Paul French (Secretary British Birds Rarities Committee)
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19th March - Elmley conservation and the Curlew recovery project - Simon Ginnaw
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26th March - Winter birding in Japan - part 2 (Eagles, Cranes and a special Owl) - Ian Searle & Ken Chapman
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