Glamorgan Bird Club, Trustees Report April 2023 – April 23rd 2024
Trustees
We have continued to meet using Zoom this year, finding this convenient, and carbon friendly.
We have been fortunate that Ceri Jones has continued in the role of Treasurer this year, dealing with the bank, independent examiner, insurers and managing the HLF grant for the Cardiff Bay Swift Tower, as well as the day to day running of the Club accounts. While we still don't have a Club Secretary, we have shared the tasks between us. Alan Rosney is Membership Secretary and with the support of John Wilson, has been instrumental in the club joining 'Membermojo', a company which deals with member subscriptions and communications, hopefully making them more efficient to manage. This will be assessed after the first year of use.
John Wilson is our webmaster, and looks after our social media channels on Facebook and X.
Daniel Jenkins-Jones, taking over from Wayne Morris, also began to attend our meetings as a representative of the BTO and WOS.
Congratulations to John Wilson who has received a Welsh Ornithological Society Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of contributions to birding, notably his editorship of the East Glamorgan Bird Report for 24 years.
There have been no safeguarding issues to address this year.
Charity Commission Public Beneft Statement.
GBC Trustees are aware of, and have regard to, the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance whenever we exercise our powers to make decisions on aspects of GBC activity to which the guidance is relevant.
This applies to all GBC conservation projects, production of the annual East Glamorgan Bird Report and quarterly newsletter, field trips, KNNR walks, Birding Walks for Women, indoor and Zoom meetings, donations made, grants awarded, and sponsorship given.
East Glamorgan Bird Report – EGBR
Ceri Jones took on the task of producing the 2022 Bird Report, taking over the editorial role from John Wilson. This will be an electronic version only, and have a slightly different format, it will be more environmentally friendly and save on printing and postage costs and will provide opportunities for a more varied content.
Tate Lloyd one of our younger members, again took on the important task of photo editor. Our search for more species summarisers has continued.
Newsletter.
Alan Rosney continued to produce our much-enjoyed quarterly newsletter. All copies this year have been digital.
Many thanks to Alan.
Policies and Procedures.
These have been updated according to our schedule, many thanks to all Trustees involved.
Kenfg National Nature Reserve.
We continued to have a good relationship with Chris Jones, the warden. Chris with his few volunteers - including some club members - once again cut back the reeds in front of the hide, affording folk more opportunities for good views of the birds.
Looking forward, Chris is holding a Sand Dunes Day on 29th June, in which we plan to take part; volunteers are to be canvased to help with this.
Conservation Projects.
*Cardiff Bay Swift Tower. Completion and Evaluation Reports have been submitted to the satisfaction of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The dialogue with Cardiff Bay Harbour Authority continues regarding Tower inspections and any maintenance. It was last inspected in March 2024, and found to be safe, with evidence that other birds had nested in some of the boxes.
*Other Swift Projects.
Porthcawl Swifts
Mary Gallagher spearheaded this project with great enthusiasm, persuading the Town Council to declare Porthcawl a 'Swift Friendly Town'. Bilingual leaflets designed by Swift champion Josella Hunt were distributed throughout the streets where swifts are known to breed and via community outlets. Several residents accepted the offer of nest boxes and installation, all paid for by Bridgend County Council's 'Local Places for Nature' funding.
Pyle & Kenfig Hill Swifts
Strinda Davies has been working with Pyle Community Council which, like Porthcawl, has declared the communities of Pyle & Kenfig Hill 'Swift friendly'. Once again, local
leaflets were designed and distributed to community outlets such as the library and as a result 8 residents have had nest boxes installed.
Bridgend Swifts
Strinda and Mary have advised a Bridgend resident on how to safeguard some of the Swifts breeding along Quarella Road, with input from Bridgend County Council's Biodiversity Policy Manager.
Across East Glamorgan
As well as being involved with the Swift Tower project and Cardiff Swifts in general, Alan Rosney has worked with housing developers in Barry and Merthyr, installing several boxes there. With practical help from Howard Driver he also supports projects in the Vale of Glamorgan.
*Farm Partnerships.
Our Farm Surveys continued at Cefn Colstyn, Ty Draw and Ty Tanglwyst, where we have installed and monitor nest boxes .
*Green Sandpiper Survey in the Vale of Glamorgan.
We have supported this Fledgemore project led by Dan Jenkins-Jones, with a group of volunteers and also involving Alan Rosney. This has been completed for this year, with a maximum of 16 being found. Due to the UK importance of these numbers, Dan has submitted a paper for the annual scientific journal of the Welsh Ornithological Society 'Milvus', and we are hoping that it will be published this year.
*Nest Boxes.
Many nest boxes were made and erected for various projects. Club members Howard Driver, Adam Rees and also Lyn Evans of Pencoed Collage once again produced many of different types, and we have had some donated by RCT and Merthyr Tydfil Local Nature Partnership. We secured funding from Bridgend LNP, 'Local Places For Nature', for the Swift box scheme benefitting Porthcawl, Pyle, Kenfig Hill, Bridgend Town and North Cornelly.
*Rookery Survey.
This was completed, and we are waiting for the outcome.
*Local Nature Partnerships
These groups are associated with the various local authorities in our area and have regular meetings covering many aspects of concern and development. Many thanks to our volunteers who attend these each of on our behalf and contributed to the production of Nature Recovery Action Plans.
Donations and Sponsorship.
The Donations and Sponsorship sub- group met regularly.
This year we donated to the BTO Youth, Chaffinch and Spotted Flycatcher appeals, nest boxes for Cefn Colstyn Ringing Group, Reed Bunting feeding at Kenfig NNR, joined the Flat Holm Society, and supported David Hibler, one of our Trustees to attend the WOS AGM at Aberystwyth on our behalf.
Full details and an application form for the Small Grants Scheme can be found on the website.
Publicity, Promotions and Branding.
Our social media platforms, managed by John Wilson and Alan Rosney, have again proved popular and useful for giving information and promoting our activities, attracting a lot of wider public interest.
Facebook page followers are approximately 1308, with monthly views of 2,500. Our X (formerly Twitter) stream has attracted 1801 followers, and GBC follows 143 users. John Wilson is also our Webmaster. The website is pretty active, with currently an average of weekly total of 534 visitors with 1,500 views. Various items featuring the Club logo are available to order from myself, as GBC Chair: badges, car stickers, hats, caps, polo shirts and fleeces.
Venue
A combination of face to face and Zoom indoor talks this year have both been popular. Pencoed Rugby Club is a convenient location, but we are willing to use other venues. One of our talks took place at Kenfig NNR.
We plan to continue using the mixed formats of in-person and Zoom meetings.
Walks, Field Trips and Indoor Talks
Led by Dave Carrington, myself, and occasionally John Western, our excellent much enjoyed Kenfig Public Walks went ahead as usual, with only one cancelled due to bad weather.
The Portland Observatory weekend proved as popular as ever.
Various locations near and far were enjoyed on our other bi-monthly field trips, led by John Wilson and Alan Rosney.
Members have enjoyed our Zoom presentations and in-person talks, organised by Paul Denning, throughout the year. Our Review of The Year was once again presented and illustrated by Tate Lloyd.
Full programmes of Field Trips, Walks and Talks for next year have been planned. A new initiative, prompted by us realising that these are offered by other clubs, led by Strinda Davies and myself, is our program of Birding Walks for Women We plan to lead at least one of these each season, choosing areas not often covered in our main walks program, having fairly even paths, taking a leisurely pace, and hopefully with a cafe! Three have been held so far, - Park Slip NR, Cosmeston CP, and Bryngarw CP, and have been much enjoyed. We are planning that our next one will be in May.
Membership.
Membership fees for 2023/24 were once again frozen in light of the cost-of-living crisis. We have 291 Memberships this year, eight fewer than last year, making a total of 351 members when considering couples and family memberships.
We encourage young people to join the club, continuing to offer free membership to under 24's, and offer sponsorships for attending Bird Camps.
Sadly one of our members, Gareth Pryce, passed away this year. We also received the sad news that John Everett, a former member and indeed our treasurer for a few years, passed away in February. John’s wife Pat was our secretary for the same period and we announced her passing in the 2023 AGM. Our thoughts are with all their families and anyone else who has lost a loved one.
Birding highlights during the year have included – Long Eared Owl at Nottage, a Snow Bunting at Nash Point, Bittern at various locations, Green Sandpiper numbers at Peterston-super-Ely, Long Tailed Duck in Cardiff Bay. Finally, as always, I'd like to thank all the Trustees and Volunteers for their hard work throughout the year, all the projects, walks, talks, and meetings depend on their input.
Jean Haslam, Chair, on behalf of the Glamorgan Bird Club Trustees
Glamorgan Bird Club CIO - Income and Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 31 March 2024
| Income Member Subscriptions Gift Aid Donations Carbon Offset Book/Bird Report Sales Merchandise Sales Nest Box Sales Contribution to Swift Projects Interest Received Total Expenditure Annual Bird Report Newsletter Postage Nest Box materials Admin/Stationery Indoor/Zoom meetings Cardiff Bay swift project GBC website Atlas website hosting Pull-up banner Gifts Donation re Carbon Offset Other donations Affiliate memberships Insurance Bank charges Travel expenses Swift Project costs Membermojo fee Total Surplus/(Deficit) |
2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 2023 Restricted Unrestricted Total Restricted Unrestricted Total £ £ £ £ £ £ - 4,243 4,243 - 4,125 4,125 - 2,452 2,452 - - - - 610 610 - 582 582 - 349 349 - 388 388 - 35 35 - 135 135 - 8 8 - 8 8 - 179 179 - 252 252 - 1,136 1,136 - - - - 633 633 - 150 150 |
|---|---|
| - 9,645 9,645 - 5,640 5,640 |
|
| - - - - 1,145 1,145 - - - - 50 50 - 66 66 - 548 548 - 43 43 - 105 105 - 64 64 - 129 129 - 394 394 - 394 394 - - - 4,428 - 4,428 - 240 240 - 133 133 - 50 50 - 50 50 - - - - 89 89 - 22 22 - 4 4 - 280 280 - 418 418 - 1,100 1,100 - 810 810 - 80 80 - 115 115 - 362 362 - 315 315 - 94 94 - 96 96 - 335 335 - 102 102 - 272 272 - - - - 95 95 - - - |
|
| 0 3,497 3,497 4,428 4,503 8,931 |
|
| 0 6,148 6,148 -4,428 1,137 - 3,291 |
Glamorgan Bird Club CIO - Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024
| Debtors - Membership Secretary Prepayments Cash at Bank - Current Account Cash at Bank - Deposit Accounts Represented by: Unrestricted Funds: Members' Fund brought forward Surplus for the year Members' Fund carried forward Restricted Funds: Swift Fund brought forward (Deficit) for the year Swift Fund carried forward Total Funds carried forward |
31/03/24 £ 26 348 |
31/03/24 £ 374 42,639 43,013 23,519 19,494 43,013 |
31/03/23 £ 64 362 |
31/03/23 £ 426 36,439 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 42,600 |
373 36,066 |
|||
| 17,371 6,148 |
16,234 1,137 |
|||
| 36,865 | ||||
17,371 19,494 |
||||
| 19,494 - |
23,922 - 4,428 |
|||
| 36,865 |