2017 diary
Wednesday 3rd – Tuesday 9th May Study tour to the Netherlands to see the Oostvaardersplassen Re-wilding project, European Bison and migrating birds.Two nights each way on the Stena line ferry between Harwich and the Hook of Holland, four nights in chalet or tent accommodation in Lelystad. Cost around £400 inc travel from Dorset. We will be given an introductory presentation and tour of the re-wilded area http://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/natuurgebieden/oostvaardersplassen and on the Friday a tour of the European Bison breeding programme in the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park near Haarlem. http://www.np-zuidkennemerland.nl/299/en
On Sunday 6th we are planning to visit the birdwatchers’ paradise island of Texel.
For further information, registration form etc please click here.
Weekend camp and AGM, Daneway Banks, Gloucestershire Friday June 30th – Sunday July 2nd . Our annual weekend get-together will be held this year at the Daneway Inn which is situated next to the new Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve at Daneway Banks where we hope to coincide with the flight period of the iconic Large Blue butterfly which has been successfully reintroduced to this area. We will also be very close to the new Butterfly Conservation Reserve at Rough Bank and a number of other excellent wildlife sites nearby. Camping facilities are available at the pub and very nice (but more expensive) B&B accommodation is close by. The EuCAN CIC Annual General Meeting will be held on the Saturday morning before the butterflies start flying! All welcome to join in this weekend! Please book in advance. See the Events page for more info and details of how to book.
Visit to La Brenne Wednesday July 5th – Wednesday 12th to enjoy the summer butterflies, moths and all the other amazing wildlife there. We are hoping to take a small group to one of our favourite places at a time when there should be plenty of butterflies to see (including two species of Maculinea the Large Blues), the birds will still be nesting, there should be a good variety of moths for the trap and also when the dragonfly numbers will be building up (Brenne has a list of about 60 species!).
Large Blue, Maculinea arion, and Scarlet Darter, Crocothemis erythraea.
We will be staying in the Municipal Gite in Mézières-en-Brenne (some of the rooms have en-suite facilities) and cooking communally as a group but eating out at the local hotel on the first and last nights. More information about this visit and a registration form can be found here.
Conservation working holiday to Estonia Late Summer 2017, dates tbc. to work with the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF) to help to reinstate the protected mires and peat bogs damaged by years of neglect and forestry operations. This work will be fairly arduous and will require a good level of fitness. Cost tbc but will be subsidised by any profits from the June Wildlife holiday. A EuCAN group worked with a group of Estonian volunteers in this area in June 2016:
At this stage we are looking for expressions of interest without asking for any firm commitment. If you are interested in any of these, please complete the Expression of Interest form and email it back as soon as possible.
July 30th – August 6th 2017 Haymaking camp and scything festival in Gyimes Transylvania A EuCAN group joined in the Haymaking festival in 2016 with another 15 volunteers from a variety of different European countries and had an amazing time there. See this link to find out more. We are also helping Attila in Gyimes to raise funds to complete the roof of his new ‘LifeSchool’ in the village – click here for the background information and how to make a donation.
Jenny Parsons took part in the 2015 festival and has published this film in 3 parts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ZHhSV4-8A , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy4f6Ex3lKE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9urbjnz_iA . If you are interested in joining in this year, please contact Attila Sarig through aldomaspataka@gmail.com
August 18th – October 5th : Bird-ringing camp Croatia. Several EuCAN participants have joined in these camps for the last five years – see this link to read about it. Trevor Phelps is organising a group to travel to Croatia to join in this year and also to help with habitat improvement in the area. Click here for more detail about this. And click to read his 2015 report about the adventure.Croatia Bird ringing camp Report 2015. The Croatian organisation BIOM has produced an interesting report about the 2016 camp at Ucka and the ringing results.
