We are delighted that the next meeting of the Club on Saturday 21 September 2024, in conjunction with the regional bird clubs, will also be in association with and in support of the Natural History Museum's outstanding current exhibition Birds: brilliant and bizarre. The talks will be held in the Flett Theatre, at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London; those attending should access the museum via the Exhibition Road entrance. The day starts at 10.00 h and the speakers include Kevin Cox (Chair of the Royal Society for Protection of Birds' Council), Ken Norris (Director of Science, Natural History Museum), Juliet Vickery (CEO British Trust for Ornithology), Hazell Shokellu Thompson (African Bird Club), Joe Tobias (Neotropical Birding and Conservation) and Nigel Collar (BirdLife International). A full programme is available at: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/study/events/british-ornithologists-club-annual-meeting.html. The event is ticketed but free to attend; you can apply for tickets (which are limited by the venue's capacity) on a first-come-first served basis via the link indicated. We hope to see as many of you as possible on the day.
Since its earliest days, the Club's programme of talks has been a core activity, not only bringing members together but latterly, via YouTube, reaching a worldwide audience. Since at least 2010 Robert Prŷs-Jones has been responsible for the programme, finding outstanding contributors covering an impressive range of topics, even during the pandemic years. However, Robert decided at the end of last year that it was time to hand on the role to someone else. The Club is greatly indebted to him for all his hard work and for establishing a benchmark of excellence.
The BOC has since 2017 become an online organisation without a paying membership, but instead one that aspires to a supportive network of Friends who share its vision of ornithology—see: http://boc-online.org/. Anyone wishing to become a Friend of the BOC and support its development should pay UK£25.00 by standing order or online payment to the BOC bank account:
Barclays Bank, 16 High Street, Holt, NR25 6BQ, Norfolk
Sort Code: 20-45-45
Account number: 53092003
Account name: The British Ornithologists' Club
Friends receive regular updates about Club events and are also eligible for discounts on the Club's Occasional Publications. It would assist our Treasurer, Richard Malin (e-mail: rmalin21@gmail.com), if you would kindly inform him if you intend becoming a Friend of the BOC.
Since volume 137 (2017), the Bulletin of the BOC has been an online journal, published quarterly, that is available to all readers without charge. Furthermore, it does not levy any publication charges (including for colour plates) on authors of papers and has a median publication time from receipt to publication of five to six months. Prospective authors are invited to contact the Bulletin editor, Guy Kirwan (GMKirwan@ aol.com), to discuss future submissions or look at http://boc-online.org/bulletin/bulletin-contributions. Back numbers up to volume 136 (2016) are available via the Biodiversity Heritage Library website: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/46639#/summary; vols. 132–136 are also available on the BOC website: http://boc-online.org/
BOC Occasional Publications are available from the BOC Office or online at info@boc-online.org. Future BOC-published checklists will be available from NHBS and as advised on the BOC website. As its online repository, the BOC uses the British Library Online Archive (in accordance with IZCN 1999, Art. 8.5.3.1).
© 2024 The Authors
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