There are currently 332 paid up members of the Galway Branch of BirdWatch Ireland, 33 more than at this time last year. The core of active BirdWatch Galway membership numbers between 15 and 20 people and is of some concern to me that this small group is ageing and is rarely able to recruit new participants. This report details the branch's activities in 2006, mentioning the contributions that members have made. I hope that other local members will become part of this active core group during 2007. Everyone is welcome!

The branch would like to extend its sympathies to the family of local member Tomás Burke, who died suddenly at Christmas time.

Meetings: As usual ten monthly meetings were held on Wednesday nights at the Anno Santo Hotel. We had our usual break for July and August. These meetings were attended by from 6 to 10 members. We would be delighted to see more branch members attending these committee meetings.

Committee: This year's committee put in a lot of work, all of which was with the support of other members of the branch. The officers of the committee consisted of Marianne ten Cate (Secretary & Merchandise), Deirdre Comerford (Treasurer & Merchandise), Pat Finnegan (Talks), Tim Griffin (Recorder & Nimmo's Pier trips), Neil Sharkey (Newsletter and Accounts) and Chris Peppiatt (Chair).

Talks: We held four successful talks during the year at the Anno Santo- 'Seabird Islands' by Maggie Hall on the 27th of January (20 attendees), on 'Birding in the Andes of Ecuador' by Eric Dempsey on the 3rd of March (24 attendees), 'Whooper Swans wintering in the mid-west of Ireland' by Gerry Murphy on the 13th of October (21 attendees) and on the 'Birds of Florida' by John Murphy on the 24th of November (16 attendees). Many thanks to Pat Finnegan for organising these talks, and to Mary Finnegan for again keeping the attendance book. Branch Secretary Marianne ten Cate also gave two talks about garden birds, one at Coole Park (23 attendees) and one at Headford library (25 attendees) in February and March and another talk for Galway graduates (15 attendees) at Coole Park on the 20th of May.

Outings: Tim Griffin again kindly and most expertly led eight short outings at Nimmo's Pier on the first Saturday of the month from January to May inclusive and from October to December inclusive. These outings were attended by a total of 88 people, many of whom would not otherwise have attended BirdWatch Galway activities. The outing held on the 7th October coincided with World Birdwatch day.

Our first other trip was on the 1st of January, when 12 members visited Nimmo's Pier. On the 12th of February 15 people attended a walk held in Coole Park. Five members joined local NPWS conservation ranger John Higgins for a tour of the Knockma Wood nature reserve near Belclare on the 30th of April. A weekend trip was arranged to Inishbofin for the 9th-11th of June and was attended by 13 people. The bird highlights of this weekend were Corncrake and Chough. Many thanks to Marianne for organising the accommodation and other arrangements for this weekend. Pete Capsey lead a walk at Rahasane Turlough as part of the Clarinbridge Arts Festival on the 15th of October and this was attended by an impressive total of 92 people. Four members also joined the County Clare branch for their trip to Rahasane Turlough and Kilcaimin on the 18th of November. In addition to the branch-organised outings, several members also attended the GNFC trip to Boora Bog, visiting the Grey Partridge conservation scheme, held on the 22nd April.

The branch's contribution to the National Dawn Chorus day event was again held at the NUI Galway sports grounds at Dangan, this time on the 14th of May. The event was attended by 23 people. Thanks are due to NUI Galway and Mr. Gar Hartigan for their cooperation with the dawn chorus event. An event at Nimmo's Pier was also held under the aegis of the national Heritage Week on the 2nd of September (10 attendees). A Bird Race was held on the 8th of April, in which four teams competed. The winners were Padraic Reaney and Aonghus O'Donaill, who recorded 100 species on the day, with the second-placed team getting 97. A total of 117 species were seen on the day in Co. Galway by all of the teams combined.

Publications: The Newsletter was again ably edited by Neil Sharkey and four editions were produced as usual. Thanks to Neil for the editing, Pat Finnegan for his regular poetry spot and to all of the other contributors during 2006. The Newsletter is now distributed by e-mail and web download only. Requests by Neil for feedback produced many responses, which demonstrated that many people do read and enjoy it.

Web-site: Our web-site at www.birdwatchgalway.org, attracted 4,126 visits during 2006, an increase of 20% on the year 2005.

Sightings: The quarterly bird report (included with the Newsletter) continued to be compiled by Chris Peppiatt and County Recorder Tim Griffin (thanks Tim!). A total of 43 people contributed sightings, including a total of 132 via e mail.

Surveys: Branch members have continued to put in work on national schemes like the Irish Wetland Birds Survey (I-WeBS), the Countryside Bird Survey (CBS), the Garden Bird Survey, the Brent Goose census, and ringing surveys. As part of the IWeBS survey, both Inner Galway Bay (three times) and Lough Corrib (twice) were counted this year. Many stretches of County Galway's coastline were surveyed as part of the Non-estuarine Wetland Bird Survey (NEWS), with the work continuing on into January 2007. A group of members also put in time to survey tetrads (2 km by 2 km squares) within Galway City as part of the breeding bird survey that began in 2004.

Conservation: The Galway Civic Trust/FAS group scheme has again carried out valuable maintenance work at our local reserve, the Small wood at Lough Rusheen. Thanks are due to Michael Davis for leading this work. The tractor has been removed from the vicinity of the hide at Belclare and the ESB have agreed to mount 'game guards' on the new power lanes at Rostaff after representations were made by Neil on behalf of the branch.

Media: We made sure that all our events were publicised in the local papers and on Galway Bay FM. Posters were displayed in outlets in Galway city and county. E-mail was used extensively to make announcements of talks and outings and the Newsletter is now distributed by this means and via download from the web site.

Liaison: Marianne ten Cate represented us on the Natural Environment and Waterways Group of the Galway City Development Board and the Natural Heritage Working Group of the County Galway Heritage Forum. Money was provided by Galway County Council for the production of a brochure entitled 'Where to watch birds in Galway'. The work has been done by Deirdre Comerford and Marianne ten Cate and publication is expected soon. Jo Gordon and Chris Peppiatt represented BirdWatch Galway on the Galway City Community Forum. Chris Peppiatt represented the Branch at Galway City Council on the Terryland Forest Park steering committee. We also received communications from Galway City Council, Clare County Council, the Galway Naturalists' Field Club, other branches of BirdWatch Ireland, staff members of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, members of Trinity College and GMIT, the ESB, RTÉ, Galway Independent newspaper, the Marine Institute, An Taisce and the local windsurfing school.

Finance: The financial statement is presented separately. Thanks are due to our Treasurer Deirdre Comerford and to Neil Sharkey, who helped to put together the annual statement. The collection box hosted by Martin Brynes again provided valuable extra funds. Marianne ten Cate looked after the merchandise and we sold this all through the year and at our events. Our Christmas Sale was held on the 6th of December and was attended by 21 people. Several members donated prizes, as did Dangan Nurseries. Thanks to all members and sympathisers for their continued support.

Conclusion: I would like to extend my personal thanks to all local members of BirdWatch Ireland. I would like to wish all of you a happy and successful 2007 and hope to meet as many of you as possible this year.

Chris Peppiatt
17th January 2007