Cere birders were well represented amongst the 120-strong audience for this year's conference held in Carno's splendid community centre.
The AGM business was swiftly completed so Iolo could kick off a round-up of 100 years of bird conservation in Wales ( the conference theme this year) which he did in his usual rumbustious style! This year the other speakers were a good match for him and unbelievably the 2.5 hour morning session on hard plastic seats sped by. Even the well known subjects were refreshed by snippets of first hand knowledge and anecdotes from the eminently qualified speakers and all were accompanied by excellent visuals.
After a busy lunch time browsing Subbuteo's bookshop,buying raffle tickets and chatting, the afternoon session took off with the BTO and RSPB rallying up the inspirational Iuan Evans(new BTO boss in Wales) and Julian Hughes(warden of Conwy reserve)to hammer home the need for all of us to keep working for conservation by getting back out there and doing more counting. Derek Moore's slick and thoroughly entertaining presentation took us through birding's recent history and Dee Doody's short but revealing film of Ospreys on the nest was a beautiful reminder of what its all for.
The girls in the kitchen did a great job and the only downer of the whole day was the fact that it was a sunny one outside! Don't miss out next year!