Autumn Meeting 2021: North Wales

HomeEventsAutumn Meeting 2021: North Wales

11 September 2021 - 18 September 2021

Top L to R: Mike Ball, Andy McLay, Chris Preston, David Long, Mark Lawley, Matt Stribley, Gordon Rothero, Tom Blockeel, Liz Kungu, Joan Bingley, Sharon Pilkington, Roy Jeffery, Mark Hill, Agneta Burton Bottom L to R: Calum McLennan, Lucia Ruffino, Clare Shaw, Alastair Stevenson, Mags Crittenden, Martin Godfrey, Peter Martin, Sean O’Leary, Philippa Thompson, Claire Halpin, George Greiff, Astrid Biddle

The AGM and Field Meeting in Barmouth were a great success, and huge thanks are due to Margaret Crittenden for persevering in organising this meeting over the past 3 years.

Photos will gradually be added when I have time. Please don’t be offended if your photos aren’t included – there are so many to choose from and it’s proving quite a lot of work to compile this ‘report’!

(Updated 9th October 2021)

Photos from the meeting
Organised by date and site

(click on any image to view a larger image with caption)

Pre-meeting information

General Information

Local meeting secretary: Margaret Crittenden, email: mcrittenden24@gmail.com

We will be recording in the county of Merioneth (Vice-county 48) which has everything from high, volcanic mountains to the great species-poor uplands of the Migneint. There is a coastal strip with dune systems and saltmarshes as well as numerous lakes and fantastic hidden river valleys. There are even the remains of a Carboniferous limestone quarry (SJ0542) and a few scattered lime-kilns on the Ordovician ‘limestone’. We will be based at Plas Caerdeon (www.hope.ac.uk/caerdeon/ ) which is an Outdoor Education Centre in North Wales owned and run by Liverpool Hope University.  It is situated between Dolgellau and Barmouth on the A496.

The centre is set in its own grounds of 18 acres of secluded woodlands and was visited by Darwin in 1869. He wrote “we have a beautiful House, with a terraced garden and a really magnificent view of Cader [Idris], right opposite.”

The main house has 15 rooms over 2 upper floors which have both bunk beds and single beds. The ground floor comprises a fully equipped catering kitchen, professional servery, large dining room, library, large lounge/group meeting room, grand entrance hall and stairway, games room, drying room, toilets, and ‘wet activity’ entrance. There is a further basement games room and a laboratory which can be used for microscope work.

Accommodation

Rooms are available at Plas Caerdeon (near Barmouth, LL42 1TH, SH649181) on a first come first served basis. This is (generally) shared accommodation so please indicate when registering if you have any preference with whom you might like to share. The cost of the accommodation at Plas Caerdeon is £325 which includes full board and the Society dinner on Sunday night. If you are not staying at Plas Caerdeon, you are invited to join us for a BBS Society Dinner at Plas Caerdeon on Sunday evening 12th September at a cost of £20. Bring your own bottle(s).

The lab at Plas Caerdeon will be made available to all members whether they are resident or not.

If you haven’t already registered, please contact Mags before making any payment, especially if you would like to stay at Plas Caerdeon.

Payment for accommodation and / Society Dinner

The preferred way to pay is by bank transfer (BACS); you will receive an email within the next few days with details including the BBS Bank account number. If you don’t receive this email, please contact Margaret Crittenden, email: mcrittenden24@gmail.com.

For those who are unable to pay by BACS, it is possible to use PayPal, however the cost will increase slightly to cover PayPal charges.

Pay with PayPal (no account needed)

Please select the relevant option from the drop down list and click on the PayPal button. You will then be taken to the secure PayPal server where you will be asked for your details and a payment can be made by credit or debit card.

Booking Type

Programme

You can download the complete program below.

Saturday 11th September: Arrive at Plas Caerdeon (not before 2pm to allow for cleaning) with opportunities for committee meetings. Opportunity to do some recording in the vicinity of the Hall. Council Meeting 19.30 at Plas Caerdeon. Dinner for residents at 18.00.

Sunday 12th September: Short field day with AGM at Plas Caerdeon at 16.30 followed by Society Dinner at 18.30.
Monday 13th   – Friday 17th September: Field visits
Saturday 18th September: Depart by 10am.

Recommended maps

OL18 Harlech, Porthmadog and Bala
OL23 Cadair Idris and Llyn Tegid

GPS locations

Those people with digital map software may wish to download the GPS locations file below. This contains waypoints for most of the suggested parking locations, named according to the convention day_number – site_number. The file is in .csv format simply because we can’t upload the usual .gpx format to the website. Each waypoint includes the text of the site description from Mags’ excellent programme. Please don’t rely on the GPS data though; it’s not been double-checked!

 

Download full programme Download the Risk Assessment Download and complete the Covid-19 form Download and complete the medical form Download the full species list Download a list of 'wanted' species Download a list of extra tetrads to visit Download GPS file of meeting locations for each day
Location:

Barmouth, North Wales

Plas Caerdeon Barmouth LL42 1TH