Spaces on events are limited to non-members. If you are not a member, please book on both indoor and outdoor events by emailing our secretary or contacting us through our website. All indoor talks meet for 7.30pm start at the Kirkgate Community Centre (BD18 3EH) refreshments are provided at the interval. Indoor talk fees help cover room hire: £2.50 for members, £4 for non-members (children under 16 are free). Outdoor events are free of charge. We are a volunteer group and donations are welcome. All outdoor events are weather dependent so please dress appropriately, and please check our website or Facebook for any updates or cancellations the day before every event. It is important to note that BUWG takes no responsibility for children, all children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

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Indoor Talk: Beavers and Small Mammals, by Ann Hanson, Field Studies Advisor for
Yorkshire Mammal Group

Thu 19 Feb, 19:30-21:15 – Kirkgate Community Centre, Shipley (W3W – dust.flops.libraries)

Ann organises the annual fieldwork programme. Her day job is with Yorkshire Farming and Wildlife Partnership and works with farmers to help them conserve wildlife on their farms. Her talk will focus on small mammal surveys carried out as part of the enclosed beaver release in Cropton Forest from 2019 to 2024. This was to monitor the effects of habitat changes due to the beavers’ activities on small mammal populations in the enclosure.

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Indoor Talk: Brackenhall: Connecting with Nature in the New National Nature Reserve, by Julia Babbit, Manager of the Brackenhall Countryside Centre

Thu 19th Mar, 19:30-21:15 – Kirkgate Community Centre, Shipley (W3W – dust.flops.libraries)

Julia is a Forest School Leader and Woodcraft for Wellbeing practitioner. She’ll share her experience of helping people connect with nature and tell us more about the work at Bracken Hall in the new Bradford Pennine Gateway National Nature Reserve.

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Indoor Talk: AGM followed by From Aire Miles, by Wendy Robinson, Chair of The Aire Rivers Trust

Thu 16 Apr, 19:30-21:15 – Kirkgate Community Centre, Shipley (W3W – dust.flops.libraries)

Our Annual General Meeting consists of the usual statutory agenda but this year our Secretary, Harry, is standing down so we are looking for someone to step up to the role. Anyone who is interested in joining our small friendly committee needs to contact the chair (buwg.chair@gmail.com) no later than midnight on 12 Apr 2026.

After the AGM we will welcome Wendy who is going to deliver a talk about her ongoing project to walk the length of the River Aire, all 92 miles of it, over 12 months, taking a photo at every pre-measured mile. ‘Is a river alive?’ asks Robert McFarlane in his best-selling book. It certainly feels like that, as Wendy walks from its birth, above Malham to its mouth near Goole.

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