This first half of this year's programme features talks on a number of sites within easy reach of us whereas the talks later in the year whisk us off to places such as Mongolia, Africa and Madagascar. We have four new speakers together with a few hardy perennials thrown in for good measure.

Do try and come along on the third Tuesday of each month. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Refreshments are free and there is also a raffle.

Admission price — £2.50 RSPB Medway Local Group members, £3.00 non-members.

Gordon has visited the Group many times in the past and never fails to deliver, with his excellent slides and knowledgeable presentation. His enthusiasm for this subject will, I am sure, come across in this look at an area of Europe that is very accessible for those of us in the South East, but is easily by-passed. Holland has several species of bird that are only a few wing beats away from establishing themselves in this country so perhaps this talk will offer a foresight into what we may expect in the future.

This is John's first visit to our Group. I have attended several of John's talks in the past and his knowledge of mammals is second to none. Kent is fortunate in that it is surrounded by water on three sides and is at the convergence of the warm English Channel and the cooler North Sea. The narrowness of the Straits of Dover ensures that any marine mammals are funnelled along close to our shores.

Everyone that knows the RSPB's oldest reserve will be interested in this talk by Bob who was its warden for many years. It is interesting to look back and see how barren the shingle peninsular used to be before the power stations were built and the vegetation expanded. Many of our more senior members will remember Bob from his time at the reserve and will be able to sit back and reminisce at the images displayed.

The Thames Gateway is transforming and sanitising some very special areas of marshland as London extends relentlessly eastwards at an alarming rate. This presentation will voice the RSPB's approach to how we can best deal with this expansion of housing in order to minimise the habitat destruction. There is a genuine conflict over those who feel that the Grain Peninsula and Sheppey should be afforded National Park status and those who see these areas as wastelands prime for development.

We have all sat through those slide presentations where the speaker shows us a grainy image of a blob in a bush and assures us that it is some rare warbler! Well this talk guarantees that this will not be the case as it features a selection of winning and short listed entries from the Wildlife Photographer competition. 'Everyone a Maseratti' as the saying goes! Given David's eloquent delivery it cannot fail to be an excellent night's entertainment.

Another new speaker for the Group, David has done a lot of photographic work at Stodmarsh.

This talk however focuses on the general wildlife, birds and landscape of the Kalahari National Park.

This is one of the strangest titles for a lecture about what is probably one of the strangest countries. This talk tells of an ornithological expedition exploring the Steppe Lakes of Eastern Mongolia in autumn. I can’t remember the Group having a talk on Mongolia before, but if it's as good as Adam's last visit to the Group it is not one to be missed. I can only hazard a guess as to what Gers, Yaks and Sibes are, so come along and find out on the night.

A first visit from the distaff side of the Buckingham household (husband John has featured many times in the past). Sue is a botanist and our second African talk of the season concentrates on the flowers of South Africa. This is one of the richest botanical areas on the planet with many endemic species. It is also the source of many of our garden plants so I am sure that we will all be familiar with some of the images featured.

The RSPB's 'Aren't Birds Brilliant' campaign set out to highlight many of the avian success stories. The intention is to bring to the public's attention and make accessible all the very best bits of bird behaviour and spectacle. Julian's presentations are always extremely professionally delivered and this should be a good-news presentation that reminds us what it is that makes us appreciate birds.

200 miles off the coast of East Africa, Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world. 100 million years ago Madagascar separated from mainland Africa. Isolated from Africa Madagascar's flora and fauna evolved along separate evolutionary courses, so much so that over 90% of Madagascar's fauna and flora exist nowhere else on Earth. I think that this is another first for the Group never having visited the 'red' island before. Brenda is one of our most popular speakers so we know we are in for a treat.

Apart from the usual quizzes, nibbles and tipples, this year's social will include a slot from our very own Peter Saville. It is his intention to give a bit of a resume of the Group's year with all the highlights (and low lights!) of the places we have visited on our outdoor walks, coach trips and events attended. So if you want your face to feature on the silver screen make sure you attend all the outdoor events.