About The Speaker...

Dr Mike Pienkowski is the Chairman of the charity UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, a voluntary role. He was previously the Head of Ornithology Branch and then Assistant Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy Council, UK Government’s statutory advisor, and subsequently the first Director of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, NCC’s successor. He has served also in a range of nongovernmental organisations, including Head of International Legislation & Funding Department at RSPB, Director of the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism, Editor, Chairman and President of the International Wader Study Group, and Senior Editor of the Journal of Applied Ecology and Ringing & Migration. He leads the Secretariat of Environment Ministers (or equivalents) of UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
He was the chair of the group who planned and executed the reintroduction of Red Kites into those parts of the UK from which it had been missing for at least a century and a half, and the author of the book “When the Kite builds… WHY and HOW we restored Red Kites across Britain”. This tells the story of over three decades of work in some detail and with some authority in an accurate and readable account, lavishly illustrated by many colour photographs.
Mike has been involved in research and conservation for over 50 years, and has managed research and conservation projects in UK, across the UK Overseas Territories and elsewhere.

About Their Talks...

Mike provides a talk ‘When the Kite builds… WHY and HOW we restored Red Kites across Britain’. This includes a 30-minute video including material filmed both in 1989-90 and around 2022, plus a shorter illustrated talk section on the main outcomes of the Red Kite restoration and a Q&A section. (Mike can bring video projection and sound equipment if these are not available.) It is usually possible for Mike to bring some copies of the book (which contains much more information than can be included in the talk) to be available for sale at a discounted price. (All proceeds go to conservation charity.)

Mike can talk also on ‘UK’s most internationally important wildlife’. This describes some of the wildlife and conservation of UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. UK Government notes that 94% of the biodiversity for which UK is internationally responsible depends not on Great Britain but on the UK Overseas Territories.

Fee:

Mike’s fees start at £50, so that small organisations are not excluded, but larger bodies are invited to contribute over £100. There may be additional costs if the distance is large.