In reply to Geemeff:
So sorry to have missed this, Geemeff. My notifications have gone awry (yet again!!) and I've only just received your post above! I was also 'dealing' with an intrusion at Lowes at the time of the zoom briefing (it took an age to collect the pics!). However, I did answer both questions on the YouTube comments section late this afternoon. :)
Kind regards, Ann
Cirrus, Please do not be put off by Zoom. If I, as a fairly non-techie person, can click on a link in an e-mail, you can do it, too! Zoom has been a Godsend for us during the pandemic (and in some ways I regret that some groups are now stopping meeting by Zoom in favour of solely in-person meetings!) We can attend Zoom meetings from the comfort of our living room, and in complete privacy if we switch off our video camera and our sound, not to mention that we do not burn any petrol to get to and from meetings!
Hi Gardenbirder - I see your point, I thought it would be rude to not ''show my face'' as it were. Yes, I can certainly click on a link
and (surreptitious whisper) I always managed to high tail it to my nearest country side to walk and have nature mostly to myself ! Pony trekkers and dog walkers abounded though. Hope you're not shocked.
Thank you Sandra, patily, Cirrus and Gardenbirder. The briefing was well attended, and I managed - I think - to do a halfway decent first hosting of a zoom meeting despite last minute agenda changes as people in Africa and other countries had to rearrange internet connections! The launch was held last night at the Royal Geographical Society, Joanna Lumley opened the speeches, and she and Sacha were on GMB this morning as Alan has noted. I've attended a few launch type events but never one as enjoyable as this - when the speeches and slide presentation were over and people directed back to the main hall to refresh their glasses, no one moved! Just broke up into small groups with lots of animated chats going on. I personally talked to among others, Sir Tim Smit (Eden Project) about coy-mantling, of all things, a biologist who's making sustainable food - think flour made from crushed insects, Dr Erica McAllister, entomologist from the Natural History Museum, Dr Kayleigh Fawcett Williams, holding a very expensive thermal imaging camera who's a bat expert, a project sponsor who's into ethical finance so wants to fund more of this type of project (from NZ but doesn't like Test cricket - I had a go at persuading him otherwise, and we did agree on rugby!), an education dept head for a large sustainable living foundation who make all their content available free online for schools in developing countries, and Ian Redmond (protégé of Dian Fossey) who looked as if he'd just returned from one of his expeditions to far flung places and hadn't had time to go home yet. News item in today's Independent www.independent.co.uk/.../scotland-africa-joanna-lumley-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-ospreys-b2077828.html
Sacha and Joanna Lumley on Good Morning Britain this morning
Sacha Dench speaking at the launch event last night
Preview of the Flight of the Osprey film on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/704499506/900870612f