Here is the first edition of our newsletter in 2014. We do hope this year will be a good one for you all, with many exciting birding experiences. This edition has the results of the Ayrshire Stonechat survey from Angus – thanks to all who took part; Keith Martin has sent in another article on New Zealand – this time focussing on a family trip to find the North Island Brown Kiwi. From Henry Martin we have an article on Blue Tits – ”Bright birds make good mothers”, as well as a wee challenge for you – also from Henry. There is also a report about our excellent raptor migration trip to the Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz in September last year. We hope you enjoy all of this and of course, the remaining talks lined up for you and the joint field trips with RSPB Central Ayrshire Local group. We can assure you that your committee will do their very best to bring you more top-class speakers for the new season starting in September, and of course, an interesting range of destinations for our field trips and longer organised holidays / long weekends wherever they may be.