At the start of each new year, society members (and guests) look forward to the presentation by their president, wondering just what delights are being planned to entertain us.

Usually, the topics chosen come as a surprise and last week was no exception.

This year’s president, Chris Blyth, projected a most interesting and varied travelogue with a highly descriptive and educational commentary.

He admitted that, originally, the key elements of the presentation had been prepared specifically for the Isle of Man Ornithological Society, but it had been adapted for a different audience to feature other topics of more general interest.

Having said that, many beautiful pictures of the birdlife were strewn throughout.

Utilising spectacular aerial shots and maps, he began by describing the evolving geology of the Hawaiian region.

He showed the conveyor belt of eight major islands that make up the archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawai’i in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll.

On the ground, we were shown the island of Oahu, taking in the vibrant island life along Honolulu’s world famous Waikiki Beach.

Here, we saw the many surfers attracted to showcase their skills in riding the huge crashing waves.

With several volcanoes dotted across the islands, the soil is rich in minerals which results in a verdant and tranquil landscape of pineapple fields and coffee plantations.

The next segment focused on the so-called ’Ring of Fire’ and went on to transport us to Oregon, Washington State, Western Canada and, finally, Alaska.

This is an area where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

In an area the shape of a horseshoe, about 5,000 miles across, there is a series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs and belts with almost constant movements in the Eurasian, Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates

The journey then transported us eastwards to the beautiful city of Vancouver, the start point for a cruise though the ’inside passage’ north to Alaska, stopping at such places as Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Seward on Resurrection Bay.

After a short flight in a light plane, the next stop was the Katmai National Park in southern Alaska, notable for salmon fishing and brown bears. It is located across from Kodiak Island and nearby King Salmon and about 300 miles from Anchorage.

The bears catching salmon in the flowing rivers made good subjects for intrepid photographers!

This was a fascinating presentation which made for a highly entertaining evening.

The next meeting of the society will be held on Wednesday, January 23, at 7.30 pm at Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road in Douglas, when there will be an ’assignment’ competition on the theme ’Manx sport and leisure’ for both prints and for projected images.

Antony Hamilton