COUNCIL REPORTS 111
Report of the Council of the Essex Field Club—1972
Council
The Council of the Club met six times during the year and report another
satisfactory year of activity.
Mr B. Ward, Mr B. Eastcott and Mr A. C. Wheeler retired from
Council according to the rules of the club and Mrs D. Boardman and
Mr K. Byrne were elected ordinary members of Council. Mr J. Caldwell,
Mr S. Harris were nominated by the Geology and Mammal Groups
respectively to be their representatives on Council under the new rule of
the club (Rule No. 7—amended 1971).
Membership
The membership of the Club stands at 303 (December 1972). The Club-
is pleased to welcome the Natural History Society of the Writtle Agri
cultural College to its membership.
During the year the death was announced of Mrs Birkmire who had
recently served a term on the council of the Club. Also of Mr F. Cullen
who was one of our oldest members.
Meetings
A total of 46 meetings were held during the year, as follows
General meetings, including the A.G.M.
—at West Ham 4
—at High Beach 1
—in the field 6
Group Annual Meetings 3
Group Annual Dinner 1
Informal meetings 31
The informal meetings were as follows: Botany 8, Geology 4, Ornitho-
logy 9, Mammalogy 5, Conservation 1, General Natural History 3,
Travel lecture 1.
Of these, one of the botany meetings was held jointly with the London
Natural History Society.
The Council is concerned that many of the indoor meetings at West
Ham were poorly attended.
The Mammal Group have continued their trapping meetings on
reserves of the Essex Naturalists Trust and held a competition for the
'Mammal Jug' at their Annual General Meeting. The week-end conserva-
tion meeting did some useful if wet work at Fingringhoe Wick Reserve.
Also a success was the week-end meeting held at the Breanoc Field Centre
in Cornwall, where members saw a range of Cornish mammals. Other