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The Essex Naturalist
Copy deadline Mailing
Newsletter and AGM notice end December 15th February
Newsletter and Programme Card end March 15th May
Newsletter end July 15th September
Naturalist 1st August 15th November
Newsletter + subscription reminder end September 15th November
Copy deadlines for the Newsletter are to be printed in each issue and
members are positively invited to send in notes, observations, comments or
longer articles for inclusion. The copy deadline for contributions to the Essex
Naturalist has been fixed as 1st August, though in practice the editor would be
happy to receive material before that date.
The Field Club is to approach the Essex Wildlife Trust with a view to holding
regular recording meetings at selected EWT sites to which all the Club's
members, and particularly its Recorders, are invited. The object of this exercise
is to list and then interpret the assemblage of species present on the nature
reserve - higher plants, lichens, fungi, algae, birds, mammals, herptiles, fish,
invertebrates and anything else, so that the Essex Wildlife Trust will be in a
better position to assess the efficacy of current management work and advise
appropriate changes if these are required. It is sincerely hoped that this will
herald the start of new and greater co-operation between the Club as the
County's main recording body and the Trust as the land-holding conservation
organisation.
The Field Club held 50 meetings and an Annual General Meeting during the
year, some jointly with the Colchester Natural History Society, the British
Entomological Society, the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and some were
recording meetings for the BSBI Atlas 2000 Project. Of these meetings, 18 were
botanical, eight ornithological, four for mammals, three for geology, two for
amphibians and reptiles, one for moths and nine were of a general nature. Five
of the meetings were indoor. Two were workshops, for the Botany and Fungi
Groups, the rest were talks. These were, November 22, "The Kingdom of the
Fungi" by Tony Boniface with slides by Martin Gregory; January 24,
"Experiences of a Bird Watcher" by Margaret Mitchell and, February 7,
"Wildlife of Langdon Hills" by Rodney Cole. The size and range of the
programme is encouraging, but the number of members attending some of the
meetings is giving concern.
Four issues of the Newsletter were produced during the year and Volume 14
(new series) of the Essex Naturalist was published in November.