Editorial Peter Garner

Editorial

- Peter Garner

I’m not the best at adapting to modern ways, so the decision that The Flycatcher should now be published “online” initially left me feeling somewhat disturbed and unhappy. However, I was soon able to see the many advantages, and I felt completely in favour when it was explained to me that those who wished to have the usual hard copy format could do so for the very reasonable cost of £4. So, if you have a collection of past copies and have sufficient space on your bookshelf you can order a published copy in the same format as previous years. I hope this new arrangement will allow those of you who like to maintain a collection of past copies (perhaps as a source of reference) to do so. Whereas, I have been assured that more members are likely to read flycatcher on-line, and the Trust will be saved the cost of publishing and postage. I would welcome a response from members. Publishing The Flycatcher online is a minor change for the Trust compared with the changes in personnel. We must all be grateful for the wonderful contribution to the work of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust made by Helen Stace, Andrew Nixon and Sophie Cowling, but such dynamic people will always move on, and we can be reassured by the fact that the enhanced reputation of The Trust has attracted wonderful replacements such as our new CEO Jamie Audsley. Several of the articles in this edition have been written by those who have contributed before. I am so grateful to David Taft who has once again written, “Notes from my Garden”. I think, in a few years’ time, we should encourage David to have this sequence of articles published. He writes so well, describing many aspects of wildlife that many of us could experience if we researched our everyday observations more thoughtfully. For this edition he has also contributed two more articles; one about Elm trees, and the other records the observation of two interesting insect species; one new to Herefordshire and the other only previously recorded on The Doward. Will Watson is another frequent contributor to The Flycatcher and this year’s article about Berrington Hall Pool will, I’m sure, considerably increase their 2023 visitor numbers. It is helpfully informative, wonderfully descriptive and beautifully illustrated: I was very excited to receive it from Will.

Tony Norman is another quite regular contributor to The Flycatcher, and to be able to include his article on hedges with its conservation theme is very exciting. I mentioned earlier that Andrew Nixon was leaving the Trust, but as a farewell he has written two articles for this edition of The Flycatcher. We wish him well with his new post with Natural England. He has written about “The Wye in Crisis”, which unfortunately, is very disturbing. However, unless these problems are brought to the attention of those of us who care about such things, little is likely to change. I feel it is typical of Andrew to include a second article full of positivity - “Celebrating Seven Years of Successes in The Lugg Valley”. Hilary Ward’s well illustrated article about Goat’s-beard and a very rare hybrid was a fascinating surprise to me, even though I have spent years recording the plants of Herefordshire.

Two further articles could not be more in tune with the aims and objectives of

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. Sam Price describes our Local Wildlife Sites and Richard Thomas has explained how farmers can achieve a positive future for the natural environment with “Regenerative Farming Methods.” While putting together the articles in this edition of The Flycatcher I was hugely encouraged to feel very optimistic about the countryside and environment of our beautiful county.

Staff, Trustees and Volunteers gathered to say goodbye to Helen Stace who retired as CEO of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust this summer.