Natural history societies and the future

N A T U R A L HISTORY SOCIETIES AND THE FUTURE A discussion day for representatives of local Natural History Societies was held at Burlington House on llth October 1980, sponsored jointly by the Linnean Society and the Royal Society. Thirty-four societies were represented—our own by Norman Kerr and Howard Mendel.

The President, Professor Stearn, extended a welcome, and the Chairman, Sir Eric Smith, explained the purpose of the meeting and introduced the first Speaker.

Professor A. J. Meadows, Primary Communications Centre, Leicester University.

Publications—Communication

wich members.

The most difficult problem for societies such as ours is that of communication among members. The main vehicles are the publications which are circulated, now at considerable expense. These fulfil a dual function, firstly of recording scientific work, often rather specialized and comprehensible to only a small proportion of the members, secondly of presenting information of interest to the whole body of readers. The difficulty is in establishing a balance between these two aims. Several societies achieved this by Publishing annually a printed "Transactions" recording scientific work with the alternative of one or more "Newsletters", including programmes of meetings, smaller items of Natural History interest, personal notes, possibly book-reviews and comments on T.V. programmes, etc. The Speaker drew attention to the modern improvement in word processor developments and duplicating techniques which can simplify problems of copy production of such circulars.

Comparisons between the publications of different societies were interesting—our own was considered perhaps a little old-fashioned, but its qualty of production reflected a wealthy society!

In the discussion which followed the question of numbers attending meetings and field excursions was aired. Whilst urban societies have a great advantage over rural Country Societies such as ours and can attract larger audiences more frequently, it was generally admitted that the tendency was to reduce the number of indoor meetings. The showing of colour films and colour slides helps to attract audiences.

Dr. John Sheail of Monks Wood Experimental Station.

The Preservation of Archive Material: books, manuscripts,

photographs.

The records of today become the archive material of tomorrow, and quite commonplace observations can be of great value for the future. It is vitally important for societies to collect, and störe adequately, all forms of local records, and this must be regarded as a corporate responsibility. Microfilming of records can be a safeguard against fire risks, but expert advice is necessary.

The third Speaker, Mr. Trevor James of North Herts. Museum Service developed the theme in

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Biological Records, the role of Natural History

Societies.

The problems of record centres are to persuade members to submit records, to validate them, to organize their storage and access to them. They comprise two main groups—species records and site records; the former developed f r o m the B.S.B.I. survey of British plants on a tetrad basis and has been extended at Monks Wood to many other groups of organisms. Site recording is a iittle more difficult, varying from scheduled S.S.S.I.s and Nature Reserves to small areas such as a hedge or pond. Record centres have been organized by local societies. Nature Conservation Trusts or local museums, mainly by the last mentioned. Our own Centre, begun by the Society with the help of the County Council, is now being established as a function of Ipswich M u s e u m . Voluntary help from society members is a common and valuable feature of most record centres. Exchange of records between local and national centres, such as Monks Wood, is of mutual advantage to both.

The fourth Speaker, Mr. Tim Sands of the Society for the Promotion of N a t u r e Conservation, dealt with

Wildlife Legislation:

Species, habitat protection and the future.

H e began with the important bill still before Parliament and outlined some of the problems involved, then considered the numerous other Acts of Parliament previously enacted, and their implications for Natural History Societies.

The discussion reverted to the new Bill and societies were asked to follow its progress through the Houses, and be prepared to write to local M.P.s on specific problems raised in debates.

T h e fifth Speaker, Mr. Martin Dockray of the Faculty of Law, University of L o n d o n , took as his subject Charitable Status: Advantages

and

practicalities.

In a very amusing way he clearly explained the responsibilities implicit in the assumption of the status which we, as a society, enjoy, and dealt with the registration procedure.

T h e final session, Speaker Mr. Maurice Massey of the Nature Conservancy Council, concerned

Reserve Management

and Natural History

Societies.

T h o u g h of considerable interest and relevance to the Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation, it did not concern our Society.

A valuable feature of the meeting was the opportunity, at the luncheon break in the library of the Linnean Society, to meet representatives of other Societies and exchange information on our common problems.

T w o copies of the fĂźll report of the day's proceedings were received. These Trans. Suffolk

Nat. Soc. 18 part 3.

N A T U R A L HISTORY SOCIETIES A N D THE FUTURE

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may be consulted at Ipswich Museum where they are lodged with our archives and records.

N. R . Kerr, Wheelwright's Piece, Freston, Ipswich.

Trans. Suffolk

Nat. Soc. 18 part 3.