annual review of the society 2014/15 · success. we have been working ... continued with sightings...

Chairman’s Review of the Society Year: 1st August 2014 - 31st July 2015It has been a very busy and positive period for the Society. It can take years to bring projects to fruition and we have been able to realise 3 long-term initiatives this year as well as making improvements to our regular activities.

The Society has been trying to negotiate a new long-term lease for our nature reserve for over 25 years and so we were delighted to agree a new 30 year tenancy with the landowner, Newcastle Racecourse. At the same time we were able to open our new wildlife viewing hide and boardwalk which has taken several years to plan, raise funds and build ourselves. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who donated funds and gave their time and expertise to help make this such a success.

We have been working for several years to develop a project to improve the long-term management, preservation and public access to our internationally important archive collection and were thrilled to receive funding for a new 3 year project from Heritage Lottery Fund to enable us to do so. Since we started in October volunteers have already contributed £125,000 worth of their time as match funding.

The quality and diversity of the field outings, talks and natural history courses that have been provided is fantastic, especially when it is realised that most of these are organised and run by Society members. Our outdoor programme was packed with over 50 activities and our 21 talks were attended by 1,614 people. We ran 31 natural history courses delivering 526 hours of teaching to 472 learners. We also worked with the museum team to organise 5 short classes.

We have continued campaigning to protect the wildlife in and around Gosforth Park Nature Reserve from urban sprawl and during the year there was a fantastic effort from volunteers to improve the habitats in the reserve. They regenerated an area of reedbed, renovated 0.5ha of meadow, removed rhododendron, cleared 0.5ha of spruce woodland and replanted it with 500 native trees. We were helped in this work by pupils from Kenton Academy, students from Newcastle University and employees from Wood Kenny. Dedicated volunteers also enable us preserve Newcastle’s last population of Red Squirrels. As well as our work at Gosforth Park we have continued to play an active role in nature conservation across the region.

Our library, archives and museum collections remain an outstanding resource for the region and work has continued to improve them for members and the wider public. We joined forces with the regional Wildlife Trusts and Great North Museum: Hancock to run a very successful North East Wildlife Photography Competition.

We work hard to make the best use of our supporters’ money and ensure that we are well run. One example of this is the efforts of volunteers to organise and deliver Society publications to other members which now saves us around £1,000 pa in postage costs.

Membership at the end of July 2015 stood at 1,295, the highest number for over a decade. We welcome the 266 new members who joined the Society and hope that they will stay with us to support our work.

We have to thank all members of Society Council for their hard work, support and encouragement of the Society over the past year. They along with all our volunteers are essential to keep the Society running at all levels from administration in the Society office to leading field meetings, managing our nature reserve, caring for our collections and organising talks and outings - all their efforts on behalf of the Society are highly valued and greatly appreciated.

Dr Chris RedfernChairman

Annual Review of the Society 2014/15

Annual Review 2014/15

Tel: (0191) 208 2790Natural History Society of Northumbria

Gosforth Park Nature Reserve

The autumn and winter of 2014-15 was the driest in many years and there were days in February and March which were unbelievably warm. However this was followed by a generally cool spring and early summer which was not especially good for some breeding species. Around 15 pairs of Common Terns returned to breed but they had their worst season for many years with only a handful of chicks fledged (a pattern repeated at other North East colonies). The number of Blue Tit chicks in our boxes was down by nearly 25% and butterfly counts on our weekly transect totalled 176 compared to 234 the previous year.

However it was not all bad news; Little Grebes had a good season with around 7 young fledged and Great Tit chicks in our boxes were up by 50% compared to the previous year.

The trend of “southern” species visiting the reserve has continued with sightings of Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Golden Oriole and a number of insects, including Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly (pictured).

We got wet cutting channels and pools within the reedbed to improve the habitat for Bittern and at least 3 of them spent the winter in the reserve although despite our efforts there is still no evidence of breeding.

The Society continued to fight plans to build on land around the reserve and we were disappointed not to prevent North Tyneside Council from granting planning permission for a Max-Millions leisure facility opposite the reserve entrance. We have been working with Newcastle Racecourse regarding their plans for an all-weather track and ensuring that wildlife will benefit from their project.

The biggest project of the year was the building of a new split-level wildlife watching hide and boardwalk and the dismantling of the old one. We have also created a new pond dipping/viewing area. Contractors used large machinery to drive the huge Oak piles for the new hide but the rest was down to volunteers who gave an amazing 1,100 hours of work in all weathers. The new Matthew Ridley Hide and boardwalks are a fantastic place to watch wildlife and experience wetland habitats. Three schools have already made use of these facilities.

As well as building a new hide and boardwalk volunteers have cleared 0.5ha of woodland and replanted it with 500 native trees, they have restored an area of reedbed,

renovated 0.5ha of meadow, cleared rhododendron and pulled invading Himalayan Balsam plants – a fantastic effort. As a result of our woodland management we have been selling firewood to raise funds for our work.

We are extremely grateful to our warden Paul Drummond who has worked selflessly to protect the wildlife, evict trespassers and to carry out maintenance work. We also recruited and trained 7 new volunteer wardens who have been a great help in keeping an eye on the reserve and dealing with problems.

We continued to work with visiting schools, in particular the teenagers from Kenton Academy who have been learning about and helping with conservation work. The Open Day in July 2015 was a great success with 180 visitors coming to look around and learn about mammals, birds, moths and plants.

From a long-term perspective one of the best achievements of the year was securing a new 30 year lease for the reserve from the landowner, Newcastle Racecourse – after 25 years of negotiations!

We cannot thank enough all those of people who have given so generously of their time, money and sweat to help the reserve and its wildlife over the past 12 months.

The Reserve Management Committee was Geoff Lawrence (Chair), Andy Atkinson, Bob Wilkin, Tony Tynan, Chris Redfern, David Noble-Rollin, Paul Drummond and James Littlewood. Bob Wilkin stood down from the committee after many years of loyal service: we owe him a great debt of thanks for all his work. We welcome Julia Black to the committee.

Responding to Development

As well as working to prevent inappropriate development around Gosforth Park we have also been responding on behalf of members to other cases. We have objected to planning applications at Woolsington Woods (Newcastle) and Prudhoe Hall (Northumberland). We have submitted responses to council development plans in Northumberland and North Tyneside and to development briefs on sites in west Newcastle. You can read about this work on our website at www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/news/cms/planning/


It has been another busy year at the Museum. In August 2014 we organised a week of public events to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Hancock Museum. Live animal handling, birds of prey demonstrations and a Society lecture on the Hancock brothers, helped to attract 16,000 visitors. The whole summer programme focussed on engaging our visitors with the collections and the Society’s objects took centre stage on 4 of the 6 weeks. This new approach to holiday weeks proved successful and supported our busiest summer since our opening year.

At Christmas we held the Museum’s first Festive Fayre. Enjoyed by more than 4,000 visitors the Museum was filled with festive family activities included live Reindeer on the front lawn, carolling, crafts, storytelling and tree decorating. Looking through the Society’s archive we even found some wintery photographs of the Museum from 1902 to share on social media (pictured right).

In the New Year work began in earnest on Spineless, an exhibition all about invertebrates. Our aim was to create an exhibition which would amaze and inspire and give visitors the opportunity to explore the world of these fascinating creatures, from coral reefs to the rainforest and even our own gardens and parks, including live animals and interactive play. Research for the exhibition and preparation of objects kept the biology team busy for most of the year. We developed some new interpretation techniques

including animated films and a comic guide which featured the Society’s own Albany Hancock on the front cover. The exhibition opened on 1 August 2015 marking an exciting start to the 2015/2016 museum year.

There was a big increase in school children visiting the museum during the year and 25,000 of them kept our Learning Team very busy.

Work in 2014/15 at the Great North Museum: Resource Centre (basement of Discovery Museum in Newcastle) has focused on reorganising the mounted bird collection in the main biology store. Significant work to reorganise specimens in the rocks and minerals store has also progressed, including taking record photographs across the Society’s Petrology and Mineralogy collections.

There have been numerous research activities and visits to the stored collections in the last year. These have included: scanning of a fossil reptile skull at Durham University’s XRCT facility; a request from researchers at University College, London, regarding the Society’s Waterhouse Hawkins Maquettes (the Pterodactyl model, currently on display in Fossil Stories, is particularly rare and there is also a Labyrinthodon model in the collections which is not currently on display); a visit from an academic at Glasgow University to research Great Skua Eggs; and a visit from Professor Andre Roulin of the University of Brussels focussed on the Society’s Barn Owl skins.

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www.nhsn.ncl.ac.ukE-mail: [email protected]

Education Courses

This was our busiest year yet. We provided 31 courses in a diversity of subjects, including ornithology, geology, wildlife photography, botany, archaeology, animal evolution, astronomy and the Quaternary. Students learnt a tremendous amount about the natural world from expert tutors and feedback has been excellent.

During the year 559 places were booked, an increase of 24% on the previous year, and an average of 18 students per class. Many of our courses were fully booked so we arranged additional classes in birdwatching and geology to meet demand, including a class in Durham. We also organised 5 short classes in partnership with the Great North Museum: Hancock, including sessions on bird migration and the ice age.

Indoor classes took place at the Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle University and Shakespeare Hall in Durham and outdoor classes visited locations as diverse as the Durham uplands, Farne Islands, Tynemouth, Hartlepool and upper Tynedale.

Our archaeology tutor, Steve Speak, retired during the year and we would like to thank him for his teaching over many years.


Great North Museum: Hancock by Sarah Glynn (Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums)

Library

The Society’s Library Committee directs the affairs of our library. We share the public library in the Great North Museum: Hancock with the Society of Antiquaries and Newcastle University’s Archaeology Department. There is a Library Liaison Committee that brings together the three of us plus representatives from Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM), the University Robinson Library and Newcastle City Library. This Committee met four times during the year to progress outstanding issues and to co-ordinate efforts. The running of the library is carried out by a professional Librarian, Ian Bower, who is employed by TWAM. He has been active again this year in promoting the library and bringing interested groups to visit. Ian is supported by a team of volunteers who help to run the Library.

Saturday opening of the library was trialled from January to September 2015 but there were not enough users to continue this. We hope that volunteers will open the library on a number of Saturdays during the winter. After two years of wrangling, free public Wi-Fi is now available in the library which should be of great help to researchers.

In March 2015 a small ceremony was held to rename the Rare Book Store after David Gardner-Medwin to recognise the huge contribution that David had made to the library, archives and Society.

During the year there were 3,694 visits to the library compared to 3,397 in 2013/14. Our loans system continued to be popular with 197 books borrowed by members this year, compared to 143 last year. There has been a steady stream of enquiries from general users, researchers and museum staff, and there have been a number of guided tours for specialists including bookbinders, university students and local history groups.

18 books were purchased this year, including works on palaeontology (Amphibian Evolution, The Life of Early Land Vertebrates) and on Mammals (Bats of Britain, Europe & Northwest Africa, Mammals of North America, Arctic Fox, The World of the Polar Bear and A Guide to the Mammals of China). Botanical titles included Arable Bryophytes and a Field Guide to Arable Plants. Ornithological titles included The Spanish Imperial Eagle, The Passenger Pigeon and The Common Eider. A copy of Weardale Naturalists’ Field Club Transactions Vol.I (part 1) (1900) filled one of the few gaps in our coverage of locally published periodicals.

102 books were donated. A generous bequest from Geoffrey Shaw included six of Thomas Bewick’s works (all rare editions and two books that were previously owned by the bibliographer Roscoe) and a copy of George Johnston’s Flora of Berwick upon Tweed annotated by William Yarrell. His ‘large paper’ copy of the 7th edition of Quadrupeds is beautifully bound by Ramage & co. A copy of HC St John’s (1880) Notes and Sketches from the Wild Coasts of Nipon was purchased with money Gift-Aided by David Gardner-Medwin, and there were also two posthumous donations from David.

Ten books on botany and the natural history of the Himalayas were given by Ian Doak. Books were also received from Wendy Dirks (15 books), Keith Cunningham (7), Margaret Woodward (7), Leslie Jessop (5), Hazel Makepeace (4), Colin Scrutton (4), June Holmes (3), Steve Lowe (3), John Patten (3), Ann Wilson (3), Trevor Hardy (2), Norman Moore (2), Bill Pickering (2), Janet Simkin (2), Michael Turner (2), and there were single donations by Sara Ayad, Ian Bower, Michael Braithwaite, Stella Chambers, Keith Elliot, Paul Evans, Steve le Fleming, A. Gajdus, Fiona Gerardin, Vivian Kent, Mark Laird, Andy Lane, Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club, Chris Redfern, Mike Smith, Susan Stenger, Nigel Tattersfield, Tyne Bridge Publishing and Vertebrate Publishing.

A total of 170 items of serial publications (journals, etc.) were received, 61 by exchange, 54 by subscription and 55 by donation. Margaret Evans has continued the valuable task of dealing with all these parts as they arrive, recording and storing them and arranging for periodicals to be bound.

The death of Bill Pickering came to us all as a surprise and a shock. He had contributed his botanical expertise to the library for many years and his loss has created a big void. Trevor Hardy decided to step down from the Library Committee, and many thanks are due to him for his decades of service; Derek Teasdale has agreed to take his place as our geology expert. Other committee members are Stella Chambers, Margaret Evans, June Holmes, Leslie Jessop (Chair) and Eric Morton.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped to keep the Library running through the year.





Archives

The Society has an internationally important collection of 16,000 artworks, photographs, letters, diaries, notebooks and other items which are stored in the library of the Great North Museum: Hancock. Caring for, cataloguing and making this collection and its fascinating stories available involves considerable work.

We were given a massive boost in September 2014 when the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded us £137,200 for a 3 year project to improve our archive and engage more people in it. This enabled us to employ a part-time archivist and June Holmes, who has worked as a volunteer caring for our archives for 20 years, was appointed in December 2014.

June has been busy recruiting new volunteers and working hard to get our collection seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible. An update on this project can be found on the front page.

Every year we receive many enquiries from publishers, researchers, the public and even TV asking to use our images. This year, the most unusual image request was for the botanical watercolour of Alkanet by Margaret R Dickinson for celebrity chef James Martin’s latest programme ‘Home Comforts’. Something else to look forward to is the republication of P L Travers much loved book The Fox at the Manger by The Little Brown Book Company. All of the illustrations are sourced from Bewick engravings in our collections of original proofs.

In August 2014, as part of the celebrations for the Hancock Museums 130th birthday, a small archive exhibition was created in the Northumbria Gallery which showcased the work of John and Albany Hancock. We also featured on our website an article about the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who officially opened the museum in 1884.

We held a successful Heritage Open Day event in September 2014 in our Council Room where visitors were invited to view the furnishings, paintings, artefacts and a selection of rare archives. On display, for the first time, were the 7 recently acquired original wood engraving blocks by Thomas Bewick. Much to the amusement of the volunteers managing the event, the small ink stained blocks were

mistaken for pieces of chocolate by a foreign visitor who had never seen anything like them before!

Our important collection of Thomas Bewick material was much in demand and we were pleased to support Sunderland University’s project ‘To Bewick and Back: Wildlife, Walking & Art.’ The project’s main exhibition featured panels illustrated with Bewick engravings scanned from the Society’s archive. This was on display in Gateshead Civic Centre in October 2014 and proved so popular that it was retained for an additional month. As part of the project we also arranged a personal viewing of the Society’s significant Bewick collection for participants and their feedback was excellent.

We held an ‘Archive Roadshow’ event at the museum in February when people were encouraged to bring in art, letters, photographs and notebooks for us to have a look at. To illustrate our interest in collecting contemporary archives a small exhibition of recent accessions was put on display. On the day, one of our members kindly donated 3 watercolour drawings by Mary Jane Hancock, the artistic sister of John and Albany. The fascinating sketches of local landscapes around the River Tyne in the 1850s demonstrate the wealth of material still in private hands.

One of the highlights of 2015 was the re-invention of ‘Sound Strata of Coastal Northumberland’ by Susan Stenger an artwork inspired by the Society’s archives. It features the 12.5 metre long watercolour, ink and pencil geological strata diagram of a coastal section from the Tyne to the Tweed by 19th century mining engineer Nicholas Wood (left). This installation, which was originally exhibited in March 2014 by the AV Festival at the Laing Art Gallery, had been so well-received that the Society gave permission for a further touring exhibition with associated lectures and musical events. During March-September 2015 it visited the Gymnasium Gallery in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and in the Lookout Tower on Holy Island. A lavishly illustrated book was published to accompany the tour with a full scan of Wood’s strata diagram and a CD of the sound installation by Stenger. This inspirational interpretation of archives through art and music drew in a completely new audience; it was an extremely satisfying and innovative venture for the Society to be involved with, attracting a lot of interest and publicity.

In June we helped curate a small outreach exhibition in the foyer of Newcastle University’s King’s Gate Building, which featured George Gibsone’s watercolour shell drawings.

Tyne Kittiwakes Partnership

The Partnership was chaired by the Society and we contributed towards the aim of safeguarding the colonies along the River Tyne by organising Kittiwake watching at Newcastle Quayside, revising the Tyne Kittiwakes leaflet and giving a conference speech at Newcastle University. Thanks to Durham Wildlife Trust and the Lottery cameras were installed on the Baltic Art Gallery and we were able to watch live footage of the birds rearing their young. We liaised with organisations that have Kittiwakes nesting on their premises, including Baltic Art Gallery, Akzo Nobel and Port of Tyne. It was a good breeding season for the birds with 1,011 pairs and 942 chicks. More information at www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/news/cms/tynekittiwakes/



Lecture Programme

The Society organised 21 lectures during the year at the Great North Museum: Hancock, with an average attendance of 77 people. In the autumn, talks by Richard Crossley (a birders’ tales) and Amy Carrick (Water Voles) were popular. After Christmas the Clore Suite was packed to hear about Bob Wilkins’ search for the elusive Jaguar. Also very popular were talks by Andrew Kinghorn (large white-headed gulls) and Alan Cayless (meteorites).

We had no cancellations due to bad weather but in January Lesley Dunlop gave a talk about geodiversity in the North East in place of the advertised talk by John Gluyas about energy security and in February Simon Laing stood in for Per Berggren to talk about the status of marine mammals in the North East.

In addition to our winter programme we hosted two talks in partnership with Northumberland Wildlife Trust: in May Mike Pratt talked about My Wild Northumbria and in July Martin Kitching spoke about marine life in the North East.

We are very grateful to all our speakers, to our Section leaders for organising such an excellent programme of talks and also to several of the Society trustees who helped to support our staff to make these events possible.

The Society also gave a variety of talks and lectures to other groups during the year, including two for students at Newcastle University

We rely heavily on volunteers to help us look after our archive and enable it to flourish. We have recruited several new volunteers and now have a team of 12 Society members and 2 Newcastle University students working with June Holmes. We are incredibly grateful for their commitment and enthusiasm. Thanks are especially due to Anne Stephenson and Stella Chambers who have helped with events and exhibitions on numerous occasions over the year.

The Society is very grateful for the following accessions to our archives this year:

- Unframed oil sketch (c1985) of the late artist and President of the Society, James Alder (see image) by his friend John T Y Gilroy (1898-1985). Presented by the Alder family.

- A small collection of original art work by James Alder, purchased from the Alder family with the aid of donations, this includes a fine watercolour of a Raggis Bird of Paradise and some of Alder’s earliest works.

- Collection of memorabilia and correspondence relating to James Gavin Black. Presented by Charles Bowden.

- A rare framed copperplate engraving of The Whitley Large Ox by Thomas Bewick (1789) from the estate of Geoffrey Shaw QC.

- Three watercolour sketches by Mary Jane Hancock c1850s. Presented by Dr E A Charles.

- Collection of memorabilia from the late naturalist, Mr Alec

Iredale. Donated by Dinah Iredale.

- Goddard, T. Russell, History of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1829-1929, annotated by Ralph Scott. Donated by Graham Alder.

- Northumbrian Nature Trails 1969 Leaflet: The Mushwump and related history. Donated by Dr Eric Robinson.

- Collection of signed limited edition James Alder prints. Donated by Northumberland Wildlife Trust.



Society Publications

We worked in partnership with the local branch of Butterfly Conservation to publish Butterflies of North East England in November 2014 as part of our Northumbrian Naturalist journal. This is an excellent publication which brings local knowledge of butterflies up to date. It was the result of a huge amount of voluntary work collecting, analysing and describing data on our butterflies and we are very grateful to all of the people involved. In April 2015 we published Wildlife on the Farne Islands 2014 in partnership with The National Trust. This was the last year that this report will be compiled by the Farnes lead Ranger David Steel and we thank him for all his work over the past 14 years.

We also published autumn, winter and spring editions of our Bulletin newsletter and sent out monthly e-mail updates to keep members informed of news and events.

We need to thank John Bullar for his help typesetting and Margaret Patterson and Joan Williams for proof editing as well as the many volunteers who contributed articles, packed the envelopes and hand delivered publications to other members in their neighbourhoods.

Environmental Records Information Centre (ERIC) North East

ERIC now holds almost 2.8 million species records due to the hard work and dedication of all of the organisations, groups and individuals who have submitted sightings of plants and wildlife. During the year ERIC signed new data sharing agreements with Northumberland Badger Group and Teesmouth Bird Club. These records will be an important contribution to ERIC’s data holdings and will be of huge benefit to researchers, local authorities, nature conservation organisations and government agencies.

This year ERIC worked on the Buglife B-Lines project in which they helped help plot the route of insect pathways throughout the region (left), ultimately linking with a national network of B-lines. This was achieved by using the information held in ERIC’s database.

A highlight of the public events programme was the North East Wildlife Recording Conference held in October 2014, attended by over 100 people who heard about the variety of wildlife recording activity and projects taking place across the North East. The speakers included Dan Gordon from the Great North Museum: Hancock who talked about local records from the Natural History Society’s collections.

The Society’s representative on the ERIC Board was Dr Janet Simkin

Entomology Section

In 2015 we organised a series of insect activities to tie in with the summer Spineless exhibition at the Great North Museum and to encourage more people to take an interest in insects. These activities were really well attended and the feedback has been excellent, so we hope to do more in future. We started off with our annual Bugs & Botany event in June and despite the weather there were plenty of insects.

We are grateful to Anne Porter (Durham Wildlife Trust) and Dave Liddle (Durham County Council) for an excellent trip to Waskerley to see Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and learn about their conservation. Also in June Louise Hislop and Gordon Port ran a bee workshop at Cockle Park Science Centre. In July bad weather nearly put pay to Steve le Flemings outing to Bishop Middleham Quarry but the main target species, Northern Brown Argus butterfly (photo) was still seen.



Botany Section

In September 2014 Michael Hancock helped find a good range of fungi at Gosforth Park including a new species for the reserve Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides. Paul Drummond led members to identify trees in Gosforth Park in the winter and spring.

In May 2015 we were privileged to be invited to Haughton Castle, Humshaugh, to enjoy, under the guidance of Professor John Richards, the spectacular riparian flora along the North Tyne. There were not only abundant Globeflower Trollius europaeus and Northern Bedstraw Galium boreale, but Holy-grass Anthoxanthum nitens at its only known English site. Later in the month we were in Weardale with Dr Angus Lunn where ancient woodland, limestone grassland and lead-mine spoil, collectively produced Bird’s-nest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis, Toothwort Lathraea squamaria, and, in a quarry, drifts of Early Purple Orchid Orchis mascula (photo).

Another species-rich site was Caw Lough, together with Greenlee Lough, which we visited in July again with John Richards. Specialities at Caw Lough included Lesser Tussock-sedge Carex diandra together with Grey Club-rush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, Early Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata, and Broad-leaved Cottongrass Eriophorum latifolium. Greenlee Lough’s fen produced Skullcap Scutellaria galericulata. The final outing was a beginners’ session conducted by Dr Janet Simkin and Judy Summerson at The Spetchells, Low Prudhoe.

The Midweek Botany Group’s “away-from-the-North East” holiday was to Shropshire in June. We visited several limestone habitats (Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserves) near to Oswestry. The very rich Sweeney Fen had Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa and Fool’s Water-cress Apium nodiferum. At Llynclys Common was the, unfamiliar to us in the north, Black Bryony Tamus communis, together with Greater Butterfly-orchid Platanthera chlorantha, and at Llanymynech Rocks were a range of other calcicoles.

The following morning was spent at Downton Gorge National Nature Reserve, under the guidance of Natural England’s Simon Cooter. New to most of us in this splendid valley woodland were Southern Woodrush Luzula forsteri and Wild Service-tree Sorbus torminalis. The afternoon was spent in the Cardingmill Valley, of the Long Mynd - a National Trust property. The habitats are mainly acidic grassland and flushes. We saw Bird’s-foot Ornithopus perpusillus, a small legume vanishingly scarce with us, and Navelwort Umbilicus rupestris. Our final morning was spent at Colemere, a Country Park where the meadow had a spectacular colony of Meadow Thistle Cirsium dissectum and Southern Marsh-orchid. We were happy one evening to meet Andrew Allott, author of the New Naturalist book on the area, and who had suggested sites to visit.

Midweek Botany Group

The Group has had another very active year enjoying Wednesday field trips and taking part in a number of botanical projects. The first two trips in August 2014 were recording outings to quite different monads (1X1 km squares). Callerhues Crags, north of Bellingham, was a remote moorland site with a relatively low number of species, whereas at Greenhaugh we walked through species-rich pasture, hay meadow and stream-side habitats.

The following excursion was to the Simonside Hills where we climbed on forest tracks passing Chickweed Wintergreen Trientalis europaea, Adder’s-tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum and clubmosses. At the base of the crags was a beautiful display of Dwarf Cornel Cornus suecica in fruit, the highlight of the day. The last trip of the month was to record in a monad at Batey Shield near Halton-Lea-Gate where the habitat was mainly moorland and improved pasture.

September 2014 started at the dunes and saltmarsh of Buston Links where we studied the difficult genus of Atriplex of which the most interesting were Early Orache Atriplex praecox and Babington’s Orache A. Glabriuscula. We also saw a beautiful stand of White Bryony Bryonia dioica (photo) sprawling over a large area of gorse. The following Wednesday we visited Minsteracres Monastery where we were very fortunate to be shown round the grounds by expert botanist Gordon Simpson who knows the estate well. In complete contrast, the next walk was along the River Tyne from Gateshead Quayside to the Metro Centre where we were very surprised to see a good display of Sea Aster Aster tripolium next to a main road!



Spring of 2015 started with a visit to Hareshaw Linn near Bellingham where we looked at the ferns on the side of the gorge and also found a large patch of Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia. The next week we were in Howburn Woods in Morpeth where the native Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta provided a beautiful display. In May, at Colwell Whinstone (a series of whin cliffs and grasslands) we had good sightings of Heath Dog Violet Viola canina and Maiden Pink Dianthus deltoides.

Next we were in Upper Teesdale and appreciated the lovely display of Bird’s-eye Primrose Primula farinosa (photo), Globe Flower Trollius europaea and Spring Gentian Gentiana verna. At the beginning of June we assisted Alnwick Wildlife Group by conducting a baseline survey for a Local Wildlife Site for Alnwick Town Council. Cawledge Burn, a semi-natural ancient woodland site had a most unusual Dutch Elm survivor – a c.20 year-old Small-leaved Elm Ulmus minor, and the nearby railway line had a good population of Small Toadflax Chaenorhinum minus. The following week we were once again very grateful to Gordon Simpson for sharing his great knowledge with us, this time in Kielder Forest. He demonstrated the work being done to encourage the spread of Heath Cudweed Gnaphalium sylvaticum. In 2011 only one plant was found but this year the population has risen to about 40 plants. We were also shown the moss Dicranodontium asperulum at its only known English site.

On the next outing we were fortunate to be accompanied by Professor Brian Whitton who told us about the algae to be found on the mine and spoil areas at Nenthead and how they cope with the high levels of heavy metals in the soil and water. The afternoon walk from Alston to Blagill Bridge was along the very flowery banks of the River Nent, through grassland and woodland, with showy drifts of Mountain Pansy Viola lutea (photo).

In July the group visited Hudspeth Farm near Elsdon at the request of Natural England to survey a variety of habitats for the Higher Level Scheme farm plan. 125 species were recorded in species-rich pasture, valley fen and calcareous flushes and included 17 species of sedge and 4 species of orchid. The farmer was delighted with our findings.

Another rewarding trip was to the Wansbeck Estuary and Sandy Bay. Within the estuary were abundant Annual Sea-blite Suaeda maritima, Sand Spurrey Spergularia rubra and Sea Purslane Atriplex portulacoides. Sandy Bay had several interesting plants, in particular plentiful Lesser Meadow-rue Thalictrum minus.

The following week Stuart Pudney from Northumbrian Water kindly showed us round Fontburn Reservoir and prevented us from sinking into the dredged silt which had been excevated from the reservoir! This has formed a rich artificial habitat where we found a great number of different plants including Grass of Parnassus Parnassia palustris and Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea.

An energetic trip to Kilhope Law near Allenheads followed, where we climbed the hill and looked at a range of sedges and club-mosses. A special site in Hexhamshire provided us with wonderful sightings of the rare and very small Bog Orchid Hammarbya paludosa and Lesser Twayblade Neottia cordata and a walk in the afternoon also provided lots of botanical interest.

We are very grateful to all those within the group who led our outings and especially to our visiting leaders Gordon Simpson, Brian Whitton and Stuart Pudney who gave up their time and shared their expertise with us.

Throughout the year group members have recorded a huge number of plants which are submitted to our local Vice-county Recorders. These will contribute towards the new County Floras which are being prepared. Several members have also assisted the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by monitoring restored hay meadows and surveying flower-rich banks for their Nectarworks project, which aims to increase the flowers to provide nectar for bees.

During the winter some of the group have been very busy working on restoring the Society’s herbarium which is stored in the Discovery Museum. This has involved repairing, remounting and photographing thousands of dried plants, some of which date back to the 19th century and were collected by the founder members of our Society.



Ornithology Section

Bird migration is one of natures’ amazing events but it is also proving frustratingly difficult to organise an outing to see it in action! David Steele led an early morning watch at Whitburn in September 2014 when the wind was east and there was mist but a staggering absence of migrants. Inevitably the next day a Fea’s Petrel flew past! More luck was had by Ian Kerr at Holy Island in October 2014 when we had the unique experience of watching Europe’s largest and smallest birds of prey within an hour. A juvenile White-tailed Eagle, the island’s first since 1881, soared towards the mainland, mobbed in turn by a Peregrine and 3 Buzzards (see photo). The bird had no wing tags, indicating a migrant from Europe rather than a Scottish released individual. Then there were close views of a juvenile female Merlin plucking and eating prey and daintily wiping her beak on seaweed. Other highlights included Slavonian and Red-necked Grebes and some spectacular flying displays by waders.

At Lindesfarne National Nature Reserve in November 2014 we had distant views of waders, wildfowl and seaduck, including Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Slavonian Grebe and a Great Northern Diver was seen by a few.

Dan Turner led two trips to the Tyne Estuary at the start of 2015, where Iceland and Glaucous Gulls were seen along with other estuary wildlife. A good crowd of 40 people joined the Friends of Red Kites in the Derwent Valley in January to see around 20 kites put on an impressive pre-roost flying display. Other birds of the valley included Dipper and Goosander.

The weather was dreadful at Kielder Forest in March when we went in search of Goshawk and other conifer specialists. The lack of birds and abundant rain was more than made up for by what we all learnt from our incredibly knowledgeable guide Martin Davison.

On our coach trip to Aberlady Bay in Scotland in April we saw a Little Egret in the estuary, which according to the warden was something of a good find. After a long walk to the Forth Estuary the drizzle eventually cleared to allow distant views of large flocks of Velvet Scoter. The afternoon boat trip out to Bass Rock was amazing. Under clear blue skies we witnessed one of the UK’s great natural spectacles as 100,000 Gannets wheeled above us.

Also in April Durham Bird Club kindly invited us to Backstone Bank Woods behind Tunstall Reservoir when Pied Flycatcher and Redstart were seen along with other woodland birds. In May David Noble-Rollin led a bird song outing to Thornley Woods with most of the target species heard and seen.

In Slaley Forest in mid-summer we were outnumbered 1,000,000:1 by midges but once out in the open we were treated to a lovely sunset, churring Nightjars, roding Woodock and a Tawny Owl as dark descended. We rounded the year off nicely in July 2015 on our joint outing with North Northumberland Bird Club; David Noble-Rollin, Tom Cadwallander, Graham Bell and James Littlewood led four boats of people on evening trips to Coquet Island – as well as good views of the Roseate Terns, Puffins and other breeding seabirds we also saw summer plumaged Knot, Manx Shearwater and Arctic Skua.

We are incredibly grateful to all our leaders for giving their time and expertise so freely.

Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve

The Joint Advisory Panel advises Natural England on the issues that affect the site and its wildlife, especially birds, for which it is internationally important for wintering and migrating species. Peak numbers of wildfowl (with last year’s in brackets) were Whooper Swan 74 (30); Light-bellied Brent Goose 3,200 (3,981); Barnacle Goose 300-400 (400) wintering, but in September around 7,000 on passage; Pink-footed Goose 6,800 (4,500); Greylag Goose 350 (45); Wigeon 14,800 (12,000), including passage birds – up on last year and the year before (but still well below the 40,000 in the 1980s). In mid-November there was a count of 2,629 Light-bellied Brent and a juvenile score was 9%. When coupled with counts from Denmark this showed an increase in productivity of 3.5% from last season. Denmark’s spring staging counts indicate a total population of approximately 7,300. The Society representative on the panel is Graham Bell.



The Lindesfarne Wildfowl Panel is concerned with the wildfowling activity within the National Nature Reserve they monitor the conduct of wildfowlers through the Wildfowl Warden and keep records of the numbers of birds arriving and departing from the reserve. The Society representative on the Wildfowl Panel was David Noble-Rollin.

Coquet Island Advisory Committee

The Society was instrumental in the establishment of the Coquet Island Reserve and has participated in the Advisory Committee since its inception. Protection of the Roseate Tern colony remains a priority for the reserve and 2015 was one of the most successful since the 1970s with 100 pairs nesting. The Society representative is Dr Chris Redfern.

Bird Ringing Group

Gosforth Park Nature Reserve

The reserve is the focus of the group’s activities with respect to the Constant-Effort (CE) ringing which has now been carried out every year since 1988, making 2015 the 27th year of the study. In stark contrast to last year, capture totals were well down at 679 compared to the 2014 total of 998. New-for-year (NFY) totals for the majority of species were well down; for 15 species with expected NFY totals of around 10 or more, the average decrease was 25% on last year, with Blue Tits, Great Tits and Bullfinches showing the greatest decreases (53%, 66% and 57% respectively) and only Goldfinch showing an increase (114%). These low capture totals were largely due to poor breeding productivity: the average (by species) NFY totals for adults showed a small increase of 14% on last year. Adult Willow Warblers were up by 49%, contrasting with adult Chiffchaffs which decreased by 39%. Adult Reed Warblers (see photo) increased by 11% and a new record was set in the 2015 season with 60 individuals (previous record 54). This is a good indication that our habitat management work in the reserve for reedbed species is working.

The nest-box team, led by Geoff Lawrence, ringed a total of 302 chicks in the Gosforth Park boxes, a substantial decrease on the 2014 total of 370. This was largely due to a very poor breeding season for Blue Tits (down from 324 to 245).

Seabirds on the Farne Islands and Coquet Island

The seabird studies on the Farne Islands and Coquet Island continued, with an emphasis on monitoring productivity and specific projects focussing on Sandwich Terns and Arctic Terns. Ringing of Arctic Tern, Common Tern and Black-headed Gull in sample enclosures in order to monitor productivity was carried out on Coquet Island by Wez Davies and Paul Morrison; Rangers on the Farnes also ringed Arctic Terns and Kittiwakes in their monitoring plots and colour-ringed Shags for the Isle of May project. Additional ringing of Puffins, Kittiwakes and Fulmars was carried out as opportunities allowed, although there was insufficient time to ring a sample of Puffins on Coquet Island this year. Samples of Arctic Tern chick were measured on Coquet Island and Inner Farne as part of the long term study into the use of biometrics as environmental indicators; the data for 2015 suggests that food supplies were somewhat poorer than in previous years and there is a good correlation between age-corrected body mass of chicks and other measures of productivity.

A new project to track the migration of adult Arctic Terns using small electronic geolocators fitted to plastic leg rings was initiated this year and 28 breeding adults, trapped on the nest on Inner Farne, were fitted with these devices. The project was part-funded and filmed by the BBC for their ‘Springwatch’ programme and we are all hoping that the birds return successfully next season so that we can recover the devices, download the data and find out what our birds have been doing for the rest of their year.

Continued over page



Veronica Carnell ran popular small mammal events at Weetslade CP in August 2014 and Gosforth Nature Reserve in September where live traps were used to catch Common Shrew, Bank Vole, Wood Mouse and Water Shrew and enable participants to see them up close and learn about their biology. Also in September 2014 Jonathan Pounder led a successful bat walk in Gosforth Park and John Steele took intrepid members in search of Wild Goats in the Cheviot Hills. They got close views of a mixed group of 20 nannies, yearlings and kids with a couple of fine billies in attendance eager to get the rut underway! In October 2014 we teamed up with Red Squirrels Northern England, Morpeth Red Squirrels and Woodhorn Museum to run a Red Squirrel event. The squirrels were bribed with food and performed well for those who came to see them. Our final outing of 2014 was to see the Grey Seals and their pups on a trip out to the Farne Islands in November, organised by Anne Wilson

In spring of 2015 Paul Drummond, Bob Wilkin and Northumberland Badger Group ran 6 successful Badger watches at Gosforth Park. In May Hazel Makepeace led a bat walk in Gosforth Park with views of both species of Pipistrelle and Noctule and excellent views of Daubenton’s Bats from the new hide.

This year’s evening pelagic trips in search of whales, dolphins and seabirds were so popular that 13 cruises were were

organised, with only 1 cancelled due to weather. These trips are led by Martin Kitching of Northern Experience Wildlife Tours on the JFK 2 departing from Tynemouth. Sightings included Harbour Porpoise, White-beaked Dolphin (with calves, see photo) and Minke Whale. You can find details of sailings in 2016 at www.northernexperiencepelagics.co.uk (say you are an NHSN member and you will get a discount on published costs).

During the year the Mammal Group has been gathering records of mammal species across the North East to provide data for the forthcoming UK Mammal Atlas. This has involved considerable work verifying records that have been submitted and the Group is grateful to the people who have carried out this task, in particular Jonathan Pounder.

Mammal Section / Northumbria Mammal Group

The emphasis on colour-ringing Sandwich Tern chicks continued, with 285 chicks (plus one adult) ringed, represented by 143 on Coquet and 142 on Inner Farne. Birds from the 2013 cohort are now beginning to return to the North East and several were seen by Wez on Coquet Island; most notable of these was an Inner Farne bird (from 2013) which was seen in France, then a few days later in Devon, before ending up on Coquet Island towards the end of the breeding season. These birds are undoubtedly prospecting for suitable breeding sites and we look forward to seeing them as new breeders in our Northumberland colonies next year. We are now increasing efforts to read Sandwich Tern colour rings during the breeding season so that we can study the extent to which breeding birds move between colonies from year to year; Wez produced an excellent haul of sightings from Coquet Island, including a number of Dutch- and Belgian-ringed birds.

Coquet Island is the only breeding colony of Roseate Terns in the UK and the potential effect of predation by Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls is of considerable concern. A project to assess the impact of breeding large gulls on Roseate Terns which started in 2014 was continued, and the team successfully trapped and ringed 10 breeding adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 5 chicks. Coquet Island also hosts Northumberland’s only breeding colony of Mediterranean Gulls; 3 pairs raised young this year and were ringed and colour-ringed. One of these birds was seen in Amble after fledging (see photo) and we look forward to future sightings of this or the other chicks.

Autumn migration project at Low Newton-by-the-Sea

Migration ringing at the Low Newton site in autumn 2014 was rather better than in 2013 with 370 birds ringed (compared to 217). Most species showed an increase, with good numbers of Chiffchaffs (60 compared to 41 in 2013); together with a small increase in the number of Blackcaps from 5 to 12, these were the main migrant warblers caught in 2014. Other (potential) migrants were represented by Blackbirds (40 compared to 3), Song Thrushes (8 versus 3), Robins (34 versus 11) and Goldcrests (11 versus 7). Good numbers of Goldfinches (29 versus 7), Reed Buntings (36 versus 17), Wrens (44 versus 27) and Dunnocks (22 versus 9).


Obituaries

Dr William ‘Bill’ Pickering (1950-2015) was an active, modest, likeable and respected member of the Society for almost 20 years. He died after a short battle against lung cancer. Bill had wide natural history interests but specialised in field botany – he attended Society botany outings and gave us a fascinating lecture on ‘The Flora and Ecology of the Swiss Alps’ in 2004.

Bill trained as a clinician in London from 1968-73 and had a spell as the intrepid Medical Officer of the British Mountaineering Expedition in the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan in 1975. On moving north, Bill worked in the Newcastle General Hospital as a Paediatric Registrar then later as a GP in Gateshead. In 1999-2000 he took time out to complete a full-time Masters degree in Botany at Reading University and as a botanist and environmentalist he contributed articles to The Northumbrian, Country Landowner and to the Botanical Society of the British Isles News. He kept careful notes of his observations, and his records were used in the compilation of The Rare and Scarce Plants of South Northumberland 2013. Bill served on the Natural History Society’s Library Committee from 2006 until his death as the Botany representative.

Ronald (Ron) Cook (1917-2014) was a stalwart member of the Society with a lifelong interest in natural history; he joined the membership in 1947 and continued a loyal association as a volunteer. He spent many happy days of his retirement employed in the back corridors of the Hancock Museum developing the Carex (true sedges) collection of the herbarium as well as preserving and cataloguing the bird egg collections. Like many naturalists of his generation Ron had amassed a collection of bird’s eggs in his youth which he donated to the Society when the Protection of Birds Act (1954) was passed.

Kenneth (Ken) Patterson (1931-2015) joined the Society in October 1975 with his wife Margaret who had recently been appointed to work with the Honorary Secretary. As well as supporting Margaret’s activities in the day-to-day running of the Society, he attended many of the outings and lectures. In 1992 Ken took over the task of managing the Society’s investment portfolio with the Honorary Treasurer. The 1992 Annual Report notes that “Mr K Patterson – husband of our own Margaret – has kindly agreed to undertake this responsibility. He like the Honorary Treasurer is a chartered accountant with many years of professional experience in financial services”. Ken was a trustworthy member of the Society who willingly gave many years service to the Finance Committee.


Geology Section

In August 2014 Derek Teasdale led an examination of the building stones used around the north of Newcastle city centre. We were struck by the somewhat dilapidated appearance of parts of the limestone fascia of the Newcastle Civic Centre - just prior to the council announcing a major refurbishment programme for the building!

Our 2015 season began in June with a well-attended trip to the Claxheugh Rock area of Sunderland. Michael Mawson showed us superb outcrops of the Yellow Sands and the Magnesian Limestone (now called the Zechstein Group). The day ended on a real high at a riverside exposure of the top Carboniferous / base Permian unconformity. In early July, the ever entertaining Paul Williams took us to Haltwhistle Burn in the summer heat. The relaxed feeling of the day, allowed us to explore Paul’s encyclopaedic knowledge of geology. Two weeks later, a highly appreciative group were in the cool and calm of the Society’s archives where June Holmes had created a display of some of the Society’s treasures, and which was met with many an oohh! and aahh! Our final trip of the season was to Beadnell and Bamburgh. Karl Egeland-Eriksen led a very well thought out trip, with an excellent mixture Carboniferous Upper and Middle Limestone group geology and exposures of the Beadnell Dyke and Whin Sill. Karl also showed us where to find ropey flow structures on the Whin Sill outcrop north of Bamburgh, which was a great pleasure to those of us who had read about them, but couldn’t find them on the beach.

We are very grateful to the leaders who gave their time and expertise and enabled us to learn a great deal and have fun in an informal and supportive environment - who could ask for more!

Other Activities

For the third year we joined forces with Northumberland, Durham and Tees Valley Wildlife Trusts and the Great North Museum: Hancock to organise the North East Wildlife Photography Competition 2015. Over 1,600 photographs were entered and the panel of judges had a hard time selecting 6 category winners and runners up. Over 250 people attended the exhibition opening and awards ceremony at the Great North Museum: Hancock and saw scientist and TV presenter George McGavin give the overall winners prize to Jonathan Gaunt. We would like to thank all the entrants, sponsors, prize donors and volunteers who helped to make this an excellent competition.

During the year we held 2 very popular nest box building workshops and over 70 people made bird or bat boxes to take home and install in their gardens. Geoff Lawrence is to be thanked for his time and effort creating the kits for the workshops.


Summary of the Financial Accounts of the Society

Income and Expenditure for the Year 2015 2014 £ £Incoming resources from generated funds:Subscriptions and donations 85,184 106,774Activities for generating funds 12,071 11,923Investment income 19,589 19,263Incoming resources from charitable activities 45,072 34,851Other incoming resources 790 1,470Total incoming resources 162,706 174,281

Resources expended: Cost of generating funds (26,420) (26,883)Charitable activities (133,896) (104,330)Governance costs (7,931) (9,204)Total resources expended (168,247) (140,417)

Net incoming resources before other recognised gains and losses (5,541) 33,864

Other recognised gains and lossesRealised and unrealised gains on investments assets 14,811 8,657

NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 9,270 42,521

Transfer between funds - -Funds brought forward 677,836 635,315

FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 31 JULY 2014 687,105 677,836


Obituaries continued……

Dr Margaret Swan (1918-2014). Although overshadowed by the botanical exploits of her husband (George Swan), Margaret was a competent botanist in her own right. In his preface to the Flora of Northumberland George noted that “Very much of the field-work carried out since I was married has been done jointly with my wife, Margaret, …. some idea of her contribution can be gained from records already published in Watsonia, The Vasculum and elsewhere, a majority of which bear both of our names…she has a good ‘nose’ for finding good plant sites. Not only that, but having found a plant at a particular site, she can usually refind it at some later date (not always as easy as it sounds). Her hidden contribution to the Flora is immense and in all manner of ways”. Both Margaret and George were walkers of great stamina and took ‘no prisoners’ when leading a Society botany outing.

Geoffrey Shaw QC (d2014) joined the Natural History Society in 1991. As well as being a naturalist and walker we was a discerning collector of books, his penchant being for rare items with fine bindings. He bequeathed a number of his fine natural history books to the Society’s library so that they can be enjoyed by future generations.

Alan Macdonald (1928-2015) left the North East in 1967 to emigrate to New Zealand Alan but still retained his membership. He was passionate about birds from a young age and joined the Society when he was 22. He was an active birder in New Zealand.

Full obituaries of these people and others are on our archive web pages www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/resources-archives.php


Balance Sheet as at 31st July 2015

2015 2014Fixed Assets £ £Tangible assets for use by the society 58,564 38,204Investments 559,258 559,365

617,822 597,569

Current AssetsDebtors 18,343 6,975Cash at bank and in hand 54,043 75,542

72,386 82,517

Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year (3,103) (2,250)

Current assets less current liabilities 69,283 80,267

NET ASSETS 687,105 677,836

FUNDSGeneral Fund 281,638 234,505Expendable Endowments 334,168 344,168Life Members Fund 2,845 3,104Designated Capital Funds 8,588 13,665Total unrestricted Funds 627,239 595,442

Restricted Income Funds 5,535 28,062Restricted Endowment Fund 54,332 54,332

TOTAL FUNDS 687,105 677,836

Treasurer’s Summary by Brian Kram

This is now the fourth year in a row of solid performance and gives us hope that we can remain financially sound.

During the year we spent more than £32,000 on a new hide and boardwalk at Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, we had received £25,944 in grants and donations towards this project the previous year. £24,000 of this investment has been treated as a capital outlay to be spread over a number of years rather than a single one. The operating deficit of £5,541 is explained by the Society’s own investment in this project from our funds and this had been planned.

We began a new 3 year archive project funded largely by the Heritage Lottery and this has enabled us to employ an extra member of staff. The Lottery funds are restricted and claimed after expenditure has occurred.

The value of our investments fluctuated during the year in line with the markets but at the end they were valued almost the same as at the start. The Society’s investment portfolio is held on a long-term basis primarily to generate an annual income in order to help fund our work – and this income was almost the same as last year.

Dickinson Memorial Fund - This year £2,000 from the Fund was used to help build the new hide and boardwalk at Gosforth Park Nature Reserve.


annual review of the society 2014/15 · success. we have been working ... continued with sightings...

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