Abington Naturewatch: March 2007

Monday 12 March 2007

The Record

Peter Brunning has put together the Abington Naturewatch Record for 2006/2007. It is available in paper for £2.50 from Jennifer Hirsh and electronic (PDF) form.

E-mail me <Ian.Grant@cl.cam.ac.uk> and I will send you a copy of the file. It is large (4MB) so you will need a fairly fast Internet connection and a good-sized mailbox quota to receive it.

Saturday 10 March 2007

There is now a Naturewatch calendar on the link at the top right of the main page.

If you use a calendar program on your computer you could try to add the Naturewatch events to your diary by
clicking on this link.

Friday 9 March 2007

Meadow Saxifrage

On the 17th November last year Victor Bugg sent this lovely photograph of Meadow Saxifrage Saxifraga granulata in the field near their house.

Full Size

Thursday 8 March 2007

BBC Springwatch survey

The BBC Springwatch website is recording and mapping reports of
frogspawn, peacock butterflies, seven-spot ladybirds, Hawthorn
flowering, Red-tailed bumblebee and Swifts. The web page is

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/springwatch/index.shtml

Wednesday 7 March 2007

New Web Site

This is an attempt to overcome the problem we have had for a while, where people send me things and it takes forever for me to get around to posting them on the web site.

This allows any project team member to post an entry and it allows any and everyone to comment on entries. We moderate the comments and can choose whether or not they are to appear on the site.

The old web pages had some useful information as well as archival value. They are still available.

Project team members should sign up for a Google account and I will be happy to give demonstrations on how to use the system, please just call or e-mail me.

I hope this will give the web site a new lease of life.

Naturewatch Evening

Abington Village Institute. Monday 12th March, 2007. 6.30pm

The Evening will start at 6.30 with the Spring Meeting of Members and Friends of Naturewatch. As usual we shall be reviewing the highlights of this winter and asking for your ideas for the Naturewatch porgramme this spring and summer.

Then at 7.30 ROB MUNGOVAN, ECOLOGY OFFICER OF SOUTH CAMBS DISTRICT COUNCIL will give an illustrated talk on "WORKING WITH WILDLIFE - protecting and Enhancing our Environment." There will be a break for coffee and some time for questions and discussion.

There will also be an opportuinty to contribute to the costs of the meeting. Everyone is welcome - so do bring any friends with an interest in our natural world.

Pat Daunt

The Aims of Abington Naturewatch

At their meeting on 9 April 2005 the members approved this revised version of the aims of Abington Naturewatch:

To monitor and record the wildlife (fauna & flora) within the borders of the Abingtons;
To encourage protection of our wildlife, maintain its quality and foster its diversity;
To promote awareness of the richness, potential and problems of the natural environment of the Abingtons;
To cooperate in improving access to the local natural environment for the benefit of all Abington villagers.

Pat Daunt, Founder

The organisation is informal and communication is by email if possible; members are notified of events from time to time. Contact details are maintained by a small "project team". There is currently no membership fee as costs are covered by voluntary contributions at events.

Members are encouraged to report notable sightings of flora and fauna within the Abingtons to the appropriate sector coordinator and an illustrated record is published annually.

A map of the area covered, with some features noted, is available here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=213774935674882866424.00000111dca2be9f06ab8&z=13>

For more information or to join, please contact David Farrant on (01223) 892871.

Contributions to our records should be sent to sector contacts or either of the above. Photographs may also be submitted to Andy Merryweather (amerryweather61@gmail.com)