Nats' Night

Tuesday, 8th February 2005
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

We get between 20 to 30 people attending the indoor meetings of Wakefield Naturalists' Society. We're doing well because other naturalists' societies in West Yorkshire are down to 8 or 9 members at each meeting so I'm astonished when tonight's speaker, from Wharfedale Naturalists tells me that they recently had to move to a larger hall for their meetings because the fire officer would approve the hall they were using for no more than 180 people. Apparently their audiences can be well in excess of 180.

We meet in the Quaker Meeting House, Thornhill Street, Wakefield, hence the pile of kneelers which I drew during the business part of the meeting - most of which is concerned with wildlife sightings. Meditteranean gull, coltsfoot (right) and an unidentified butterfly are amongst the species recorded in the area during the last month. Spring is on its way.

Seeing the kneelers reminds me of what a former member of the naturalists told me about the meetings she remembers in the early 1950s. It was all very serious and when people stood up and gave their wildlife records she tells me that it felt like a prayer meeting.

I assure you that our meetings aren't like any more and that and you'd be very welcome if you turned up; second Tuesday of the month, September until April (May to August we meet at various nature reserves, usually in Yorkshire, once a month). Please e-mail me for details.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk