![]()
INDOOR MEETINGS 2009
Meetings are held at Haslemere Educational Museum, High Street, Haslemere and with the exception of the AGM, are open to both Museum and Natural History Society members without charge.
Guests are always welcome, and the Society would be grateful for a donation of £2.00 from non-members.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY 2010 Saturday 13th
2.15 p.m.
A HISTORY OF PEREGRINES IN SUSSEX, 1904-2009
Speaker: Phil Everitt, Sussex Peregrine Study (SPS)
Phil has been studying raptors for many years, in particular honey buzzards, hen
harriers and peregrines. Two local falconers. Bart Atfield and Jon Franklin,
began monitoring the Sussex peregrine population in the late 1980s and
established SPS following their discovery of the first successful breeding
attempt of the post-pesticide recovery. Phil joined SPS in 2005, following
Bart's untimely death. Drawing on the unpublished diaries of John Walpole-Bond,
SPS data and Sussex Ornithological Society records, his talk will outline me
history of the species in the county from 1904 to the present day.
MARCH 2010
Saturday 13th 2.15 p.m.
FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE VICTORIAN ARTIST, MARIANNE NORTH, IN INDIA
1877-79
Speaker: Miss Laura Ponsonby
Laura has retraced parts of the extensive tour which Marianne North undertook in
India, including Rajasthan, Delhi, Darjeeling and Calcutta. She will describe
the artist's encounters with some notable people and will show some of the
places and exotic flora Marianne North painted. Laura will also talk about the
recently-restored gallery which Marianne North donated to Kew to house her
paintings.
APRIL 2010
AGM AND TALK Saturday 17th
2.15 p.m.
After
the meeting, Ian Neilson (Honorary Beekeeper at Haslemere Museum) will talk
about
BEE
HUSBANDRY.
A beekeeper since 1984, Ian looked after the Museum’s bees from 1994-2002.
Following six years abroad, he is again looking after the collections. His talk
will include an overview of the beekeeper’s year and how this relates to the
life of the honeybee and colony. He will show a small selection of equipment to
illustrate ancient and modern methods of husbandry.
PAST EVENTS 2009
NOVEMBER 2009
Saturday 14th
OCEANIC PLANKTON IN THE ABYSS
Speaker Martin Angel
The two
cruises in the Atlantic in which Martin had taken part for the international
Census on Marine Life had been on a research ship travelling from Bremerhaven to
service German stations in the Antarctic. His talk showed how the zooplankton
had adapted to their niche in the thousands of metres below. For most, their
form and colour was a defence against predation. Form might involve spines,
hydroids, luminous tips to pincers, tail and armpits, a flashing “fishing rod”.
Colour might be absent and the animal be transparent, it might have white
pigment “mirrors” on its sides to reflect light; near the surface it might be
blue, or below 1,000 metres where there is no light, red. Martin’s photographs
showed these animals, strange to most of us, in pristine condition – they had
been photographed on the boat. It was a revelation to us to see life from so
deep down in the ocean.
APRIL
2009
Saturday 18th
AGM AND TALK
After the AGM, Bruce Middleton (Northern Area Manager with the South Downs Joint
Committee) gave atalk about "Protecting the Western Weald".
It was a pleasure to be reminded of the mosaic of features
which make up the Weald and the importance of the natural history unique to
each. Bruce’s photos showed the habitats and, inset, one or two of the species
associated with them. It was a very deft demonstration of natural history
subjects in the context of their natural surroundings. He described the
management needed to sustain some of them, the changes in farming practices and
woodland industries, the impact on wildlife and the role of the South Downs
Joint Committee.
MARCH 2009
Saturday
14th
.
FROM
THE SEA TO THE SKY
Speaker: Dr Peter Brandham
A botanical visit,
starting from sea level at the temperate Olympic peninsular west of Seattle,
Canada, through alpine meadows, the Cascade Mountains of the USA and rising to
the mountain heights of the Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rockies.
Dr
Brandham's superb photographs emphasised each plant in its habitat (with the
subject in focus and the surroundings out of focus) and included yellow lupins,
fritillaries, a tiny twayblade, a red saprophytic orchid and yellow violets. (All
violets are yellow in that region). To obtain good photographs Dr Brandham
explained techniques such as framing the scene with trees or vegetation and
photographing the subject against the
light.
FEBRUARY
2009
Saturday
14th
WOODLAND CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES
Speaker: Tim Winter
A very well attended talk at the museum.
Tim
Winter’s interest was fostered through his hobby of collecting postcards. In
the first part of his talk he concentrated on large trees, illustrating how they
were felled and transported. We saw pictures of an 18th/19th
Century saw-pit, women felling Scots Pine for pit props as part of the War
effort, how oak bark was used for its tannin and how English clogs were made.
Tim described the long history of charcoal-burning and how faggots, the waste
material from the walking-stick factory in Godalming, were used in bread-making
and also donated to the bonfire at Chiddingfold.
Tim then introduced his audience to crafts from coppiced woodland.Chair bodgers
were specialist turners who worked green beechwood.Other products, many of them
local, included hop poles, washing pegs, salmon or eel traps and lobster pots,
barrel hoops, wooden rakes, besom brooms, and willow trug baskets (popularised
through Queen Victoria’s patronage of Mr Smith in Herstmonceaux and the 1851
Great Exhibition)!
JANUARY 2009
Saturday 10th
2001 - A SIKKIM ODYSSEY
Speaker: David Lang
David braved icy roads from East Sussex to share the experiences of his “2001
Sikkim Odyssey”. His enthusiasm for the country, its people and its flora
was infectious. His plan was to explore the valleys to the north, towards the
Tibetan border. After some time in Gangkok waiting for a “protected area
permit”, the group travelled to Lachung, recording several orchids. Up the
valley was a forest reserve but wholesale logging, under armed guard, had
devastated the area. As they climbed, so David was able to find and photograph
more and more alpine plants. Tea with two elderly ladies, who were in the
mountains for the summer with their yaks, provided warmth and merriment. Higher
still the glaciers showed signs of retreating and hillsides had disappeared with
landslides. Mists, rain, low cloud and snow made much of the trip hard work.
At last the expedition reached the track leading to Lhasa and was rewarded with
breathtaking views of the ice-capped Khangchenjyao and carpets of flowers. It
was an exciting and moving experience to hear about the “Cloud Kingdom”.