Worcestershire Record No. 22 April 2007 p. 5

The last twelve months have once again been successful for Worcestershire Recorders, seeing growth in activity and in stature in the eyes of the wider recording community. The year really starts with the annual meeting in March (including the AGM). In 2006 we were privileged to welcome Tim Sparkes who gave the very stimulating talk on phenology in an attempt to answer the question “Is spring getting earlier?” and the answer seems to be “yes”. Tim was supported in the programme by several members who shared their experience and expertise and we are very grateful to them.

Field meetings were well supported and the results in the Worcestershire Record demonstrate the breadth of expertise represented in Worcestershire Recorders and the substantial contribution made to the BRC database. This year the recording days were at Lodge Farm near Rochford, Norchard Farm at Crossway Green and Arley Wood near Kinver. We are grateful to the owners for their permission to record on their land. Several new county records were noted along with records of many rare or uncommon species. A new, but very welcome, departure for us was our collaboration with recorders from Herefordshire to undertake surveys on the Malvern Hills. These arose from discussions with the Malvern Hills Conservators and it is hoped that they will continue in future years.

The group has been involved with a number of projects including ancient trees, Noble Chafer and mammals and members have added to the data available. The mammal project was initiated through Worcestershire Recorders and is now nearing the end of the data collection period. A small working party has been set up to begin editing and producing the new atlas. We have been grateful to Becky Lashley for attending committee meetings and reporting on the Biodiversity Partnership Vision Mapping Project. As part of this Becky and Patrick Taylor designed the bird recording sheet relating to easily recognised species on the red and amber lists and this has resulted in valuable public participation. Furthermore, records for several taxa are being forwarded for inclusion in national databases. This is an important aspect of our work, allowing distribution of species to be mapped on the national scale and providing information on the consequences of climate change.

An important development during the year has been the review and update of the constitution. This is now in a form that satisfies potential grant giving bodies, for example the lottery funds, and makes it possible for us to seek financial support for projects such as the employment of an ancient tree project officer.

A standing item on the committee agenda is reports of interesting records. I hope a selection of these will be published in Worcestershire Record but for the moment I can report that several species new to the county, or rarely reported in the past, have been seen and, in particular, those for Odonata, Orthoptera and Hymenoptera support the continuation of global warming.

Finally, I cannot let the report pass without recording thanks for the active support of the committee and to many other members for their contributions to the group. There are too many for the mention of individuals but I must once again make specific mention of Harry Green whose work in organising the recording days, producing Worcestershire Record and arranging the annual meeting has been outstanding. This year Tessa Carrick will be standing down from the committee and I would like to thank her for her many contributions to our work. Of course, thanks must also go to all our members whose subscriptions support us financially and without whose participation Worcestershire Recorders would be pointless

Geoff Trevis, Committee Chairman, February 2007.