Saturday 11th June 2022. The annual guided walk around Messingham Sand Quarry NR was held on a lovely day which brought about 20 of us together. There was a good range of creatures and plants to be seen and everyone was interested which made everything well worth holding the event.
Sunday 3rd July 2022. The annual Open Day at Messingham Sand Quarry NR went well with 96 people registered on site. Again, a lot of interest was shown by those attending.
The weather was generally kind to us which is also a relief, and we didn’t go home with wet gazebos.
Wednesday 10th August 2022. A Children’s Fun Day was almost ruined by the weather being too hot. The pond dipping had to be abandoned as the ponds used for this were dry. This left us with just bug hunting and a fun quiz. Altogether we logged in 49 people visiting the reserve which considering the heat was quite heartening. We were all inspired by the children, and their guardians, by the amount of enthusiasm shown. All in all, a very good day.
Thursday 8th September 2022. Our first meeting of the indoor session was disappointedly low on attendance due to several things, including the death of Her Majesty the Queen. It was a shame as Vicky Buckberry provided us with a very entertaining and informative talk looking at the various way, Fungi, and its Folklore, have affected our thinking of this often-understood part of our wildlife. Managing to deliver it in a light-hearted way it went down very well.
Thursday 13th October 2022. A very welcome return by Geoff Lee giving a talk on the Norfolk Broads. Starting by looking at how and why they were formed, in itself very interesting, he then moved on to look at the wildlife encountered there in particular by the RSPB and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust on their reserves. It also looked at the changes to how the Broads are managed today including ways, such as moving many of the cruisers to electric, to ensure a clean system of waterways. A very well researched and delivered talk showed just how much the area has meant to him over the years.
Thursday 10th November 2022. Mike Pickwell returned to give a talk "A Year of Nature" which covered the Coronavirus pandemic time, 2021, when people were gradually being able to travel again after the lockdown.
We were treated to a feast of photos that he had taken on his travels around Britain. Covering areas on his "patch", to being able to take his caravan to some of his favourite haunts it was inspirational to all. It also showed you do not always have to travel abroad to see beautiful countryside.
Thursday 8th December 2022. John Davison brought forward his talk of "Bears of North America" as the planned speaker was unable to attend. Covering all the various species from Alaska down it proved interesting as most thought the Grizzly was the only one. It covered other interesting animals such as Hump-backed whales which were encountered very close giving a good idea of what is there.
Thursday 9th February 2023. Local photographer, Calvin Taylor-Lee gave us a talk on Wildlife Photography. He explained how he as a professional had to go about it differently as he would be blocked out of competitions etc. Aided by some of his own photos taken around various reserves it was obvious that he has been willing to put a lot of time and effort into this "hobby" part of his life and was quite willing to give advice in where and how to go about it.
Thursday 9th March 2023. Grahame Hopwood from the Whisby Nature Reserve near Lincoln gave us an interesting talk about the Nightingales of Whisby. This concentrated on the lives and needs of these small birds as they have been decreasing in numbers for some time. The need for scrubland appears critical and is now, under his guidance being improved.
Thursday 13th April 2023. The AGM and members slide meeting was unfortunately attended by only 10 people, the majority being members of the committee. Both the Chairman and Secretary gave warning that this would be the last time they would stand. The number was a shame as the photos on view were well worth seeing and of interest to those present.
Sunday 25th June 2023. We held our annual Open Day on a very warm day which was attended by around 78 people. A number of these had travelled s good way to see us which was very heartening. It was also good to see new members who have recently joined the Trust. Fortunately we had plenty of water in our dipping ponds which is always a big attraction. We were very pleased by peoples remarks about their experiences.
Wednesday 9th August 2023. The Children's Fun Day was held in almost perfect weather. We were slightly up compared to the Open Day with 83 people attending the event. Once again the enthusiasm of the children and carers was inspiring. To us it was classed as a complete success.
Thursday 14th September 2023. John Davison gave a talk on his recent trip to Uganda. The wide range of animals, which included Gorillas and Chimpanzees, was very impressive. The talk gave a good indication of what the country has to offer.
Thursday 12th October 2023. Geoff Trinder returned to give a showing of his photographs taken over time with a variety of subjects including birds, insects, animals and landscapes. Many of them showed different ways of approaching a subject. Thanks to the knowledge of his subjects coupled with relevant anecdotes it proved a very entertaining evening.
Thursday 9th November 2023. Matthew Capper (LWT) gave us a two parts talk. He started by telling us of birds that have inspired him over the years to be where he is now. The second part was a look at what the Trust was doing at the time in improving their network of reserves and in other ways which should help in the future.
Thursday 14th December 2023. Rachel Shaw, Senior Communications Officer for the Trust gave a very interesting talk on the History of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. From its inception in 1948 she revealed how the Trust was formed by Ted Smith and how much influence he had in recruiting other counties throughout Britain to form their own Trusts. She then took us through the years to the present to see how the Trust has progressed, with hopes for the future to bring nature to everyone.
Thursday, 8th February, 2024, we had an illustrated talk by Matt Cox, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Northwest Area Reserves Manager. His talk was entitled "The Sands and Peats of Northwest Lincolnshire”. Matt led us through the management and notable species found and conserved in several reserves in our Northwest Lincolnshire area. The aims in the Humberhead peatlands reserves such as Crowle Moor, Epworth Turbary, and Haxey Turbary were mainly to raise and control water levels to preserve wetland areas, not only to conserve the wetland species but also to help combat climate change.
The aims on reserves on sandy areas such as Rush Furlong, Scotton Common and Messingham Sand Quarry were mainly to create and preserve meadowland areas with a wide variety of flowering plants to provide pollen for invertebrate species. KS.
Thursday 14th March 2024. Eddie Gaunt gave his last talk before standing down as chairman at April's AGM.
This covered some of the wildlife and nature encountered on Anglesey. Very different from the north of Wales area over the Menai Strait, this area has much to offer for anyone visiting there.