Atherstone Natural History Society

 

Atherstone Natural History Society

In the autumn of 1971 Birmingham University ran an extra mural class in Atherstone Library on Natural History in the region. The following year as the course drew to a close Dr. Cameron posed the question - "now all these interested people are together, what next?"

The answer was the formation of Atherstone Natural History Society on 22nd March 1972, to meet between the bookcases in the library on the 3rd Wednesday from September to May, with speakers covering the widest range of natural history subjects.

Our first chairman was Richard Margoschis who was committed to a hobby of wildlife sound recording over the years he developed his facilities into a fully fitted recording studio and often provided recording for the BBC at Bristol.  

On 22nd March 1975 we held our first 'special meeting'. This was a success and has continued annually with renowned speakers on various subjects. One of the most significant meetings was when Richard invited his friend John King to talk to us in the company of his young son Simon ... Maybe he’d like to come back?

We moved to various venues till September 1999 when mostly due to costs and restrictions we transferred to our present venue.

The club members, although getting more senior, are reasonably active doing local evening walks, wider ranging weekend walks and even the occasional weekend away to less accessible and more interesting places were arranged to widen the scope of the society.

ANHS Lakeside Wood reserve information

We have a small reserve, Lakeside Wood, which was planted in 1995, and is now adjacent to the RSPB Middleton Lakes reserve.

Although some members are still sound recordists, quite a few are active botanists and have reformed the Warwickshire Wildflower Group. They have submitted over 1000 records in their first year and “discovered” 4 new species for the county.

For more information about the Society, please visit our website:  http://athnhs.webs.com/

Are you a birdclub partner? Would you like to be featured here?

If so contact  Ieuan Evans (ieuan.evans [at] bto.org) 

Related content