Wakering & District
Natural History Society
Millers Pond
Millers Pond is a privately owned pond that juts out onto Common land. It was adopted by the Society in 1980 and has been completely restored in the ensuing years.
The initial clearance was done over a period of four years and a small island was constructed in the middle for nesting or resting birds and alongside it is the "Hide" (the black shed).
The hide was converted from an old chicken shed, it has the flaps at the front, a full length bench seat inside with a carpeted floor (sheer luxury) our photography minded members sometimes use it to capture the image of a Kingfisher sitting on the post.
The three Black Poplar trees that are on the promontory were planted in memory of one of our members, Michael Hooke who was crushed by a tractor and killed while working in the local Brickfield, there is a plaque there with his details on it. This is a favourite corner for local cub and school groups to do their dipping and for people to just sit and watch and relax. Damsel and Dragonflies abound, 12 species in all.
There are Newts, Sticklebacks, various Beetles including the Great Silver Beetle, also Water Stick Insect and as you may guess, plenty of Grass Snakes. Some of the most notable birds that have visited the pond are 7 Bearded Tits, a pair of nesting Little Grebes (unsuccessful), various Green Sandpipers and Water Rails along with all the more usual ones. The latest Damselfly (Red-eyed) was spotted by a birder sitting on a Lily leaf (not the birder). Next year there will have to be a concerted effort to photograph one. The Scarce Emerald has also bred here.
Each year members come along for the customary pond dip which is usually a very popular event. Even though the pond has been known to dry up completely some years it soon fills up again and the pond life returns. Millers Farmhouse is the venue each month for the committee meetings of the Wakering & District Natural History Society.
- Welcome
Welcome to our website
Wakering and District Natural History Society is a small society in Essex, England, with an emphasis on ensuring that members enjoy all aspects of natural history.
Joining our society is an excellent way for villagers to begin a life long interest in natural history and we would particularly like to encourage more youngsters.
The society's main activities are year-round outdoor meetings and activities, and monthly indoor meetings between September and April. We monitor rainfall on a daily basis and record flora and fauna whilst on our outdoor meetings. We have recently acquired a moth trap and our chairman, John Threadgold is experimenting with a small wormery.
In 1995 the society started a Village Map project using the talent of local artists: Ann Bacon, Betty Belcham, Pamela Bridge, Yvonne Bridge, Vera Chapman, Elizabeth Colbert, Betty Dobson, Elizabeth Donaghy, Arthur Golding, Les Groves, Fred Harris, Janet Heard, Irene Hillsdon, Jane Hollywood, Pauline Huxter, Marianne Ings, Diane Jeffries, Jacqueline Johnston, Beryl Jones, Joan Kemp,William McArthur, John Mead, Elsie Morley, Peter Smith, Janet Taylor, Lucille Taylor, Gill Threadgold, Graeme Ward and Sandra Williams.
We are honoured to have our map hanging in houses all round the world, as well as here in Great Wakering. The map is a snapshot of the year 1995 and includes all of the buildings and crops in the district at that time.
Maps are still available from John Threadgold or any of the members of the committee at a cost of £5 plus postage. Further details are available on the Village Map page.
- News and Events
News and Events
5th March 2008
Inter-Society QuizWe did it!! We won the Inter-Society quiz for the second time
South
Essex hosted the evening at Hadleigh on this occasion. Although it was poorly
attended, on the whole it was a VERY GOOD EVENING. To top off the evening,
George Bailey won the prize for the highest score in the audience plus first
prize in the raffle and the team collected another 3 raffle prizes. Pictured from the left: Jim Bishop, Dave Sheering, Gill Threadgold, John Threadgold.
1st February 2008
A Walk through Magnolia Park and Nature Reserve in HawkwellBarry Hale, Dave Gonning and Richard Kirton took advantage of the beautiful weather this afternoon and took a walk in the park. Armed with GPS and camera I have produced my first Google Map which can be accessed by clicking on the picture to the left. This park and nature reserve is well worth a visit.
- Wildlife Records
Wildlife Records
Rainfall - John Threadgold has been recording the rainfall at Millers Farm since 1989. It has become part of his daily routine along with all of his other tasks for the society. See how the rainfall has varied through the years.
In winter and summer John gets up at the crack of dawn and attends to all of his natural history chores before having breakfast.Birds - Members are encouraged to log the different species of Birds spotted each year and a summary is presented and posted on our website. Being a coastal area, we are very privileged to have such wonderful birds as the Avocet, Oyster Catcher, Brent Goose and several species of gull on a regular basis. The Brent Goose was adopted as the basis of our society logo.
Wildflowers - John Threadgold has been keeping wildflower records since 1966 and this is still an ongoing activity throughout each year. As a society, we are often asked to manage orchid counts in certain areas of our district for other organisations. We are fortunate to have one of the rarest plants in our area, the "Atriplex pedunculata" but for conservation reasons, prefer to keep it's exact location a secret.
Pond Life - Adjacent to Millers farmhouse is 'Millers Pond', the venue of our annual pond dip. This pond supports much life including the ' Great Crested Newt'. It is amazing that in the pond can be both full and completely dried out in the same year. However, it does not take long for the pond life to return after each dry spell.
- Photo Competition
Photographic Competition
Throughout each year are members are on the lookout for that special photograph. Now that excellent quality digital cameras are quite reasonably priced, we find that more people are taking photographs.
Also, we are now seeing an increasing number of members who are willing to submit their photographs for the competition in December each year.
These photographs are displayed on boards and each member is asked to vote for what they consider to be first, second and third in each of the six categories. Points are then noted on a sheet of paper by each member i.e. 3, 2, 1 respectively.
Five of the categories, namely Birds, Mammals, Flora, Habitat/Landscape, Other Fauna are fixed year on year but starting last year we introduced a special category "Patterns in Nature". The special category for 2008 is "Clouds".
At the end of the evening the points are totalled for each photograph and the most points awarded dictates the placings for each category. The winning photographer in each category is rewarded with some book tokens and the photograph with the most points is then declared the overall winner. This photographer is then awarded with further book tokens. In the past we used to call on professional photographers to act as judge for the evening but this tended to be very time consuming. This latest method of judging seems very fair all round and members are happy to be part of the decision process themselves.
- Outdoor Meetings
Outdoor Meetings
From September to April each year our members attend pre-arranged outdoor meetings. These have varied from pond dips to visits to wildlife trusts. Our latest Nature Break was a Wildlife Cruise on the ' Springer' which left Essex Marina at Wallasea Island taking us along the river Crouch and into the river Roach to observe the birds and seals of the area. Gone are the days when we could fill a coach and venture further a field.
Earlier in the year around twenty of our members met at Chafford Gorges Nature Park. This brand new wildlife site is managed by Essex Wildlife Trust and lies at the heart of the Chafford Hundred housing development in Grays Thurrock, near the Lakeside Shopping Centre. It consists of about 200 acres of former chalk quarries known as Warren Gorge, Lion Gorge and Grays Gorge, together with connecting land.
Much of it has chalky soil and as a result some of the grassland areas have a great diversity of plants that like alkaline conditions, including Kidney Vetch, Bladder Campion and nine different species of orchid. It has a variety of chalky, sandy and gravelly soils and these support a large number of unusual insects. The large lakes, the woodland and the chalk cliffs provide habitats for a wide range of other animals, including Great Crested Newts, Bats, Kingfishers and Sand Martins.
- Members Photos
Members Photos
We would like to encourage our members to sort out their best wildlife photographs and submit them, ideally in digital 'jpg' format, for display in a new 'Members Gallery'.
Other members and visitors to our website will then be able to see where our passion lies. It does not matter what size or resolution the photographs are and they can either be on a disk, memory stick, media card or even emailed to Richard Kirton if they are small enough.
Our website is restricted to a maximum storage capacity of 15mb, therefore I resize the images to a maximum resolution of 600 pixels by 400 pixels for landscape format and 400 pixels by 600 pixels for portrait format at 72 pixels per inch (screen resolution). I find that, at this resolution, the photographs end up less than 50KB each and display on screen without any noticeable loss of quality.
To get things under way, I have created a GALLERY page for some of our committee members and I would respectfully ask, if you have some spare time, to take a look:
- Intersociety Quiz
Intersociety Quiz
In December each year our society members meet at our usual venue, the Old School Community Centre in the High Street for a 'Quiz and Fizz' evening.
The 'Fizz' is soft drinks, tea and coffee accompanied by a buffet. The 'Quiz' is very informal and friendly and normally arranged by one of our own members, George Bailey having a particular flair for knowing the kind of questions that might catch us out.
The results of this quiz usually determine which of our members should represent our society in the Intersociety Quiz in the following Spring.
South East Essex Natural History Society has just announced the date and venue for the next Intersociety Quiz. It is to be held on Wednesday 5th March 2008 at 7.30 p.m. in the Royal British Legion Hall, Castle Lane, Hadleigh.
The evening is usually very well supported and our members are more than welcome to come along and support our quiz team.
- About Us
About Us
Early in 1980 John Threadgold was approached by Councillor Ernie Adcock to see if he would be willing to start up a Natural History group in the village. The answer being 'Yes', John then had to liaise with the Parish Clerk to fix up a meeting place and then get some helpers. The obvious choice for help was George Bailey who was a keen photographer and a fellow member of the South Essex Natural History Society.
Committee - Chairman: John Threadgold, Secretary: Gill Threadgold, Treasurer: Richard Rae, Vice Chairman: Richard Kirton, other Committee Members: Barry Hale, George Bailey, Joyce Belton, Mavis Sanders. Contact details.Membership - Our adult membership annual fee is still only £1.50. Family membership is £4.00 and Child membership is £1.50. The committee have managed to maintain these prices through the years and in Gordon Brown's terms have been very prudent through various money making schemes excluding taxation. Various activities such as fetes, plant sales, projects etc., are are undertaken to support society funds. We would particularly like to encourage younger people to join our society.
Program of Events - We alternate between indoor meetings in the summer months to outdoor meetings in winter. We have a comprehensive list of speakers and try to vary the program with interesting and different topics each month.
