132nd Annual Report of the HASLEMERE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 2019 THE HASLEMERE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY Past Presidents Colonel William Mason Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, SC.D, FRCS, LL.D, FRS Grant Allen Sir Frederick Pollock, MA, LL.D The Hon. Rollo Russell, FR.Met.Soc. A B Rendle, DSC, MA, FRCS, FLS The Marquess of Sligo, FSA Sir Archibald Geikie, OM, KCB, DCL, FRS The Rev. W A Shaw, MA The Right Honourable, The Viscount Exmouth, FCS F A Oldaker, MA, FRES E W Swanton, OBE, Hon. FLS Dr Arnold Lyndon, OBE Iolo A Williams, FLS Dr Ronald Gray, MA, MD A S Edwards, FLS Gerald Ash, FLS Lt. Col. C J F Bensley Miss Phyllis Bond John Clegg, Hon. FLS Dr Roland Milton, MD A L Jewell, AMA, FLS John Puttick Miss Laura Ponsonby Miss Susie Dickson Richard Muir Cover: Swallows above old Haslemere High Street by Reg Davis © Haslemere Educational Museum by D Silcock © THE HASLEMERE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY (Founded 1888. Registered Charity No 279981) c/o Haslemere Educational Museum, High Street, Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 2LA e-mail: [email protected] www.haslemerenaturalhistorysociety.org.uk President Dr Andrew R H Swan Vice President Martyn Phillis Chairman Margaret Hibbard Vice Chairman Margaret Tomsett Treasurer Michael Haynes General Secretary Sue Bradford Minute Secretary Veronica Carter Membership Secretary Martin Scalway Press Publicity Martin Scalway Committee Members Alan Perry (co-opted) Jolande Murray Dr Andrew R H Swan Julia Tanner (co-opted) Independent Examiner David Boyd Newsletter Sue Bradford (Editor) Martyn Phillis (Cover designer) Webmaster Martyn Phillis Annual Report Sue Bradford (Co-ordinator) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 2019 The year’s activities were: 18 Field Meetings and four Winter Talks (held jointly with Haslemere Museum). These were well attended. The membership stands at 167. At the 131st Annual General Meeting held at the Museum on 27th April, the Report and Accounts for 2018 were adopted. Martyn Phillis became Vice-President, Margaret Tomsett became Vice-Chairman and Veronica Carter was welcomed onto the Committee (later becoming Minute Secretary). Our President, Dr. Andy Swan, organised a BioBlitz for the Society which took place during the weekend of 28-30 June. A report of this follows. The Committee is most appreciative of his hard work and of the participation of leaders and recorders of the events. In late July the Society took part in the Countryside Crafts Day at the National Trust’s Swan Barn. This Report details progress on the Society’s projects funded by our two Bequests, including a new project – namely the purchase and positioning of two Swift boxes. Once again the Committee thanks the contributors to this Report: David Boyd, Examiner of Accounts; the Curator and Museum staff for their assistance; member Sue Bradford for her help co-ordinating this Report and our two Newsletters; and Martyn Phillis, Web Master, for his work updating the web site and producing the covers of the Newsletters. ***** TRIBUTES RICHARD MUIR – AN APPRECIATION Margaret Hibbard and Judith Kusel It was with great sadness that the Committee learnt in late February of the death of our Past President Richard Muir. As he had wished to retire, he last took the Chair at the A.G.M. in April 2018 when he received gifts with many thanks and tributes for all the years of sound advice. He had always shown great interest in the Society’s activities and had attended nearly all the Committee Meetings. In an article he wrote (Annual Report 2011) he said that although his name appears as a member from 1944, he remembered activities before that date: he went on reconnaissance visits with his father, attended a lecture and went on at least one Fungus Foray during WWII. He recalled the unusual sight of Storks being bred in the Museum garden before the War by the then Assistant Curator Robert Blockley. Richard was first elected to the Committee in 1996, contributing to the planning groups charged with compiling the programmes of lectures and field meetings. He was elected President of the Society in 1997 until retirement in 2018. (He was President of the Museum from 1993-2004, then President Emeritus until 2018.) On several occasions when the Society and Museum hosted an autumn Conversazione, when Richard was President of the Museum, he would join with the President of the Society (Laura Ponsonby and later Susie Dickson) in welcoming members. In 2001, when pupils from Wispers School had been invited to speak, the Annual Report said “Richard Muir as President relished his traditional task as anchor man and linked the talks together with great panache.” With his life-long knowledge of Haslemere and its history he gave several talks to the Society. In 1988, when the Conversazione was celebrating the Museum and Society centenaries, Richard talked about local personalities of early days: John Warnham Penfold (architect), Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (founder of the Museum and 2nd President of HNHS), Sir Archibald Geikie (eminent geologist and President of the Society 1908- 11 and 1914-1924) and Canon Aitken. Subsequent talks included the History of Haslemere Parish Church, James Oglethorpe (MP for Haslemere in 1722 aged 25), a more detailed assessment of Penfold (a replica of his octagonal GPO pillar boxes still stands by the Georgian Hotel) and James Stewart Hodgson, a local benefactor who funded street lighting, piped water, and the voluntary fire brigade. As President of both the Museum and the Society, Richard gave HNHS the benefit of his intimate knowledge of both organisations, ensuring that the close ties between them have continued. The Society is greatly indebted to him for all his wise contributions over more than 20 years. The Society offers its condolences to Richard’s wife, Chris, and to his family. RAY FRY (Honorary Member) Ray died on 6th May. He was 83 and because of his frailty had been living in a nursing home near Farnham, with his wife, Jill, taking him out for countryside visits as much as possible. When Thursley Common gained the status of a nature reserve, circa 1964, Ray became the first full-time Warden. Thursley is now a National Nature Reserve and Ramsar Wetland and is famed for its diverse heathland wildlife. Jill said that, as a boy, Ray used to go to Haslemere Museum with live creatures such as frogs and toads for their living exhibits. Ray had a great knowledge and love of birds and invertebrates. He and Jill led many field meetings at Thursley Common and other locations for our Society. To recognise their help they were both made Honorary Members. The Society offers its condolences to Ray’s wife, Jill. WINTER TALKS On 12th January, to an audience of 85, John Richardson gave a photographic account of the wildlife seen on his property near Plaistow and within a mile of Lavender Cottage. His garden is nearly one acre and adjoins more than three acres of deciduous woodland where there is a small pond. Here John constructed a small hide (with a comfortable chair!) so that, completely hidden, he is able to take close-up photographs. A pair of Mallard, several species of dragonfly, Sparrowhawk, Heron, Buzzard, Pied and Grey Wagtail, Common Frog, Common Toad, male and female Roe Deer and a Grass Snake have all come to drink or bathe. John coppiced the Hazel in the woodland to encourage understorey which warblers need for breeding. At one time 9 spikes of Early Purple Orchid increased to 200+. Now most species of woodland butterflies are present. In autumns he photographed many fungi, including more than 200 tiny Fairy Inkcap and is always amazed at how any one species can change its appearance in just 24 hours – making identification difficult. Although there are bird boxes for raptors, when Tawny Owls began to nest they were ousted by Jackdaws. Over recent years, under licence, John and a friend have ringed 900 chicks of Blue Tit, Great Tit and a few Nuthatch. Photos included: male and female Stag Beetle; a Turtle Dove on the lawn: a Brown Long-eared Bat (found by a neighbour); a Wood Pigeon, a Stock Dove and a Collared Dove feeding together; and two House Sparrows, completely white caused by leucism. Producing gasps from the audience John showed how the diseases Avian Pox and Fringilla Papillomavirus are affecting Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Greenfinches. Cleaning birdfeeders and bird baths with special disinfectant is recommended. The audience appreciated John’s philosophy of how he “derives great excitement from seeing creatures close to” and “the uncertainty of what you will see next.” ***** On 9th February, to an appreciative audience of over 40, Dr Jack Salway gave an instructive and entertaining talk on the lives and The Ground-breaking Inventions and Discoveries of father and son – Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg. Although their achievements are little known today, the extent of their discoveries and scientific work has led to definite benefits to our lives in the fields of radiotherapy, DNA studies and the cause of Mad Cow Disease. In 1915 they were joint winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics for “their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of x-rays”. The mineral Braggite which was isolated and determined by x-ray methods was named in their honour. William Henry, born in 1862, had a difficult childhood, excelled in the mathematical tripos at Cambridge, and aged 23 became Elder Professor of Mathematics and Experimental Physics in the University of Adelaide, Australia. Here he set up an early x-ray apparatus, subjecting first his own hand and then his six-year old son Lawrence who had broken his elbow.