DOCSLIB.ORG

Volume 99 • 2005 Transactions of the Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Volume 99 • 2005 Transactions of the Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 99 AUGUST 2005 Literary Medical Men Is Spring Getting Earlier Parole and Life Sentences Rotwang and Sons Victorian Shakespeare Understanding the Universe Orwell and the Miners Cosmic Fingerprinting James VI and I Bennett Fund Reports Nature’s Nanotechnology Annual Reports Self-regulation of the Press Survey Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Constitution TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. VOLUME 99 • AUGUST 2005 CONTENTS SKETCHES OF LITERARY MEDICAL MEN Presidential Address by D.P.S. Sandhu................................................................................2 DANGEROUS DECISIONS? THE PAROLE BOARD AND THE LIFE SENTENCE PRISONER Judith Pitchers ....................................................................................................................7 ‘OUR ENDLESS JOY – OUR MATCHLESS PRIDE’ THE VICTORIAN SHAKESPEARE Professor Richard Foulkes,...................................................................................................9 ORWELL AND THE MINERS Professor Robert Colls .......................................................................................................12 KING JAMES VI AND I - MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING Colin Pendrill ....................................................................................................................17 NATURE’S NANOTECHNOLOGY Professor Clive R. Bagshaw ...............................................................................................22 SELF-REGULATION OF THE PRESS Tim Toulmin ......................................................................................................................26 THE ANCIENT HUMAN OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN (AHOB) PROJECT Professor Chris Stringer......................................................................................................29 IS SPRING GETTING EARLIER? Tim Sparks.........................................................................................................................33 ROTWANG AND SONS – THE STORY OF A DESIGN IDEA Professor Sir Christopher Frayling ......................................................................................35 EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE: ARE WE PUSHING GAIA TOO HARD Crispin Tickell....................................................................................................................36 COSMIC FINGERPRINTING: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE Professor Martin Barstow...................................................................................................37 BENNETT FUND FOR RESEARCH: REPORTS OF BENEFICIARIES. The Lodestone Project Leader: Dr Allan Mills.......................................................................................41 Microfossils Associated with the Giant Fossil Fish Leedsichthys Found at Star Pit, Whittlesey Project leader: Andrew Swift.........................................................................................41 ANNUAL REPORTS...........................................................................................................42 SURVEY ............................................................................................................................49 CONSTITUTION...............................................................................................................51 Cover picture: Main Entrance, New Walk Museum, Leicester © Copyright 2005 The Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society, c/o Leicester Museum, New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA ISSN 0141 3511 Transactions of the Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society. SKETCHES OF LITERARY MEDICAL MEN Presidential Address by D.P.S. Sandhu, M.D., F.R.C.S. (Ed.UROL), F.R.C.S. (Glas) Delivered on October 4th 2005 When one looks at the topic of literary medical men where does one begin? Should I start with Aesculapius, the Greek God of Medicine, Homer, Hippocrates or St. Luke the beloved physician of the Gospel? In my research I have come over 50 examples of well known literary figures who trained as doctors. In such a presentation I can only limit myself to a handful. This is not a scholarly work of their literary output, but a personal view of aspects of their lives that has interested me. George Crabbe is now forever linked with Benjamin by Wordsworth, Scott and Byron, who said of him, Britain and Snape Maltings near Aldeburgh. The poet ‘nature’s sternest painter yet her best’. His was hooked on landscape around Aldeburgh and in parishioners said of him: ‘He broke through the common with his pitiable fishermen Peter Grimes obscurity of his birth, yet never ceased to feel for the trudging along the old estuary, he was born part of it less fortunate, entering into the sorrows and and, later, it became part of him. His father worked as deprivations of the poorest of his parishioners; and so a warehouse manager and then as a collector of salt discharging the duties of his station as a minister and taxes. At the age of 13 Crabbe was apprenticed to a a magistrate as to acquire the respect and esteem of doctor, Mr Squeers, at Wickhambrook near Bury St. all his neighbours.’ Edmonds, where he also had to double up as a farm labourer. He was dubbed the poet of the poor. He Born on the 10th November 1728 at Pallas near Bally saw all round him poverty, degradation and suffering Mahon, Ireland, Oliver Goldsmith’s life was full of and wanted to, as he says, ‘paint the cot as truth will incidents. His writings drew largely based upon his paint it and as the bard will not’. He spent time as a own experience in which his own generosity and doctor in Aldeburgh and, to gain more experience gullibility are irradiated by a sense of sheer fun. In and skills in surgery, went to London where he was ‘The Citizen of the World’ he writes about his father. threatened with prison because of bad debts. ‘His education was above his fortune and his Fortunately, the statesman Edmond Burke bailed him generosity greater than his education. Poor as he was, out and took him under his wing and introduced him he had his flatterers still poorer than himself. For to such luminaries as Samuel Johnson, George Fox every dinner he gave them, they returned the and Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1781, due to Burke’s equivalent in praise, and this was all he wanted. We influence, the Bishop of Norwich licensed George were told the Universal Benevolence was what first Crabbe as curate to the rector of Aldeburgh. Later, cemented society. We were perfectly instructed in the Crabbe was Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland at art of giving away thousands, before we were taught Belvoir Castle. At the age of 28, he published his long the more necessary qualification of getting a farthing’. poem ‘The Village’, an honest portrait of rural life. He drafted many novels but destroyed them all Goldsmith qualified from Edinburgh in 1752 and unpublished including ‘An English Treatise and pursued further study of medicine at Leyden. His Botany’. For 22 years he did not write poetry again literary skills were recognised by Dr Johnson who until 1810 when he published his famous poem ‘The introduced him to the literary circle in London with Borough’, a long poem based on Crabbe’s knowledge which Crabbe was also familiar. Goldsmith was a of Aldeburgh and the village characters, such as the history scholar and a journalist, but best remembered fearsome fisherman, Peter Grimes. now for his marvellous play ‘The Vicar of Wakefield’ and amongst his poems, ‘The Magnificent Traveller’ His wife Sarah Elmy declined into mental and and ‘The Deserted Village’. He died from a kidney physical ill health. Crabbe eventually settled in infection on the 4th April 1774 in London and is Trowbridge, Wiltshire and remained there for about buried in the Temple. In 1776, a monument was 20 years until his own death in 1832. He was praised raised to him by Joseph Nollekins which is in 2 Volume 99 • 2005 Transactions of the Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society. Westminster Cathedral with a Latin inscription by which he described in his book ‘The Elephant Man Doctor Johnson. Behind that witty façade, and other Short Stories.’ Goldsmith was lonely and one of his favourite quotations was ‘that human life is at the greatest and ‘There is no such thing as brave surgeons there are best but like a forward child that must be played only brave patients’, is an aphorism of Sir William with, and humoured a little to keep it quiet, until it Osler. Osler, the genius of medical education, stated falls asleep and then the care is over’. that knowledge comes but wisdom lingers. This is testified by his academic distinctions. He graduated ‘Medicine is my legal wife, literature my mistress. from McGill University Montreal in 1872 where later When I’m bored with one I spend the night with the he held the Chair of Professor of Medicine. He went other.’ So said Anton Chekhov. He was born on 17th on to be Professor Medicine at the University of January 1860 at Taganrog in the far south of Russia. Pennsylvania and, in 1889, became Professor of He entered the medical faculty at Moscow University medicine at John Hopkins Medical School in in 1879 aged 19 years. An early experience of Baltimore, and also in Oxford. Numerous essays and peritonitis may have influenced him to go into bibliography exceeding 1500 are now part of the medicine. In 1888 he won the literary Pushkin prize, McGill collection. His book ‘Aequanemitas and and in 1890 travelled across Siberia, a thousand other Addresses’ has given pleasure to public and miles,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Charnwood Forest Regional Park : Topic Paper 3 : Governance : Stakeholder Consultation Responses
    APPENDIX CHARNWOOD FOREST REGIONAL PARK : TOPIC PAPER 3 : GOVERNANCE : STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION RESPONSES CFRP = Charnwood Forest Regional Park LDF = Local Development Framework LCC = Leicestershire County Council Name/organisation Comments by question number Response Max Hunt CC TP3/1 Loughborough NW Division, LCC I agree No response required. TP3/2 None, I believe the steering group should be consultative, but decisions Noted. are best made by the parties outlined in the paper TP3/3 None at this time No response required. Roy Denney TP3/1 Chair Leics Local Access Forum I cannot help but fear we are just creating more tiers of bureaucracy. Previous stakeholder The Environment Hub is in effect already a steering group at the strategic events and consultations Chair Leics & Rutland Ramblers level and if we feel we need a stakeholder group we already have one have identified a need Association in the Leicestershire Local Access Forum for a group with a Charnwood Forest focus. Member National Forest Access There must be a tight operation team of officers and an Executive to The Environment Hub is 1 E:\moderngov\data\published\Intranet\C00000135\M00003125\AI00028537\$aqiv131u.doc APPENDIX & Recreation Group oversee their day to day activities. There are pros and cons as to whether still under development. this should be one individual or a small executive committee of no more Although it will cover Member Leics Orienteering Club than 7. If we decided on a committee it would in effect be your steering “Natural and Historic Committee group. Environment” issues this will be at a strategic I note the feeling that parish councils should be involved but do not level, which will not know how many parishes there actually are within the Charnwood Forest necessarily be an area as we have defined it.
    [Show full text]
  • Newtown Linford Village Design Statement 2008
    Newtown Linford Village Design Statement 2008 Newtown Linford Village Design Statement 2008 Contents Title Page Executive summary 2-6 The Purpose of this Village Design Statement 7 1. Introduction 8 The purpose and use of this document. Aims and objectives 2. The Village Context 9-10 Geographical and historical background The village today and its people Economics and future development 3. The Landscape Setting Visual character of the surrounding countryside 11-12 Relationship between the surrounding countryside and the village periphery Landscape features Buildings in the landscape 4. Settlement Pattern and character 13-15 Overall pattern of the village Character of the streets and roads through the village Character and pattern of open spaces 5. Buildings & Materials in the Village 16-26 1. The challenge of good design 2. Harmony, the street scene 3. Proportions 4. Materials 5. Craftsmanship 6. Boundaries 7. Local Businesses 8. Building guidelines 6. Highways and Traffic 27-29 Characteristics of the roads and Footpaths Street furniture, utilities and services 7. Wildlife and Biodiversity 30-32 8. Acknowledgments 33 9. Appendix 1 Map of Village Conservation Area 34 Listed Buildings in the Village 35 10. Appendix 2 Map of the SSSI & Local Wildlife Sites 36 Key to the SSSI & Local Wildlife Sites 37-38 “Newtown Linford is a charming place with thatched and timbered dwellings, an inviting inn and a much restored medieval church in a peaceful setting by the stream - nor is this all, for the village is the doorstep to Bradgate Park, one of Leicestershire’s loveliest pleasure grounds,... … … with the ruins of the home of the ill fated nine days queen Lady Jane Grey” Arthur Mee - “Leicestershire” - Hodder and Stoughton.
    [Show full text]
  • Reusable Templates for the Extraction of Knowledge
    Reusable templates for the extraction of knowledge by Paul J Palmer A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University © Paul J Palmer 2020 November 2020 Abstract ‘Big Data’ is typically noted to contain undesirable imperfections that are usually described using terminology such as ‘messy’, ‘untidy’ or ‘ragged’ requiring ‘cleaning’ as preparation for analysis. Once the data has been cleaned, a vast amount of literature exists exploring how best to proceed. The use of this pejorative terminology implies that it is imperfect data hindering analysis, rather than recognising that the encapsulated knowledge is presented in an inconvenient state for the chosen analytical tools, which in turn leads to a presumption about the unsuitability of desktop computers for this task. As there is no universally accep- ted definition of ‘Big Data’ this inconvenient starting state is described hereas‘nascent data’ as it carries no baggage associated with popular usage. This leads to the primary research question: Can an empirical theory of the knowledge extraction process be developed that guides the creation of tools that gather, transform and analyse nascent data? A secondary pragmatic question follows naturally from the first: Will data stakeholders use these tools? This thesis challenges the typical viewpoint and develops a theory of data with an under- pinning mathematical representation that is used to describe the transformation of data through abstract states to facilitate manipulation and analysis. Starting from inconvenient ‘nascent data’ which is seen here as the true start of the knowledge extraction process, data are transformed to two further abstract states: data sensu lato used to describe informally defined data; and data sensu stricto, where the data are all consistently defined, in a process which imbues data with properties that support manipulation and analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Charnwood Forest
    Charnwood Forest: A Living Landscape An integrated wildlife and geological conservation implementation plan March 2009 Cover photograph: Warren Hills, Charnwood Lodge Nature Reserve (Michael Jeeves) 2 Charnwood Forest: A Living Landscape Contents Page 1. Executive summary 5 2. Introduction 8 3. A summary of the geological/geomorphological interest 13 4. Historical ecology since the Devensian glaciation 18 5. The main wildlife habitats 21 6. Overall evaluation 32 7. Summary of changes since the 1975 report 40 8. Review of recommendations in the 1975 report 42 9. Current threats 45 10. Existing nature conservation initiatives 47 11. New long-term objectives for nature conservation in Charnwood Forest 51 12. Action plan 54 13. Acknowledgements 56 14. References 57 Appendix – Gazeteer of key sites of ecological importance in Charnwood Forest Figures: 1. Charnwood Forest boundaries 2. Sites of Special Scientific Interest 3. Map showing SSSIs and Local Wildlife Site distribution 4. Tabulation of main geological formations and events in Charnwood 5. Regionally Important Geological Sites 6. Woodlands in order of vascular plant species-richness 7. Moth species-richness 8. Key sites for spiders 9. Key sites for dragonflies and damselflies 10. Evaluation of nature conservation features 11. Invertebrate Broad Assemblage Types in Charnwood listed by ISIS 12a Important ISIS Specific Assemblage Types in Charnwood Forest 3 12b Important habitat resources for invertebrates 12c Important sites for wood-decay invertebrate assemblages 12d Important sites for flowing water invertebrate assemblages 12e Important sites for permanent wet mire invertebrate assemblages 12f Important sites for other invertebrate assemblage types 13. Evaluation of species groups 14. Leicestershire Red Data Book plants 15.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecological Assessment Report 2019
    Charnwood Borough Council Local Plan 2020-36 Ecological Assessment Report Ecology Evidence Update June 2019 1 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Conserving and Enhancing Charnwood’s Ecology in a National Context - National Planning Policy Framework - The Lawton Review - Understanding Significant Ecological Impacts - The Concept of Ecological Value - The Measurement of Ecological Value 3. The Natural Character and Ecology of Charnwood - Background to Charnwood - Ecological Aspects of Charnwood’s Landscape Character - Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Biodiversity Action Plan - Charnwood 2011 Borough Wide Phase 1 Habitat Study - Designated Sites in Charnwood - Priority Habitats and Species in Charnwood - Local Priorities for Charnwood 4. Charnwood Ecological Assessment Methodology - Desk Top Study - Field Survey Methodology - Mapping of Sites - Assessment of Sites - Detailed Case Studies - Limitations to the Methodology 5. Main Results - Continued Validity of the 2011 Borough Wide Habitat Study - Field Surveys and Grading of Sites - Impact on Statutory Designated Sites - Impact on Non-statutory Designated Sites 6. Other Findings - Identifying Ecological Networks in Charnwood - Restoring and Enhancing Ecological Networks in Charnwood - Summary and Conclusions 7. Appendix 1 – Case Studies Appendix 2 – Site Assessments 2 1. Introduction 1.1 This ecological assessment report has been prepared by the Senior Ecologist at Charnwood Borough Council (CBC) to provide up to date ecological information in support of the emerging Local Plan for the Borough of Charnwood. 1.2 The new Charnwood Local Plan will, amongst other things, allocate land to meet the Borough’s need for new homes and places of work. The Plan is being prepared in the context of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which sets out requirements for the preparation of Local Plans in terms of the evidence which should inform them, and the range of matters that each plan should address.
    [Show full text]
  • Charnwood Forest LCA Chapter 5
    Chapter 5.0 LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREAS Area 1: Bradgate, Beacon Hill and Outwoods Heathland and Forest Area 2: Ulverscroft Wooded Valley Area 3: Charley Heath and Pasture Area 4: Swithland/Woodhouse Farmland Area 5: Groby Estate Woodland Area 6: Thringstone/Markfield Quarries and Settlement Area 7: Loughborough/Shepshed Mixed Farmland Area 8: Quorn/Mountsorrel/Rothley Settlements, Quarries and Farmland Area 9: Rothley Brook Lowland Farmland Area 10: Groby/Ratby Wooded Farmland Area 11: Thornton Plantation Farmlands LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT Charnwood Forest 57 Chapter 5.0 LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREAS Introduction The overall character of Charnwood Forest is of a rolling Transport infrastructure includes the M1 motorway landscape with an elevated topography and areas of corridor which runs north to south through the woodland and agriculture closely related to geology area. The influence of the motorway varies. In some and hydrology. There are contrasts between upland and areas traffic is visible while in other areas, the heavily lowland which is closely associated with watercourses vegetated embankments screen views of moving and water features within the area. traffic. Noise from traffic is a more regular feature along the corridor and affects tranquillity in areas closer to Settlement is varied with some small vernacular villages the motorway. Other main roads include the A511 such as Newtown Linford and Woodhouse and larger which provides a link from Coalville in the west to the settlements such as Markfield, Groby, Anstey and M1 and the A50 which links the M1 to the A46 and Mountsorrel as well as the fringe of Loughborough. Leicester City to the east.
    [Show full text]
  • The Craneflies of Leicestershire and Rutland (VC55)
    LEICESTERSHIRE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY The Craneflies of Leicestershire and Rutland (VC55) John Kramer* Tipula maxima – Graham Calow LESOPS 26 (2011) ISSN 0957 - 1019 *31 Ash Tree Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5TE 1 Introduction It is necessary to say at the outset that, since craneflies are not a scientific group, its meaning has changed over the years. It seems to be synonymous with daddy long-legs , meaning all long-legged two-winged flies. These, in the past, have included Winter Gnats (Trichoceridae) Fold-winged flies (Ptychopteridae) and Dixidae. The present meaning, used here, is restricted to the super-family Tipuloidea (Order Diptera) which, for the past 20 years (Starý 1992), has been composed of four families - Tipulidae, Pediciidae, Cylindrotomidae and Limoniidae. I have tried to provide a firm basis for further work on craneflies in VC55, and to suggest what that work might be. There are voucher specimens for most, though not all, of the records and wherever there is only a single record, more records are needed to firmly establish that species on the county list. Pioneering work in Europe Before any meaningful lists of craneflies could be produced it was necessary to have fixed and unambiguous names for them. The genus-species naming system for doing this was first provided for the then-known craneflies by the 1758 volume of Linnaeus’s Systemae Naturae , published in Sweden, so this date provides a starting-point. Linnaeus named 14 of the more conspicuous craneflies on the British Checklist. Johan Christian Fabricius was a student of Linnaeus and did more work than his mentor on insects.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Freshwater Fish in Leicestershire and Rutland by Andrew Heaton, County Recorder for Fish, 2013
    A Review of Freshwater Fish in Leicestershire and Rutland By Andrew Heaton, County Recorder for Fish, 2013 1. Introduction 1.1 The Historic View Lacking the trout-haunted chalk streams or salmon-spawning upland rivers, Leicestershire and Rutland (L&R) have tended to be little regarded in fishery terms. Even the main coarse rivers (Soar, Welland) were not seen as measuring up to the Severn or Thames. In “The Compleat Angler”, Izaak Walton’s only reference to Leicestershire is to name it as one of the counties through which the Trent flows (forming the county boundary for a relatively short distance near Castle Donington). 1.2 Previous Studies There appear to have been few previous reviews or studies of fish populations related specifically to Leicestershire and/or Rutland. Browne (1889) listed L&R’s fish (also including details of fossil fish from the two counties). The wording used in the 1889 document was repeated almost exactly in Browne’s contribution to the Victoria County History (1907), though there is differentiation of River and Brook Lamprey in the 1889 publication, a distinction that was slightly confused in the VCH. Through the 20th Century, fish surveys were undertaken by the various water authorities, providing the information relevant to Leicestershire and Rutland mapped in Maitland (1972) and Davies et al (2004). Onions (2008, 2009) gave an overview of Leicestershire fish. 1.3 Recording Fish Whilst the bulk of fish surveys are undertaken by Environment Agency (EA) fisheries teams, utilising techniques such as netting and electrofishing, other people are recording fish and generating distribution maps.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter 54
    NEWSLETTER 55 LEICESTERSHIRE September 2016 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY VC55 The Campanula Bee As its name suggests the Campanula Bee Chelostoma campanularum specialises on feeding from flowers of the Campanula genus. This includes Harebell, the native bellflowers and the garden varieties, of which there are many. It may also be seen visiting Geranium flowers. This solitary bee is only 6 or 7 mm long and is easily overlooked as it resembles a small, black fly as it flits around the flowers – the feature to look out for is the white fuzz of pollen-collecting hairs underneath the abdomen of the female (p 3). The male (below) is smaller and narrower, with two small, blunt prongs on the end of the abdomen which are said to help to anchor itself in flowers when sheltering from adverse weather. The female nests in tubular beetle borings and other small holes in wood or in hollow dried plant stems where it provisions each cell in the tube with pollen before laying an egg in the cell and sealing it up with a mud and nectar mix. The flight period is June to August – when the flowers are out. This tiny black Chrysomelid beetle (3 mm long) is unlikely to be noticed by anyone other than a beetle specialist. Fortunately Graham Finch is on the case and we can enjoy more of his stunning close-up photos on pages 10-12. Until our recent search, the only records for VC55 were from Jenny Owen’s garden Malaise trap in Scraptoft Lane, Leicester. There were three species of Campanula growing in the garden.
    [Show full text]
  • VOLUME 101 • 2007 CONTENTS IS the GRASS ALWAYS GREENER? Presidential Address by Mr David Beeson
    TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. VOLUME 101 2007 Charnia – – 50th Birthday Is the Grass Always Greener? Dinosaurs & the Modern Biodiversity Crisis The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy Multiculturalism & Community Cohesion Victoria Park & New Walk, Leicester Alexander Walker: an Obsessive Collector A Grid for Literary Greatness Pheromones & other Scents Muriel Spark in Tuscany Juggling: Theory & Practice The Magic of Oxygen Architecture: Significant & Challenging Olovnikov’s Clock & CHD Re-introduction of Birds & Mammals TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. VOLUME 101 • 2007 CONTENTS IS THE GRASS ALWAYS GREENER? Presidential Address by Mr David Beeson ...........................................................................2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE PEACEFUL USE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY: A JUSTIFIABLE OBJECTIVE? Mr Peter Riley......................................................................................................................7 VICTORIA PARK LEADING TO NEW WALK, LEICESTER Dr Helen Boynton .............................................................................................................10 A SEVEN POINT GRID FOR LITERARY GREATNESS Dr Jane Mackay.................................................................................................................11 MURIEL SPARK IN TUSCANY Professor Martin Stannard..................................................................................................15 THE MAGIC OF OXYGEN Dr Mike Batham & Dr Rob Janes.......................................................................................16
    [Show full text]
  • NHS Newsletter Spring 2015
    Newsletter LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Spring 2015 Number 100 The longer days will soon be upon us when we will be resuming our summer pro- gramme. Once again, I want to thank everyone for their fantastic support related to the Newsletter. I have received a large number of articles for this edition and it has been impossible to include them all and therefore they will be published next time. I hope you enjoy this Newsletter as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Since it is our 100th issue, I am going to hand over the front page to Jan, our presi- dent who works tirelessly for the Natural History Section, to tell us about the history of the Newsletter. The copy date for the Autumn Edition is 23 August 2015 Celebrating the100th issue of the Newsletter: Jan Dawson The first number of the Natural History Newsletter was brought out and edited in spring 1963 by Ian Evans, who had arrived in Leicester in 1959 as the then Assistant Keeper of Biology at the New Walk Museum. Dynamic and with a strong commit- ment to community service, he set about promoting the relevance of the Museums Inside this issue: Service within the local natural history scene. At that time, the Botany and Zoology Sections were the only two Sections of the Page Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society dealing with natural history. A third, the A Winter’s Tale 5 very popular Ornithological Section had split off from the Parent Body in 1946 as a society in its own right. In 1962, Ian suggested the two biological sections should Hawk-moths 6 amalgamate as the Natural History Section and the following year inaugurated the Toadlets on the march 7 first Newsletter.
    [Show full text]
  • NEWSLETTER 40 Obedient Plant, Nepeta, Pelargonium, Inula, Liatris, Veronicastrum, Eryngium, Sidalcea, Dahlia, Chicory and Especially Lavender
    Botanic Garden site supports all the “Big Six” common bumblebee species and four of their cuckoo parasites [Bombus terrestris and it’s cuckoo Bombus vestalis; Bombus lucorum; Bombus hortorum; Bombus pratorum and it’s cuckoo Bombus sylvestris; Bombus lapidarius and it’s cuckoo Bombus rupestris; and Bombus pascuorum and it’s cuckoo Bombus campestris [a melanic form - all black - of this cuckoo was seen the day before]. The foraging choices of the bumblebees included Fuchsia, NEWSLETTER 40 Obedient plant, Nepeta, Pelargonium, Inula, Liatris, Veronicastrum, Eryngium, Sidalcea, Dahlia, Chicory and especially Lavender. How many bumbles does your garden support? It would be a real contribution to bumblebee conservation if all gardens provided a wide range of foraging choices for LEICESTERSHIRE any bumble visitors, from early spring, throughout the summer and into the autumn. ENTOMOLOGICAL January 2009 * In VC55, possibly indicating climate change, some bumblebees are now thought to over- SOCIETY winter as they do further south e.g.: Bombus terrestris workers seen with pollen loads, foraging Lonicera x purpusei in my garden in January 2008. VC55 Maggie Frankum, August 2008 ___________________________________________________________________________ Indoor Meetings Programme More about the Black Arches (Lymanlia monacha) All meetings are held at Holly Hayes, 216 Birstall Road, Birstall, Leicestershire LE4 4DG. Arrive at 7:00 pm for pre-meeting refreshments. Evening session starts at 7:30 pm in the lecture room. considered a more favourable locality for moth Further to Graham Finch’s article (see trapping: clearly the moths’” think “ differently. th Newsletter 39) on the distribution of this Thursday, 19 February 2009 species in Leicestershire, I have also made „Recorder friendly leafminers‟ – Anona Finch will introduce us to the leafmining Lepidoptera that are records starting with a moth trapping session, easy to identify and show us their unique habits and lifestyles.
    [Show full text]