EDITORIAL
This is supposed to be the summer newsletter, but by the time you receive it, Autumn will have well and truly arrived. In fact, if all goes to plan - and this is really tempting fate - you will be receiving it at the first of the new season of evening meetings. Whether you do or not depends on several factors. The first is whether I can find enough material to fill the last two pages and still give the printer enough time to finish by the said date. That is a good cue to make an appeal for more articles, book reviews, equipment reviews, favourite walks, crosswords, puzzles - whatever you can offer for future newsletters. If anyone fancies themselves as an illustrator, that too would be a help.
The next factor is whether or not you have remembered that we have a new venue for the meetings - St Mary's parish centre off Devonshire Road - and that they are also on a new evening - Thursday.
Another factor will be whether the team can get the annual report bound in time to go with the newsletter for distribution at the meeting. This is the last time we shall have Joyce Riley's services in producing all the address labels for the newsletters and in distributing all those which aren't disposed of at the meetings. That's a good cue to thank Joyce for the massive amount of help and advice she has given me over the years that I have been doing this job. I am not going to say that her assistance will be greatly missed because I am counting on it continuing, even though she is taking a well-earned rest from the committee!
In addition to Joyce resigning, Nik Bruce is also leaving the committee for the perfectly sound reason that he is moving to Southport. The committee was already below strength, so we now desperately need new blood. If any of you out there feel you could help out in any way, please, please don't be shy in coming forward. You will be welcomed with open arms!
It has been a strange summer out in the field owing to the foot and mouth restrictions, which have not yet been fully removed, although access to all the principal sites is now possible. All survey work had to be abandoned, which will no doubt leave a hole in the BTO's statistics, and in our records. Hopefully the wildfowl counts will be able to take place as normal, but the Winter Farmland Bird Survey might still be at risk. We did manage to do two of the summer evening walks - to Cuerden in July and to Chisnall in August. Let's hope the disease is soon eradicated, and there is no repetition next year.