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   THE NOAK BRIDGE NATURE RESERVE SOCIETY   



Autumn 2007
                

NEWSLETTER

http://www.nbnrs.org.uk




   Greetings from Chairperson Betty Haynes

Well, here we are in the last quarter of the year! Hate to say this, but there are only twelve weeks to Christmas! It comes around so quickly but we still look forward to it just the same.

I'm sorry we are late with this Newsletter but as you are aware we did not have enough members at our Annual General Meeting in July. We did not have the necessary 10 members present to elect a new committee and had to convene a Special General Meeting on 7 September to amend the Society's constitution to allow a quorum of 8 members for all future meetings. Fortunately, we had 18 members on September 7 and were able to conduct the meeting and elect a new committee. As there were no members wishing to serve on the committee, the same members were elected again. Thank you to all our members who attended.

2007 was not a very good year for the wildlife; very changeable weather so the birds were confused about when to start nesting. They began to build their nests earlier than usual only to lose them in the strong winds. However, they did manage to survive and raise their young a few weeks later. Butterflies too had a hard time. I didn't see many until the middle of summer. Here is a list of butterflies and birds found in the reserve:

Butterflies

Peacock, Speckled Wood, Small White, Small Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Small Blue, Painted Lady, Clouded Yellow, Red Admiral, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Orange Tip
Birds

Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Sky Lark, Green Woodpecker, Blackbird, Thrush, Kingfisher, Collared Dove, Chiff-chaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Heron, Blackcap, Stonechat, Chaffinch, Sparrow, Starling, Magpie, Pigeon, Jay

Wildlife observed: Great Crested Newt, Common Lizard, Grass Snake, Adder, Pigmy Shrew, Field Mouse. These are just a few I've seen this year while walking around the reserve. So I think we, as a group should start recorded surveys on your reserve. If any member would like to join us on a survey, please get in touch with one of your committee members; we do need help on such a survey.

Finally, I would like to invite you all to join us on our Yuletide Ramble on Sunday, 9 December at 10am and celebrate the season with us at 12pm in the Village Hall with mulled wine and mince pies.


   Annual General Meeting - Thursday, 5 July 2007

As you all know, this meeting was so poorly attended (9 members) we were unable to elect a new committee and a Special General Meeting was arranged for Friday, 7 September. The minutes for the AGM were distributed with your invitations to the Special General Meeting.


   Special General Meeting

Convened on 7 September to present an amendment to the Society's constitution. It is proposed to change Item 8(b) to read: "a quorum of General Meetings of the Society shall be 8(eight) members of the Society entitled to vote at meetings of the Society." The reason for this change is that we were unable to conduct the business of the Annual General Meeting because we did not have the present quorum requirement of 10 members present when we met on Thursday, 5 July 2007 in the Village Hall at 7:30pm. It was so disappointing for the eight members who came, especially the committee members who have worked hard all year in your interests.

Special General Meeting
Noak Bridge Village Hall
Friday, 7 September 2007

Committee Present:     Betty Haynes, Chair
Janet Bircham, Secretary
Weed, Membership
    Joan Fynn
Peter Fynn
Mark Williams, Countryside Services

Minutes

1.     Apologies for absence.
Ralph Chapman, Terri Sargent, Tony Youe, John Baron, Tony Garner.
2.     Welcome, Betty Haynes, Chair.
Betty was delighted to welcome 18 members to the Special General Meeting called:
(1) to complete the business of our Annual General Meeting, 5 July 2007
(2) to amend the Society's constitution to allow a quorum of 8 members at all future meetings. The attendance at the AGM did not meet the required quorum of 10 members so we were unable to elect a new committee. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 5 July 2007 were previously distributed to all members.
3.     Matters Arising.
None
4.     Election of Officers/Committee Members for 2007/2008.
Chair, Betty Haynes. Proposed Renee Pryke, seconded Jean Youe.
Vice-Chair. Position not filled.
Treasurer, Ralph Chapman. Proposed Peter Hobbs, seconded Joan Fynn.
Secretary, Janet Bircham. Proposed Betty Haynes, seconded, Lesley Zanco.
Membership Secretary, Weed. Proposed Peter Fynn, seconded Betty Haynes.
Committee Members. Joan and Peter Fynn, Jean Youé.
Betty thanked all the committee members and was pleased to welcome Jean Youé to the group.
5.     Any Other Business
Betty thanked all the members present for their support and hoped to see them all at our next event - the Yuletide Ramble on 9 December. We will be providing new bird nesting boxes in the autumn and replacing the stolen kestrel box with another one donated by the RSPB. Further actions to be discussed at the next committee meeting. There were no questions from the floor and Betty declared the meeting closed at 8.15 pm.

   Dragonflies and Crickets Guided Walk. Sunday, 12 August 2007

Only 9 members came along, including three children on a very overcast day. Mark Williams brought nets and magnifying containers for observing and identifying specimens collected. The children enjoyed hunting for the crickets in the long grass of the meadow. We trapped twelve different species of grasshoppers/crickets and identified them with the help of the pamphlets provided. The dragonflies were even harder to find, as they prefer to come out in sunshine. We managed to find two species at Foxes Pond.


   Moths Survey

Graham Bailey and Don Down visited the reserve on 18 August and observed the empty pupa case of a Webb's Wainscot in a reed stem, larvae of the Small Ranunculus moth on prickly lettuce and Brown China Mark moths at the one of the ponds. The larvae of this moth feed underwater on pondweed. They also identified some butterflies: Holly Blues, Painted Ladies, Common Blues, Speckled Woods, Gatekeepers and Whites.


   Memberships.

Thanks to all those members who have renewed their subscriptions for 2007-8. Those who haven't will find a membership form attached. At the recent Special General Meeting of the Society, the Membership Secretary (Weed) retired as required by the Constitution, which states that no officer of the Society may serve for more than three consecutive years. However, if there are no other nominees then the thee-year requirement to retire is waived. This proved to be the case again this year so Weed agreed to continue in the role once more. If any member of the Society would like to join the committee with a view to taking over as Membership Secretary would they please contact Janet Bircham, Society Secretary at 01268-526344.


   Internet.

http://www.nbnrs.org.uk

Details of the monthly work party activities and information on future Basildon District Council's Country Services events can be found on the Society's website. Reports of past activities can be found on the Forum at Noakbridge.net. The wildlife page currently lists sixty-five animal species that have been observed in the reserve in 2007.


   Work Parties.

Please look for our notices on our notice board at the Eastfield Road entrance and in the Chemist's shop window.
Next Work Party: Wednesday, 17 October, 1pm-3pm.


   Dogs

If you have been threatened or frightened by unleashed dogs in the reserve please write down the date, time, details of the occurence and call the dog warden at 01268-294280 or Betty Haynes at 01268-531365.


   NO CYCLING

The Society has ordered new, larger signs for both entrances to the reserve.


   Items for the Newsletter

What's happening? Something to say? Call Janet at 01268 526344 if you would like to contribute to the Newsletter.





BASILDON COUNCIL COUNTRYSIDE SERVICES EVENTS

Saturday, 13 October
NO DOGS

    Seed Gathering
Norsey Wood
    10.30am - 12.30pm
Sunday, 21 October
Dogs on leads

    Autumn Ramble
Nevendon
    10am - 2pm
Monday, 22 October - Friday, 26 October       Conservation Week       Watt Tyler Country Park
Restoring the ponds and clearing scrub to promote ground flora. Bring a hot drink and packed lunch.
Wear old clothing and steel toecaps!

Tuesday, 30 October
Booking essential*

    Nightmare!
Wat Tyler
    6.30pm - 9.30pm
ghouls and ghosties!
Saturday, 3 November
Booking essential*

    Fungus Foray
Mill Meadows
    10.30am - 12.30pm
NO DOGS
Saturday 10 November
NO DOGS

    Fungus Foray
Norsey Wood
    10.30am - 12.30pm
Booking essential*
Sunday, 2 December
Hang decoration 2.30pm

    Tree DRessing
Norsey Wood
    12:30 onwards
NO DOGS
Sunday 2 December
Mulled wine, etc

    Yuletide Ramble
Nevendon
    10am - 12pm
free
Saturday, 8 December
Dogs on leads

    Yuletide Ramble
Queens Park
    10.30am - 12.30pm
Mulled wine, etc
Sunday, 9 December
The Wick AGM

    Yuletide Ramble
The Wick
    2pm start
Mulled wine, etc
Sunday, 9 December
Mulled wine, mince pies


    Yuletide Ramble
Noak Bridge
    10am - 12pm
Dogs on leads
Sunday, 16 December
£4 per child
Boooking Essential*

    Santa's Grotto
Wat Tyler
    11am - 3pm
Mulled wine, etc

* BOOKINGS: Telephone 01268 - 550088


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last updated - 16 August 2015
URL - http://www.nbnrs.org.uk/news0709/index.html