Editor: Derek Moore did us all proud at The Cut, delivering a fascinating chronology of the momentous Twentieth Century that neatly capped off Steve Piotrowski’s recent history series. It was both a privilege and a pleasure to be on the receiving end of this tour de force by someone who had been so instrumental in many important developments in Suffolk at the back end of the century. There was no way I could emulate Derek’s inimitable style of delivery, nor could I repeat his occasionally risky content (so our lawyers tell us), so I haven’t tried. Instead, with a little help from Philip Murphy (who has commented separately on a couple of bird records), I’ve just kept to the bare facts - which are nevertheless very interesting in their own right. But note that the history has been slightly re-structured by dividing it into three different categories of event - namely human, birding and natural events. So what follows is Derek’s fascinating history of Suffolk’s birds and birding throughout the twentieth century, plus some comments by the Editor. Enjoy.
Derek Moore
Suffolk’s Great Ornithological Events of the 20th Century A chronology of Suffolk’s birding Twentieth Century:
Human events:
Derek highlighted 36 noteworthy events, including the founding of a steadily growing list of nature/conservation organisations as well as, more importantly, the growing hectarage of quality nature reserves secured for birding: 1929 Suffolk Naturalist’s Society was founded 1932 Ticehurst’s Birds of Suffolk published
1933 The BTO was founded thanks to Max Nicholson 1939 RSPB acquire North Warren as a Nature Reserve 1946 Lowestoft Field Club formed 1947 Minsmere & Havergate Island become RSPB Reserves 1952 Cavenham Heath National Nature Reserve (NNR) designated - the first for England.
Cavenham Heath National Nature Reserve
T H E H A R R I ER – De c e m b e r 2 0 1 3
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