The Suffolk Argus
July1998
Children: an untapped resource by Steven Goss
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As a nation, we in Britain might have just woken up in time to the huge environmental damage we have wrought on our countryside during the past fifty years or so. Although recent events in Newbury and at Selar Farm in Wales might suggest otherwise, environmental issues now receive much more attention and figure high on the list of public concerns in general. This is no doubt partly due to organisations like ours, but whilst it is encouraging that children are learning about
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recycling and the destruction of tropical rainforests, are they really growing up with an understanding of the countryside and should Butterfly Conservation aim itself more at children? Naturally, it is adults that provide B.C. with much of its income through subscriptions and legacies etc. but I think there is considerable untapped potential to enlist more junior members. The R.S.P.B. currently has around 139,000 junior members. That's a lot of subscription money, but more importantly it's a lot of young people growing up with an interest in birds. I firmly believe that if we can capture the interest of children, they will retain that interest, to a greater or lesser degree , for the rest of their lives. So many of today's children seem to be growing up on a diet of television and computer games, whereas in the past they might have spent leisure time playing in the garden and country lanes where butterflies "' would have become a familiar sight. If they caught one, w,y chances are that their mother or 1 ;:f;1/ father could tell them what it was. Today, I think most children would struggle to name even one species. So what can we do about it ? On a local basis, information packs for schools combined with a short talk with slides sounds like a good idea. Nationally, perhaps competitions and features in children's magazines combined with the chance to join B.C. could work. Unfortunately, I think there is little doubt that recruiting new members of all ages is made somewhat harder because they have to join nationally and not locally.
Notes frotn the Editor Notes from the Editor By the time you read this the Suffolk Show will be over and hopefully many nectar-rich plants, accompanied by the special BC plant labels and information sheet, will have been bought from our stand and already have been planted in sunny spots. Our Branch input to Butterfly Garden year has so far included talks by James Mann and Richard Stewart and we received welcome publicty from an illustrated article on this subject in the EADT (March I 9th). This produced several follow-up enquiries. Detailed planting plans have been sent to the Thornham Estate in the hope that a sunny area being refurbished will become a line of butterfly beds. The butterfly garden, created in conjunction with Ipswich Parks Dpt. and Marks and Spencer, has now been planted and can be viewed at the Grove Lane end of Alexandra Park. Please let me have any records of visiting butterflies. Look out also for its official opening and the unveiling of a full colour information board. Finally at present, it is hoped that Chris Opperman of Radio Suffolk will be doing another Country programme mid-summer, based on butterfly gardens and hopefully visiting those of two Branch members.
Moth notes by TonyPrichard Arthur Watchman after many years as County Moth Recorder has retired. Jon Nicholls and myself have taken over as joint recorders. We are currently in the process of computerising the moth records that we have using the Recorder software package - we have entered over 16,000 records to date. We hope to move onto entering Arthur's records in the near future. Any moth records that you wish to submit shoul be sent to either one of us. Contact details are listed on the rear cover of the Argus. If you have any ideas of where the Branch could hold moth evenings then please let us know so that we can consider it for inclusion in the future.
Articles for the Suffolk Argus If any members have articles for future editions of the Suffolk Argus could they please send them to Paul Gilson at 18, Cheltenham Avenue, Ipswich IP1 4LN. Myself and Richard Stewart will be overseeing the production of the newsletter until a new Editor is found.
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