Natural History Societies on the Red-List?
I have been a member of the Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society since 2010. I recently went to an indoor meeting of theirs for the first time. The format was an ornithological talk with a break for tea or coffee and a chance for a chinwag in between. I’ve been encouraged to get more involved in the society and am in the process of helping them modernise and simplify the recording side of the society. At the meeting there was a giveaway of old Cheshire county Bird Reports and newsletters. I picked a Bird Report up from 1983 (the year of my birth) and a society newsletter from July 1990 (the time in my life when I was first into birds).
I’ve been reading the Bird Report in particular with great interest, for one thing it’s a great historic document now. The thing that grabbed my attention however was a simple list of local associated natural history and ornithological societies. There are 23 listed in 1983. It left me wondering, how many of them are still with us in 2014? Here are a list of the societies listed..
Altrincham & District Natural History Society
Chadkirk & District Natural History Society
Chester & District Ornithological Society
Hale Ornithologists
Heald Green Naturalists
Hilbre Island Ringing Group
High Peak RSPB Group
Knutsford Ornithological Society
Liverpool Ornithological Society
Lymm Ornithological Society
Cheshire Wildlife Trust Macclesfield branch (listed as Cheshire Conservation Trust)
Macclesfield RSPB Group
Manchester Ornithological Society
Merseyside Naturalists Association
Merseyside RSPB Group
Merseyside Ringing Group
Mid-Cheshire Ornithological Society
Nantwich Natural History Society
South East Cheshire Ornithological Society
Stockport RSPB Group
Wilmslow Guild Ornithological Society
Wirral Bird Club
Wirral RSPB Group
So after a quick session of googling all the societies listed it seems more are still around then I thought with 15 still going out of 23. I was expecting the majority of them to be gone in all honesty.
However it seems to me a lot of societies are stuck in the past, for instance it struck me as odd in 2014 that at least 3 of the 15 active societies don’t have a website to promote themselves. How are they expected to attract new membership in this day and age? This brings me to my next point on societies, which is the average age of membership. I have been to a couple of meetings in the last few months, one with the RSPB group in Macclesfield and the aforementioned CAWOS meeting. It struck me quite obviously that I was the youngest at either meeting by some considerable distance, I was pretty certain at the RSPB meeting I was the only person present not drawing a state pension.
Two local RSPB groups meet in Senior Citizens halls, whilst Macclesfield recently moved from the Macclesfield Senior Citizens Hall. What hope of attracting new younger (even slightly younger) members if you meet at a Senior Citizens Hall? If the trend I’ve noticed in the east of Cheshire for a mature membership is replicated in the rest of the county and indeed the rest of the country then most of the aforementioned societies will be no more within 20 years or so.
So how do these clubs and societies attract new membership? Social Media could be one answer. Only one of the 15 active societies currently has a Facebook page, the Macclesfield branch of the RSPB Explorers. Yet birding and natural history has a strong presence on Facebook, but not from traditional societies. For instance there is an active group on Facebook called Cheshire and Wirral Birders who are an active group that discusses local birds and share photos of birds that they have seen, the information is up to date; there is no need to wait for a quarterly newsletter to find out which birds you’ve missed! The group isn’t (as far as I can tell) associated with any of the traditional societies yet there is nothing in this group that a society can’t do if it were to set up its own Facebook group. A society’s Facebook group can share photos, information and can also promote indoor meetings more effectively.
I think there is definitely a place for the traditional Ornithological or Natural History Society, they are great places to meet like minded individuals and the talks given to society meeting are of the highest quality, however they need to move with the times or else they are in danger of becoming an endangered species.
Source: Hunter, J.S.A (ed.) (1985) Cheshire Bird Report 1983 Cheshire Ornithological Association, Cheshire
Grass-roots Wildlife 