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Outside activities
Most of my time outside work is spent helping to manage two nearby nature reserves.
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The reserves are Lingfield Wildlife Area and Centenary Fields, which adjoin each other in the centre of Lingfield, in Surrey. (An outline plan appears left). The reserves occupy 26 acres.
Our aim is to turn them into something that people can use for enjoyment, conservation and education.
The project has the enthusiastic and hard-working support of local residents. They have helped transform these previously barren fields into a set of richly varied habitats, including laid hedges and a large pond.
We have begun helping local schools and groups such as Cubs and Brownies to use the reserves as an outdoor classroom.
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From its start 11 years ago, Lingfield Wildlife Area has been managed by a committee of local people. Since 2003, the committee has also managed Centenary Fields. Its members represent nearby schools, district and parish councils and the local amenity society. I represent Surrey Wildlife Trust on it and am also the committee secretary, so fire any questions you may have about the fields at me.
There is a Web site for the project, here. If you're anywhere near Vicarage Road, Lingfield, with some time to spare, take a walk around the reserves and refresh your spirits. (The map reference is TQ387439, directions are given here.)
In July 2005, we published the The Lingfield Reserves Tree Book, which I wrote. You can order it from that page.
An offshoot from my Lingfield activities is SWAN, the Southern Wildlife Areas Network. This is a mutual aid network that connects the owners and managers of nature reserves in southern Britain, helping them to share information, ideas and experience.
A different network is the British Isles Nature Reserves Web ring. This is mainly for advertising the existence of nature reserves. Many of these are small and run by volunteers, and would otherwise not be known outside their localities.
In addition, I am a committee member of the Surrey Tree Warden Network and edit its newsletter.
Flower names
Another spare time activity is compiling a botanical thesaurus. I have had a lifelong interest in words and also have a long-standing interest in botany. (I'm a member of the Surrey Botanical Society.) These interests combine in a personal project to create an index of old and current names of British plants.
For each species, I'm collecting the various scientific, common and vernacular names from the British Isles (including Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and other Celtic names) and Britain's former colonies, and in the main European languages. So far, I have nearly 20,000 names listed, for about 3,500 native and introduced species, with many more awaiting entry.
My friend, the plant photographer Andrew Gagg, is doing something similar but for outside Britain. We help each other out in our respective territories. Andrew has put up a Web page about what we are doing, at Babel. He and I are always keen to make the acquaintance of other 'botanymologists' and to swap data.
I do a bit of photography myself in between times.
www.flickr.com
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