Bulletin 4 - March 1978: Editorial

Editorial

Our Natural History Group celebrated its first birthday in February. The group in fact arranged its first lecture in November 1976 when Professor Bertram gave a talk on dugongs but it was not until the following February that we established ourselves as the present group. At the AGM on 6 February, the Chairman reviewed a busy and rewarding year. A summary of his report will be printed in the next bulletin.

Our aim throughout has been twofold: to keep the standard of talks, and indeed articles in the Bulletin, as high as possible and to make them as relevant as possible to Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Considering that the establishment of the group was suggested only just over a year ago, we have had a remarkably active year in which our membership grew to 200 and we arranged nearly thirty activities of various kinds, mainly talks and field trips. We have also made a start at recording the flora and fauna in the UAE. We introduced to the Group some acknowledged experts (such as Professor Bertram, Mr. Wilfred Thesiger and M Serge Cleuziou) and several enthusiastic amateurs. We shall endeavour to repeat the formula this year.

This bulletin, the fourth in our series, has unfortunately been delayed by typing problems. Its successor, No.5, should be ready before the summer. The Committee is looking at ways of cutting down the production time and would be grateful for any offers of assistance in the compilation of future editions.

Our Group depends for its existence on the collective contribution of its members. .If anyone has any ideas for a talk, a trip out of Abu Dhabi town, any good photographs, or specimens of local flora and fauna, we should be delighted to hear about them. We have found over the past year that by pooling our members' knowledge, the sum total of what we know about the Natural History of the region is considerable. Let no one hold back; we welcome any contribution however insignificant you might consider it to be.