Bulletin 13 - March 1981: Editorial

Editorial

On 19th January, 47 members attended the Annual General Meeting, held to review the fourth and to inaugurate our fifth year of activities. The Chairman's address (p.2) sums up the general spirit of the Group and 1981 opens on an optimistic note. Projects in hand include surveys of various aspects of the country's flora and fauna as well as continued input into the ornithological computer bank.

Precise and positive recording of observations, however, is still a rather piecemeal affair. The problem of exact identification remains acute in a Group composed essentially of interested amateurs, and is a long-term objective. Hence the need for collections of specimens, though as Diane Donohue points out in her article on insect killing (p.20), "never take more of one species than is absolutely necessary for the making of a representative collection".

Permanent displays in our new workroom will give members a chance to crosscheck identifications and hopefully to contribute to their field of interest.

Bulletin 13 continues with a variety of articles. Established contributors include Mohamed Khan ('Al Babha plantation', p.17) and Bish Brown's article on Cormorants (p. 28). Contributions from without the UAE include G.S. Cowles' article on a new subspecies of Kingfisher (p. 27) and suggestions from Kew Gardens in UK on the collection and despatch of plants (p. 25). Ted Spain has given us a summary of 1980 climatic rcports for Abu Dhabi which the bird recorder is checking with ornithological observations to correlate migration and weather patterns.

The Al Ain group formally became the Al Ain Branch of the ENHG in 1980 but a regular liaison capacity is still required between the two groups. The Al Ain Branch has published its first Report and Proceedings (September 1980), a copy of which is in the library.

Bulletin No. 1 of the Islamabad Natural History Group (October 1980) is another useful edition. This is the result of the ongoing interest of an ex-ENHG Committee member and Archaeology Recorder, Dave Corfield, who was a regular contributor to the Bulletin in its early days. We look forward to further correspondence with Pakistan, and wish Dave good luck with his editing.

Committee changes. At the AGM the existing Committee was duly re-elected with the exception of Joan McQuaid, who left Abu Dhabi in November. One newcomer is Martin Willmot, hotfoot from U.K., who bravely volunteered to take over as Programme Secretary.