Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - September 1984
Ian Morgan
There has been a great gap in the natural history literature regarding sources of information for naturalists in our area, for example, the distribution of various biological groups in our county. For some groups e.g. birds and plants, a great; deal of outstanding work has been done, much of it only in the last few years or so, in other groups only a little work has been completed, but for some groups the work is woefully inadequate.
It is often a cause for concern - and surely a stimulus for further record¬ing - to see what could be called the 'Carmarthenshire Gap' on distribution maps produced by the Biological Records Centre (BRC) - with no records, even for common species. A great amount of recording remains to be done; let us put Cams on the map!
It might be a good idea for those who have specialized in one group e.g. the ever-popular birds, to branch out into other fields, instead of complaining (as is often heard) that there is nothing about! All months are important and ideal for recording certain groups - the opportunity exists for making 'good' records and enjoying this work at the same time.
The excellent pre-1980 'Nature in Wales' published by the WWNT contained many interesting summaries of distributions as known in Dyfed/Wales etc. and other first-class natural history articles. The omission of the indispensable Welsh Plant Records (now published by the BSBI for their Welsh members) and the Welsh Bird Report from 'Nature in Wales', was, in my personal opinion, a grave mistake and something that will be regretted by future naturalists.
Finally, may I end this perhaps provocative note by a plea to all existing 'official' recorders of various animal/plant groups. Please ensure that (a) all validated records, with relevant data, reach the BRC. People who send records in, rightly expect that their records, if correct and of sufficient interest, are sent off to the National Recorder. If records stop at the county recorder's 'filing cabinet', a disservice is being done to biological recording. (b) That all information collected during the recorder's 'period of office' is passed on to the next-appointed recorder (or in the absence of a new recorder, the 'parent body', e.g. BSBI, WINT etc.) for future reference and research. This information should not be regarded as the personal property of the recorder but as that of the parent organization (who appoint the recorders, as the BSBI does.) There should be no excuse for the repetition of the sad incident of a recorder in Wales who refused to pass on information regarding his area to the National Recorder.
