Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - December 1982
Richard Pryce
75p. per part, £1.50 per volume (+ p&p.), free to members of the West Wales Naturalists Trust.
The first impression of the new style Nature in Wales is one of sumptuous professionalism. Now that the National Museum of Wales has taken over production of the journal I think we can expect a return to the content we had come to enjoy under the editorship some years ago of Dillwyn Miles. Already we have the first part of the backlog of Welsh Plant Records (for 1979), which were dropped by the former editorial board. I would, however, have liked to have seen them bound-in and not published in a separate supplement. There is a promise too of resurrecting the Welsh Bird Report.
The new larger format, which is of a size similar to most other current “learned publications” loads itself better to the incorporation of figures and illustrations and the fine quality of the printing certainly does justice to the photographs accompanying the text. This first issue strongly reflects the Museum involvement with about half of the articles being contributed by museum staff, including some of great interest for example the well illustrated description of the “75 years of Ornithology in Wales” exhibition prepared to celebrate the 7th Anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter to the Museum and as a tribute to Col. H. Morrey Salmon C.B.E., M.C., D.L. - Contributions by Nature Conservancy Council staff include an inventory of Welsh National Nature Reserves and a description of the salient points of the new Wildlife and Countryside Act. The first of a series On Welsh Research Stations is also published, in-this issue, The Welsh Plant Breeding Station.
Content ranges from the general to the highly scientific viz. “The Pauropoda”, a description of a group of tiny soil inhabitants illustrated with scanning electron micrographs of very high quality, to matters topical: “Tidal Power from the Severn Estuary”, a well researched review of the current situation.
Regular features retained from previous volumes include Field Notes, Letters to the Editor, and Book Reviews (no less than 21 books having been reviewed in this issue). New regular features include “In Retrospect” in which past events are brought to our attention, in this issue, observations on E. Price-Evans’ 1932 paper on Cader Idris plant communities form part of the item, Finally there is a seven page list of addresses of Conservation Bodies in Wales which it Is planned to update periodically.
One striking feature of the first issue of this new series is the lack of contribution by the “ordinary naturalist” and “informed amateur”. In past years Nature in Wales has been a vehicle for the publication of work by such enthusiasts and I hope it will continue to be so. This naturally depends on the submission of suitable material but I feel sure that there is a wealth of research being undertaken which would be of great benefit to others if published. The success and continuance of the journal depends on such submissions and, of course, the maintenance of interest of the readership.
As has been the case in the past, Nature in Wales is, and promises to be, a first class journal having appeal not only to naturalists within the Principality but also to like-minded people elsewhere. If you have not already seen this new periodical I strongly recommend you to invest in a subscription as soon as possible.
