Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society

Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society Interested in all of Gloucestershire's flora and fauna?

Join GNS to learn about and enjoy local natural history, and help to record the changes in your local environment - as they happen.

14/06/2026

A great turnout (one of the highest we can remember) for today’s field trip over managed Crickley Hill in glorious weather. Some great birds spotted too: Jackdaw, Green Woodpecker, Wren, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Blackbird, Blackcap, Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Red Kite, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Robin and a wonderful close encounter with a Peregrine Falcon (for those lucky enough to see it).

Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common, set high overlooking Cheltenham. Gorgeous limestone grassland, rare birds an...
04/06/2026

Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common, set high overlooking Cheltenham. Gorgeous limestone grassland, rare birds and insects, wonderful geological exposures, and local social and industrial history. Today, 4 June 2026, it gets recognition as Cheltenham's Escarpment National Nature Reserve at an event with dignitaries from Cheltenham Borough Council, Natural England, the Lord Lieutenant representing the King, and the very influential local support group, FOLK, whose volunteers have done so much to manage the hill and record its natural history over the years. Part of the King's Series of new National Nature Reserves. , , , , , , ,

04/06/2026

gave these ornamental the chance to grow in a lawn, now a favourite place for battling the wind and rain of early June 2026. , ,

14/05/2026

A group of members enjoyed a fascinating and informative tour of the historic fish pass at . We were welcomed by the who explained the history of the lock that opened in 1844 only two years after the passing of the Severn Navigation Act.

Whilst it was an engineering miracle and a source of much trade and employment the construction of the Lincomb Weir and the locks were an for the migratory fish that could no longer reach their upstream spawning grounds. Populations of , , and collapsed.

Fortunately, with funding from the , the , the Canal and River Trust and others, the equally impressive engineering feat of building a fish pass opened in 2021. Chris Bainger from the gave an illuminating talk on the development of the fish pass, the 27 fish species that now use it and the slow but comforting in fish populations as these species can once again reach their spawning grounds.

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Tiz Butler retires from Wildlife Watch after some 30 years. At a joyous cake-fest at Robinswood, she was praised by past...
18/04/2026

Tiz Butler retires from Wildlife Watch after some 30 years. At a joyous cake-fest at Robinswood, she was praised by past and present Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust directors as well as young ecologists whose skills developed under her guidance. Tiz wearing the Christopher Cadbury Medal for services to nature conservation that she won in 2025 here cuts the celebratory cake. The packed room included children that participate in Wildlife Watch and their parents, with babes in arms and underfoot adding to the buzz. Thanks Tiz for sparking the joy of nature through the generations from all your friends at Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society.
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The joys of mossing!🤩 Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society meeting, 12 April, out in the woods at Chedworth looking for ...
16/04/2026

The joys of mossing!🤩 Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society meeting, 12 April, out in the woods at Chedworth looking for bryophytes, and enjoying the bluebells and bird-song, then back to the Roman Villa's coffee shop for refreshments. Perfect day!
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10/04/2026

The power of pheromones. Video from a member's Gloucestershire garden of 4 male orange tip butterflies tussling round a female. You can occasionally glimpse the black and white tipped front wing of the female in the middle of the bundle. , , , , ,

06/04/2026

Celebrating Easter. The sun has come out and this male Orange Tip Butterfly flits among the daisies and red dead-nettle. (Only the male has the orange wing-tips.) , , , ,

Hawkweeds! The GNS Plant Group is trying to get to grips with the notoriously difficult Hieracium genus, and seen here e...
31/03/2026

Hawkweeds! The GNS Plant Group is trying to get to grips with the notoriously difficult Hieracium genus, and seen here enjoying a pre-field season meeting in the skittle alley of the Salutation pub, reviewing what was found last year and making plans for this summer. Well, no-one thought they would be easy.

There were lots of interesting exhibits on the theme of Wildlife at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub on 7 March with mat...
08/03/2026

There were lots of interesting exhibits on the theme of Wildlife at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub on 7 March with material from the archives and several organisation mounting displays. As well as boards saying what we do, GNS provided hand lenses and a microscope for examining lichens, flowers, mosses, even a chunk of an old hornet nest. Two of us went for a quick look round the garden there, recording 8 species of bird, 14 species of wild plant in flower, 4 insects (cold - 7 degrees or we would have seen more), 10 lichens, 14 mosses and one fungus.

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