Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society

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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.

25/09/2026

Graduation Ceremony Day at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 17 September 2026. GNS supports the Top Environment Student award, this year to Tom Haines, though unfortunately Tom was unable to come on the day. Nonetheless GNS rep Juliet Bailey greatly enjoyed the splendid colourful occasion. It included an address by Sir Charles Burrell (of Knepp rewilding fame) who received the recognition Alum of the Year, and also by garden designer Danny Clarke who was awarded an Honorary Fellowship. , , , , .

12/09/2026

For 29 consecutive years the birds of Ham Nature Reserve have been intensively monitored in the spring and summer months using the Constant Effort Site (CES) standardised technique. Trained and licenced volunteers catch and ring birds, erecting the same number of nets, at the same spots, at 12 regular intervals through the season. To some surprise, 2026 has turned out to be a bumper year with almost 1000 birds caught. The season came to a close on 1st September with a creditable catch of 50 birds, including these two Great Spotted , a female on the left and a juvenile showing remnants of a red cap on the right.
For more information on CES see https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/bird-ringing-scheme/ringing-surveys/constant-effort-sites
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02/09/2026

Floodplain meadows at , 1st September 2026. After the very dry summer, the hay cutting has left the ground bare. But, just as after a big flood, the Great Burnet has come through amazingly quickly. It has an extensive long-lived underground root structure which enables it to withstand seasonal flooding but also, in summer, to draw on water resources way beyond the reach of most meadow plants.
The diagram from the reveals the above and below ground structure of various meadow plants with Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) at the centre. , , , ,

23/08/2026

GNS field meeting, bird watching at Saul Warth, 23 August 2026. Andy Oliver led the group past pools and woodland out to the sea wall where there are glorious views of the Severn with the sweep on the east bank from Slimbridge and Frampton to Hock Cliff, and across the horseshoe bend to the Awre peninsula on the west bank. Twenty eight species were seen, though the hoped-for waders remained distant silhouettes out on the sparkling water's edge. Highlights included 12 Cattle Egrets - a great rarity here until very recent years, and 2 Spotted Flycatchers - once commonplace but with populations having plummeted in the last 30 years now a rarity. , , , , , , ,

18/08/2026

Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society Wye Valley Woodland plants meeting. 16 August 2026.
At Tintern a loop in the river Wye creates a finger of Gloucestershire that pokes out into Wales. It is clothed in steep woodland on both sides, providing excellent plant-hunting opportunities in welcome shade. Led by Olga Krylova the specialities of the peninsula including Wood Fescue and mature Small-leaved Lime Trees were seen, with a large part of the meeting concentrating on the ferns. The Hart's Tongue Fern was pale and flattened by the drought, and most of the Broad Buckler was shrivelled, but the Male and Scaly Male generally seemed to be doing OK. Several putative hybrids gave ample room for confusion and debate - serious botany, but relaxed and good-humoured. , , , , , , ,

12/08/2026

Wow - even a partial eclipse (more than 90% in Gloucestershire) is one of those awe-inspiring gifts of nature that make you glad, though humbled, to be alive. Here, people gathering on distant Painswick Beacon to watch the spectacle, then a clumsy attempt in the garden using a telescope to focus the sun onto a cardboard screen. It worked eventually. , , , ,

27/07/2026

Magnificent flowers. Woolly Thistles (Cirsium eriophorum) are in full bloom on the thin soils of the limestone hills in Gloucestershire. Get lost in the mesmerising fibonacci pattern of the bracts on the unopened flower-heads. Look very closely and see the iridescent green eyes of the tiny silver fly - the Woolly Thistle Gall-fly (Terellia longicauda) - that lays its eggs on this plant. Here at Shortwood near Haresfield. , , , , , , ,

17/07/2026

A botanical walk from Chipping Sodbury, 12 July 2026. Gorgeous summer flowers such as Purple Loosestrife and Valerian along the brook, then out through the recently cut hay fields onto Sodbury Common. The stand-out flower was Spiny Restharrow, Ononis spinosa, a member of the Pea family.This is quite an unusual plant, but less showy things got serious examination too, such as a tiny Willowherb.
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09/07/2026

GNS Dragonfly walk, 7 July, at Woorgreens in the Forest of Dean. Despite many of the pools being dry. County Dragonfly Recorder Rick Mundy found 9 species, including Black-tailed Skimmers, and what one participant described as a "rave" of Red-eyed Damsels. Flowers, birds and butterflies were also enjoyed, as was the social side including meeting a bunch of naturalists visiting from out-of-county, and to the childrens' particular delight patting the ponies. , , , , ,

07/07/2026

Hornet mimic hoverfly Volucella zonaria on hedgerow in Cheltenham SO929202

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