Sections focus on particular subjects and it is open for any
member to join any or none. Some Sections carry out original work
which is then published in the Transactions or in separate
volumes
Chairman Dr R.M.H.Hodgson, MB, BS, FRCA Vice Chairman Dr D.J. Allen, BSc, MSc, Phd Hon Secretary F.A.B.Billinge, BSc, MSc, PhD Devonia,
Asburton Road,
Bovey Tracey TQ13 9BZ (Tel. 01626 833620) Hon Treasurer E. Pilgrim, PhD Committee Officers and Recorders Recorder(s) Mr R.E.N. Smith (Vascular Plants); Mr F.R.
Jeffery (Bryophytes); Mrs B. Benfield (Lichens); Mr J. Benn
(Fungi)
The Botany Section runs an annual programme of 13 to 14 field
meetings, which are held in a wide range of locations in Devon.
They usually start in April and finish with a meeting concentrating
on fungi in October or November. In addition to this programme,
there are occasional meetings organised by the 'lower plants'
group, i.e. those specialising in bryophytes (mosses) and lichens.
The only indoor meeting is the annual general meeting in January,
preceded by a morning walk to look at lichens and bryophytes,
followed by consideration of formal business and a slide show of
members' photographs. There are also exhibits of botanical interest
staged by members.
As well as vascular plants, the Section also looks at, and records,
lichens, bryophytes and fungi; the records are collated by the
Recorder for each of these groups and are published in the
Section's Annual Report in the Transactions.
Non-members are welcome and there are always experienced botanists
on hand at field meetings to help and encourage newcomers. The
Section is the major source of botanical expertise in Devon and
currently members are busy with a major new recording exercise with
a view to publishing a new Flora of Devon in five years'
time. • back
Chairman Mary Rogers, PhD, RNT Hon Secretary Mrs Maureen De Viell, OBE, BSc, DipCG
Bycullah, 3 Park Lane, Little Knowle, Budleigh Salterton, EX9
6QT (Tel. 01395 445878) Hon Treasurer B. Hall Programme Secretary Mrs N. Daniel 7 Marine Parade,
Budleigh Salterton, EX9 6NS (Tel. 01395 445960) Committee J. Cann, Mrs V. Cann, G Harding, Mrs E. Pascoe,
Mrs S. Phillips, B. Rolf. Co-opted, H.Wilson, BSc, PhD Recorder(s) B. Rolf (Leader) and Team
The Buildings Section was founded in 1987 and, on the advice of
the Reverend Peter Beacham, then Devon County Conservation Officer.
It was decided that the Section should have as its project the
recording of barns threatened with conversion into dwellings. Since
then, the Recorders of Buildings have surveyed, photographed,
drawn, recorded and produced reports on a great many Devon barns.
Latterly they have also recorded bathing houses and plunge pools of
eighteenth and nineteenth century origin, most to be found in South
Devon. On Dartmoor, the Section has recorded a ruinous house with
extant barns, representing a comparison and link with the
longhouses of Houndtor to the existing farms of medieval origin
that survive on the Moor. Copies of the Section's detailed reports
have all been deposited with the County Sites and Monuments
Department at County Hall and in the West Country Studies Library.
To improve their skills, the Recorders have also organised a
one-day workshop with an architect.
The Section has organised visits to more than 100 buildings within
the County, most not open to the public, where owners have most
kindly welcomed members into their homes. They have allowed them to
peer into attics to admire smoke-blackened thatch, discuss and
argue about the probable age of ancient timbers and learn about the
wide-ranging building materials and styles of architecture to be
found within our very large County. We have visited perhaps the
oldest domestic building, constructed in granite on Dartmoor;
another in North Devon containing roof timbers which have been
dated through dendrochronology to the fourteenth century; small
manor houses, vernacular buildings, elegant Georgian homes and
estate buildings, which at Dartington included the 'international
modern' style. In 2005 we came right up to date with a visit to
'TR2', the rehearsal and workshop building which provides the
Theatre Royal in Plymouth with the most modern facilities of any
theatre in the country.
As part of our continuing appreciation of the variety provided by
the County of Devon we have taken town walks with local history
societies, been given guided tours of churches and listened to
lectures on subjects ranging from the building and maintenance of
cob buildings to the monasteries and monastic life of Devon. The
Section now has well over 400 members and about one third of these
regularly attend at least one item in our programme each year; our
season runs from early March, when our Recorders organise the
Spring Meeting, through until November, when our annual general
meeting is held during a day-long visit to a town in a different
area of the County each year. • back
Chairman J. Braven Vice Chairman R.F. McCormick, FRES Hon Secretary R.J. Wootton 61 Thornton Road, Exeter EX4
4NR (Tel. 01392 275332) Hon Treasurer Mrs J. Turner Recorder(s) Lepidoptera - Butterflies - Dr C.R. Bristow;
Coleoptera - P.L. Cook, BSc, C.Chem, MRSC; Diptera - Dr
R.J.Wootton; Hemiptera - K.N.A. Alexander, BSc, PhD, FRES, MIEEM;
Other Macrolepidoptera - Mr R.F. McCormick; Microlepidoptera - R.J.
Heckford; Odonata - D. Smallshire; Orthoptera - A Colston, BSc;
Psocoptera - Dr K.N.A. Alexander; Hymenoptera - S Carroll
The Entomology Section aims to promote interest in, and
understanding of, all subjects relating to insects, and to
encourage the study of the distribution and biology of insects in
Devon. The Section currently holds three indoor meetings a year,
usually on Saturday afternoons or evenings. Two of these meetings
comprise a talk by an expert in a particular field, and the other
is devoted to the Section's annual general meeting, followed by an
exhibition. There are also several field meetings each year, held
in a variety of locations and, in recent years, these have included
walks to see the heath fritillary butterfly, dragonflies or
day-flying moths. Our field walks have been held jointly with other
local groups and have been well attended.
A major activity of the Section is the collection and collation of
records of insects in Devon. The archives collected by some of the
Section's groups are now held on computer enabling the storage and
easy retrieval of large numbers of records. Expert Recorders have
responsibility for particular insect groups and interesting records
are published annually in the Transactions. Currently, we
have Recorders for butterflies, moths, beetles, bugs, barkflies and
dragonflies. The 'Devon Collections of Insects', which consists
mainly of butterflies and moths, is now in the Royal Albert
Memorial Museum, Exeter where it is available for study by
appointment with the curator. New members are welcome, regardless
of expertise, and present members are happy to share their own
experience and knowledge of insects. • back
Chairperson Mrs Anne Born, MA, MLitt Acting Chairperson Mrs Pamela Wootton Hon Secretary Miss Clare Shepherd Summerlea, 37
Babbacombe Road, Torquay TQ1 3SB (Tel. 01803 326546) Hon Treasurer Mrs Jill Jones Committee Dr R Wootton Recorder(s) Dialect - Dr John Smith Uplands Cottage,
North Road, Bath BA2 6HD (Tel. 01225 462506); Folklore - Dr
John Smith as above • back
