Today was the second ever Lancashire Wildlife Recorders Conference. I have been fortunate enough to be passingly involved in it’s organisation which has been driven by Steve Garland (https://stevegarland.co.uk/) (a man so enthused and energetic with so much experience that i can’t help but hope i can hold a candle to him in the future!), as well as the laser focused and ever knowledgeable Gary Hedges of the Tanyptera Trust. A true power team. Backed up and sponsored by the inspirational and supportive team of the Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society.

The conference was born from a longing of Steve’s. Lancashire has an incredible history of expert amateur naturalists, it has natural history societies that are coming up to their 150 year anniversary, many Lancashire naturalists are recognised for their expert contributions nationally and beyond in various fields and there are many natural history groups, large and small across the county. ..Yet, unlike Yorkshire there has never been a single biological recording focused, multi-taxa get together for wildlife recorders.

This is the second of these events and i have to say that it has re-awaked in me an interest i didn’t realise i had lost. My work largely revolves around data on biodiversity but i am at heart a naturalist, i enjoy being out and experiencing and studying the natural environment. I think over the last few years, with a focus on data and modelling, and probably a result of changing job/uncertainty, i have become (self)isolated in my activities.

Not necessarily to mean, i have stopped going out alongside other people (i’ve always been a loner in that respect) but that i have stopped talking to people about it. About mine and their discoveries, about the changes we see, about the new interests.

Today was an inspiration because i saw things from the perspective of other people again, they shared new things. John Wright’s opening talk ‘Times they r a changin’ was probably the most touching of the day because it was beautiful in its simplicity, he spoke of a changing world. New species seen, ‘firsts’, surprises and an emotional connection to his observations without the need to analyse any of it. No numbers, no stats, just the chance call of a Nightjar in a tree at night fulfilling a boyhood dream.

That’s not to say other talks weren’t interesting, i learned something from every one, too much to list in this already significant wall of text. But i will most of all take away that added spring of step when i remember to enjoy what it is i do, not the analysis and data and promise it might hold but the basic enjoyment of being in nature, and seeing, and acknowledging something that the vast majority of people will pass by.