The Benefits of SNS Membership
The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society was founded in 1929 to promote interest in Suffolk’s natural history.
The Society’s goals are to study, record, and stimulate research into the county’s flora, fauna and geology. Since its formation, recording has become a significant component of the Society’s work. Members’ observations are forwarded to specialist recorders who log the data with the Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service based at The Hold. The data is then processed into meaningful maps and data sets, which are used to monitor the condition of Suffolk’s natural heritage, a continuous, ongoing and vital process.
The members of SNS share a common interest in natural history, geology, the Suffolk countryside and the environment in general. Our membership comprises enthusiastic beginners, expert amateurs, and wildlife professionals. We hope you will enjoy your membership and welcome any feedback.
By becoming a member, you will be supporting the group of county recorders. By attending SNS members’ evenings, field trips, and recording events with those recorders, you can improve your own natural history skills and directly contribute to the enormous dataset (over 6 million records) amassed by the Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service based at The Hold.
In addition, all members receive copies of the Society’s two excellent and award-winning publications, which review the year in wildlife terms: Suffolk Natural History and Suffolk Birds, along with our newsletter, White Admiral, packed with informative and lively articles three times a year. All of these publications are sent to members at no charge, and those published in the previous 12 months are available to members only on a password-protected page.
The Society also offers grants for the study of Suffolk’s flora and fauna.
Various levels of membership are available, including Student, Individual, Family and Corporate. Each is available for SNS only or as a joint membership with the Suffolk Bird Group (SBG), ‘The voice of Suffolk birdwatchers – an independent birding group and registered charity, founded in 1973’. Joint members also receive SBG’s quarterly magazine, The Harrier. To find out more about the SBG, please visit their website http://www.suffolkbirdgroup.org/
The SNS also holds conferences on a wide range of natural history subjects. These attract distinguished speakers from all over the country and are an excellent opportunity to consider Suffolk’s biodiversity in a broader context. They provide a forum for discussing the state of our wildlife, both locally and nationally, and to consider ways in which we can promote and sustain practices that enhance our environment. A link to videos of our last conference can be found in our main menu.
