More than 50 HNHS members  attended a reception at North Hertfordshire Museum in Hitchin on 12 January to view our 'Wildlife for the Record' exhibition and round off the Society's 150th anniversary year.

We were delighted to welcome the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire Nicholas Buxton, his wife Henrietta, and the Chair of North Hertfordshire District Council Cllr. Keith Hoskins as special guests. Mr Buxton who farms the Easnye estate near Ware, has made 'nurture through nature' the theme of his current year in office.

The event included a short talk by HNHS Secretary David Utting, who reviewed key themes from the anniversary celebrations. These include the Society's distinguished past, it's current role in recording county wildlife and future challenges posed by identification methods using artificial intelligence and DNA analysis. He underlined the contribution that HNHS volunteers could potentially play  in delivering Hertfordshire's recently-published Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Guests also heard from Ros Allwood,  Cultural Service Manager for North Herts District Council, about exciting plans to transfer the Museum's natural history collection and many other items currently kept in storage to a new building, with better public access.

The exhibition continues in The Arches, upstairs at the museum until 15 February. Further linked events include talks by Graham White ('Have I got Poos for You!) and Mike Ilett ('Birds of North Hertfordshire').

Photo: HNHS Chair Peter Tallantire welcoming guests to the private view, including the High Sheriff, Nicholas Buxton and Cllr Keith Hoskins, Chair of North Hertfordshire District Council.