Juliet Bailey grew up in the vale between Cheltenham and Gloucester surrounded by cowslip fields and orchards. Her first love was wild flowers, and it made a perfect combination of interest and practicality to study Agricultural Botany at Leeds University. She worked for a while as a fieldsman in plant pathology trials for the Ministry of Agriculture. She then took a masters in Conservation at University College London where an interest in ornithology developed. Subsequently she worked for various organisations including the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.
Jumping out of the rat race about 30 years ago she has devoted much of her time to gardening (watching the weeds grow) and language studies. She is the GNS County Recorder for lichens, and with her husband Paul Tyers is creating an online atlas of Gloucestershire lichens (see https://gloslichens.potsherd.net). She is currently becoming enthusiastic about invertebrates.
Rarity excites her less than the commonplace. “All I ever wanted is to be a general naturalist, able to name the ordinary things I see.” She still has a long way to go.
Juliet took over from Mervyn Greening as Chairman of Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society at the 2024 AGM.
Anna Ball
Andrew Bluett. “My interests beyond the world of work are connected to wildlife and the environment, I became interested in birds in particular from the age of about 5 years and have spent most of my life learning about their lifecycles. I became a member of GNS to extend my interests into other forms of wildlife and the natural world over time, then became a trustee and the Membership Secretary to fill a vacancy that was critical to keeping the society growing.
I am also a trustee of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the Stroud Cowle Museum (in the Park) Trust, a member of the Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group, Gloucestershire Ornithological Co-ordinating Committee and the BTO. I was formerly a trustee of the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust Company Ltd until it ceased to operate in March 2019.
I consider it a privilege to be involved with all of those bodies, which do invaluable work in recording, preserving and presenting wildlife, history and culture to the public at large.”
Ken Czervenka
Kate Kibble
Andy Lewis’s main interest is birds, but increasingly butterflies and trees as well. He was Chairman of the North Cotswold Ornithological Society until they joined forces with GNS, and still organises the Gloucestershire Winter Bird Survey inherited from NCOS. He volunteers with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and for whatever surveys the British Trust for Ornithology dream up. He has given basic bird id courses for the Cotswold AONB’s Rural Skills programme, and also runs the Bourton University of the Third Age Nature group.
Ben Locke is based in the Forest of Dean and has a broad interest in all wildlife both in Britain and abroad, and is particularly passionate about Nightjars and related birds. Also on the committee of the Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group. Wildlife photographer, web & software developer.
Des Marshall has been a member of the GNS Committee for about 5 years and for most of that time has been responsible for organising field meetings. This is a slightly more challenging task than the persuasive words ‘It’s just getting a few people together for a walk’, with which the task was sold to him! GNS try to arrange meet-ups in all parts of the county, and cover as many species groups as possible. In the end one is dependent on the enormous good will and expertise within the Society. Our aim is to keep meetings free of charge and open to everybody.
Martin Matthews is a retired civil servant with a fascination for all kinds of insects and a broad interest in natural history; he holds a B.Sc. in Forestry and Forest Zoology from Bangor University; and is currently one of the GNS Diptera (fly) recorders (soldierflies and their allies) and GNS Mecoptera (scorpionflies) recorder.
Martin is also an amateur photographer, church pianist and family history researcher among other things.
Andy Oliver – “I grew up in the Suffolk countryside and have always been interested in natural history generally and especially birds. My first birding holiday was to Cambridgeshire with the YOC at nine years old.
We moved to Gloucestershire in 1997 and I joined both GWT and GNS. My working life is as a Chartered Tax Advisor and so I became actively involved in GNS as treasurer in 2011. My best Gloucestershire bird record is a vagrant Tengmalm’s Owl heard on an evening dog-walk in Bishops Cleeve in April 2007. I should add that the record wasn’t accepted by the BBRC but then who would have ever thought a Blue Rock Thrush would spend a whole winter in a cul de sac in Stow-on-the-Wold? That’s what makes our interest so fascinating, you never know what you’ll encounter next.”
Mike Smart joined GNS at the age of 11. “I have been interested in birds (especially water birds) and have remained a member of GNS ever since; after nine years in Tunisia and two in Iran, I went to work for nearly twenty years at Slimbridge with the International Waterbird Research Bureau (now Wetlands International), then for nearly ten years in Switzerland at the secretariat of the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Since returning to live in Gloucestershire around 2000, I was Chairman of the Society until 2019, emphasizing its recording and publishing role, and strengthening ties with the county Wildlife Trust. In recent years I have been particularly concerned with waders in the Severn and Avon Vales, especially Curlews, and am currently active with the Curlew Forum which aims to conserve Curlews nesting across lowland England.”
Julia Webb is a lecturer in Bioscience at the University of Gloucestershire and enjoys being outside as much as possible! She has been a member of the GNS committee since 2019 and during that time has been working to link GNS with young people who have a passion for natural history. Julia has built links with biology/ecology/conservation students at the University of Gloucestershire, Hartpury and RAU via conferences, awards and prizes as well as championing the society’s use of social media.