Bristol Naturalists Society

The Bristol Naturalists’ Society was founded in 1862 with the aim of establishing a complete account of the natural history of the region. It has published an annual journal since 1866, and has a library in the City Museum.

It has always had close links with the Museum and the University. It has a variety of sections dealing with specific areas of natural history, and today these are Botany, Ornithology, Geology, Invertebrates and Mammals. Each organises a programme of events, and there are usually about 85 a year. We are primarily an organisation keeping records, and support the Bristol Environmental Recording Centre. We are involved with most of the national Natural History organisations, and are involved in their surveys. We have just completed an Atlas of the birds of the region as part of the BTO atlas, and published the detailed results. We are very involved with organisations such as the Avon Wildlife Trust, and the Bristol Natural History Consortium.

We have a major Celebration of the natural world 7 March to welcome the green capital year, and have produced a document listing the 200 most important trees in the city as part of our contribution.

Our President is David Hills, Chairman Roger Steer. Our website is www.bristolnats.org.uk We are a charity no 235494. We make grants to support natural history projects