Spring Field meeting 2010,

South Lincolnshire / East Nottingham 17 - 24 March 2010

Local Secretaries – Robin Stevenson, 111, Wootton Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4DJ (ecrs111@talktalk.net) and Jonathan Graham.

This meeting will explore some of the under worked terrain in two vice-counties, viz. South Lincolnshire (vc 53) and Nottinghamshire (vc 56). We have decided to try and be reasonably ‘carbon conscious’ and restrict recording to within (roughly) a 30 mile radius of Newark. Although a lowland area there is some variation in the geology, with a ridge of Jurassic limestones separating the Triassic and Liassic lowlands of the Trent basin to the west from more acidic lower Cretaceous sands, and the recent sediments of the Fens, to the east.

This meeting should be especially attractive to relative beginners, who will not be too challenged by difficult genera such as Sphagnum, nor by a multiplicity of tiny liverworts. There will, however, be opportunities for the experienced too, to pick up new vice-county records and help fill in gaps.

We have decided on Newark as our centre of operations. There is, unfortunately, no field centre or college in the area able to offer us both cheap accommodation and lab facilities; however, there is a wide range of accommodation available in the town itself, and in the surrounding area. We have now succeeded in booking some rooms in Newark for evening microscope work, and socialising; these offer tea and coffee making facilities, but there are lots of bars and restaurants in Newark itself, which is only a few minutes walk away.

Newark, which is just off the A1, has good road and rail connections to most other parts of the country. It is quite compact, and has a good range of eating-places, as well as a castle, churches and a river frontage, which might be bryologically productive.

The North Muskham Travel Lodge just off the A1, some 4 km north of Newark itself, probably offers the cheapest accommodation in the area. Most of the larger hotels in Newark are in the £50 – 60 a night bracket, for a single room, but prices drop appropriately for B & Bs, and in the surrounding villages. Those on a restricted budget would be well advised to book early. A list of accommodation can be obtained from the local Tourist Information Centre www.visitnewarkandsherwood.co.uk ; as well as from www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co ; www.britinfo.net/index_Newark.htm ; www.4Hotels.co.uk ; www.information-britain.co.uk/hoteltowns.cfm?town=Newark&county=12

We have not yet finalised our choice of sites to visit, but we envisage having at least one ‘big’ site per day (usually in the morning), and then offering a range of smaller sites in the afternoon, to which people can disperse in smaller groups.