Ian Killeen is currently surveying mussels, and has been for most of this summer, and so I have stepped in to put together this issue. Whilst getting revised costings we discovered that we could increase the colour content for the same production price. Hence we have reorganised the magazine to put in colour photographs closer to the article which has delayed the production by a few weeks. I hope you like this new look and will feel stimulated to add more content to the next issue. Whether you have been shell collecting from the beach or finding an exotic dish in your restaurant on holiday, it’s your opportunity to share this insight with fellow members.
Speaking of travelling, there were quite a few Conchological Society members at the World Malacological Congress and the attendance of over 430 mollusc specialist shows there is still an active molluscan community, including many new faces as over 100 students from 48 countries were present. We will put a report of some of the interesting events in the next issue. In terms of future notices, the next meeting will be in Thailand in July 2010 on the island of Phuket.
In this issue, we have a variety of more cultural articles, looking at our churches and old houses. There’s a specialist view of shell jewellry from Morocco written by an archaeologist. Climate change is becoming a current issue, as we look at our changeable weather patterns for this summer. David Long has written to get feedback from the membership on their summer experiences, as in the Cotswolds he has found litter snails very sparse. In contrast, in our rivers Ian Killeen found survey work in the welsh borders nearly impossible with the high sediment loads and water levels in late June/ July. The discovery of populations of species like Assiminea grayana, far from previous sites shows how much work there is still to do on our local fauna Adrian Norris, has written a introduction as new Non-marine recorded. I would encourage you all to start doing some more recording in your local area; many 10 km2 squares have not been visited for nearly 30 years, since the work on the first Kerney Atlas. Clearly we need to compile time series data on our common widespread species as well as identifying the advancing species such as Hygromia cinctella, Boettgeria pallens, the declining species such as Truncatellina cylindrica and the recent spilt such as Balea heydeni. With the new recording cards available on the website I hope you will feel motivated to contribute to the recording scheme, as if we want to assess whether our fauna is changing, we will need data on all species, not just the rarities.