A BRIEF HISTORY OF DAUNTSEY'S SCHOOL NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



261 



early recognised by the Air Ministry as a Recording 

 Station. Local forecasts were posted on the school 

 notice board daily and readings reported to the 

 Ministry every month. Five, and later nine different 

 sets of records were kept including the dates of 

 arrival and departure of bird migrants, the dates of 

 first appearance of certain butterflies, moths and 

 other insects, and the dates when certain plants first 

 flowered and certain trees first came into leaf. Both 

 the Bird Trust and the Meteorological Society 

 published annual reports. 



In October 1938 the Dauntseian recorded that: 

 'Last term a new society was started for members 

 of the School House who were interested in Natural 

 history. Activity was limited to the Dew Pond 

 Survey shown on Speech Day and Spiders. This 

 term more dew ponds are being done and a survey 

 of the Manor Stream. The production of a magazine 

 is also being considered.' In fact, this was simply 

 the earlier Society under a new name, the change 

 being prompted, apparently, by the fact that the 

 efficient Manor House Boys, being geographically 

 separate from the main school, had formed 

 themselves into the Manor House Natural History 

 Society and produced their own magazine in 1936 

 and 1937. With the foundation of the School House 

 Society, the Manor House boys opted to collaborate 

 with the members on the publication of a joint 

 magazine in 1938. Titled the NHS Ark, it appeared 

 in November, with a Supplement in January 1939. 

 The editorial states: 'Both sides have generously 

 given way to the other, and we have tried to arrange 

 our material from each society on alternate pages. 

 The truth of the matter is, that there are only two 

 Societies as far as dormitory accommodation goes, 

 because during the last two terms, members of the 

 one Society have visited and given papers to the 

 other'. 



The NHS Ark, written on the one hand by boys 

 of various ages and, on the other, by masters 

 including G.W.Olive, understandably included a 

 diverse mix of material. The 'Notes' of the Manor 

 House Society are interesting for explaining the 

 constitution and that the Society not only had its 

 own room, of which simple sketches are reproduced, 

 but also a tank in the Manor yard stocked with fish 

 and insects. Given the age of the members, activities 

 involved simple tasks such as weighing mice on a 

 regular basis and measuring the rate of growth of 

 trees in the Manor grounds, as well as field trips. 

 Objects collected such as nests, fossils, and tree bark 

 were brought in and displayed, and records kept. 



Articles in the NHS Ark by members of the 



School House Society included a list of local 

 Lepidoptera giving the times of emergence and 

 disappearance of more than fifty species during 

 1938; accounts of the Vivarium and the Aquarium 

 (incorporated into the new Farmer Laboratory and 

 including both fresh water and sea water tanks); 

 descriptions of the biology of several individual 

 species including trout, water boatmen, etc.; and 

 two pieces devoted to dew ponds. 



It was the study of the dew ponds, the editor 

 explained, which had been the motivating force 

 behind the society's establishment: 'One day in 

 October 1937, a few keen biologists made the 

 momentous decision to carry out a dew pond survey 

 throughout the following year. The following 

 summer the flame of the 'School House Natural 

 History Society' flared up out of the spark.' 



One of the dew pond articles included a map 

 showing that 26 ponds had been located in the area 

 between West Lavington, Imber and Tilshead, and 

 explained that one (no 24, nearTilshead) had been 

 mapped and photographed regularly from October 

 1937, and weekly samples taken of the mud in the 

 bottom for examination in the laboratory. This dew 

 pond research, together with other surveys and 

 observations both earlier and later, subsequently 

 formed the material upon which a Report on 

 Investigations carried out on the Ecology of Dew 

 Ponds by A.Macfadyen, E.D.Le Cren, A.Gillespie, 

 H.J.Moore, and others. 1930-1940, was compiled, 

 under the editorship of E.D.Le Cren, in July 1940. 

 Although often referred to as one of the Society's 

 publications (with the title The Dew Pond Survey) 

 it does not appear to have been reproduced and 

 distributed, so that the typescript, now in the 

 possession of A.Macfadyen, may be the only copy. 

 (Figs. 3,4) 



Fig. 3. Making a transect of Dew Pond 1, Summer 1937. 



