The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club is a club of

naturalists Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

based in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Founded in 1863, the club was an important part of the education system for Victorian naturalists and worked largely through first-hand field studies.P.W. Jackson (1992) The Irish Naturalist: 33 years of natural history in Ireland 1892-1924. ''Irish Naturalists' Journal'' 24(3): 95-101 It has been credited with playing an important role in the elucidation of

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

and post-glacial sea levels, climates and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

beaches and issuing the first of the regional handbooks for meetings of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

as far back as 1874. The club has four sections,

Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

, and has published several books and a periodical. The

Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

of the BNFC is now in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

.Hackney, P. (Ed.) (1992). ''Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland.'' Third edition. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast.

History

The club was formed as the first of a series of Field Clubs (followed by clubs in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

(1886), Cork (1892), and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

(1892)) established in response to the increasing interest in natural sciences in the Victorian Society of Ireland.

Ralph Tate Ralph Tate (11 March 1840 – 20 September 1901) was a British-born botanist and geologist, who was later active in Australia. Early life Tate was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, the son of Thomas Turner Tate (1807–1888), a teacher of math ...

visited Belfast to give a series of lectures on

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

which stimulated Samuel Alexander Stewart to gather a group of field botanists. The first public meeting was held on the March 6, 1863 in the Museum Buildings, now the Ulster Museum. Tate wrote a draft Constitution. The first field trip organized by the Club occurred on 6 April 1863 when 88 members travelled to

Islandmagee Islandmagee () is a peninsula and civil parish on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Larne and Whitehead. It is part of the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area and is a sparsely populated rur ...

to collect fossils. Since then members of the Club have visited many areas including the

Cavehill Cave Hill or Cavehill is a rocky hill overlooking the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland,with a height of . It is marked by basalt cliffs and caves, and its distinguishing feature is 'Napoleon's Nose', a tall cliff resembling the profile of the ...

, the

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway () is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcano, volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period. ...

Mount Stewart Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Iris ...

and

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough () is a large sea lough or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in Ireland and the wider British Isles, covering . The lough is almost fully enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linke ...

to name but a few."Deane,C.Douglas" 1983. "The Ulster Countryside." Century Books.

Books

* ''Systematic Lists Illustrative of the Flora, Fauna, Palaeontology and Archeology of the North of Ireland,'' 1870 * ''Guide to Belfast and the adjacent counties,'' 1874 * ''Catalogue of a Collection of Irish Antiquities,'' 1874 * ''A Guide to Belfast and the Counties of Down & Antrim,'' 1902 * ''A Preliminary Report on the Survey of the County Armagh Flora, 1965-1967,'' 1968 * ''Urban Flora of Belfast: A project of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.'' 1997, by Stan Beesley, John Wilde.

Periodicals

''Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club''
ref name="British Museum">''Serial Publications in the British Museum (Natural History) Library.'' British Museum, 1980
Library Search
/ref> * '' The Irish Naturalists' Journal'' (contributor/coauthor)

Notable members

* John Kaye Charlesworth * Richard Hayward * Mary Johnstone Lynn * Margaret Williamson Rea * Arthur Wilson Stelfox * Margarita Dawson Stelfox

References

Further references

*Scott, R. 2004. ''Wild Belfast on Safari in the City''. The Blackstaff Press, Belfast. . *Crowther, Peter. 2013. ''Citizen Science 150 years of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.'' National Museums Northern Ireland. {{ISBN, 090076158X

External links

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club WebsiteDigitized works by and about the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club
at

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...

Ulster Museum Collections Highlights Tour: Citizen Science: 150 years of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club
Clubs and societies in Northern Ireland History of Belfast Science and technology in Northern Ireland Naturalist societies Biology organisations based in the United Kingdom Paleontology in the United Kingdom Geology societies