The purpose of these pages is to illustrate the varied and wonderful wildlife and environments in Gloucestershire through entries from the annual photographic competitions run by Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society.

The Society was founded in 1948 as the Cheltenham and District Naturalists’ Society. The subscription was 12s 6d (62 1/2 p) and by the end of the first year there were 69 members. In January 1957 the society was renamed North Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society, then in 1974 it became Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society. Today the Society is a registered charity with an Executive Committee and a membership approaching 500. In 2024 GNS celebrated its 75th Anniversary.

‘The most important role of the Society - (is) namely the recording of our flora and fauna’ – P T James in the Chairman’s Report, 1988

The brief of the Society has widened since 1988, but recording wildlife is still the key activity; GNS publishes annual reports of the county’s wildlife records in The Gloucestershire Naturalist (TGN) and articles of more general interest in the quarterly magazine, GNS News. There are also occasional special issues of TGN dealing with specific taxonomic groups. GNS is involved with, or linked to, many other natural history & environmental bodies, organises field and indoor (on-line via Zoom) meetings, supports students and trainees and gives grant funding to qualifying projects. For more information, visit our website at www.glosnats.org.