Become an active member
We welcome as members everyone interested in the natural history of our county.
Members can take part in all the activities of the Society and Herts Bird Club. Your subscription will support the work of the Society and in addition members receive copies of our journals.
To join the Society you can download and complete an application form (either in Word or as a PDF)and send it with your payment (details below) to our Membership Secretary, Martin Ketcher, by email to membership@hnhs.org, or by post to Kingswell House, Kingswell End, King's Walden, Herts. SG4 8LR. To pay your subscription by credit card or debit card via Stripe or PayPal, visit our online payment page which uses the MemberMOJO app
Privacy and data protection: HNHS will never sell personal data provided by its members, and will only make use of it on a lawful basis. Please read our detailed privacy policy.
Subscriptions are eligible for Gift Aid so please add Gift Aid if you can, see below.
- £18 per year –Individual membership: you will receive copies of both our journals, The Hertfordshire Naturalist and The Herts Bird Report
- £12 per year – Individual membership of the Herts Bird Club only or HNHS only: you must choose to receive either The Herts Bird Report or The Hertfordshire Naturalist
- £22 per year –Family membership: you, a partner and children under 18 at the same address will receive both our journals, The Hertfordshire Naturalist and The Herts Bird Report
- £18 per year – Corporate subscription: available to organisations such as companies, local authorities and colleges – carries the same privileges as ordinary member.
Subscriptions fall due on 1 January each year. New members joining after 1 October can either opt to receive that year's publications or carry the subscription over to the following year.
Ways to pay or renew your membership subscription
- Transfer your subscription to the HNHS bank account via BACS or set up a standing order; details are on the application form.
- Send a cheque, payable to 'Hertfordshire Natural History Society' to Membership Secretary, Kingswell House, Kingswell End, King's Walden, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 8LR.
- Pay by credit card or debit card via Stripe or PayPal, or make a PayPal transfer
The whole of your subscription and any donations are eligible for Gift Aid. HM Revenue and Customs will give the Society 25p for every £1 donated (that is £4.50 on a subscription of £18), so it is well worth it. You are eligible for Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer and your annual income tax and/or capital gains tax is greater than the tax the Society will reclaim. For more details see HMRC website.
For the Society to claim Gift Aid on your subscription all we need is your name and address and for you to tell us in an email or letter that you wish to add Gift Aid and that you are an eligible UK taxpayer. Click here to download a Gift Aid form. Many thanks.
For general enquiries about Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Herts Bird Club please contact our Secretary, David Utting at secretary@hnhs.org
Recent News
Optimow 2024 – citizen science to help garden pollinators
Scientists are inviting gardeners interested in helping bees, butterflies and other pollinators to take part in a study to discover how grass mowing can be timed to maximise their impact.
Participants in the Optimow 2024 project, organised by the Brown Lab at Royal Holloway, University of London will be asked to follow a mowing frequency plan, while submitting weekly counts of the key pollinators sighted in their gardens.
Conference highlights varying fortunes of wildfowl and wetland birds in Herts
The 2024 Hertfordshire Bird Conference drew a capacity audience at Affinity Water’s headquarters in Hatfield on Sat 2nd March 2024. The theme was wetlands and especially gravel pits with talks by Graham White on the fortunes of waterbirds on the restored gravel pits of the Colne Valley and a talk by Herts. Bird Club Chair, Rupert Evershed, on the birds of Stanborough Gravel Pits.
This report includes links to videos allowing those who missed the conference to catch-up with the main presentations.
Lecturer explains how beavers can bring benefits for wildlife and humans
Bringing Eurasian Beavers to an estate in Essex has delivered improvements in biodiversity while helping prevent flooding in a nearby village.
The positive consequences of reintroducing a species that became extinct in Britain in the late 18th century were described by Sarah Brockless, ecologist at the Spains Hall Estate, when she gave the Gerald Salisbury Memorial Lecture in Welwyn Civic Centre on Wednesday 28 February.
Photo: Eurasian Beaver at Spains Hall Estate © Russell Savory