Foreword
by Hew Watt, JP, OBE
President of the Thurrock Natural History Society
Thurrock, to an outsider, conjures up thoughts of Dartford
Tunnel, A13 and derelict excavated pits lying on the
industrial north bank of the Thames.
To Brian Harrod ten years ago it meant much more.
Whether at work or leisure his perceptive eye observed
every day the wondrous pattern of nature around him which
the majority of people seldom see or hear. Such was his
enthusiasm to share this knowledge that he sought out
others with like minds and thus was born the "Thurrock
Natural History Society".
It was a coincidence that at the same time I was asked to
sum up the first Conference of all National Farming and
Wildlife Organisations at Silsoe in Bedfordshire. This
made me realise that only by all groups working together
with land users could a satisfactory compromise be found
that would conserve wildlife for future generations in
both urban and rural communities.
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