In the 1999 website the general aim was to
initiate a process of dissemination and feedback of information
about the island as a interdisciplinary educational resource, at a
time when it has become impossible to talk about our relation to
nature without referring to 'ecology'. A more specific
aim is to bring the topic of conservation management to the
forefront of education for sustainability. A third aim was to
elicit a process of ongoing contributions to a site- based
electronic archive, which can be constantly updated through
contributions of text, pictures, and cross-references to
materials that widen and deepen the Skomer
story.
To begin the process of collection and compilation
in September 1998 the following document was circulated to a number
of individuals who are, or have been, associated with Skomer.
Its origins lie in some thoughts about how people have
expressed their inner feelings about the island. Many pages
of facts and ideas have been generated from Skomer as an
outdoor laboratory, but I had only come across two people,
Annie Robinson, and Roseanne Alexander, both diarists, whose
writings convey a personal special sense of place, and reveal
that time spent there was made precious. The aim was to
assemble material that would augment their reflective
contributions in the hope that something might also appear
with a touch of exultation about it.
SKOMER: Reminiscences and
Reflections
A Celebration of 40 years of Nature
Protection
As a contribution to
the 40th anniversary of Skomer Island being established as a
national nature reserve in 1959, and as part of its
'community and environment' programme, the museum's SCAN team
is seeking contributions to assemble a self- indexing computer file
of reminiscences and reflections from people who know the
island well. These will be grafted onto the scientific
knowledge about the island and its management. There is no
restriction on the length of the items, which will be
presented as received*. The only suggestion for standardisation is
that each contribution should be in three parts; first
impressions; feelings engendered by the most recent
subsequent visit; and overall reflections on the notional impact
made over the intervening years.
As an archive and
educational resource the final product will be available for free
distribution via the internet. The following four historical
contributions set the scene**.
There is no deadline.
Version 1 of the compilation will be available as soon as the
first contributions have been received. This will be updated
frequently as responses build up. Items for inclusion should
be sent, preferably on disk as an ASCII text file, to Denis
Bellamy, Department of Biodiversity and Systematic Biology,
National Museum, Cardiff.
Photocopies of
hand-written letters of historical importance will be accepted for
transcription.
Master copies of the
programme and its component files will be held jointly between the
museum and the local wildlife trust.
The project was
received with enthusiasm, particularly by David Saunders,
Secretary of the Widlife Trust, who trawled the Trust's
archives for suitable material, which has widened its scope,
and Ronald Lockley, who suggested the book he co- edited on
the outcomes of the 1946 expedition, could provide valuable
historical information on how the island came to be declared a
national nature reserve. It also had the wholehearted
support of Mike and Roseanne Alexander, who's life together
on the island added much to Skomer's stock of
creativity.
A thread between
contributions is the juxtaposition of facts and notions to
define what makes Skomer work as a personal experience.
'Skomer:1999' is not a scientific production, but rather the
aim is to assemble contributions that awaken aesthetic and creative
faculties, and place more scientifically orientated studies
and the island's management plan in a greater social
picture.
Denis Bellamy,
Ed.