Tain and District Field Club has hosted informative and social meetings for over 40 years. The emphasis is on natural history both focussing on this local area and within the scientific community as well.
Speakers have come from all over the British Isles with their specialities and we are a richer community for their contributions over the period.
Tain is located in Easter Ross – that’s the eastern part of Ross-shire, north of Inverness, in Scotland.
Tain is very near several large tidal inlets; the Dornoch Firth on our northern doorstep, Loch Fleet, another tidal firth lies within 10 miles to the north, the Cromarty Firth is a few miles south and the Inner Moray Firth just a bit further south and east.
We have fine agricultural land around us in the east grading into poorer and higher soils going west to the mountains along Scotland’s west coast.
The climate is equable, for the northern latitude, allowing a very interesting assemblage of endemic flora and we lie at the northern periphery of several important species of plants and animals.
The activities of TDFC revolve around the winter schedule of speakers, each selected for their expertise and also their ability to relate to our audience. There are also a couple of social events to help bind community links and, importantly, there are trips into the field to observe and learn at the hand of an expert.
Meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday each month and this year are planned to take place in The small hall at The Duthac Centre, Tain as normal at 7:30pm.
Tea and coffee after speakers have finished allows discussion and networking, or more closely questioning the speaker of the day. Members discuss observations of the preceding weeks and bring notable events to the attention of the meeting.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend events, lectures and field excursions, for which members contribute an annual fee and a small charge is asked from non-members to help defray costs.
Members of TDFC are frequently also members of the Highland Biological Recording Group or the British Trust for Ornithology. Many observations given by TDFC members are relayed to these two larger bodies where active data sets of biological records are kept. See Links for other relevant organisations.