About LROS

History

The Society was formed initially as a section of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1941, but soon outgrew its parent Society and became established in its own right. Since then LROS has gone from strength to strength and now has more than 500 members, mostly from Leicestershire and Rutland, but also from surrounding counties and around the country.

For the sake of consistency in our recording, the LROS continues to cover both Leicestershire and Rutland as a single county (vice county 55), regardless of changes to political boundaries. Indeed, the two counties were seperate entities when the Society was originally formed in 1941.

Membership benefits

Each year, LROS members receive:

• Ten issues of the Society’s newsletter, The Grebe (one a month, with combined
  June/July and August/September issues)
• Annual Bird Report (usually sent with August/September or October newsletter)
• Membership of the LROS WhatsApp rarities sighting group, with real-time alerts of the location and identification of birds rare to Leicestershire & Rutland.
• Members’ only access to additional features on the website, including:
  • Grebe back copies
  • Annual Reports
  • LROS Library publication index
  • Request your own records

LROS members are also welcome to attend:

• All LROS indoor meetings (eight a year), free of charge
• LROS Outings to places of interest both locally and further afield.

Please see the Meetings & Outings page for details of forthcoming events.

For details of how to take advantage of these benefits, go to the Join LROS page.

Newsletter

Our monthly newsletter, The Grebe, is the Society’s regular contact with its members.

It provides information on events, surveys, conservation issues and birdwatching sites, as well as a full set of field notes for the previous month’s sightings. It also features news from neighbouring counties, tips on where to look and what to look for, trip reports and the ‘stop press’ latest bird news.

Most of all, it is the soapbox from which any members can air their views to a like-minded (or not, as the case may be!) readership, exchange ideas, contact others, etc. For further details, or to submit an article for The Grebe, contact the Editor, John Hague: john.hague17@gmail.com

Annual Bird report

This is the Society’s main publication. It is a detailed report of the previous year’s sightings of each species recorded in the County, and is usually published by the autumn.

A copy is automatically sent to every member; non-members can purchase copies at LROS Sales.

The systematic list is compiled by the Editorial Committee from up to 20,000 records a year, and includes tables, counts and breeding details, as well as a mention of each species’ current status. It also contains other articles of interest, such as weather notes and survey results, and is enhanced by line drawings and colour photographs.