Saturday 22 April (Field meeting): Mortimer Forest, Herefordshire/Shropshire Border, led by Paul Olver of the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club. Meet at 9.30 at the Forestry Commission car park at High Vinnals: GR 474 732 (south side of Ludlow - Wigmore road 3.5 miles from Ludlow). OS Landranger Map No. 137 (Church Stretton & Ludlow). Aim: to study the various Middle and Upper Silurian strata exposed within the well-known Mortimer Forest Trail west of Ludlow. These were laid down in a clear, warm, shallow sea stretching across the W. Midlands between what is now Charnwood Forest and a deeper ocean basin to the west. This is now occupied by the thick, folded and highly cleaved successions of mid-Wales. Conditions encouraged diversity of inarticulates, and examples of trilobites, brachiopods, nautiloids and corals may be found. The sea later became shallower and muddier, and thus less conducive to coral reef formation. The later Silurian rocks reveal good examples of zonal graptolites, orthoconic nautiloids and selected brachiopods. Lunch at a pub in Wigmore (or bring packed lunch). The Ludlow Anticline can be viewed from the nearby castle mound. This is the location of the Ice Age Lake Wigmore whose boundaries can easily be picked out from the viewpoint. Finally, we will return to the Mortimer Trail to examine further Silurian exposures. A study guide for the day will be provided.