CNHS News

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Many local organisations, including CNHS, are putting their talks online. See the diary for more information and contact the organisers for details of how to access the talks.

I have the sad news to report of the death of Bill Block. Bill joined the Society on 11 May 1966 and was a life member. I first met him with the British Antarctic Survey, where he was a terrestrial ecologist, but locally he was known for bee-keeping, amongst other interests. His funeral will be at the Cambridge Crematorium on Tuesday 5th December at 11am.

The Cambridgeshire Bryology Group has field meetings every fortnight through the winter to record mosses and liverworts across the county. For more information see https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/recording/vice-county-maps/vice-county-29-cambridgeshire/ If you are interested in taking part contact Mark Hill or Chris Preston.

The Field Studies Council is running zoom courses on various natural history subject, of which many are free. Here is the link: https://www.field-studies-council.org/biolinks-courses/

Tree rings contribute to new study on drought in Europe. Professor Ulf Büntgen from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, who spoke to CNHS two years ago, is the first author on a paper looking at summer droughts in Europe over the past 2,000 years. They used chemical isotopes in tree rings to reconstruct the changing climate. See https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/europeandrought for more information.

Help us take nature’s pulse by joining the Big Butterfly Count. The Big Butterfly Count is a UK-wide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment simply by counting the amount and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) we see.

Road verges in the time of Coronavirus: the Plantlife Road Verge Campaign (April 15) 

There are reports of a severe viral outbreak in Blue Tits in Germany (April 15)

Professor Jenny Clack, renowned palaeontologist in the Cambridge University Department of Zoology, died on 26 March 2020. The obituary from The Guardian and recollections from her colleagues can be found on the Department of Zoology website.

Gigi Crompton, past Cambridgeshire botanical recorder, died on 12 January 2020. The Guardian published a lengthy obituary.

A South East Cambridgeshire Badger group has been set up (January 31)