Events

June events

The Hobson’s Conduit Trust are holding their 5th BioBlitz on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd June. It will be at at Darien Meadow, bordered by Hobson’s Brook, by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College. On Friday evening and Saturday morning Trustees will conduct guided walks along Hobson’s Brook and Conduit, while experts lead a programme of mini field expeditions.

The guided walk along the Hobson’s Brook, at 5pm on Friday 2nd June will be for those who wish to find out more about the Hobson’s Brook/Vicars Brook system and the problems of urban drainage.  It will be led by Dr. Steve Boreham, the expert in all local matters geological, hydrological, and ecological. Meet at Darien Meadow off Long Road. The full programme is here.

The Cambridge Flora Group have a visit to Devil’s Ditch planned for Wednesday 7th June. Details will be circulated by Jonathan Shanklin to those on his list.

On Saturday 17th June Guy Belcher and Vic Smith (Cambridge City Council Biodiversity Officers), and Iain Webb, (Wildlife Trust) will be leading a guided walk of the grassland restoration trials on Coldham’s, Barnwell, Stourbridge and Midsummer Commons. Meet at 2pm by the Cromwell Road /  Coldham’s Lane junction on Coldham’s Common, The route on foot will be a mainly off road loop between the sites. It will aim to return to Coldham’s by 4.30. People can obviously drop off or join as they wish.

The Cambridge Group of the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants have their annual visit to East Pit to enjoy the chalk grassland flowers on Monday 26th June. More information on the Trust website .

Events

Grassland restoration

On 17th June there’s a guided walk of the grassland restoration trials on Coldham’s, Barnwell, Stourbridge and Midsummer Commons. It will be led by Guy Belcher and Vic Smith (Cambridge City Council Biodiversity Officers), and Iain Webb, (Wildlife Trust) . 

Meet at 2pm by the Cromwell Road /  Coldham’s Lane junction on Coldham’s Common and walking a mainly off road loop between the sites. Aiming to return to Coldham’s by 4.30. People can obviously drop off or join as they wish.

Events, News

104th Conversazione Friday 14th & Saturday 15th April

The Cambridge Natural History Society’s annual Conversazione, takes place in person in the Elementary Laboratory of the Department of Zoology. Displays from local organisations and naturalists will be set out, in the Elementary Lab of the Department of Zoology, with most exhibitors present in person to discuss their displays with visitors.

ALL WELCOME, suitable for all ages, DO COME ALONG – admission free.

Opening times:

Friday 14th April 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Saturday 15th April 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Events

April events

The main natural history event in April is of course the Conversazione, our 104th, with displays on a great variety of natural history topics. It is open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday 14th and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday 15th April. It takes place in the Elementary Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Downing St, Cambridge.

Photos from the 2019 Conversazione and previous ones can be seen on our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/CNHS1857 – Click Photos, Click Albums, Scroll down to and click on e.g. “Conversazione 2019 Photo Album” to see a record of a joyous and fascinating event.  Or click on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2331765970242486&type=3

It’s not too late to say you want to exhibit! More details and booking forms are here.

Slightly later in April is the Cambridge Literary Festival 19-th -23rd April. The programme includes “six fantastic events focusing on environmentalism, sustainability and the clumate which are sure to be of interest! The events are diverse, ranging from Gaia Vince‘s discussion of migration in light of the climate emergency to Sarah Raven‘s advice for those who wish to grow their own food to Peter Wohlleben‘s children’s event about the natural world around us.”

Events, Talks

The future of historic landscapes: the limits to rewilding

The Museum of Cambridge are hosting a virtual talk by Tom Williamson of UEA.

The title of the talk is ‘The Future of Historic Landscapes: The Limits to Rewilding’ and it’s on Wednesday 22nd March 2023 at 7pm.

Tickets are ‘donate as you feel’, and all goes towards supporting the Museum.

The link is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/551129411907

Museum of Cambridge 2-3 Castle Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, CB3 0AQ Tel: +44 (0) 1223 355159

www.museumofcambridge.org.uk

www.capturingcambridge.org

Events, Talks

Forthcoming talks

Members will be emailed login details nearer the time. To be added the mailing list for events: email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk

Thursday 16th March at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom

Climate stories from yew trees

Tatiana Bebchuk will talk about her PhD project which is using tree rings in sub-fossil yew trees to reconstruct environmental and climate conditions in the past. She hopes this research will help to explain why yew trees disappeared from the records in south eastern England 4000 years ago.

Tatiana and sub-fossil yew trees

Thursday 23rd March at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom

Lost chalk streams of Cambridge and Newmarket

Kevin Hand will talk about chalk streams in Cambridge and Newmarket, where they are now, where they used to be and what may happen to them in the future.

Thursday 30th March at 7:30 on Zoom

Cool as a caterpillar

Esme Ashe-Jepson will talk about her research into how caterpillars cope with temperature change and why this, and related research by her colleagues, is important for butterfly conservation.

Events, News, Talks

2nd March in Geography Department

The venue for the talk THIS THURSDAY 2nd March has reverted to the Large Lecture Theatre in the Department of Geography not as previously announced Kings College.

The talk, on MOTHS, will start promptly at 6:45 p.m. Please make sure to arrive on time as there will be no-one on the door to let you in once the talk starts.

Mimas tiliae photo © Matthew Gandy

Matthew Gandy, Professor of Geography will introduce some of the cultural and scientific aspects to moths ranging from themes such as mimicry and literary representations to recent concerns with light pollution and mass invertebrate decline.

Events, Talks

More spring talks

The spring programme continues on Thursday 16th February with a talk by Joshua Pike: Reconstructing past abrupt climate change in Patagonia. In it, he will explore how annually laminated sediments and tephra (volcanic ash) have been used to understand how the former Patagonian Ice Sheet responded to abrupt changes in climate during the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the Holocene.

This talk will be online by Zoom at 7:30 p.m. The link will be circulated to those on the CNHS mailing list. For online talks, your video and audio will be off when you join in order to give maximum bandwidth to the speaker. At the end of the talk chat will be enabled to ask questions, or you can raise your virtual hand.

The talk may be recorded and if so, members who cannot join the event, or who wish to hear it again, will be sent a link to allow them to hear it at their leisure.

Change of venue

The talk on Thursday 2nd March, on Moths by Matthew Gandy, will now be in the Audit Room, the Old Lodge, Kings College CB2 1ST (not the Department of Geography). The talk is at 6:45 p.m. and please make sure you arrive in time as it may not be possible for late-comers to gain admission. Enter by the porters’ lodge in King’s Parade, the Old Lodge is just two minutes away, on the left of the great lawn.

Events, News

Conversazione back in person

We are delighted to announce that the Conversazione will be in-person on 14th & 15th April 2023 in the Department of Zoology.

For over a hundred years, Cambridge Natural History Society has held an annual exhibition in the Department of Zoology. It is traditionally called ‘The Conversazione’ because it is a social event where those attending can not only look at displays but also talk to the exhibitors.

At our 100th event in 2019 we had over 100 exhibits, from about 70 members and mainly local organisations. They covered the whole range of natural history topics, ranging from Biodiversity of Mediterranean montado (wood pasture) landscapes to Wildlife in my garden, a diversity of fauna, including bees, earthworms, larks, leaf-miners, moths, snails, and snakes. Other displays related to the work of local organisations, the NatHistCam project whose book has now been published, trees on the Science Park, edible exotic fungi and much more. The programme, and those of previous events, can be downloaded here.

As the first in-person Conversazione since 2019 we want to make it a really great event, with lots of hands-on displays. Please put the date in your diaries and start thinking about things you could exhibit.

Events, News, Talks

Spring talks

The CNHS programme of talks this spring will start on Thursday 2nd February with a talk by Mike Maunder, which will take place at 6:45 pm in the Lecture Theatre in the Department of Geography on the Downing Site. The talk will also be available online for those unable to attend in person. The link will be emailed to those on the CNHS mailing list.

The talk is entitled 500 years of exhibiting biodiversity: from cabinets of curiosity to interpreting today’s extinction crisis. In it he will explore how today’s biodiversity exhibits (museums, aquaria, botanic gardens and zoos) have evolved over the last 500 years and how they are responding to fundamental challenge of the collapse of nature. The lecture is based on Mike’s previous work as a conservationist working with institutions exhibiting biodiversity and his research for a book on this topic. As a society we are still drawn to the exotic composition and super abundance of biodiversity exhibits, yet those exhibitions are in a constant evolution as their scientific, business, ethical and cultural context is in constant flux.

The Department of Geography is easily reached from Downing Place. Click here for a map (in a new window) of the Downing Site showing the location. Parking is not available on the Downing Site.

The talk on Thursday 2nd March will also be in person in the Department of Geography when Matthew Gandy will talk about moths. The other talks in February and March will be by Zoom at the later time of 7:30 p.m.