Thursday 10th February 2022
Ann Miles, who trained as a biologist, will talk about photographing insects, a lifelong passion. She will demonstrate their beauty, their sometimes bizarre appearances and their fascinating behaviours.
ONLINE via Zoom. Members will be emailed login details nearer the time. To be added the mailing list for events: email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk To become a member: see details on the website membership page.
The Cambridge Natural History Society programme of talks starts on Thursday 27th January, at 7:30 p.m.
Jonathan Shanklin, astronomer, meteorologist, naturalist and past president of Cambridge Natural History Society, will offer a choice of talks. The audience will choose at the start of the meeting. The options are
“The Natural History of Comets” (pretty much what it says in the title, but with brief excursions into the ozone hole and climate change)
“Marvel at the Moon” (a tour of some of the things seen in the night sky with simple equipment, bringing in some links with natural history, with a brief excursion again) OR
“An astronomer in Antarctica” (mostly ozone hole and climate change, with a bit of natural history and atmospheric phenomena).
The talk will be presented online via Zoom, and CNHS members and those on the mailing list have been sent the Zoom link, which is specific to this meeting.
You will join the meeting in a waiting room and will be let in at 7:30 p.m. Your video and audio will be off when you join. You will be able to use chat to ask questions at the end of the talk, or you can raise a virtual hand from “reactions”.
The event will be recorded and Society members who cannot join the event on Thursday will then be sent a link to allow them to hear it at their leisure. If you are not a member this is a good reason to join. Details of how to join the Society are at https://www.cnhs.org.uk/membership/
We will be visiting the Backs for our field studies in 2022. I hope to include some college grounds, but this will depend on whatever Covid guidance is in force, both nationally and for the colleges.
Visits begin with the traditional New Year’s Day walk to find plants in flower – provided that outdoor gatherings are still permitted, meet outside the west door of Gt St Mary’s church at 1:00pm if you would like to take part.
Cambridge is a Covid hotspot, so please maintain social distance during the walk.
The last CNHS talk this year will be on Thursday 2nd December when Ellie Devenish-Nelson and Howard Nelson will counter the cold day days of December by talking about the Caribbean.
In the lead-up to the UN Biodiversity Conference, they will consider the implications for conservation in the Caribbean of the Post-2020 Framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity. They will discuss how the opportunities for increasing protection of marine and terrestrial biodiversity presents a big challenge for this important island biodiversity hotspot.
The event will be by Zoom. Members and those on the CNHS mailing list will be sent the link for the meeting. To be added the mailing list, email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk . To become a member, which brings further benefits, see our membership page.
The 2nd Online NatHistFest will be opened on Thursday 25th November 2021 at 7:30 p.m. with talks from some of the exhibitors. These will include:
The event will be by Zoom. Members and those on the CNHS mailing list will be sent the link for the meeting. To be added the mailing list, email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk . To become a member, which brings further benefits, see our membership page.
The 2nd online NatHistFest replaces our usual Conversazione, which it was not possible to hold in the spring. It includes exhibits from CNHS members and local organisations on a wide range of topics.
The 17 exhibits from the 2020 online NatHistFest can still be viewed here.
… a trillion reasons to thrive!
The next talk in the CNHS autumn programme is on 18th November when April Bagwill will introduce us to the Trillion Trees international collaboration. She will explain that it is not about planting trees but that their vision is to see one trillion trees re-grown, saved from loss and better protected around the world by 2050. She will talk about how this worldwide collaborative project aims to do this and to work towards a world where people and nature can thrive.
The talk is ONLINE via Zoom and will start punctually at 7:30 p.m.
Members and those on the mailing list will be emailed login details nearer the time. To be added the mailing list, email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk
To become a member, which brings further benefits, see the website: https://www.cnhs.org.uk/membership/
The title of the talk on 4th November is Biodiversity of the Hobson’s Brook Corridor
Dr Steve Boreham will talk about the biodiversity of the area surrounding Hobson’s Brook, a chalk stream and historic water course that rises at Nine Wells springs. As a geologist, ecologist and Trustee of Hobson’s Conduit Trust, he will also discuss conservation initiatives and threats to this important green corridor that leads in to the heart of Cambridge City.
The talk is ONLINE via Zoom and will start punctually at 7:30 p.m.
Members and those on the mailing list will be emailed login details nearer the time. To be added the mailing list, email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk
To become a member, which brings further benefits, see the website: https://www.cnhs.org.uk/membership/
Jonathan Shanklin, the speaker for our next online talk, on Thursday 28th October, is well-known both to members of CNHS, being a past President and having been involved in the Society for many years. He is also known more widely as one of the team who discovered the ozone hole in 1985.
He is offering the audience a choice of titles:
Do join us for this talk on Zoom. Even if he does not give the talk you would choose, it will be informative and entertaining. He is an extremely knowledgeable speaker and able to speak authoritatively on all these subjects. He adds that “all will contrive to include mention of climate change and the ozone hole”.
Members and those on the mailing list will be emailed login details before the meeting.
To be added the mailing list for events email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk
To become a member, which brings further benefits, see the website: https://www.cnhs.org.uk/membership/
There are three outdoor events in the CNHS autumn programme.
Saturday 16th October: Fungal foray at the Botanic Garden Booking essential and limited to 15 participants. To book, please email Jonathan Shanklin <jdsh@bas.ac.uk>
Sunday 17th October: Field study at Trumpington Meadows. This will focus on fungi.
Sunday 28th November: Field study at Trumpington Meadows. This will start at 11 a.m. to look at bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).
Members and those on the mailing list will be emailed details.
The future of nature conservation and the Wildlife Trusts’ 30:30:30 vision
The first talk in the autumn programme will be on Thursday 7th October at 7:30 p.m. and, like the spring talks, it will be held via Zoom.
We are delighted that Brian Eversham, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, will give a talk in which he will outline new approaches to conservation and the aim of increasing the area of land protected for nature by 2030.
Members and those on the mailing list will be emailed login details nearer the time.
To be added the mailing list for events email webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk
To become a member, which brings further benefits, see the website: https://www.cnhs.org.uk/membership/