Category Archives: Talks

Events, News, Talks

CNHS spring talks start on 23rd January

The first talk in the CNHS spring programme is on 23rd January 2025, when Ed Turner will talk on “Insect conservation: conserving the little things that run the world”.

Ed is Curator of Insects in the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge and Professor of Insect Ecology. He will present the growing evidence that insect numbers are declining in many areas, with serious implications for global biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Drawing on work from the Insect Ecology Group in Cambridge, this talk will discuss some of the evidence behind these declines, why this might be, and what we can do about it.

The talk will be held in the David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ. It will start punctually at 6:45 p.m. with tea/coffee available beforehand. ALL WELCOME, ADMISSION FREE.

The talk will also be available via Zoom. Details will be sent to those on the CNHS mailing list – email CNHS_mailings-join@cnhs.org.uk to be added to the list.

Future talks

These will all be held at 6:45 p.m. in the David Attenborough Building, except for 20th March which will start at 6:30 p.m. with the CNHS AGM.

30th January The marine world Frances Dipper

6th February Alice Hibbert-Ware: Nature Study and the Little Owl Food Enquiry (1936-7) Max Long

13th February Squirrels of the British Isles: Red, Grey, and Black! Helen McRobie

20th February Great Fen: Progress on the peat Henry Stanier

27th February CNHS field studies 2024 Duncan Mackay and Jonathan Shanklin

6th March History of forests Charles Turner

13th March The Cambridgeshire Bird Club – 1925 to 2025: A century of bird watching Bob Jarman

20th March Natural materials for musical instruments Jim Woodhouse. This talk will be preceded by the CNHS AGM at 6:30 p.m.

Events, News, Talks

Finding W H Hudson: the writer who came to Britain to save birds

The next CNHS talk, on Thursday 17th October, will be given by Conor Jameson. It will take place at 6:45 p.m. in the the seminar room of the James Dyson Building, in the Department of Engineering.

To find this room, go in via the main entrance to the department from Trumpington St (opposite Hot Numbers coffee shop, entrance marked by a metal sculpture). After a short distance, turn into the space on your left and go straight ahead. You will pass the main Baker Building of the department on your right and the Architecture Department on your left. The James Dyson Building is ahead of you, with some bicycle racks in front of it. The entrance is via a revolving door, but if this turns out to be locked then someone will let you in via a door just to the right of it. The seminar room is directly on your left. Because the talks are out of normal hours, there is some car parking available on the site. Please contact the President for details..

Conor Jameson will talk on “Finding W H Hudson — the writer who came to Britain to save birds”. Conor describes his mission to restore William Henry Hudson (1841–1922), from previously unseen letters held in America. Conor traces the unassuming field naturalist’s path through a dramatic and turbulent era: from Hudson’s journey to Britain from Argentina in 1874 to the unveiling by the prime minister of a monument and bird sanctuary in his honour 50 years later, in the heart of Hyde Park. It is a place where the young immigrant had, for a time, slept rough. The story reveals Hudson’s deep influence on the creation of his beloved Bird Society (RSPB) by its founding women, and the rise of the conservation movement. Cambridge Professor Alfred Newton has a key supporting role. This story reveals the strange magnetism of this mysterious man from the Pampas – unschooled, battle-scarred and once penniless – that made his achievements possible, and left such a profound impression on those who knew him.

All welcome – admission free – please arrive punctually

Events, News, Talks

CNHS autumn talks

The CNHS autumn programme has now been arranged with eight talks, two field studies, a fungal foray and a seasonal social.

The first talk is on Thursday 10th October when Brian Eversham will give a talk entitled: Overlooked wildlife, or, Why are there
so many species? Brian is a very knowledgeable and entertaining speaker and this will be a fascinating and revealing talk. It will take place in the David Attenborough Building at 6:45 p.m. Please arrive promptly. Tea and coffee available before hand. Admission is free.

The talks on 17th and 31st October and on 7th, 21st and 28th November will be in a new venue: the James Dyson Building. This is in the Department of Engineering. To find this room, go in via the main entrance to the department from Trumpington St (opposite Hot Numbers coffee shop, entrance marked by a metal sculpture). After a short distance, turn into the space on your left and go straight ahead. You will pass the main Baker Building of the department on your right and the Architecture Department on your left. The James Dyson Building is ahead of you, with some bicycle racks in front of it. The entrance is via a revolving door, but if this turns out to be locked then someone will let you in via a door just to the right of it. The seminar room is directly on your left, on the ground floor.

Please join the CNHS mailing list by emailing mailings@cnhs.org.uk This will mean you will be sent an email shortly before each event, reminding you about the event and the location.

Events, News, Talks

Wicken Fen: 125 Years of Conservation

On Thursday 9th May Ajay Tegala who is a ranger for the National Trust on their oldest nature reserve. He will talk about the wildlife and management of Wicken, including wetland restoration and conservation grazing – the subject of his new book, Wetland Diaries. Copies will be available.

The meeting will be preceded at 6:45 p.m. by the Cambridge Natural History Society’s Annual General Meeting. For more details of the CNHS Rules and Council see https://www.cnhs.org.uk/about/

Both the talk and the AGM will take place in person in the David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ as well as being online via Zoom. Members will be sent the Zoom link before the meeting.

ALL WELCOME – admission free. Tea and coffee available beforehand from 6 p.m.

Events, Talks

Spring talks

The programme of spring talks got off to a good start last week with a talk by Morgan Morrison on Pollinator conservation & your lawn. Here are details of the other talks in the spring programme. Please note that some are in person in the David Attenborough Building while others are online by zoom only.

Admission free – all welcome

The next talk is by Esme Ashe-Jepson on Habitat associations of British butterflies and their foodplants. This is online by zoom at 7:30 p.m. She will talk about her research into the associations of ten species of butterfly and one day-flying moth species and their foodplants in Bedfordshire, UK. She found high variation in associations across species, with species that overwinter at non-adult life stages having particularly restrictive associations, indicating they may be most vulnerable to environmental change.

The following three talks, on 22nd February, 29th February and 7th March are all in person at 6:45 p.m. in the David Attenborough Building, but also on Zoom.

Thursday 22nd February: Indonesia, Alfred Wallace and Krakatoa Olwen Williams
In person, David Attenborough Building 6:45 p.m.

Thursday 29th February: Otters – in Cambridgeshire Peter Pilbeam
In person, David Attenborough Building 6:45 p.m.

MARCH

Thursday 7th March: Phenology in the Botanic Garden Rose Fricker
In person, David Attenborough Building 6:45 p.m.

The last two talks on 14th and 21st March will be online by zoom only, at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday 14th March: What and where I record Jonathan Shanklin
Online by zoom 7:30 p.m.

Thursday 21st March: Moth trapping in Cambridge Duncan Mackay
Online by zoom 7:30 p.m.

News, Talks

Pollinator conservation – and your lawn

The first talk in the CNHS spring programme will be in person on Thursday 8th February, at 6:45 in the David Attenborough Building.

Morgan Morrison, is researching pollinator conservation at Royal Holloway, University of London. She will talk about her PhD research on which covers all things pollinator conservation. From bees, butterflies and hoverflies to disease, protected areas and citizen science. Morgan will cover questions about ‘whether diseases are spillover from honeybees to wild bee?’ all the way to ‘how citizens can help pollinators all from the comfort of their lawns?’. She will also be introducing a citizen science study taking place in summer which you could help with.

This talk will be held in the David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ at 6:45 p.m. Please arrive punctually – otherwise you may not be able to get into the building! Tea/coffee will be available beforehand.

The talk will also be available on Zoom. Those on the CNHS mailing list will be sent the link a few days beforehand. To join the CNHS mailing list, email mailings@cnhs.org.uk

ADMISSION FREE – ALL WELCOME

Events, Talks

Cambridge Antiquarian Society meeting POSTPONED

Cambridge Antiquarian Society have brought our attention to their forthcoming talk on “Rewilding’ Later Prehistory: Archaeological Wildlife and its Role in Contemporary Nature Recovery”

This has had to be postponed takes place on Monday 5th February 2024 at 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, in the Law Faculty, The David Williams Building, Sidgwick Site, West Rd, Cambridge.

The speaker, Dr Anwen Cooper, is a prehistorian at Oxford University.

They tell us this talk will present initial findings from the UKRI-funded ‘Rewilding’ later prehistory project – a collaboration between and Knepp Castle Estate, Oxford Archaeology, the Universities of Oxford, Exeter and York, Centre for Ancient Genomics, Toulouse, and Historic England. Through a study of human-landscape relationships during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain that puts wildlife centre-stage, the project aims to foreground the ‘wonder and enchantment’ of past wildlife and to create pathways for reconnecting with contemporary nature recovery practices. As well as verifying historical occurrences  of species that may be reintroduced into ‘rewilded’ landscapes, the project will produce stories of long term landscape change and of past human-wildlife entanglements that can inspire current attempts to reconnect people with nature.

All welcome.

Further inforamtion at https://www.camantsoc.org/event/cas-talk-rewilding/?instance_id=69

Events, Talks

CNHS talks in November

Thursday 9th November: A biodiverse city
6:45 p.m. in the David Attenborough Building and online
Guy Belcher, Biodiversity Officer for Cambridge City Council, will talk about the City’s Biodiversity Strategy.

Thursday 16th November: Fieldwork: A Dendrochronologist’s
perspective on Science, Life, and Adventure
7:30 p.m. online
Paul Krusic will speak on the challenges of finding trees that have not been disturbed by humans, from which a pristine record of environmental change is captured in the annual variations of tree growth. Where do such forests exist and what does it take to get there? These forests are where he does his research, from the Himalaya to the
Tropics, using dendrochronology to learn more about environmental history and how it relates to climate change.

Thursday 23rd November: The life of the Cam: In sickness and in health
6:45 p.m. in the David Attenborough Building and online
Stephen Tomkins, from the Cam Valley Forum, will talk about what he has learned from trying to help improve our local river. Over abstraction and other changes have been harmful – we have a very sick river: abused by our own un-natural history. Wetland wildlife has a huge capacity to bounce back from near extinction, but that requires much more of all of us to help it improve.

Thursday 30th November: How the Andes influence Earth’s climate
7:30 p.m. online
Morag Hunter will talk about the interaction between the uplift of the Andes and carbon dioxide budgets in the atmosphere. She will describe the geology and outline the chemical weathering of the rocks found in the Cañete Basin, western Peru.

News, Talks

Talk Thursday 19th

The talk on Thursday 19th October will be online. It will be given by Peter Exley of the RSPB and the title is People power for nature: the challenges and opportunities.

Peter Exley has worked for the RSPB, for over 25 years, on building peoples’ support for nature, from campaigns to communities. He is currently involved in making the charity’s 170 nature reserves more visitable. In this talk he will look at the barriers, issues and opportunities, and why understanding people is essential to saving nature, using examples of projects he has worked on, from saving seabirds on islands to creating new nature reserves in the Somerset Levels.

The talk will start at 7:30 p.m. promptly.

Those on the CNHS mailing lists will be sent details of the Zoom link, which is different each meeting. If you want to receive the link, sign up by emailing mailings@cnhs.org.uk

You will join the meeting in a waiting room and will be let in at 7:30pm.  Your video and audio will be off when you join.  You will be able to use chat or Q&A to ask questions at the end of the talk, or you can raise a virtual hand from “reactions”.  The event may 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. Membership details here.

Events, Talks

Talk Thursday 12th

Dr Mark Collins will give the first talk in the CNHS autumn programme on Thursday 12th October at 6:45 p.m.

The speaker is the author of Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World and Chair of the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust. He will give an illustrated talk about the Trust’s conservation activities in Borneo, Bhutan, Fiji, Australia, Jamaica and elsewhere, news about an upcoming conference on the Apollo butterflies and their relatives worldwide, concluding with a detailed appraisal of the existential risks facing the British Swallowtail in the Norfolk Broads, and what options we have to keep the species safe.

This talk will be in person, in the David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ

It will start at 6:45 p.m. Please arrive in good time or you may not be able to get into the building.

ALL WELCOME Members free; non-members £2

The talk on Thursday 19th October will be online at 7:30 p.m.

People power for nature: the challenges and the opportunities

Peter Exley has worked for the RSPB, for over 25 years, on building peoples’ support for nature, from campaigns to communities. He is currently involved in making the charity’s 170 nature reserves more visitable. In his talk he will look at the barriers, issues and opportunities, and why understanding people is essential to saving nature, using examples of projects he has worked on, from saving seabirds on islands to creating new nature reserves in the Somerset Levels.

Online via Zoom. Members will be emailed login details nearer the time.

To be added the mailing list for events: email mailings [at] cnhs.org.uk
To become a member: click here for details.