Category Archives: Talks

Events, Field studies, News, Talks

Autumn events

Field studies

The field studies in the Great Kneighton area,including Hobson’s Park and the Addenbrooke’s site, continue but there have been some changes to the dates. They now are:

September 24 – field studies, galls & lichens, 2pm
October 15 – field studies, fungi, 2pm
November 5 – field studies, bryophytes, 11am

Details of meeting places will be circulated to those on his mailing list by Jonathan Shanklin. To join the mailing list please email him via webmaster [at] cnhs.org.uk to be added to the list. He points out that Outlook has started to reject CNHS emails as spam for several members. If you are not receiving our weekly emails it is up to you to check with your service provider and adjust your settings.

In addition to the field studies, there is a Fungal Foray at the Botanic Gardens on October 14th.

Autumn talks

These will recommence with an in-person talk, in the David Attenborough Building, on October 12th. More details will be posted soon.

Talks will then be alternately on-line via Zoom and in person. The in-person talks are October 12th and 26th, and November 9th and 23rd.

A Seasonal Social is being planned for December 7th.

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, 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.

Events, Talks

Natural history from above

The online talk on Thursday 27th October will be given by the CNHS President, Harriet Allen. She will explore the ways in which data ‘from the air’ add to our knowledge of natural history.

ONLINE via Zoom. Members and those on the CNHS email 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: see details on this website.

Events, Talks

Nature-friendly farming

The CNHS talk on Thursday 20th October will be 22 years of demonstration and research for nature-friendly farming.

This talk will be online via Zoom at 7:30 pm.

Georgie Bray, who manages Hope Farm for the RSPB, will talk about their experiences, gained over the past twenty years, of demonstrating that it’s possible to run a successful farming business, that produces food, makes a profit, and is valuable for wildlife as well. She will talk about carbon emission reductions, farm trials, and habitat management.

ONLINE via Zoom. Members and those on the CNHS email 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: see details on this website.

Events, Talks

The archives of CNHS

The next talk, which will be online on 13th October at 7:30 pm, is about the archives of Cambridge Natural History Society. Monica Frisch has helped look after the Society’s archives which include the first minute books from 1857. She will highlight some of the pioneering naturalists who have been involved in the Society, from its first president, Charles Cardale Babington to Oliver Rackham and David Attenborough, among others. The archives show how the Society has changed and adapted over the years.

ONLINE via Zoom. Members and those on the CNHS email 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: see details on this website.

Events, News, Talks, Uncategorized

Change of venue 6th October

The talk What midges can tell us about past environments THIS THURSDAY 6th October, will now be held in the Main Seminar Room in the David Attenborough Building on the New Museums Site, not the Department of Geography as previously announced.

The David Attenborough Building is in the New Museums Site CB2 3QZ.  Enter the site through the archway from Pembroke Street and go up the flight of steps in front of you. Walk straight ahead and you will come to the entrance on your right.

The talk will start punctually at 6:45 p.m.

ALL WELCOME