Indoor Workshops
The Society headquarters is The Pelham-Clinton Building, Dinton Pastures Country Park, Davis Street, Hurst, Reading RG10 0GH. The grid reference is SU 784718; when coming via the M4 take the A329(M) for Reading at junction 10, take the first slip road to Winnersh, then turn left off the B3030 driving North from Winnersh. The site is about 15 minutes walk from Winnersh station, which has trains running on a half-hourly service from Reading and Waterloo. The library and collections are housed in adjacent rooms, with facilities for books, periodicals and specimens to be consulted and studied. In order to make the library and collections available to members, there are Open Days (10.30–16.00). In addition, workshops (10.30-16.00) are organised for members and visitors, particularly to help and encourage beginners and new members taking up the study of a group of invertebrates. In 2010-2011 there will be two workshops held in partnership with the Natural History Museum (NHM), London (on Saturday 16 October 2010 and Saturday 12 February 2011) in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. Specimens from the NHM collections will be available for study as well as the high quality facilities in the Centre, while the format and content will be similar to the Dinton Pastures events with booking via Ian McLean as usual. The nearest underground station for the NHM is South Kensington and the Angela Marmont Centre is in the Darwin Centre 2 building.
The concept of these workshops is to bring together one or more leading specialists, experienced in the study and recording of a particular group, to talk about and demonstrate fieldcraft, curation and identification techniques. The events are informal, with the emphasis upon practical demonstrations and with plenty of opportunities to try out the methods and ask questions. If you have problem specimens which defy identification, by all means bring them along to challenge the experts! The collections room has been re-arranged to facilitate presentations and the use of the video microscope for workshops. For some workshops there may be the opportunity for fieldwork within Dinton Pastures Country Park, which now has an extensive list of invertebrates recorded by members of the Society.
The Building Manager is willing to open the Pelham-Clinton Building by prior arrangement on other occasions for members unable to attend the scheduled Open Days, when members will be welcome to use the library and collections. For those living a long distance from Dinton Pastures it may be worth considering getting together to share transport, either for an Open Day or for requesting access on another occasion. Please contact Martin Albertini, 11 Hargrave Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 6JR (telephone: 01628 633749; E-mail: malbertini). Excellent refreshments, including hot lunches, are available from the nearby café.
Workshops from October 2010 to April 2011
(Unless stated otherwise, the workshops start at 10.30 and continue until 16.00.)
(Meetings marked in blue have already taken place but are included here for information.)
Saturday 2 October 2010 - An introduction to woodlice, millipedes and centipedes
Steve Gregory (Abingdon).
An introductory workshop to the identification of woodlice, millipedes and centipedes. After a presentation on the characters used to identify these groups, participants will have the chance to name their own material or specimens made available on the day.
Saturday 16 October 2010 - Insect Curation: held at the Natural History Museum
Martin Harvey (Great Kimble) and Ian McLean (Brampton).
The first workshop to be held at The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, this event is aimed principally at beginners to demonstrate how to assemble a reference collection of insects, maintain it in exemplary condition and use it for multiple purposes including accurate identification and for preparing publications.
Saturday 5 February 2011: 10.30–16.00 - Coleopterists’ Day at Dinton Pastures
The eighth Coleopterists’ Day will commence with talks, followed by informal presentations and discussions. During the afternoon those attending can display exhibits on beetles, consult the BENHS library and collections (including the Joy Collection of British Beetles), purchase publications from Pemberley Books or catch up with the latest beetle news.
Saturday 12 February 2011 - Banchinae identification workshop: held at the Natural History Museum
Jim Brock (Ely), Gavin Broad (NHM), Mike Fitton (NHM) & Mark Shaw (Edinburgh).
A new handbook to this subfamily of Ichneumonidae is in preparation by Jim Brock and this workshop is an opportunity to learn how to recognise the group and to test species keys. Additional details about the event will be available here on the web site.
Saturday 26 February 2011 - Staphylinidae identification workshop
Roger Booth (NHM), Peter Hodge (Lewes) & Colin Welch (Hemington).
The leaders will introduce the family for those starting Staphylinidae and also tackle identifying some of the more difficult groups.
Saturday 5 March 2011 - Tachinidae identification workshop
Matt Smith (Winnersh) and Chris Raper (Reading).
An introduction to sampling and identifying Tachinidae with new keys available for testing and the chance to have your specimens checked and verified.
Saturday 19 March 2011 - Ground Beetle (Carabidae) identification workshop
Mark Telfer (Dunstable) and John Walters (Devon).
The second annual ground beetle workshop will help beginners and experts alike to find and identify British and Irish carabids. The programme will include a brief talk on techniques of general interest, followed by an identification session to aid beginners identify carabids to genus, as well as tuition on some more difficult genera.
Saturday 26 March 2011 - Sawfly identification workshop
Guy Knight (Liverpool), & Andrew Halstead (Woking).
The workshop will deal with the identification of adult Sawflies for beginners, as well as helping those wishing to tackle more difficult genera.
Saturday 2 April 2011 - Starting Aculeates
Mike Edwards (Midhurst) & Graham Collins (South Croydon).
An introduction to collecting, curating and identifying bees, wasps and ants. Introductory keys to the major groups will be available as well as demonstrations of how to handle, mount and label specimens for a reference collection.
Saturday 16 April 2011 - Identifying Braconidae and Ichneumonidae
Gavin Broad (NHM), Mark Shaw (Edinburgh) & Mike Fitton (NHM).
A workshop to recap previous events on collecting, rearing and identifying these families to subfamily, as well as identifying nocturnal genera such as Ophion and Netelia (often attracted to light traps) to species; test keys will be available.
Please inform Dr. Ian McLean, BENHS Indoor Meetings Secretary, 109 Miller Way, Brampton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 4TZ (E-mail: ianmclean) in advance to book your place at a workshop. This is essential to reserve a binocular microscope (20 are available) and a bench space. When possible please bring your own copies of identification keys and any specimens for identification. For some workshops handouts are provided, while specimens to test keys and improve identification skills may be available via the leader or from the Society collections.
Details of future workshops will be published when available.