BENHS Indoor Workshops 2008 - 2009
The Society headquarters is The Pelham-Clinton Building, Dinton
Pastures Country Park, Davis Street, Hurst, Reading RG10 0GH. The grid
reference is SU 784718, turn left off the B3030 driving North from
Winnersh. When parking in the Country Park, members are entitled to
free car parking if they display a BENHS notice (available from the
display desk in the Pelham-Clinton Building). 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. 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. Contact detals are available on the Members' Programme Card.
Excellent refreshments, including hot lunches, are available from the
nearby café.
Workshops from October 2008 to April 2009:
(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 11 October 2008 - Finding,
photographing and identifying leaf-mining moths and flies
Rob Edmunds (Fleet) and Graham Collins
(South Croydon).
An introduction to field techniques for finding leaf-miners and then
how to photograph and rear them, as well as to help with identification
from sources such as the published literature and via the Internet.
Saturday 29 November 2008 - Why and how to
collect insect specimens
John and Barbara Ismay (Long Crendon) and
Martin Harvey (Upper Basildon).
This workshop will provide an introduction to the collection of insect
voucher specimens, and will demonstrate some techniques for pinning,
mounting and labelling insects, from a variety of different orders, so
that they can be readily identified. The leaders will also cover
curating specimens so that they form a reference collection of lasting
value.
Saturday 17 January 2009 - Leafhopper
identification workshop
Alan Stewart (Brighton) and Mike Wilson
(Cardiff).
An introduction to sampling and identifying leafhoppers.
Saturday 7 February 2009: 11.00–16.00 -
Coleopterists’ Day at Dinton Pastures
The sixth Coleopterists’ Day will commence with talks, including Darren
Mann (Oxford) on British
Scarabaeoidea, their biology, ecology, taxonomy and sampling and
Peter Hammond (NHM) on The
Coleoptera of Richmond Park, 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 28 February 2009 - Staphylinidae
identification workshop
Roger Booth (NHM), Peter Hodge (Lewes) and
Colin Welch (Hemington).
The leaders will introduce the family for those starting Staphylinidae
and also tackle identifying some of the more difficult groups.
Saturday 7 March 2009 - Pompilidae
identification workshop
Mike Edwards (Midhurst).
A workshop for those wishing to identify spider-hunting wasps, both for
beginners wishing to get into the family and for those wanting to
determine the more difficult species.
Saturday 21 March 2009 - Introduction to
recording and identifying ladybirds
Roger Hawkins (Horley), John Muggleton
(Salisbury; tbc) Helen Roy and Peter Brown (BRC).
This workshop will deal with the identification of all ladybirds,
particularly for beginners but will also include the difficult species
for more advanced recorders as well.
Saturday 28 March 2009 - Sawfly identification
workshop
Guy Knight (Liverpool), Andrew Halstead
(Woking) and David Sheppard (Peterborough; tbc).
The workshop covers the identification of adults for beginners, as well
as helping those wishing to tackle more difficult species.
Saturday 4 April 2009 - Identifying
Ichneumonidae and Braconidae to subfamily
Gavin Broad (NHM) Mark Shaw (Edinburgh; tbc).
A workshop to enable these species-rich families of parasitoid
Hymenoptera to be identified at least to subfamily level.
Saturday 18 April 2009 - Tachinidae
identification workshop
Matt Smith (Winnersh) and Chris Raper
(Reading).
An introduction to sampling and identifying Tachinidae.
Please inform Dr. Ian McLean, BENHS Indoor Meetings Secretary,
(E-mail: ianmclean@waitrose.com) in advance to book your place at a
workshop. This is essential to reserve a binocular microscope (20 are
available) for all who wish to use them. When possible please bring
your own copies of identification keys and any specimens that you have
for identification. For some workshops handouts are provided, while specimens to test keys and improve
identification skills may be available from the leader or the Society
collections.
Details of Lectures and Open days .
Full details of the indoor programme for 2008-2009 are given on the
member's
Programme card.
Details of future workshops will be published when
available.