LNHS Events
You can find full details of our events in the calendar on the right and in our downloadable programme. Please note that these events may be cancelled at short notice and we will try to post details on the homepage if possible. For more details regarding the LNHS field meetings please see the Field Meetings page.
The LNHS also has indoor ID sessions and a regular Virtual Natural History Talk series.
The LNHS events programme is one of the most varied and active of a natural history society. Its meetings encourage the interaction of beginners and experienced naturalists.
Field Meetings
LNHS Field Meetings are field recorder days or guided walks. Lunch and Tea should be brought on all whole-day meetings. You do not need to have a car - where the programme says 'cars needed' this is to remind drivers they will need to pick up people at the station or meeting point. At meetings involving cars, those receiving lifts are expected to contribute to the cost of petrol used. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the LNHS Field Meetings, no dogs are allowed except for guide dogs.
Virtual Events
The LNHS Virtual Natural History Talks series began in 2020 and cover topics including (but not limited to) ecology, identification, recording and conservation, and in a variety of groups including birds, mammals, flowering plants, fungi, bryophytes, reptiles and amphibians, and a range of invertebrate groups.
Indoor events
These usually consist of talks, slide shows or discussions. Indoor meetings are held at several venues:
- Burgh House, Hampstead, is a new venue which the Bird Club are using for indoor meetings. See the map here, and their website. Handy tip - If you want to visit the Burgh House museum and exhibitions first, and maybe the charming little garden and The Buttery Cafe, but realise that there is an hour and a half between the house and cafe closing and first arrivals for the talk at 6.30pm (for a 7pm start), there is a very civilised pub (The Wells) opposite the house, not to mention the delights of the rest of Hampstead (inc. the Heath if you fancy an evening walk), just minutes away.
- Seminar and Learning Centre, Sherfield Building, Imperial College (South Kensington, SW7 2AZ) is labelled as building no.20 on this Map. Walking from South Kensington Underground station, take the pedestrian tunnel that leads towards the museums. Follow the tunnel to its furthest extent. On leaving the tunnel in Exhibition Road, turn left to reach the college campus.
- Natural History Museum, Angela Marmont Centre. (Where the LNHS Library is located).
Full programme
Ecology & Entomology
One Mother For Two Species: The Complex Lifecycle of Harvester Ants
Learn how how the complex lifestyle of social insects leads to complex reproductive models in the Brad Ashby Memorial Lecture.
Eusociality is a complex reproductive strategy where the sterile worker castes help their sexual relatives reproduce. In this presentation, we will explore how extreme caste differentiation can trigger genetic conflicts within a colony and drive the evolution of complex reproductive modes. In particular, we will focus on xenoparity, a remarkable case of cross-species cloning in Messor harvester ants, where queens must produce individuals of different species as part of their lifecycle.
Jonathan Romiguier's research focuses on the links between species ecology and molecular evolution. In particular, he studies genome evolution in species with a eusocial lifestyle or atypical reproductive systems. His primary model species is the barbarian harvester ant Messor barbarus, which exhibits an unusual reproductive system in which royalty is genetically determined. This system, known as social hybridogenesis, involves two queen genetic lineages that can each produce only queens and males independently, while hybridization between the lineages is required to produce workers. Jonathan uses approaches in phylogeny, population genetics, and experimental biology to investigate the origin of this system, as well as to address broader questions in evolutionary biology.
Free but booking essential. Book via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/one-mother-for-two-species-the-complex-lifecycle-of-harvester-ants-tickets-1970355572558
Brad Ashby Memorial Lecture
This annual lecture is delivered by the British Entomological & Natural History Society and London Natural History Society as a joint venture in memory of Charles Bradwin Ashby (1920 - 1994). Brad was a prominent member of both organistions and in 1985 he proposed the joint meetings which have successfully continued to this day, and since 2020 have been in a virtual format.
This virtual event is being supported by the Biological Recording Company.