Meetings and Venue
General meetings are listed below
These meetings, unless otherwise specified are at the Friends' Meeting House, 930 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham at 7.30 pm. Parking available.
Directions to the Friends Meeting House
Visitors are always welcome. Specimens may be brought to the meetings for identification.

Extremely bad weather
If the weather on the day of a winter meeting is really bad and no cancellation notice has been posted, please use the contacts on the site before making the journey. Contacts

A cancellation notice will be posted if at all possible.

Mycological Section Meetings see Current Field Meeting Programme

21 October 2016
Peter Coxhead - Five Days in the Galápagos Islands

Peter writes, 'The Galápagos, now part of Ecuador, are a volcanic group of islands in the Pacific straddling the Equator. Like many isolated islands, they support some unique species, including marine iguanas, land birds and cacti. Charles Darwin visited in 1835, and his observations later provided part of the inspiration for the development of his theory of evolution by natural selection. Most parts of the islands are strictly protected, with visitor numbers and access limited. I was fortunate to be able to spend five exciting days cruising around some of the islands, observing and photographing the wildlife.'

12 November 2016 (Saturday)

*Visit to the Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham

Meet at the Museum at 2pm. This has been arranged by Sutton Coldfield Natural History Society, which has kindly invited BNHS members. Further details when known; see the SCNHS programme web page Lapworth Museum or contact the BNHS Secretary info@bnhsoc.org.uk

18 November 2016

Dr Lesley Batty - Paradise Lost or Paradise Found: does industry always result in ecological destruction?

Lesley is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science at the University of Birmingham, with a particular interest in the ecology of industrial pollution and has spent a lot of time working in and around old metal and coal mines

20 January 2017

Dr Chris Young - Southern India: habitats and species of Tamil Nadu

Chris is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the degree in Animal Behaviour and Wildlife Conservation at the University of Wolverhampton, and has led a number of field trips to India

17 February 2017

Professor Robin May - The human zoo: a tour of our unseen microbial friends and foes

Robin is Lister Fellow and Professor of Infectious Disease in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham. The human body is a walking zoo; at any one time there are ten times as many microbial cells as human cells in the average person, and in a single day we breathe in or swallow billions of microscopic organisms. Most are harmless, but many have the ability to manipulate their hosts in remarkable ways. This talk will look at some of the diversity of microbes and highlight some of the remarkable and often intricate ways in which they can modify the human body to their own ends. It will also cover some recent unexpected findings suggesting that microbes may have a much bigger influence on human behaviour than previously appreciated

17 March 2017

Jon Clatworthy - The Lapworth Museum of Geology

Jon is Director of the Museum at the University of Birmingham, which has one of the UK's most outstanding geological collections, with a recently completed £2.7m redevelopment providing state-of-the-art galleries and a range of innovative and interactive exhibits

21 April 2017
AGM and Presidential lecture: Kat Clifford - Lemurs

Meetings are held on the third Thursday in the month,though not always in Decemeber. Details to follow soon

Mycological Section Meetings see Current Foray Programme