News and events

Help Wanted!

Are you mad about bugs? Authors Peter Marren and Richard Mabey are looking for stories, sayings, songs and even recipes about bug life, for the upcoming publication Bugs Britannica. This is a great opportunity to contribute to an original book about our relationship with invertebrates. Full details are available on the project website at www.randomhouse.co.uk/bugsbritannica/.

The Woodland Trust have launched a 5-year Ancient Tree Hunt, and are looking for help to find and map all the old, fat trees across the UK. To find out about the project and how you can take part, visit the project website at www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk.

The National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS) is looking for volunteers for several surveys. If you register your interest, you will be kept informed of developments, timetables, training programmes and other plans. You can find out more about NARRS and register your interest at www.narrs.org.uk.

The People's Trust for Endangered Species is looking for at least 10,000 people to help spot molehills as part of their new MoleWatch project. For information or to sign up as a mole spotter, check out the project website: www.ptes.org/molewatch.

Sept 13-16: The International Association for Landscape Ecology warmly invites you to their 17th Annual UK Meeting, to be held in Brighton & Hove. The event will bring together scientists from the many fields in landscape ecology with policy makers, planners and practitioners. For details check out the IALE website or contact conference2010@iale.org.uk.

Sept 15-17: The theme for the 2010 Commons Conference is The End of Tradition: Aspects of Commons and Cultural Severance in the Landscape. The event will take place at Sheffield Hallam University. The conference dinner on Thursday evening will feature special guest Professor David Bellamy. Details are available on the conference website, or contact info@hallamec.plus.com or 0114 272 4227.

Oct 14-15: You are invited to a two-day conference What About Urban Nature - Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Stockholm, Sweden. The City of Stockholm has been awarded the first EU Green Capital 2010 by the European Commission. On account of this, the City of Stockholm invites city officials, decision makers, researchers and anyone interested to this event focused on urban nature. For information please contact Susann Östergård at susann.ostergard[at]miljo.stockholm.se or Ulla Mörtberg at

Nov 16-17: Bristol Zoo will be the venue of a two day conference on Species survival: the white-clawed crayfish in a changing environment. With a focus on current developments in crayfish conservation, the conference aims to foster a strategic approach to the future conservation of this BAP priority species. Programme details are available on the Bristol Zoo website.

Dec 1-3: The International Conference on Biodiversity: Biodiversity and the Millennium Development Goals will take place at Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt/Main. This free two-day conference will involve plenary sessions, workshops and poster sessions. Details are available on the conference website www.biodiversity-conference2010.de.