Wild About Hertfordshire – opening of the HNHS 150th anniversary exhibition!
'Wild About Hertfordshire' – our family-friendly exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of Hertfordshire Natural History Society – opened to the public on Friday 21 March.
Running until Sunday 6 July at St Albans Museum it celebrates our county's wonderful wildlife which the Society's volunteers have been recording since 1875.
Around 120 guests enjoyed the opening night preview, including the Mayor and Mayoress of St Albans, Jamie and Liz Day.
Capacity audience for the 2025 Herts Bird Conference
A capacity audience enjoyed the 2025 Herts Bird Conference on Saturday 8 March, which included fascinating talks on Green Sandpipers and the 'gold standard' Breeding Birds Survey in Britain.
Those attending also voted for the Hertfordshire Bird Photograph of the Year – Paul Ward's striking image of a Common Snipe and its reflection taken at Lemsford Springs near Welwyn Garden City.
Videos of the main presentations are available on the HNHS YouTube site.
Rotting trees make Panshanger Park internationally important for beetles
Ancient trees preserved more than 200 years ago for their landscape value have made Hertfordshire’s Panshanger Park an internationally important site for beetles that depend on dead and decaying wood.
Giving the Gerald Salisbury Memorial Lecture on 22 January, entomologist Adrian Dutton described his recent survey work at the 1,000-acre site near Hertford which confirmed the presence of rare ‘saproxylic’ beetles and discovered others not previously recorded there.
Measured against indices for rarity and ecological continuity, Panshanger Park scores among the top 20 sites in Britain for the beetles and holds international significance.
The lecture at Welwyn Civic Centre was jointly organised by the HNHS and Welwyn Natural History Society. A video recording is available on the HNHS YouTube site.
2025 Herts Bird Conference – Saturday 8 March
Make a date with the Herts Bird Conference from 2pm to 5.30pm on Saturday 8 March 2025 at the offices of Affinity Water, Tamblin Way, Hatfield AL10 9EZ.
The speakers include Ken Smith reporting on the conclusion of a long-running study of Green Sandpipers at Lemsford Springs and James Heywood of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who will be looking back on 30 years of the national Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).
Happy New Year – it's our big anniversary!
The New Year is here – and with it we start celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, which includes the Herts Bird Club.
Keep an eye on the website for information about anniversary year activities, and make a diary note of these three upcoming events: