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The August meeting saw a good turnout of a mix between members and visitors. The theme for the meeting was a members’ night and featured presentations by Daniel Heald and Colin Prickett. First up was Daniel, who delivered a presentation on the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB). The 2024 GSB was scheduled for the weekend of 20th – 23rd September, which coincided with KRMB’s excursion to Wongan Hills. Ensuring that as many of the weekend sightings as possible can be recorded for the GSB was stated as an additional aim for the weekend. Daniel gave a brief history of GSB, which arose due to the limits imposed on travel in 2020 due to COVID-19, with participants encouraged to record biodiversity in their local areas. A total of 180 areas in 12 countries participated resulting in 90,000 observations, covering 12,450 species being recorded by 3,130 participants. In 2021 the number of both observations and species were roughly double that of 2020. Numbers for 2022 rose again, achieving 212,608 observations and 23,380 species. Daniel then explained how anyone can get involved in the GSB simply by having a camera and access to the iNaturalist platform for upload of photographs taken over the four-day event. Daniel set up a Project within iNaturalist specifically for the observations recorded at Wongan Hills.

Following Daniel’s presentation, Colin Prickett showed some photographs that he had taken in the last month or so. These included photos of pollinating insects attracted to a bed of everlastings in his garden, such as tiny Sweat Bees (genus Lasioglossum sub-genus Chilalictus,) and a Hover Fly (genus Melangyna,). See below

He also showed a series of photos of Cyclops Jumping Spiders (Opisthoncus polyphemus) also found in his garden. There were also photos from local nature reserves that showed orchids, fungi, invertebrates and flowering plants.

Colin Prickett