August NSB Meeting In the past it would have been called science fiction, today it is referred to as cutting-edge research, tomorrow it will be the norm! This is possibly the best way of summarising the information delivered by our speaker, Dr Olly Berry, leader of CSIRO’s Environomics Future Science ...

JULY Semi-retired geologist Peter Alcock is fascinated by the influence of natural earth processes over long periods of time on landscapes, human history and behaviour. His presentation, illustrated with stunning photos and appropriate musical interludes (of “Rock” music of our youth) took us through a geological journey spanning 4500 Ma ...

June: NS Branch Meeting Report Although our speaker Dr Tony Start was introduced to mistletoes as a child in Kenya, it was his move to the Pilbara in WA as regional superintendent of national parks that rekindled his interest. Knowing the area was prone to wildfires and that mistletoes don’t ...

Golly! Our planned circular walk around the Big Carine Swamp with a side visit to the historic Briggs’ lime kiln certainly didn’t go to plan! Firstly we couldn’t find the underpass beneath Reid Highway, then we couldn’t find the kiln site and to top it off it began to rain—so ...

Eleven of us spent almost two hours, in perfect weather, wandering around Careniup Swamp Reserve looking at the flora and fauna in its wetlands, large open spaces and urban forests. Inside the Secret Garden Photo: P Auty The land around the Careniup Swamp was originally part of ‘Swan Location K’, ...

What is “remote sensing” and how well do we understand this term? How does it work and why do we need remote sensing? As stated in many text books and other publications the term remote sensing is commonly used to describe the science—and technology—of identifying, observing, and measuring an object ...

GOLLY, I didn’t know this place existed!” was a common exclamation as we parted the curtains hiding the charming and olde-worlde Museum of Natural History and The Academy of Taxidermy at Guildford. Only one of the 11 members present had previously visited the museum despite everyone having driven past it, ...

Why this title for the talk? Insects make up over 70 per cent of the approximately 1,260,000 described species in the Kingdom Animalia. What they lack in size they make up in numbers, mass and diversity (and sometimes beauty). With this introduction Dr Brian Gunn went on to explain the ...

NS Branch March Golly Walk A small but enthusiastic group gathered at Watermans Bay for our annual beachcombing and snorkelling morning. We chose Watermans Bay as it was likely to provide an opportunity to look at many aspects of natural history. Our meeting point offered us with views of the ...

NS Branch March Meeting Guest speaker Karissa Lear ( PhD Candidate, Murdoch University) gave a presentation that was very timely, given that only five days before, the State Government had released a statement regarding the Fitzroy River Management Plan—a water allocation plan and a proposed national park, all of which ...