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 ...

Northern Suburbs Branch FebruaryAll photos D Poynton unless credited otherwise Rather than pick a single venue, the hosts of the 2018 ANN Get-together chose to showcase the variation in natural history found in south-western Victoria by using three locations for accommodation. This meant most interstate participants who were not self-driving ...

November NS Branch Meeting Report Club members and presenters Andrew Cummings and Ben Schneider have travelled thousands of kilometres around the state collecting land snails; many are new species which will take years to describe. Andrew informed us that there are an estimated 2500 – 3000 native species in Australia. These make ...

NS BRANCH Excursion Report Our November GOLLY Walks—the last of the year—are always along the coast, usually combining a mix of paths and beaches. This year we started from last year’s finishing point, Hillarys Marina, and walked approximately 3km south to the old Department of Fisheries laboratories at Watermans. Prior ...

The Northern Suburbs Branch held its AGM on the 19th December. Prior to the AGM, branch Chairperson Don Poynton gave a brief presentation on Christmas Spiders (Austracantha minax), which are endemic to Australia. They are the only members of their genus and belong to the orb-weaving family Araneidae. For some ...

Northern Suburbs Branch October ExcursionAll Photos: D Poynton unless shown otherwise The NSB’s visit to the WA Reptile Park at Henley Brook was arranged as a follow up to Gane Doyle Jnr’s very entertaining presentation, Reptiles, Up Close, at the branch’s July meeting. So it was very disappointing to have ...

Northern Suburbs Branch¦November Meeting Our guest speaker, Melanie (Mel) Turner is Dive Co-ordinator for the WA Underwater Explorers’ Club. She dives at least twice a week, including regularly in the Swan River at night. Mel first experienced the wonders of night diving about 10 years ago while holidaying in Bali. ...