WELCOME TO THE BNA WEBSITE
We hope you find it interesting and stimulating, and hope you will join the Association and swell the numbers of Britain’s Naturalists.
Join the BNA the national body for naturalists, founded in 1905, and extend your interest in the British countryside by taking part in a wide range of activities together with fellow enthusiasts of all ages. With the help of our experts, you will be able to learn more about our native flora and fauna and develop an in-depth understanding of how our natural world develops and changes increasingly important in view of the changes in our climate.
At national level, the BNA organises lectures and exhibitions, publishes Country-Side, British Naturalist, the BNA website and the BNA holds occasional conferences and Field Trips at a different location each year.
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BNA National Encaenia and Exhibits Handling Day
at Natural History Museum
Awards, Tours, Displays and Talks
22nd April 2023
- Celebrate the presentation of BNA new grades and awards
- Handle a range of interesting specimens from the NHM Collections*
- Take a tour around the Waterhouse Building* and look at the Historic Architecture
- Take a guided tour around the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity* and see what facilities are available for naturalists to use
- Listen to illustrated talks given by Eminent Naturalists – Dr. Erica McAlister, Entomologist and Senior Curator for Diptera (including Siphonaptera) at the NHM, and Ted Benton, Emeritus Professor of sociology at the University of Essex and Honorary Fellow of the BNA.
*Subject to availability on the day
There has been no presentation of certificates or awards since 2019, this is a chance for families and friends to meet up and celebrate together, as well as see some of the fantastic “back stage” facilities and collections held by the NHM.
This is a “Ticket Only” event, it is free and open to BNA members, guests and non-members and includes complimentary tea/coffee on arrival.
Please note to avoid disappointment on the day, email the webmaster for tickets and programme:
webmaster.bnanaturalists@gmail.com
Click here for more information – BNA National Encaenia and Exhibits Handling Day
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BNA Weekend Workshops
at Brandon Marsh WLT reserve
(Near Coventry)
1st & 2nd July 2023
One of the habitats at Brandon Marsh, BNA members sweeping with nets
Take part in a range of activities led by experts. Learn how pollinators and flowers work together, find amazing structures such as plant galls, study specimens close-up using microscopes, identify moths caught on-site in a moth trap, and more.
Brandon Marsh is a SSSI with meadows, small-leaf lime woodlands, wood pasture, scrub and other habitats.
Members – £15 per day, £20 per weekend
Non-members – £20 per day, £30 per weekend
Come for the whole weekend (or either Saturday/ Sunday) tickets are available now on this link, and include tea/coffee on arrival and cold buffet lunch.
Click here for more information – BNA Weekend Workshop
What to look for in April from the BNA
Taking a walk through the countryside and woodlands this month can be a delight. Some of the prettiest wildflowers can be seen bursting into life with insects and butterflies feeding on their nectar.
All photos: D. Farrar
Cuckooflower – Cardamine pratensis. You might know these as Lady’s Smock or Milkmaids, they are found flowering in damp meadows, pond margins and alongside streams. They have a rosette of leaves at the base of an upright stem which bears the delicate, four petalled pale lilac flowers.
Bluebell – Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Bluebells are unmistakeable, with bell-shaped drooping flowers, deep blue in colour but sometimes can be pink or white. The flowers have six petals which turn upwards at the tip and have a strong, sweet scent. They can form carpets of blue in woodlands but are also seen in fields and hedgerows.
Cowslip – Primula veris. One of our favourite wildflowers, Cowslips are found across the UK growing in meadows, woodlands and roadside verges. Flowers have five yellow petals, with a small indent on the top edge and appear in clusters at the top of a long straight stem. The leaves are wrinkled and appear at the base of the stem.
Marsh Marigold – Caltha palustris –Marsh Marigolds have large yellow flowers similar to those of buttercups and are also known as Kingcups. As the name suggests, they grow in wet areas like marshes, pond edges, alongside streams or wet grassland. Leaves are shiny, kidney shaped and quite waxy to the touch.
Programme of Zoom Talks 2023
Given by experts from the BNA and the Natural History Museum
The talks will take place on the third Monday every month starting at 7.30pm, the speaker, subject and times will be confirmed nearer each date.
To take part in any of these talks, or if you would like to give a talk,
please contact the Chairman – honchairman.bnanaturalists@gmail.com
