Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair

10/03/2025

Dr Ben Clunie gives the Young Verrall lecture 2025 - Defend, Deal or Depend? Plants and Insects in Partnership’ - a lecture organised by the Amateur Entomolo...

10/03/2025

Thanks you all who came to this year's SISF Your support is massively appreciated. A commonality in the feedback from stall holders and societies in attendance is in their admiration at the level of knowledge being displayed by the children and young adults. Its just goes to show how even an annual event like this can help spark an interest in learning about invertebrates and other wildlife and with parents and guardians' support, who knows where it can lead!

This page will now go quiet for the spring and summer and pick up again in the autumn when I'll make some announcements about next year's SISF, which will be 10 years since the first one in 2016!!!

All the best and have a great summer.

01/03/2025

We are up and running !

27/02/2025

This latest assessment was unfortunately widely anticipated by applied entomologists working on sites in 2024. Many of us have seen enormous drops in abundances of insects over recent years, with 2024 even worse for some groups, such as bumblebees. Even very common bumblebee species suffered.
Ron Rock from Bumblebee Conservation will be at SISF on Saturday, so be sure to pay him a visit and ask what you can do to help.

Bumblebees declined by almost a quarter compared with the 2010-2023 average, according to conservation charity

26/02/2025

24/02/2025

Not been to SISF before? Not sure where to go when you get to the University campus. Don't worry, just follow the.....

21/02/2025

The final piece of the jigsaw is complete - the talks. We have a busy schedule of talks next Saturday (March 1st). Something for everyone including the Young Verrall Lecture presented by Dr.Ben Clunie from Harper Adams University. This talk is geared towards children aged 8-11 so make sure you get your kids along to listen at 2.30pm.
The Buzz Club talk too is very much geared to families so plenty for the kids and adults too in the auditorium.

Please share and wide!

It all kicks off at 10.30am. See you then. 🐝🪰🐜🕷🦗

18/02/2025

17/02/2025

Not long now to SISF!

Here's two gorgeous UK species to whet your appetite! - the green tiger beetle and golden-fringed mason bee.

14/02/2025

We've finalised the Staffordshire University's Children's University list of activities. The passport is filled with a fantastic variety of things to achieve for your kids while you are walking around chatting to the societies. There are loads more activities at the fair but unfortunately we can't have them all on the activity sheet!

11/02/2025

People often ask what is the one thing they can do to help insects. Well, that's easy. Flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.
The wider the range of flower types the better. Flat flowers, deep flowers, big flowers, little flowers. They all encourage lots of different types of pollinator to your garden.
Even if you think you already do a lot, do more! Insects need so many flowers, and the countrywide unfortunately rarely fulfils their need now. Take a look at these photos. It gives you an idea of the densities we want to see more widely.

So, plant more flowers in 2025! The insects will love you for it.

09/02/2025

We're very proud to be hosting the Young Verrall Lecture again this year on behalf of the Royal Entomological Society.

This will be a dedicated lecture for young people (aimed at 7 to 11 year olds) so make sure you bring your budding entomologists along to listen to Professor Ian Couzin. It starts at 2.30pm.

We also have the Buzz Club lecture too, presented by Linda Birkin, another lecture with children at its core so make sure you drop in to this lecture with your kids as well.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBuzzClubUK

Saturday 1 March, 2024 The Catalyst Building, University of Staffordshire, Leek Rd, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DF Join the Amateur Entomologists’ Society and Royal Entomological Society for the Young Verrall Lecture taking place on Saturday 1 March…

08/02/2025

05/02/2025

This year we’ll see a new, updated identification book to the UK’s grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera) with a section on Staffordshire’s Orthoptera fauna and where to find them. Staffordshire has 13 resident species of grasshopper and cricket including the scarce bog bush-cricket which is only found at two places in Staffs, and the enigmatic and elusive oak bush-cricket.
Our grasshopper fauna includes the bare ground specialist, the mottled grasshopper. Like birds, Orthoptera have unique songs so you can actually identify them by their singing (technically called ‘stridulation’). See the https://orthoptera.org.uk species pages to listen to the songs. If you want to know more, The Staffordshire Orthoptera Recorder will be at the fair (Andy Jukes) so find him for a chat about this group.

You can find more about the Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair on our page. It is a free invertebrate conservation event hosted at Staffordshire University and run by Staffordshire Invertebrate Group. It is on Saturday March 1st. Perfect for all ages and levels of interest.

05/02/2025

Mike is an amazing butterfly expert, especially when it comes to habitat restoration and creation for rare species. This will be a really interesting talk for anyone interested in butterfly conservation.
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~ Species on the Edge - Winter Talk Series: Small Blue Butterfly with Mike Slater
Join Species on the Edge for the second talk in their Winter Talk Series.
💙 In this session, you will be joined by small blue butterfly expert, Mike Slater. Mike will lead you in an in-depth discussion of the Small Blue Butterfly (Cupido minimus) – the UK’s smallest butterfly – including the threats it is facing and the action we can take to ensure its long-term conservation.
📆Wednesday 12 February
🕡18:30 - 20:00
📌Online (via Zoom)
Register here: https://speciesontheedge.co.uk/.../winter-talk-series.../

04/02/2025

If I want to look for insects, where should I go?

Almost anywhere can be good for finding lots of insects but there are a few things to consider when searching for places rich with species.

1. Look for places with lots of flowers. In spring, hawthorn is the 'go-to' plant, especially where it is in the sunshine and sheltered, like on them edge of a wood or along a woodland ride.

2. Heathlands are always top of the pops for lots of spectacular insects. Go to heaths with lots of bare ground and different vegetation heights from short grass to scrub edges.

3. Old railway lines and trackways are often good as they are flower-rich and have scrub edges (so sheltered and warm).

4. Anywhere that have mosaics of habitats close to each other (juxtapositions). It is at the interface between the habitats that you often find the greatest richness (very top tip!).

Any of the societies like Butterfly Conservation, The Society for the Study of British Flies - The Dipterists Forum and British Dragonfly Society can tell you more about hotspots for insects like Baggeridge Country Park in south Staffs and Andy Jukes will be at the Fair talking to prospective invertebrate ecologists on the 'so you want to be an invertebrate ecologist?' stall again so feel free to ask him about what makes a good invertebrate site.

03/02/2025

The The Society for the Study of British Flies - The Dipterists Forum will be at Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair again this year. For the uninitiated, flies aren't dull boring insects, many are spectacularly colourful and have intriguing lives. They help decompose materials, recycling materials and are of course food for other animals (and carnivorous plants!). With some really accessible identification books, some fly groups are the perfect introduction to insect recording.
TIP: start with hoverflies and soldierflies. Many are quite large, colourful and easy to identify. Jane from Dipterists Forum will be on hand to answer all your questions.
Here are some other colourful flies. Not hovers or soldiers, but punk flies (Tachinids).

You can find more about the Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair on our page. It is a free invertebrate conservation event hosted at Staffordshire University and run by Staffordshire Invertebrate Group. It is on Saturday March 1st. Perfect for all ages and levels of interest.