#SciFri: TetZooCon 2023
For those eagle-eyed among you, you may have noticed on Twitter recently that I attended TetZooCon 2023 on the 3rd and 4th December. Like last year, which I couldn’t attend as I was recovering from submitting my PhD thesis, dozens…
#SteveReviews: Planet Earth III
It is always a momentous occasion when a new landmark Attenborough series airs on BBC One, especially one following in the footsteps of Planet Earth II. It was during the beginning year or two of my PhD when I heard…
#SteveReviews: Life on Our Planet
It is weird to me to watch a nature documentary, especially one which by title appears to be a spinoff of an Attenborough series and not have him narrate it. Instead however, Life on Our Planet which is available on…
#SciFri: Monsters of the Deep
As a scientist with a keen interest in mythology and palaeontology, I recently visited the Chatham Historic Dockyard to visit the Monsters of the Deep exhibition, that was co-curated by Darren Naish of TetZoo fame. Monsters of the Deep was…
#SciFri: European Turtle Alliance Conference 2023
On the 11th November, I visited Writtle University College for the annual conference of the European Turtle Alliance. Despite being reptiles, turtles and tortoises are not my forte and so I decided to try to fill that gap in my…
#SciFri: Free online Bsal course from EAZA Academy
A decade ago in 2013 when the discovery of the salamander chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans; Bsal) was published, my heart sank. What really scared me was the potential impact on wild newt and salamander populations in Europe, following the decline…
#SciFri: Arthropleura at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences tucked away in Downing College, Cambridge. Despite being hidden out of view of the public, it is well visited and represents a captivating journey through the geological wonders of our planet. This museum promises…
#SciFri: Visiting the Southend Central Museum
As a passionate naturalist, and as someone that was both born near Southend and grew up nearby, Southend Central Museum has always been a special place to me. This is despite the fact that I hadn’t been back in over…
#SciFri: 22nd European Congress of Herpetology
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’re probably aware that earlier in September I spent a week in Wolverhampton for the 22nd European Congress of Herpetology, organised by the Societas Europaea Herpetologica (SEH) and a…
#SteveReviews: Secrets of Squirrels
It is rare that you’ll see my posting about mammals on this blog, mainly because I think they’re overhyped and focussed on too much, compared to other taxa. I may focus obsessively on amphibians and reptiles, but even I often…