Natural History Section, Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society

About us

Natural History Section

The Natural History Section exists to further the study of natural history and the recording of local wildlife in Leicestershire and the surrounding counties. Members of the Section have a wide variety of interests and expertise in various areas of natural history, but you don't have to be an expert on natural history to join. We meet in person monthly during the autumn, winter and spring for talks and all year round for field trips. Members receive a programme of forthcoming events, and regular copies of the Newsletter which reports on Society activities and contains other items about natural history. You are very welcome to come along to an indoor meeting as a guest. 

Contact Us

Events

Indoor Meetings (all welcome) are usually held on Wednesday evenings once a month from October to March. Meetings consist of a talk on some aspect of natural history by a knowledgeable speaker, either an invited expert or a member. All talks are aimed at the amateur naturalist, since even those members of the Section who are experts in one area may know very little about another.

Please note temporary new venues for 2024/25: Quaker Meeting House, 16 Queens Road, Leicester LE2 1WP (link to map). 
Doors open 7.00 pm for start at 7.30 pm, finish by 9.30 pm.
March 2025 Joint Meeting with Parent Body will be at Hansom Hall, Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL.

Outdoor Meetings (members only) are usually held on Saturdays or Sundays. Distances covered on foot vary, but typically 2-3 miles, and shorter alternative routes are often available for those who prefer this. All outdoor meetings are by private car within reasonable driving distance of Leicester. Lifts can usually be arranged for those without their own transport.

Winter/Spring 2023/24 events

2024/2025 Winter/Spring Indoor Meetings Programme
Free to Members, £2 charge to visitors

2nd October 2024
Peter Proudlove, Leicester Bat Group
"Bats Are Amazing"

The talk will cover a lot of facts about bats, some widely known and some not. This will include the ecology and lifecycle of British bats, their feeding and navigation strategy & illustration of sample species found in Leicestershire and Rutland.  It will also cover a few types of bat from the 1,400 species around the world.
Peter Proudlove is a member of Leicester Bat Group and will include information about monitoring and care in VC55.

6th November 2024
Isabel Raval, LRWT
"Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Project"

Isabel Raval works for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust as a Project Officer and will be talking about the Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Project, focussing on grassland management and restoration.

4th December 2024
Kate Moore
"Bird Ringing"

Note change of subject.  Bird ringing in the UK and worldwide provides invaluable data on the breeding success and survival of bird populations, why populations are changing, as well as bird migration patterns.  Kate will talk about the process of bird ringing, review some of the data collected locally and discuss how ringing data may be used to support conservation initiatives. Together with data from other bird surveys, data from bird ringing may be used to identify problems and target mitigation measures to address population declines. 

8th January 2025
Geoffrey Hall
The Sowter Memorial Lecture
"What has happened to our wetland plants?"

Starting in January 2015 Geoffrey spent much of the next five years walking hundreds of miles over the whole of Leicestershire & Rutland with Steve Woodward and Russell Parry to get enough records into the BSBI's database to satisfy the requirements for the Atlas 2020 project. They visited many aquatic sites and Geoffrey was struck by the general state of them compared with sites that he knows in other areas of Britain. The amount of neglect, infilling, and the adverse effects of pollution were often astonishing, but some water bodies were well looked after. Although corrective action to reverse these problems is certainly possible, the task is not a simple one.

The Sowter Memorial Lecture is dedicated to Frederick Sowter, F.L.S. (1899-1972), one of the Section's early members and an important botanist.

5th February 2025
Brian Eversham, CEO Beds, Cambs, & Northants Wildlife Trust
Joint with LRES
"Ants – Ecology and Behaviour”

Ants - ecology and behaviour A popular introduction to the British ants, their habitats and behaviour. The most accessible and easily identified of the social insects, with only about 50 species, a handful of which can be found in most gardens, this is a group anyone can get to know, and can add to our understanding.

5th March 2025
Simon Bennett
"Raptors in the Autumn – Orchids in the Spring –
some of the Wildlife of the South-West Algarve”

While not as busy for migrating raptors as Gibraltar, the Sagres peninsula in the south-west Algarve, Portugal is a popular migration watch point for birds of prey. Simon will introduce the area and the birds that pass through and refer to research on the numbers of birds and timing of migration as well as the issue of wind-farms on the migration route. As a contrast, he will also talk about the wild orchids that can be found in the area in the spring and some of the other interesting wildlife of this unspoilt part of the Algarve.  Simon Bennett is a member of the Natural History Section and several other local and national wildlife organisations. He has been a birdwatcher since he was a member of the Young Ornithologists' Club in the 1960s and holidays every year in the south-west Algarve in Portugal.

Monday 10th March 2025
Joint Lecture with the Main Lit & Phil Society
Oliver Pescott
"BSBI Plant Atlas 2020”
£5 for non-members at this meeting
Hansom Hall, Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
AGM and Members Evening
Members are invited to share their Natural History experiences with other Members of the Section.