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Event title Date Details
Black Mountain Summit Walk #1 Sunday, 23 July 2017 - 9:30am to Monday, 24 July 2017 - 12:45pm

This is one of 2 walks to celebrate the declaration of the Black Mountain Nature Reserve in 1970 and the creation of the summit walk in 2000.

Walk 1: Summit Walk up and back

Meet at the Visitor Centre, ANBG, and walk up the north-eastern slopes of Black Mountain to the summit with local botanist Isobel Crawford and an ANBG Guide to see winter flowering and other plants, and return to the Visitor Centre, ANBG.

Dr Philip Spradbery ‘To breed or not to breed? How the European wasp queen suppresses her daughters’ reproduction' Thursday, 20 July 2017 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

For the past 30 years Philip, a research entomologist, has been studying the European wasp to determine how the single queen, in a nest that can contain up to 5,000 adult worker wasps, prevents them from developing their ovaries and laying eggs. If the queen dies or is lost, within a week, many of the workers start laying eggs. Clearly, the queen has a potent method of keeping her workers sterile.

Dr Janet Gardner ‘How are Australian birds affected by climate change?’ Thursday, 13 July 2017 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Janet, Research Fellow at ANU, has made novel use of time-series available through museum collections and bird-banding, to explore the dynamics of natural bird populations. This talk will focus on how Australian birds are affected by our changing climate and will provide insights into the mechanisms that are driving change.

National Library: Visionary or Vandal? Capability Brown and the English Landscape Thursday, 6 July 2017 - 6:00pm to Friday, 7 July 2017 - 5:45pm

Members of the Friends of the Gardens are invited to attend this talk for members of the Friends of the National Library

Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown is famous for transforming the English landscape. Who was this genius? On the 300th anniversary of his birth, Sue Ebury explores how the Georgian gentry lived on their estates, spectacularly designed by the most fashionable landscape architect of the times.

For more details, including bookings and cost, click on the heading in the left-hand column.

Dr Laura Rayner 'Returning lost property: threatened birds need room to breed' Thursday, 6 July 2017 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

In this talk, Laura will examine the perilous population status of the Regent Honeyeater and Superb Parrot, and canvass conservation challenges and opportunities for their recovery. Both species continue to bedevil conservation efforts because of their dependence on human-modified landscapes.

Dr Laura Rayner works on long-term ecological monitoring for the protection of threatened species and restoration of degraded habitats with the ACT Government's Conservation and Research department. She is also a visiting fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society (ANU). 

Note: The talk by Sue Serjeantson that had been scheduled for 6 July has been postponed to 28 September.

ANBG Friends Plant Science Group - Technical Talk Monday, 3 July 2017 - 10:30am

Top-down rehydration: absorption of atmospheric water (vapour, dew, rain) by leaves of mangroves

Professor Marilyn Ball, FAA, Research School of Biology, ANU.

Despite growing in a coastal wetland with an infinite supply of water, the grey mangrove, Avicennia marina, does not rely solely on uptake of water by roots. Instead, the leaves have specialised structures that enable absorption of water from atmospheric sources (water vapour, dew, deliquescence of salt, and interception of rainfall) and water storage.

The meeting will take place in the ANBG Theatrette.

Black Mountain weeding work party Saturday, 1 July 2017 - 9:00am to Sunday, 2 July 2017 - 11:45am

We will be removing woody weeds from the north-east part of Black Mountain Reserve.

Meet at the Barry Drive entry gate to Black Mountain Nature Reserve. Drive from the city past the Australian National University and CSIRO. Look for the balloons. See full details

If you are planning to come, please email your name and phone number to friendsofblackmountain@gmail.com or phone 0437 298 711.

ANBG Friends Photographic Group - June meeting Friday, 30 June 2017 - 10:30am

Speaker for June meeting is Tim Leach. Tim's topic will be 'Digital Macro Photography Techniques and Opportunities for Summer and Winter Conditions'. The presentation will cover digital macro photography equipment and techniques he has used over the years, lessons learnt along the way, opportunities for taking macro photographs, and both summer and winter macro photography. The presentation will be illustrated with associated macro photographs.

There will also be a 'Show and Tell' segment where members have the opportunity to show their recent photographs.

Professor Margo Neale ‘Alive with the songlines! Following in the footsteps of the Seven Sisters’ Thursday, 29 June 2017 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Margo, Senior Indigenous Curator, National Museum of Australia, will background the next major exhibition of NMA on the Seven Sisters’ rock art, opening in September. This presentation will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how this exhibition was put together by the curatorial team in collaboration with Aboriginal communities, and why it is considered a pioneering model where communities work with Museums rather than how Museums work with communities.

Professor Neale is an internationally renowned curator of major exhibitions, and the author, co-author or editor of 12 books, including the Oxford Companion to Aboriginal art and culture, and a co-recipient of 12 Australia Research Council Grants.

National Library - Life and Death: Dorothy English Paty's Newcastle Sketchbooks Wednesday, 28 June 2017 - 6:00pm to Thursday, 29 June 2017 - 7:45pm

Members may be interested in this forthcoming talk at the National Library. The Library holds the works of Dorothy English Paty, one of Australia's best early natural historians. In the last years of her brief life she filled two exceptional sketchbooks with watercolours of plants and wildflowers of the Newcastle district. Treasures Curator Nat Williams examines the circumstances around the production of these memorable works, immersing you in Paty's now distant world.

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