Our Speakers

Peter Brown (Anglia Ruskin University) - Ladybirds
Peter is an ecologist and senior lecturer in zoology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge (UK), where he has worked since 2010, following the completion of his PhD. He formerly worked in the Biological Records Centre at NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK. His research focuses on three main areas: ladybirds, non-native species and citizen science. The three themes come together when studying the spread and effects of the harlequin ladybird. Peter has been studying ladybirds since 2005 and jointly leads the UK Ladybird Survey (www.coleoptera.org.uk/coccinellidae/home) with Professor Helen Roy.

Darren Mann (Oxford University Museum) - Dung Beetles (Scarabaeids)
Darren describes himself as "A professional museum geek, amateur entomologist with a passion for dung beetles from across the globe". He is national recording scheme organiser foe the Scarabaeoidea - dung beetles, chafers & allies and keen square basher for the group.

Gavin Broad (Natural History Museum) - Ichneumons
Gavin is in charge of the entomology collections at the Natural History Museum, London, where he says he is responsible for "28 million wonderful insect specimens. The most interesting part of the collection is, obviously, the parasitoid wasps" - you may detect a slight bias. Gavin specialises on the parasitoid wasp family Ichneumonidae and has done since his PhD days at Imperial College. Mainly working on the taxonomy of South American, African and South-east Asian ichneumonids, he finds a bit if time to work on the British fauna and has just finished an introductory handbook to this group, with Mark Shaw and Mike Fitton.

Duncan Allen (FERA, Yorkshire) - A look at Scale Insects and Mealy Bugs
Duncan's background is in Ecology and Conservation. He has always had a keen interest in invertebrate conservation though started his career as an ornithologist for the Department of Conservation in New Zealand, working on small passerines and later Kakapo. On his return to the UK he worked part time for Buglife and Plymouth City Museum's Natural History Department. He then worked for the RSPB in reserves ecology doing invertebrate surveys and trying to establish the status of priority invertebrate species on reserves. He is currently employed at FERA as an entomologist/diagnostician working mainly on non-native Lepidoptera and Arachnids.

Stuart Ball (Peterborough) - Snail-killing flies (Sciomyzidae)
Stuart graduated in Zoology at Oxford and then did a PhD in insect behaviour and ecology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He stayed at Newcastle as a post-doc, working on flies associated with farm animals until 1985. He then joined the staff of the Nature Conservancy Council and later the Joint Nature Conservation Committee until retirement in 2016. As a volunteer he has been involved with Dipterists Forum since its inception and has been a National Organiser of the Hoverfly Recording Scheme since 1991. In 2013 he was joint author with Roger Morris of the Wildguide Britain's Hoverflies. He has also produced keys to the families of British Diptera, Scathophagidae and Sciomyzidae as wells as a number of atlases including Hoverflies, Scathophagids and Sciomyzids.

Martin Drake (Exeter) - Long-legged flies (Dolichopodidae)
Martin runs the national recording scheme for Dolichopodids, and is currently writing a new RES Handbook to the family. He was co-author with Alan Stubbs of British Soldierflies & their Allies. He has served on Dipterists Forum committee for many years, is an active member of Devon Fly Group and is Devon Diptera recorder. He worked at NCC and English Nature as an entomologist and was then a self-employed entomologist for fifteen years until recent retirement.

John Kramer (Leicester) - Craneflies
John is a biology graduate who was introduced to the Diptera (true flies) by Peter Skidmore when working as a student volunteer at the Leicester Museum in 1967. But soon after that he was into the domestic phase of his life, and with a new teaching career as well. He 're-booted' in 1979 when he joined the Hoverfly Recording Scheme. He moved to the Cranefly Recording Scheme c1998 and so has been involved with craneflies for about twenty years. He became co-organiser of the recording scheme in 2002 and also edits 'Craneflies News'.

Our Honoured Guests

Brian Eversham
Brian is Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire, prior to which he was Conservation Director. He introduced landscape-scale conservation to the Trust, helping launch the Great Fen and other initiatives. He still runs several Training Workshops every year, covering groups as diverse as ants, ground-beetles, molluscs, heathland lichens & grasses. Many of his identification keys are on the Wildlife Trust's website. Previously, he was Head of Zoology & Research Co-ordinator at the National Biological Records Centre, Monks Wood. He is author of the Atlas of the Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland, and more than two hundred scientific papers.

Erica McAlister
Erica is the Collections Manager for Diptera, Siphonaptera, Myriapoda and Arachnida and Senior Curator of Diptera, at the Natural History Museum, London. She has been there for ten years working mostly on Larger Brachycera, Culicidae and Mycetophilidae. She is also a lecturer and broadcaster including presenting a Radio 4 series on insects (Who's the Pest) and many other programmes. Her broadcasts are both informative and entertaining.

Alan Stubbs
Alan, Vice-President at Buglife, is one of the Country's best-known Dipterist's and author of popular books such as British Hoverflies and British Soldierflies & their Allies in addition to many other publications.