Decorative picture of a Common Lizard.
News...


Website and Society news:
Peter Taylor
An obituary to Peter Taylor, a founder member of the Society, has been added HERE (12/01/12)
Wild About Beds 161
The BNHS and BedsLife newsletter Wild ABout Beds no. 161 has been added HERE (17/12/11)
Bernard Verdcourt
An obituary to Bernard Verdcourt, a founder member of the Society, has been added HERE (31/10/11)
Wild About Beds 160
The BNHS and BedsLife newsletter Wild ABout Beds no. 160 has been added HERE (13/09/11)
Winter Events Programme
The Winter Events programme has been added HERE (06/09/11)
Draft Butterfly Report 2010:
The Draft Butterfly report for 2010 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (01/05/11)
Draft Dragonfly Report 2010:
The Draft Dragonfly report for 2010 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (01/05/11)
Summer Events
The Summer Events programme has been added to the Events section. (05/04/11).
AGM Reports
The reports from the AGM on 22nd March have been added HERE. (02/04/11).
Large Red Damselfly
A map of recent Large Red Damselfly records, with an appeal for 2011 records, has been added here HERE. (28/03/11).
Scales Paper
A paper entitled "The scale insects and whiteflies (Hemiptera: Coccoidea, Aleyrodidae) of Bedfordshire" by C. Malumphy was published in The British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 23, 2010. has been linked to the scales article by kind permission of The British Entomological and Natural History Society, HERE. (08/02/11).
Mammals Spreadsheet
A new Mammals Recording spreadsheet has been added the Recording Forms section HERE. (08/02/11).
Digital Journals
Electronic copies (searchable PDFs) of all Bedfordshire Naturalists from 1946 to 1998 inclusive have been produced and made available online HERE. (13/10/10).
Grab-A-Grid-Reference Enhancements
Grab-A-Grid-Reference can now be resized to fit the browser window, allowing huge maps with high-resolution screens! Can also bookmark locations for future use. HERE. (28/09/10).
We have moved!:
This website is now hosted on our own webspace after many years of freeloading on others'. Hopefully everything is fully functional, but if you do find any problems please report them to the webmaster(01/07/10)
Draft Butterfly Report 2009:
The Draft Butterfly report for 2009 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (27/04/10)
NBN Gateway maps
We now have a simple interface to access the 520,000 BNHS species records on the NBN Gateway and obtain distribution maps for any of the 4300 species they contain. The interface can be accessed HERE. (04/04/10).
New Weevil Recorder:
Dr Wilf Powell has been appointed as County Recorder for Weevils. His contact details can be found here . (26/02/10).
Crustacea Recorder:
Graham Bellamy has extended his role, formerly just recording crayfish, now recording all Crustacea. His contact details can be found here . (26/02/10).
Beds Butterflies Updated:
www.bedsbutterflies.org.uk has been updated to cover the period 1990-2009, comparing pre- and post-2000 decades, with lots of statistics to pour over. (01/02/2010)
Grab-A-Grid-Ref Duo
Ordnance Survey Maps, Postcode searches and Placename searches have been added to Grab-a-Grid-Reference HERE. (06/12/09).
Map Your Records
A simple tool has been added to take tab-separated species records and plot them in Google Earth. Read more HERE. (01/11/09).
New Mollusc Recorder:
Peter Topley has been appointed as our new Mollusc Recorder. (17/09/09).
Longhorns 2008:
A report of the Longhorn Beetle recorded in 2008 has been added to the Longhorn pages and is accesible directly HERE. (12/07/09).
Scale insects:
Chris Malumphy has written an article on the scale insects of Bedfordshire, which can be read HERE (10/06/09)
Draft Dragonfly Report 2008:
The Draft Dragonfly report for 2008 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (15/04/09)
Officer changes
We have new officers in the positions of Treasurer and Scientific Secretary following the AGM. Contact details have been updated.
Richard Lawrence also resigned as Mollusc Recorder. The position is now vacant. (29/03/09)
Grab-A-Grid-Reference:
The ability to go directly to a grid reference has been added to Grab-A-Grid-Reference, as well as the ability to go to the marker's position, and fetch the marker to the current viewpoint. (28/03/09).
Draft Butterfly Report 2008:
The Draft Butterfly report for 2008 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (15/03/09)
Grab-A-Grid-Reference:
The means to get a grid reference directly from an aerial photo has been added HERE (26/02/09).
New Geology Recorder:
We have a new Recorder for Geology and Palaeontology - Dr. Martin Whiteley. His contact details can be found in the Contacts section. (02/09/08)
Longhorn Beetle Information:
Charts showing species data and distribution have been added to the Longhorn pages. (29/04/08)
Bedfordshire Bumblebees:
Colin Carpenter, our new Bumblebee Recorder has written an article to get us started on this intersting group of insects, accessible HERE. (22/04/08)
New Chairman:
Stephen Plummer has taken over from David Allen as Chairman of the BNHS. His contact details can be found in the Contacts section.
New Bird Recorder:
Steve Blain has taken over the role of Bird Recorder, and would be pleased to receive your bird records. His contact details can be found in the Contacts section,
New Bird Club Chair:
Rob Dazley has taken over the Chair of the Bedfordshire Bird Club. His contact details can be found in the Contacts section,
New Bat Recorder:
Bob Cornes as now taken over the role as County Recorder for Bats. His full contact details will eventually appear in the Contacts section, where his email address currently appears.
New Bumblebee Recorder:
We now have a County Recorder for Bumblebees! He is Colin Carpenter, well known to many of us in other roles. Please welcome him by sending him lots of records. His contact details can be found in the Contacts section.
New Mammal Recorder:
From the start of 2008 we have a new Mammal Recorder, Richard Lawrence. Please welcome him to the role by sending him your 2008 records. Mick, the retiring Recorder, will continue to receive and process records of observations seen before the end of 2007. Richard's contact details can be found in the Contacts section.
Journal 2006:
The contents of the recently published Bedfordshire Naturalist have been summarized HERE(29/12/07).
Dragonfly Report 2006:
The Dragonfly report for 2006 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (01/08/07)
Google Earth Overlays:
1km square, 10km square and Bedfordshire boundary overlays for use in Google earth have been provided HERE. (18/05/07)
Butterfly Report 2006:
The Butterfly report for 2006 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (16/03/07)
Society Documents:
A new section has been added containing documents relating to the operation of the society, accessed HERE. (14/05/07)
Longhorn Survey Report:
An updated report for the 2006 Longhorn Beetle Survey has been added to the Longhorn pages and is accesible directly HERE. The longhorn pages, gallery and submission forms have been updated to the current species nomenclature. (21/02/07).
New Muntjac Editor:
We have a new Editor of the Muntjac newsletter. We can welcome Brian Ellis to the post by sending him copy for the next edition. You can find his contact details in the Contacts section.
Butterfly first flights:
A table has been added of butterfly first sightings in 2007 (and 2006 and 2005 to know when to start looking) HERE. (29/12/06)
New Macro Moth Recorders:
Andy and Melissa Banthorpe have been appointed as the new Macro Moth Recorders. Please welcome them to the role by sending in your 2006 macro moth records...! Their contact details are in the Contacts section (08/12/06).
For the Record:
An expanded version of the Muntjac article "For the Record" explaining the contents of a good wildlife record has been added HERE(08/12/06).
Journal 2005:
The contents of the recently published Bedfordshire Naturalist have been summarized HERE(08/12/06).
New Lacewing Recorder:
We have a new County Recorder for Lacewings. Please welcome Jason Chapman to this role. His contact details are in the Contacts section (11/11/06)
Butterfly Report 2005:
The Butterfly report for 2005 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (05/08/06)
Longhorn Beetle Survey:
You are invited to join a survey for Longhorn Beetles that indicate the quality of our woodlands. Details can be found HERE. (16/05/06)
Badger Network:
A page has been added containing details about the Bedfordshire Badger Network, accessible via the Affiliated Groups page and directly HERE. (09/05/06)
On-line orchid reporting:
An on-line form for submitting orchid records has been added. This will email records directly to Graham Bellamy who will collate the records as part of a county-wide survey for orchids. (16/04/06)
On-line dragonfly reporting:
An on-line form for submitting dragonfly records has been added. This will email records directly to the joint County Recorders. (16/04/06)
Dragonfly Report 2005:
The Dragonfly report for 2005 by the County Recorders has been added to the Publications section. (11/04/06)
Bird Survey Forms:
The forms for the Bird Club's surveys for House Martins and Common Swifts have been added to the Recording Forms section. Read more about the survey HERE. (11/04/06)
Midwife Toad Survey:
Helen Muir-Howie invites us to take part in surveying the county for these enigmatic creatures. (05/04/06)
Hoverfly pages:
John O'Sullivan has written an excellent article that will help everyone to get started in hoverflies and a calendar of when to look for what. We have no excuses...! (25/01/06)
Website accessibility:
Changes have been made to increase accessibility:
Text can now be re-sized by using the browser menus or by holding CTRL while scrolling the mouse-wheel.
The website now fits into a screen width of 800 pixels without side-scrolling.
Alternative text has been added to all images.
Please report any accessibility problems to the Webmaster. (28/12/05)
Website make-over:
Regular readers will notice the radical changes to the website. This new format is better suited to articles such as the Mistletoe Survey and Lichen Challenge pages. If you would like to submit material please send it to the Webmaster.

If you can offer a thumbnail for the missing images on the contacts page it will be very welcome.

The website has been tested with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Mistletoe Survey:
A page on the Mistletoe Survey, the first event in the 60th Anniversary celebrations has been added, alomg with guidelines and form for submitting records.
Lichen Challenge!:
Martin Butler has thrown down the gauntlet to challenge us to find lichens. An article has been added to get us started.
On-line butterfly reporting:
An on-line form for submitting butterfly records has been added. This will email records directly to the joint County Recorders. (Please forgive the advert after the form has been submitted. If on-line submission proves popular an ad-free method will be purchased). (16/11/05)
Harlequin Ladybirds:
A link has been added on the Useful Links page to the UK Ladybird survey website, which includes a link to the Harlequin ladybird survey. As this species may soon arrive in Bedfordshire please take a look and report your findings. (26/10/05)
New Hoverfly Recorder:
We have a new County Recorder for Hoverflies. Please welcome John O'Sullivan to this role. His contact details are in the Contacts section (31/08/05)