National Insect Week 2012

Picture of a bee to mark National Insect Week.

Today 25 June is the start of National Insect Week which is organised by the Royal Entomological Society.

Perhaps the most famous member of the Royal Entomological Society is Charles Darwin. The member that I most associate with the society is the late Miriam Rothschild, a member of the banking who whilst she had a distinct lack of a formal education became an expert on the subject of fleas. Miriam Rothschild became perhaps the foremost amateur entomologist of her generation.

These days you would have to work in a zoo or the wild to study the larger mammals like lions and tigers. This is not at all the case with entomology, the study of insects, you could probably study this subject in a garden shed.

More information about events and activities can be found on the national insect week website.

To mark this week I had been out and about over the last week or so to try and get a decent picture of an insect. The result of my effort is the above picture of a bee taken on a flower in Headingley, Leeds.