Stuart Harris was an accidental citizen scientist who discovered a new species of peacock spider in 2008. After that, he was hooked! In the last ten years he has discovered many more species of peacock spider and has also developed a passion for jewel beetles. Stuart spends most of his spare time in the bush, […]

The ACT Waterwatch program is a community engagement initiative that aims to encourage and support the community to take responsibility for improving the quality of water in the catchment. Aquatic macro-invertebrates (water bugs) vary in their sensitivity to changes in the environment and by identifying the number and types of water bugs in the water, […]

Juanita Rodriguez (Australian National Insect Collection) is one of the entomologists on the ACT Bush Blitz. Field lab: Learn how to recognise a velvet ant, about the evolution of warning coloration in Australian velvet ants, and how to collect and preserve them to study their DNA. Juanita will be in the field lab between 11am […]

NatureArt Lab offers unique art courses and workshops focusing on art inspired by nature. Visitors of all ages are invited to join NatureArt Lab for FREE 30-minute insect drawing workshops at 10:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm and 2:15pm. Places are limited and bookings (essential) will be taken from 10am on the day. If you don’t make it onto […]

Tom North and Lydia Guja manage the National Seed Bank and Damian Wrigley is National Coordinator of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership. Join Tom, Lydia and Damian for a unique opportunity to: learn how they collect seed from plants to ensure that species are saved in the seed bank find out about the work of seed banks […]

The Australian Plant Image Index (APII), an authoritative and national photographic collection of Australia’s flora, is housed at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. The aim of APII is to have good quality images of every Australian native and naturalised plant in order to provide a botanical representation of each taxon. A picture can tell a story […]