Future Events
Talks are held in the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the old Captain Cook Hotel. This is where we used to meet pre-covid. Please use the main entrance of the Benham Building to enter and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Room 215, located on the second floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open. Zoom links for the talks are sent to members, join the BSO here.
Trips leave from the Department of Botany car park.
Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 8th of July 2026, 05:20 PM (3 days from now)
Contact: Lydia Turley
Speaker: Kelly Phillips.
"Biological Diversity on Whenua Hou" will be about the important relationship between the fruiting of rimu trees and kakapo reproduction, megaflora species, introduced plants brought by early settlers and the variety of orchids and fungi that occur there.
Field Trip on Saturday 18th of July 2026, 09:00 AM (1 week from now)
Contact: John Barkla | 027 326 7917
This is an easy walk on formed tracks and boardwalks around the estuary at the mouth of Orokonui Creek, near Waitati. The track passes through saltmarsh, coastal forest, and many areas being revegetated by a local community group. Large-scale predator control is also underway in the area. Apart from plenty of botanical interest, this is also a great bird watching locality with a fine range of wetland and forest birds. Meet 9:00am at the Botany Department to carpool, return 1 pm. Leader John Barkla 027 326 7917
Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 12th of August 2026, 05:20 PM (1 month from now)
Contact: Lydia Turley
Speaker: Phil Garnock-Jones.
New Zealand flowers are often described as small, plain, and simple, but our flowers have some unusual features too and there is substantial flower variation within large clades like Veronica sect. Hebe, Myosotis, and Pittosporum. Phil will show and talk about some of the flowers he studied and photographed for his book "He Puāwai – a Natural History of New Zealand Flowers" (2025), such as hutu (Ascarina lucida), hangehange (Geniostoma ligustrifolium) and tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa). He will also include some Otago examples and some flowers studied by Otago botanists.
Field Trip on Sunday 23rd of August 2026, 01:30 PM (1 month from now)
Contact: Maureen Howard | mo4planet@gmail.com | 0212063593
Flanked by suburban homes and Aquinas College, Dalmore Reserve is 6.2ha of DCC owned land that is steep, south facing and has only one official entrance. In the lower reaches of the reserve, native-dominated broadleaved forest has naturally regenerated; whilst the top area has been replanted with natives in two stages. Dalmore Reserve has quite an interesting restoration history, as well as rather a lot of invasive ‘weeds’ encroaching from the neighbouring properties. Join members of Wild Dalmore Reserve, a small group of neighbours who enjoy working to restore the native vegetation of the site through planting as well as chemical-free weeding to facilitate natural native forest regeneration. Please note, this is a steep site, the ground is uneven and likely to be slippery. Meet at the entrance to the reserve, 20 Allenby Avenue, Liberton. Contact: Maureen Howard 021 206 3593, mo4planet@gmail.com for more information