Bring back British beavers? Species reintroductions and Britain’s relationship with nature in the 21st century (8 Mar 2027)

Mon, 08 Mar 2027 19:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

Natural History Section Joint Lecture

Professor George Holmes PhD

Professor of Conservation and Society, University of Leeds

Lecture outline

Britain is nature-depleted, an island whose seas make repletion difficult. To restore nature, conservationists are giving a helping hand by seeking to release many species to create new populations, from beavers and eagles to burbot fish, northern hairy wood ants, and lungwort lichens. These reintroductions are often presented as simple tales of fixing a problem, but they are a difficult, contested, and value-laden. They are not just technical or scientific actions, but rather a philosophical, legal, moral, and socio-economic challenge. Most of all, they open up a series of questions about what British nature should look like, who decides, on what basis, and about what the relationships should be between humans and non-humans in Britain. This talk will take us through a variety of species being reintroduced, from the massive to the microscopic, to explore what this tells us about Britain’s relationship with nature.

Biographical note

George Holmes is Professor of Conservation and Society at the University of Leeds. His work looks at the people and politics side of conservation, specifically the values, beliefs and structures of the conservation movement, and how conservation projects and local communities interact and shape one another. A lot of his current focused on rewilding, species reintroductions, and landscape restoration.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

On Babbacombe Beach - High Tide for the High Victorians? (15 Mar 2027)

Mon, 15 Mar 2027 18:30:00 GMT

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The Peach Lecture [held at the University of Leicester, location and time to be announced]

Dr Rosemary Hill FSA FRSL

Writer and historian

Lecture outline

What can a single year, 1865, tell us about Victorian architecture and ideas? How might Charles Darwin, Alice in Wonderland and one of England’s strangest churches help with the answer?

Biographical note

Rosemary Hill is a writer and historian. Her prize-winning biography of A W N Pugin, God’s Architect, was published in 2007. She has since published books on Stonehenge (2008) and on history in the Romantic Period, Time’s Witness (2022). She is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, a Vice President of the Victorian Society and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society upcoming events

Bring back British beavers? Species reintroductions and Britain’s relationship with nature in the 21st century (8 Mar 2027)

On Babbacombe Beach - High Tide for the High Victorians? (15 Mar 2027)