The type of hand net you require can depend on a number of factors – including the type of environment you will be sampling, whether you will be using it for professional surveys or for pleasure (or perhaps both!), the type of sampling you will be conducting (i.e. pond dipping vs. kick sampling) and also your budget. Take a look at the different types of hand nets we supply to decide which is right for you.
Professional and Student Hand Nets
Professional Hand Nets are the original nets used by consultants, researchers and river authorities worldwide. In the U.K. they are approved and used by the Environment Agency, the Riverfly Partnership, the London Natural History Museum and the Salmon and Trout Association. They are suitable for both kick sampling and pond dipping in all types of aquatic environment and can last for 10 years or more, even with regular use.
Professional Hand Nets have a 250mm wide head and are available with a wooden or aluminium handle. Two-part and three-part sectional wooden handles are also available which can be unscrewed for transport or extended with extra sections. Frames with an aluminium handle are lighter and cheaper but are less comfortable to use, particularly in cold weather. Net bags to fit the Professional Hand Net are available in 1mm and 2mm woven mesh or 0.5mm and 0.25mm precision mesh. All bags are manufactured to international standards and mesh is guaranteed to stay the same shape and size, even under stress.
The Professional Hand Net is also available in a smaller Student version which is 200mm in width. This is designed to the same high quality as the larger Professional net but is ideal for educational use.
Lightweight Eco-Nets
The Lightweight Eco-Net has a strong aluminium frame which will withstand regular use both for kick sampling or pond dipping. Net heads are 160mm in width and 1mm and 2mm mesh bags are available to fit this frame. Bags attach to the head using industrial velcro, making them easy to replace.
Telescopic Pond Nets
The Telescopic Pond Net is designed for pond dipping only. Its lighter-weight construction means that it is not suitable for kick sampling, dragging along the bottom of streams or for sampling in dense vegetation. However, its light weight also makes it very suitable for students and younger users. The telescopic handle extends from 66cm to 115cm providing excellent reach. The net bag fixes to the frame using strong velcro.
Economy Pond Nets
For children or those that are new to pond dipping (or rock pooling) the Economy range of pond nets feature a plastic handle and frame and are available in three sizes. The smallest has a net head of just 15 x 13cm and a 76cm handle – perfect for small children. These nets are lightweight and affordable.
Another leading light of planetary ecological assessment is the Swedish scientist, Johan Rockstrom, inventor of the ‘planetary boundaries’ concept, and author of perhaps the most influential peer-reviewed paper of the last decade (A safe operating space for humanity). He also has a new book just out, Big World, Small Planet.
BugDorm have been supplying equipment for entomological research and teaching since they were established in 1995. Their products have become firm favourites with both professional and amateur entomologists, and they are continually being developed to address the challenges encountered by field and lab workers everywhere. NHBS is proud to be a distributor of the BugDorm range.
BugDorm Cages and Tents are available in a range of styles and sizes
For breeding and rearing insects, the BugDorm range of cages and tents offer a solution for every situation. Available in a wide range of sizes and mesh apertures, most have both entrance sleeves and zippered doors for convenient access. All pack flat for storage and transport. For rearing and studying insects in situ, insect rearing sleeves and bags allow you to contain leaves and branches within a temporary enclosure.
Slam traps can be used on the ground (left) or suspended at height with the optional bottom collector attached (right)
The innovative Slam Traps are a type of Malaise trap that can float on water, stand on the ground, or can be strung in the air singularly or a vertical chain to sample at different heights in the canopy. When used with the bottom collector (available separately), they will also collect insects such as beetles, that drop when they hit the trap. A four-headed version allows you to study migration patterns by collecting insects entering each of the four quadrants into separate collecting bottles.
Create an insect net to your own specifications from the BugDorm range of frames, bags and handles
The BugDorm range of insect net sets let you create your own net from a selection of frames, bags and handles. Net frames are collapsible and handles are telescopic with the longest options extending up to 530cm in length; ideal for sampling in the canopy.
ecoObs are a small German company at the forefront of full spectrum bat call recording and identification. They produce the Batcorder 3, a highly optimised bat detector (each new microphone arrives with its own calibration factor to ensure that comparisons between units are valid) designed to consistently record bat calls of sufficiently high quality to make auto-identification possible. Calls can then be processed using ecoObs software bcAdmin 3.0, bcAnalyse 2.0 and batIdent. These enable the rapid and accurate identification of common bat species, speeding up the identification process by up to 70% and allowing users to focus more time on rare or interesting bat species. We asked ecoObs co-founder and managing director Volker Runkel to introduce the company.
Tell us a little about your company and how you got started
For my PhD thesis I developed a quite basic and rather well working solution for passive monitoring of bats. Already then I saw that automation in data collection as well as analysis was one of the keys to focus on, instead of all raw analysis work. We quickly realized there is a huge demand for such a solution. We then were lucky and found an engineer who partnered up with us and redesigned the hardware so it was power efficient, small and easy to use. The batcorder system was born.
ecoObs Batcorder 3
What challenges do you face as a company in the ecology/natural history sector?
The sector is rather small and as a hardware producer we for example often have problems acquiring small quantities of parts. In electro-engineering small companies still require some hundred thousand parts while we ask for a mere thousand. Also the demand for devices is highly seasonal – 90% of orders arrive within a few weeks in spring when the bat season starts. On the other end, we have a very vivid and heterogeneous bat worker scene.
What do you consider the most important achievement of your company in recent years?
I think getting the batcorder and the analysis software out in the wild and thus pushing the whole field of passive monitoring and automated bat call identification to where it is now. When we started in 2004 no one believed it would be ever working, and now a rising number of devices and software exists.
What is your most memorable wildlife/natural history encounter?
New Firmware available for SM2, SM3 and SMZC product families
These firmware updates all address an SD card compatibility issue we have recently seen in a number of specific SD card models. If you have experienced SD card errors or corruption, this firmware update may resolve these issues.
SM3/SM3BAT/SM3M Firmware 1.2.7
In addition to the SD card issue above, this version also improves the interpretation of a program containing non-infinite loops. The firmware can be found here.
SMZC Firmware 1.0.6
In addition to the SD card issue above, this version also improves the interpretation of a program containing non-infinite loops. The firmware can be found here.
Dr Dino Martins is an entomologist and evolutionary biologist with a PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University. He is also well-known in his native East Africa where he works to educate farmers about the importance of the conservation of pollinators. It is this work that recently won Dr Martins the prestigious Whitley Gold Award presented by the Friends and Scottish Friends of the Whitley Fund for Nature. His book, The Pocket Guide to the Insects of East Africa has just been published by Random House Struik. What’s more, he takes great photos, the majority of those in the book being his own.
Congratulations on winning the award – how did you become involved in entomology, and what does this award mean to you personally?
I am very honoured and deeply humbled – I take this award as recognition for the immense contribution by pollinators (mainly insects) and small-scale farmers in rural areas around the world to biodiversity. So I am receiving it I feel on their behalf. My earliest memories are of insects, as I spent a lot of time watching and chasing after them as a child. This award will enable me to scale up our work on the conservation of pollinators in East Africa, and also raise further awareness among farmers, school children and the general public on how this important ecosystem service puts food on our plates and nutrition in our bodies.
You work extensively with the East African farmers, educating them about the importance of pollinators for healthy crop yields – what is your main message to them?
Cuckoo wasp and lycaenid butterfly on coriander flowers in Turkana, Northern Kenya – photo credit: Dino Martins
Our main message to farmers is to celebrate the biodiversity that underpins the life support systems of the planet. Farmers are our greatest allies in the conservation of biodiversity in East Africa. Most of the forest habitats, for example, are surrounded by small-scale farmers whose actions can go a long way to either protect or degrade the forests, and of course the many endemic species they are home to. We want to get farmers and everyone to understand the connection between their own lives, food production and wild insects. We do a simple experiment where we bag one flower and leave one open to insects, then watch what develops over the next few days or weeks depending on the crop. It is always uplifting to see the moment a light goes on in the farmers’ eyes when they see the connection between insects visiting the flowers and the yields they enjoy. Working to help conserve pollinators and restore habitats has seen yields increase up to ten-fold on some crops, such as passionfruit and watermelon.
Entomology may be perceived as a less glamorous area related to wildlife conservation, but it is so essential globally – what is the appeal, and the importance of your field for world biodiversity?
Honeybee on the blackjack weed (Bidens pilosa) in the Kerio Valley, Kenya – photo credit: Dino Martins
As Professor E. O. Wilson stated so eloquently some time ago: “Insects are the little creatures that run the world”. This is more true than ever in Africa where the large mammals are important, but also depend on insects that pollinate wild plants, disperse seeds, help build soil and recycle nutrients through the whole ecosystem. Understanding biodiversity is essential for sustainable development and conservation in Africa today. I feel that we are uncovering a previously ‘hidden’, somewhat unrecognised sphere of biodiversity: that of the rural farming landscape. When farmers create hedgerows of natural plants, protect patches of forest or grassland, or work together to create on-farm habitats we are finding that some of these landscapes are especially rich in pollinators. For example, on one mango farm in the Kerio Valley we have recorded over 1,000 different species of flower-visiting insects. This farmer harvests up to 12,000 mangoes weekly that earn him thousands of dollars. Without pollinating insects there would be no income on this farm. Watermelon farming brings in over 10 million US $ annually to just one county (Baringo) in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Scaling this up globally means that a huge part of our food production and especially high-value crops like nuts and berries are dependent on wild insects.
Do you feel confident that enough is being done to protect our pollinators?
There is a lot of interest in pollinators today that has come about from regional initiatives, including the Global Pollination Project managed by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations. There is also an on-going assessment of pollinators by the IPBES (I am a coordinating lead author for one of the chapters). Locally, many farmers, gardeners, beekeepers and enthusiasts are working to create habitats, provide nesting sites and learn about the pollinators around them. This is very inspiring and heart-warming to see. In East Africa, where we have a huge diversity of bees and other insects, one of the challenges is actually just identifying them, and this is where we are working with farmers – so that they can recognise that the diversity on their farms is of direct benefit to them and their families. Major challenges remain in terms of better understanding and managing pesticides and also farming in ways that are compatible with nature while scaling up food production worldwide.
What is coming up for you next, following this award, and the publication of your book, Pocket Guide to the Insects of East Africa?
I am back in Kenya now after an amazing few weeks in London. I am very much looking forward to getting back into working with farmers and completing a number of other books including ‘The Bees of East Africa: A Natural History’, and ‘The Butterflies of Eastern Africa’ with Steve Collins. A book we launched digitally on pollinators is also due to be printed shortly, but can also be downloaded here.
The Pocket Guide to the Insects of East Africa is being very well-received here and abroad, and I have had hundreds of messages saying how exciting it is to finally have a book on insects for the region. On the work front I have just been appointed the Director of the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya and am looking forward to getting more entomology projects going there.
Simon Thompson, Hedgehog Officer at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, gave us some tips on how to help your local hedgehog population:
“There are measures which we can all undertake to provide space for our hedgehogs, the simplest and most important of these is to provide access into and between our gardens. Walls and fences create an impenetrable barrier to hedgehogs and a small hole, about the size of a CD case will easily allow hedgehogs to pass between gardens. Ask your neighbours to do the same and all of a sudden there is dramatically larger landscape through which hedgehogs can find food, nesting sites and potential mates. Once your garden is linked to the wider landscape then having a hedgehog box instantly provides a structure within which hedgehogs can construct themselves a safe and secure nest to sleep during the day or perhaps even hibernate through the winter.”
Hedgehog Homes
Hedgehog homes are a safe retreat for the hedgehogs in your garden and provide a warm and dry shelter along with valuable protection from predators. Site your home in a quiet position, out of the prevailing wind, ideally in an area with some cover.
Hedgehog Nest Box
The Hedgehog Nest Box has been designed and extensively tested by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and provides a safe and snug environment for these wonderful creatures. The box has a predator-proof tunnel and removable roof and is approved by Dr. Pat Morris of London University.
Igloo Hedgehog Home
This attractive wicker Igloo Hedgehog Home is designed to blend into your garden. The built-in entrance tunnel provides protection from predators and the Igloo is spacious enough for a family group.
Hogitat Hedgehog House
The Hogitat Hedgehog House has an attractive appearance and will fit perfectly into any garden environment. Made of principally natural materials, it has a waterproofed roof and predator defence tunnel. Provides a safe retreat for hedgehogs and other small mammals.
Ever wondered if your delivery is on the way? Well now you don’t have to.
Our IT team have been busy improving our on-line services and introduced a real-time order status. Simply log in to your account and select ‘Recent Orders’ to have a look.
The page shows all the information you need to review current and past orders, including the order number, the date, value, and its status. If you want to know more, simply click on an order to get the expanded view to see the quantity and price of each product ordered, shipping and delivery addresses, as well as shipping type, cost, and payment type.
This expanded version also gives you precise details on the state of individual products ordered; this way you can see exactly what is happening to each item in your order.
Bioacoustic recording is a valuable method of surveying animal populations for research and conservation, as the sounds made by many animals are unique to the species or individual. The collection and preservation of such sounds have also become an art form for many amateur naturalists.
In comparison to music or voice recording, capturing the sounds of nature in the outdoors poses a number of challenges. These include dealing with the complications of wind and other ambient noises as well as subjects which can be extremely quiet and that may need to be recorded from a distance. Having suitable equipment and understanding the best ways to use it can go a long way to minimising these issues.
The key items of equipment required for wildlife sound recording are a microphone and a portable recorder. For recording a single animal, a shotgun microphone is ideal, and for animals recorded from a significant distance, a parabolic mic is recommended. For recording multiple animals, such as the dawn chorus, a single or matched pair of condenser microphones can be used.
A portable recorder will allow you to save your recordings onto an SD card, and many offer a range of on-board editing functions as well as a triggered recording option. In situations where the noise of the recorder is significant or when a microphone extension cable is being used, a preamplifier can improve the quality of your recordings.
For those involved in bioacoustic surveying, the addition of a software package can help you analyse your recording, and figure out the exact species that you have captured.
NHBS stocks a wide range of sound recording equipment, including recorders, microphones, hydrophones and preamplifiers, as well as headphones, tripods and all the cables you need to connect the equipment together. Take a look at the website or our catalogue to see what’s available.
Lightweight Eco-Nets
Telescopic Pond Nets
Economy Pond Nets
Dr Dino Martins is an entomologist and evolutionary biologist with a PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University. He is also well-known in his native East Africa where he works to educate farmers about the importance of the conservation of pollinators. It is 
