Meet Your Greens: Backyard Bugs with Brian Stewart

Meet Your Greens is back! For one very special session, we will be meeting outdoors on Thursday, October 15 at 5:30 at Wadsworth Mansion. Our guest speaker is Brian Stewart. He will be introducing us to the tremendous diversity of insects you can find in your own backyard. With beautiful photographs taken on his own quarter acre in Middletown, come explore the intriguing world of insects. He has catalogued 430+ insect species so far, with over a hundred more that have not yet been identified. Walk away with an understanding of your role as a steward for these creatures whose “right” it is to be there.

We will meet on the back patio at the mansion under an open-sided tent. Appropriately spaced chairs will be provided for the presentation. Plan to arrive around 5:30, with the speaker beginning at 5:45. Bring your own food and drink. Free to participate. Safety protocol for COVID-19 will be adhered to. Pre-registration is required. Please fill out this registration form before arriving.

Brian Stewart is a professor of physics and a member of the College of the Environment at Wesleyan University. After working with entomologist Michael Oliver at the Middletown Bioblitz in 2007, he started his own photographic insect collection. He began documenting the insects on his own property with the intention of expanding his territory thereafter; that’s still the plan, but after more than a decade, he doesn’t find himself close to moving on yet.

Pictured: Asiatic Lady Beetle

For those of you not familiar with Meet Your Greens: Middletown Green Drinks, this monthly event (on temporary hiatus due to the pandemic) provides networking opportunities for anyone who is interested in making connections and exchanging news about emerging environmental issues to help keep Lower Connecticut River Valley communities green. An official location of Green Drinks International, this informal monthly gathering of people drawn from the community, nonprofit groups and the business world offers time to brainstorm ideas and plant seeds for collaboration. All are welcome and there is no admission fee, unless otherwise noted. For more information, please visit our website.