What's the connection? Recently three Quekett members - Kit Brownlee, Eric Hollowday, and myself (Tony Saunders-Davies) were amongst eight microscopists from the UK who travelled to Renesse in The Netherlands for a four day course on marine plankton, and marine biology in general. We joined seven Dutch members of Nederlands Vereeniging voor Microscopie, the equivalent of our Quekett Club, and the noted marine ecologist Dr Cees Bakker. The course was organised by Jan Parmentier on the Dutch side, and Maurice Smith from the UK.

Cees Bakker briefs the course on the biology and hydrology of the Oosterschelde Delta. A quarter of the Netherlands was flooded in 1953, and the Dutch have undertaken some awesome engineering works to ensure this never happens again, including a massive Storm Surge Barrier across the Delta, which takes full consideration of the ecology of the area.

There was plenty of time for discussion and chat - and the odd glass of wine! - at the very comfortable Hotel Zeewuise Stromen which our hosts had booked for us. Kit Brownlee and Eric Hollowday are seen on the left. Eric later gave an interesting talk on the rotifer class Synchaetidae. We enjoyed Holland enormously - the natives are very friendly - and mostly speak English! What did we see? Click here