Steve Brooks
Chair of the Riverfly Partnership, Author, & Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum
Steve’s interest in freshwaters started at an early age, visiting ponds and streams with his dad, and identifying the catch with the Observers book of pond life. Dragonflies soon became a passion after witnessing the enthralling night-time emergence of hawker dragonflies from the aquaria in his bedroom and the impressively ferocious larvae.
He was fortunate to pursue his interests in dragonflies, freshwater ecology and water quality management through degree courses at Newcastle-upon-Tyne University and then curating and researching the dragonfly and lacewing collections at the Natural History Museum in London. His research at the NHM later focussed on the use of chironomid midges as quantitative indicators of environmental (especially climate) change.
Steve has long been an advocate of education, citizen science and the hands-on experience of the natural world as being vital to its successful conservation. He has written several books and field guides on dragonflies and other freshwater insects, teaches on university courses, gives popular lectures at the Natural History Museum, and provides talks and field trips for natural history societies. He is a founder member and currently chair of the Riverfly Partnership, is a founder member of the British Dragonfly Society and currently serves on its conservation committee. He is a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, following his retirement in 2017.
