Johan Bogaert Curator

Joined: Sep 16, 2020 Last Active: Oct 15, 2024 iNaturalist

From being a small kid until now I was always and am still thoroughly fascinated by all living creatures. Plants were some interesting stuff along the way. But animals one could find from the sea to the highest mountains and in the most dense forests, I could never stop exploring and discovering them.
Starting with a little book I got from an uncle on insects –they all lived in our garden in the middle of Belgium- and a bunch of pots in my sleeping room, I joined a local nature organisation when I was 12. There I learned birds and birdsongs. Also amphibians and reptiles passed the revue together with dragonflies. A course in the field school in Betws-y-Coed, Wales (UK) about handling small birds and small mammals learned me to work with life traps. At the university sweet water fish came in the picture. But all of these were oriented towards local observations.
In the year 2000 I started with ladybirds and I never turned away from this interesting group. As the species in Belgium are limited to around 75, I was after some more experience also looking to ladybirds outside the borders. And that is where I’m now. Knowing that I don’t reach to the ankles of the great of the earth I can say I’m an enthusiast specialist of ladybirds.

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