The 25th Meeting of the working group was held from 20 to 22 June 2008 in Dorf Wehlen (Saxony). Dorf Wehlen (located on the right side of the river Elbe) belongs to Stadt Wehlen and is located about 35 km east of Dresden. Stadt Wehlen is a popular starting point for hikes in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains with destinations like the “Bastei”, the "Bärenstein" or parts of the National Park Saxonian Switzerland. The largest city nearby is Pirna (about 8 km from the Dorf Wehlen away).
According to tradition the Friday afternoon was reserved to the scientific lectures (20 to 30 minutes, followed by discussion). Great interest was also shown to the illustrated talks, which enriched the two evenings to the general conference program. This year these talks dealing with an entomological travelogue in the United Arab Emirates as well as the introduction to the excursion area Elbe Sandstone Mountains/National Park Saxonian Switzerland. The lectures and informal discussion groups (get together with exchange of experience) took place in the conference room of the inn “Zur Eiche”. It provided the Speakers good presentation opportunities and the participants enough space for various activities. The discussed topics can be obtained from here .
Our excursion took place on the 21st June around the Table Mountains "Bärenstein" and "Rauenstein". Embedded into the Elbe valley and declared as landscape conservation area, it offered different types of forest and open areas with peripheral structures beside pretty sandstone formations. At the end of the excursion some of the participants used the opportunity to climb the "Rauenstein" (about 304 m above sea level) and enjoyed the lovely views over the Elbe Valley. Luckily the weather kept up and become fine in the afternoon. So every Dipterist have had the change to collect his/her favourite critters. Results of the excursion will be published soon on the AK-Diptera website.
On Sunday morning the meeting disperse slowly after breakfast. The remaining participants used the possibility to visit the Museum of Zoology in Dresden and to look into the research collection, taxidermy department and the DNA-laboratory. Have a look at the gallery to get an impression of our meeting (some of the photographs were kindly provided by Fritz Geller-Grimm and Stephan Lehmann).
Hopefully we will all meet again 2009 in Müncheberg!!!
Bjoern Rulik & Christian Kehlmaier