This is Steve Brooks of the Natural History Museum. He is a research entomologist who researches climate change from midge larvae found in lake bed sediments.
Whilst he counts Chironomid midge larvae in the eyepiece of his microscope, I count one pencil with distinctive black and red stripes, white band and black end-cap.
These Staedtlers can be found everywhere - in the laboratory, and perhaps even in ancient lakebed sediments.