We are pleased to announce the programme for our Spring Conference held at the University of Exeter, 20th – 22nd April 2018.
The Mammal Society’s 64th Spring Conference and AGM starts on Friday evening with the announcement and prize giving for the Mammal Photographer of the Year, whose winning images will be on display throughout the weekend alongside other entrants. This is closely followed by the Cranbrook Memorial Lecture, shortly to be announced.
On Saturday morning, President of the Mammal Society, Paul Chanin, opens the conference and introduces Chair, Prof. Fiona Mathews as she discusses the much anticipated Mammal Society publications for 2018; the population review and red listing for British mammals.
Following Fiona, there is a wide spread of research and project presentations, ranging from harvest mice in Devon, horseshoe bats in Wales to otters in Cambridgeshire during our popular rapid fire talks. Longer session topics include “direct predation and landscape of fear, researching the effects of pine martens on grey squirrels”, “What happens to the pygmy shrew in Ireland against invasions of greater white-toothed shrew?” and “Population trends of the Western polecat, a neglected and declining species?”.
The AGM, conference dinner and local group forums follow with plenty of time to visit stalls and look at poster presentations throughout the afternoon as well as all important “networking” in the bar into the evening.
Sunday starts off with session talks “Nutkin ventured, Nutkin gained”, “Archaeological perspectives on wild mammals and rewilding” and “Recent progress and what is happening next for the Eurasian beaver in Scotland”, followed by talks spanning urban mammals, harvest mice genetics and retracing red squirrel histories.
Moving further afield from Great Britain and Ireland, there are talks on overseas mammals to include Persian leopards, terrestrial mammals in the Kavango Zambezi and hedgehogs in Zurich.
The conference comes to a close with a conference round up and prize-giving, followed by lunch and optional workshops on camera trapping, beavers and bat mitigation that take place Sunday afternoon.
For the full programme talks and timings and to book your tickets, please visit our event page here.
