Mammal Society Annual Conference

Information

The Mammal Society’s 68th Annual Conference will be held from the 4th to the 6th of August 2023 at Nottingham Trent University’s Brackenhurst Campus.

The theme for this year’s conference is The Future of Conservation.

We will be hearing from industry experts and key note speakers about reintroduction programmes for lynx, wildcats and beavers, including tracking and monitoring techniques, as well as a talk from the committee of the People’s Plan for Nature.

This year's conference is proudly sponsored by RSK Biocensus.

Schedule

Programme

06:30 PM – 08:00 PM Friday Night Lecture

The Future of Nature Conservation

09:00 AM – 09:20 AM People and Nature

Introduction and Conference Opening
09:00 AM – 05:00 PM Free Family Activities - All Day

Animal Care Workshop (Ages 12-16)
09:00 AM – 05:00 PM Free Family Activities - All Day

Detection Dogs for Conservation (Demonstration)
09:00 AM – 05:00 PM Free Family Activities - All Day

Craft Table
09:00 AM – 05:00 PM Free Family Activities - All Day

Games
09:20 AM – 09:50 AM People and Nature

Keynote lecture: Peoples Plan for Nature
09:50 AM – 10:05 AM People and Nature

A new invasive mammal in Britain? The Greater White-toothed Shrew
10:05 AM – 10:20 AM People and Nature

Assessing citizen scientists' motivation to participate in environmental DNA monitoring for detecting terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals
10:20 AM – 10:35 AM People and Nature

Bold but not innovative in an urban exploiter, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
10:35 AM – 10:50 AM People and Nature

Cetacean Strandings
10:50 AM – 11:00 AM People and Nature

Group Q&A with session speakers
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM Poster Presentations

Tea, Coffee, Posters and Stalls
11:30 AM – 11:45 AM Environmental and habitat influences on mammals

Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) habitat preferences in hedges and scrub
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM Environmental and habitat influences on mammals

Altitudinal variation in small mammal populations in the land of the snow leopard
12:00 PM – 12:15 PM Environmental and habitat influences on mammals

Forest composition shapes seed-rodent interactions in a gradient of broadleaves and conifers
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM Environmental and habitat influences on mammals

The drivers and consequences of daily torpor in hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) during the active season
12:30 PM – 12:45 PM Environmental and habitat influences on mammals

Group Q&A with session speakers
01:00 PM – 02:00 PM Poster Presentations

Lunch, Posters and Stalls
02:00 PM – 02:30 PM British Hedgehog Conservation

Keynote lecture: Introducing the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme
02:30 PM – 02:45 PM British Hedgehog Conservation

Garden Scraps: Interactions between Urban Mammals
02:45 PM – 03:15 PM Poster Presentations

Tea, Coffee, Posters and Stalls
03:15 PM – 03:30 PM British Hedgehog Conservation

From the local to the national: population structure of British hedgehogs
03:30 PM – 03:45 PM British Hedgehog Conservation

Wildlife Conservation at a Garden Level: The Effect of Robotic Lawn Mowers on European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)
03:45 PM – 04:00 PM British Hedgehog Conservation

Group Q&A with session speakers
04:00 PM – 04:07 PM Rapid fire '6 minute' talks

Banks steep, vegetation high!
04:07 PM – 04:14 PM Rapid fire '6 minute' talks

The City Life: Exploring the diet of the urban red fox in the UK
04:14 PM – 04:21 PM Rapid fire '6 minute' talks

Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Genes in the endangered Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus)
04:21 PM – 04:28 PM Rapid fire '6 minute' talks

The impact of (feral) cats on meadow bird populations in the Netherlands
04:30 PM – 04:50 PM Rapid fire '6 minute' talks

Group Q&A with session speakers
05:00 PM – 07:00 PM Poster Presentations

Free time, Posters and Book sales

09:00 AM – 09:30 AM Mammal Reintroductions

Keynote Lecture: The Lynx to Scotland Project
09:30 AM – 09:45 AM Mammal Reintroductions

Beaver reintroduction in England
09:45 AM – 10:00 AM Mammal Reintroductions

Connectivity of reintroduction Eurasian beaver populations
10:00 AM – 10:15 AM Mammal Reintroductions

Utlilising ex-situ software to manage enclosed populations of beavers
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM Mammal Reintroductions

Group Q&A with session speakers
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Poster Presentations

Tea, Coffee, Posters and Stalls
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

6th National Otter Survey of England
11:15 AM – 11:30 AM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

What can poop tell us? The use of bat faeces to estimate the ecosystem services provided by Irish bats
11:30 AM – 11:45 AM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

Acoustics as a conservation tool for monitoring small terrestrial mammals
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

An approach for effective scaling-up of beaver monitoring in Scotland
12:00 PM – 12:15 PM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

Artificial intelligence for small mammal acoustic identification
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

A trial of ENETWILD field protocol and the Random Encounter Model to estimate wild mammal density
12:30 PM – 12:45 PM Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

Group Q&A with session speakers
01:30 PM – 02:00 PM Workshops and field visits

Detection dogs for conservation (Demonstration)
01:30 PM – 04:00 PM Workshops and field visits

Hazel Dormouse Field Trip
01:40 PM – 02:30 PM Workshops and field visits

'Field' visit to Luke Jerram's Gaia exhibit at Southwell Cathedral
02:00 PM – 04:00 PM Workshops and field visits

Workshop 1: Mammal tracks and signs
02:00 PM – 04:00 PM Workshops and field visits

Workshop 2: Beavers: field signs, environmental impacts and conflict mitigation
02:00 PM – 04:00 PM Workshops and field visits

Workshop 3: Abundance & Distribution: monitoring and modelling observational data

Speakers

Friday Night Lecture

Dr Stephanie Wray

Chair / Mammal Society

People and Nature

Matt Larsen-Daw

CEO / Mammal Society

Penny Lewns

President / Mammal Society

Alex Hunt

Head of Advocacy & Policy / National Trust

Graham Smith

Lead Scientist / Animal and Plant Health Agency

Holly Broadhurst

PhD student , University of Salford / University of Salford, UK

Kristy Adaway

PhD student / University of Hull, UK

Simon Spiro

Wildlife Veterinary Pathologist / Zoological Society of London

Environmental and Habitat Influences on Mammals

Ellie Scopes

PhD Student / University of Exeter, UK

Simon Poulton

Visiting Researcher / University of East Anglia, UK

Pedro Mittelman

University of Goettingen

Charlotte Armitage

PhD Researcher / University of Exeter, UK

British Hedgehog Conservation

Richard Yarnell

Nottingham Trent University, UK

Hongli Yu

Nottingham Trent Univeristy, UK

Sophie Lund Rasmussen

Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCCRU) / University of Oxford

Dawn Scott

Executive Dean / Nottingham Trent University, UK

Rapid Fire '6 minute' Talks

Jonathan Fletcher

PhD Student / Nottingham Trent University, UK

Geetha Annavi

Senior Lecturer / Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Esther Swankhuisen

University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Simone Bullion

Formerly Conservation/Consultancy Manager / Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Johanna Green

Consultancy Manager / Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Mammal Reintroductions

David Bavin

Postdoctoral Research Fellow / National Trust

Claire Howe

Senior Specialist, Mammals / Natural England

Melanie Baker

PhD Student / University of Liverpool, UK

Samantha Bremmer-Harrison

Associate Professor/Head of Conservation / Nottingham Trent University/Vincent Wildlife Trust

Innovative Methods and Monitoring Mammals

Fiona Mathews

Professor of Environmental Biology / University of Sussex

Stuart Newson

Senior Research Ecologist / British Trust for Ornithology

Chris Sutherland

University of St Andrews

Jennifer MacIsaac

PhD researcher / British Trust for Ornithology

Erin Thomas

Field Ecologist / National Wildlife Management Centre

Gwenaëlle Hurpy

PhD candidate / University College Dublin, Ireland

Workshops and Field visits

Louise Wilson

Founder / Conservation K9 Consultancy and ADDC

Bob Cowley

Vice Chair / Oxfordshire Mammal Group

Roo Campbell

NatureScot & Mammal Society

Chris Sutherland

University of St Andrews

Nottinghamshire Dormouse Group

Poster Presentations

Roo Campbell

NatureScot & Mammal Society

Verity Miles

Institute of Zoology, UK

Jonathan Fletcher

Nottingham Trent University, UK

Kate Davies

Nottingham Trent University, UK

Jim Littlemore

Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Mina Patel

Natural England

Emily Macfarlan

Nottingham Trent University, UK

Claire Howe

Natural England

William Howard

Postgraduate Researcher / Nottingham Trent University, UK

Carys Player

Graduated Student / Hartpury College and University

Bethany Smith

Postdoctoral Research Assistant / Zoological Society London

Dave Groves

Chair / Cornwall Mammal Group

Kiarrah Smith

Australian National University

Emily Harper

Doctoral Candidate at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences / Nottingham Trent University

Exhibitors

Wildcare

Nationwide Ecology Supplies / Mammal Society Platinum Partner

Wildlife Acoustics

Wildlife Audio Recording Equipment

Conservation K9 Consultancy

A helping paw to find endangered animal species

Ecosupport

Ecological Consultancy

Pelagic Publishing

Books on Wildlife, Biology and Ecology

BioEcoSS TubeTraps

Innovative small mammal traps for research and conservation

Hedgehog Friendly Campus

Make your campus a place where hedgehogs can thrive

Wildlife Services

Wildlife & Countryside Services