This years AGM was a great success with 20 members in attendance. The main theme of the evening was to sum up the past years successes and to talk about where we go now. Concluding with the voting in of this years committee. The AGM was followed by a talk from Pat Morris on What Makes Dormice Rare? which was attended by a further 13 people, making it a record attendance! Minutes from the meeting will be published shortly along with a list of dates for up and coming events. So keep an eye out, we would love to see you at one of our next events.

Charlotte

Peoples Trust for Endangered Species have now announced a ‘save the date’ for 2016 National Dormouse Conference

Save the dormouse date: The 2016 National Dormouse Conference will be held in Reading on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th September 2016.

Tickets will go on sale in April 2016.

https://ptes.org/event/national-dormouse-conference/

The National Dormouse Conference will feature a number of speakers across the two days, covering a wide range of topics. Speakers confirmed so far include:

Sven Buchner who has produced a number of papers on Hazel dormice based on his research in Germany and is a co-author of the monograph on Hazel Dormice published in 2013. He will give an overview of the state of dormouse populations and conservation measures in mainland Europe.

Goedele Verbeylen is a long term dormouse researcher and regular contributor to the National Dormouse forum. By using a range of trapping methods she thoroughly monitors a local dormouse population in Belgium and has an excellent insight into dormice behaviour and ecology. She will give an update on her ongoing project.

Dr Pat Morris MBE will be chairing the day’s session on Saturday.

Björn Schulz, who will visit us from Germany, has worked on the practical reconnection of habitats between countries and has studied dormice in roadside habitats.

Tristan Norton is the Senior Ecologist at Hampshire County Council. He previously worked as an ecological consultant so will be able to give a useful insight of what county councils need from consultants.

Ben Ditchburn is the Head of the National Forest Inventory and he will talk about the woodland survey and its findings. In the future we aim to use the NDMP and data from the NFI to model where dormice should, or could, be.

Ecological consultants have the opportunity to ask questions in advance of the conference and a representative from Natural England will respond to as many as possible in one of the presentations. Please visit this form to submit your questions.

More information will be added soon – please check back for further information.