RSK Biocensus were proud to sponsor this year’s Mammal Society Conference, held in Inverness, Scotland. The two-day event was a fascinating mix of inspiring talks, hands-on workshops and networking, all taking place in the beautiful highlands.
Laura Johnstone, Assistant Ecologist, represented RSK Biocensus at the event alongside Gwen Dean, Principal Ecological Consultant, and Gavin Wilson, Director. The team spent their time manning our stall at the event, as well as experiencing everything that the conference had to offer.
There were many great workshops and talks being held across the event, including terrestrial talks from Saving Red Squirrels, and academic talks on hedgehogs, squirrels, dormice, and detection dogs supporting wild cat conservation. Attendees participated in an otter spraint analysis talk by Dan Groves, as well as listening to a host of talks on marine mammals, biology, ecology, fox behaviour, badger culls, mountain hares, and bats.
Rachel Cripps, Conservation Detection Dog Handler & Trainer and Founder of RM Conservation, demonstrated how Ecology detection dogs are used to support ecological and conservation projects, including bat carcass and great crested newt detection.
In the field, dogs can be used really effectively in situations where they offer a clear benefit over traditional survey methods. It was great to hear about the positive animal and work ethics promoted by Rachel. After returning from the event, Laura spoke about her experience:
“During the event, I had the pleasure of listening to the life achievements of Sir John Lister-Kaye OBE as a naturalist and naturalist writer for 50 years. It was really interesting to see how he ended up creating Aigas Field Centre outside Inverness, and to learn about the people who have influenced his life.
It was also great to see how he has inspired school children and has given Aigas paid rangers a pathway into careers in the wildlife and conservation sector. After his talk, I had the chance to meet up with Sir John while he took part in a book signing session, I am looking forward to getting the chance to read these books.
On the Friday, I got the chance to meet up with Gareth Ventress from FLS, Neil Middleton from BatAbility, and Morag Boyd from the Hedgehog Trust. In my first workshop session, I listened to beaver talks from Martin Gaywood, The Beaver Trust, and the Beaver project officer at the Cairngorms National Park. I then heard from Kerry Kilshaw at Wildcru about Wildcat hybrids, Habitat models and the wildcat in Scotland.
Following these talks, I participated in the owl pellet dissection workshop, which was very therapeutic and interesting. In the afternoon, there were talks on tools for footprint analysis, different camera traps and novel camera traps, and talks on hedgehog, wild boar, beaver, red deer, and using AI on grey squirrel monitoring, to name but a few.”
The Mammal Society conferences are always interesting and inspiring; you can find more about their projects and activities across the rest of the year here.