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Click here Do you know your Trumpeter Rat from your Pyranean Desman? What's the commonest mammal in the UK? Can rats (or lions) really dance? Join us for our Christmas Mammal Quiz at the White Hart Hotel in Exeter.
Bring some friends to make a team, or join a team when you arrive. Wednesday, 7th December 2022 at 7:30pm The White Hart Hotel, 66 South Street, Exeter, EX1 1EE Members: Free Non Members: £2.50 Please book your space through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dmg-quiz-night-tickets-467907282277 The White Hart serves food, so some of us will probably eat in the pub beforehand. Here's a link to their menu if you want to join us https://www.whitehartpubexeter.co.uk/menus/to edit.
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 We welcome Ellie Scopes, Matt Parkins and Charlotte Armitage to join us at one of our DMG evenings to give us an overview of their fantastic work on Dormice.
Ellie Scopes - With the help of volunteers from Cornwall and Devon Mammal Groups, I have spent the summer surveying for dormice using footprint tunnels. My aim was to investigate how dormice are using hedges and scrub areas, which are understudied habitats. In this talk, I will discuss this fieldwork and data gathering process, and touch on the preliminary results, such as where I found dormice. Matt Parkins - Working as a woodland conservationist on a number of Woodland Trust sites around Dartmoor I have various dormouse monitoring projects running to inform us about optimum ways to improve habitats. Working with researchers from the University of Exeter provides us with a more detailed insight into the behaviour of the species in the area. In turn, this can help us to further improve those habitats as we know more about connectivity across the landscape and essential food sources that benefit dormice Charlotte Armitage - My work focuses on dormouse ecology in fragmented, upland and marginal landscapes at the edges of their range. More specifically I have been investigating how dormice utilise conifer habitat how best to manage them in the face of climate change, to ensure their conservation at local, regional and national levels. My main study site is Clocaenog Forest in northeast Wales, but I have also been working in Fingle Woods and Okehampton as part of my research. Tuesday, 29th November 2022 at 7:30pm The Kenn Centre, 3 Exeter Rd, Kennford, Exeter EX6 7TW The talks will also be run online via Zoom, so there are tickets available for The Kenn Centre and for Zoom. Members: £2.50 Non Members: £4.00 Please book your space through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-of-dormice-tickets-452087414627  Beginning at Catacombs Park, Bartholomew St entrance, St David's, Exeter. A guided walk looking and listening for bats around the cemetery and beyond. Will we find some lucky horseshoes?
Suitable for families and those starting out at bat detecting. Some bat detectors will be available but please bring your own if have one. Approx. 2 hours, followed by optional pub stop. Suitable footwear advised, and please bring a torch. Donations welcomed. Joint event with Devon Bat Group and Devon Wildlife Trust Exeter Local Group. With thanks to Exeter City Council.  The Magical Mammals Project is a partnership between Red Squirrels Trust Wales, Clocaenog Red Squirrels Trust and Natural Resources Wales. It is mapping existing red squirrel and pine marten habitat in key areas of North Wales and boosting populations by releasing animals that have been born in Zoos as part of ongoing captive-breeding programmes. In 2020, four pine martens were released near the city of Bangor to boost the regional population
Tuesday, 6th September 2022 at 7:30pm Online via Zoom Members: £2.50 Non Members: £4.00 Please book your space through Eventbrite BOOK HERE NEW DATE!! A talk by Stephen Powles: "The Cave Elephants of Mount Elgon" 28th September, 7.30pm7/6/2022  A talk by Stephen Powles “Going Under Ground - The Cave Elephants of Mt Elgon
Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano straddling the Kenya/Uganda border, is home to a unique population of elephants. Consuming a montane vegetation made low in minerals by the leaching effect of heavy rainfall, elephants travel up to 150m into the mountain to “mine” the mineral rich volcanic rock. The talk will also explore the wider natural and cultural history of the mountain and the fascinating theories as to how the caves might have been formed. Wednesday, 28th September 2022 at 7:30pm The Kenn Centre, 3 Exeter Rd, Kennford, Exeter EX6 7TW The talks will also be run online via Zoom, so there are tickets available for The Kenn Centre and for Zoom. Members: £2.50 Non Members: £4.00 Please book your space through Eventbrite BOOK HERE As usual, all profits will go towards the running of our talks, the Harvest Mouse Project, the Small Grants Scheme and maintaining equipment for members to borrow.  Credit Mike Symes By Elinor Parry (Devon Wildlife Trust)
Devon Bat Survey is a citizen science project that has been running through Devon Wildlife Trust since 2016. The aim is to give anyone the opportunity to find out what bats are about near them, by borrowing a bat detector which will record the ultrasonic calls the bats make and are used to identify them to species. The project was funded through Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project which came to an end earlier this year, and has now been taken on by Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (supported by Saving Devon's Treescapes and the Halpin Trust). Find out how bats have been doing in Exeter, Seaton, Torbay and South Devon. Tuesday, 26th April 2022 at 7:30pm Online via Zoom Members: £2.50 Non Members: £4.00 Please book your space through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/devon-bat-survey-2021-results-by-elinor-parry-tickets-312169365977 We'll update this section soon with our upcoming events. We're working on bringing you an exciting variety of topics over the next few months! All members will get details of events sent to them as soon as they're confirmed.
Our next talk will be on the 26th April. Elinor Parry from Devon Biodiversity Records Centre will be talking to us about the Devon Bat Survey. More details soon. One of the most striking features on the faces of many mammals are the presence of their long whiskers, or vibrissae. Primarily, these are used for touch sensing, and can be employed to guide behaviours such as foraging, navigation, and social interactions. Most mammals have whiskers at some stage of their life, and these have a common muscle architecture. While similarities in whisker position and muscle architecture suggest a common mammalian ancestor with whiskers, variations in morphology and anatomy reveal that whiskers are also adapted to function in many species. This presentation will describe similarities and differences in mammalian whisker morphology and behaviour. We find that whiskers are especially prominent in nocturnal, arboreal and aquatic mammals, that also tend to move their whiskers. Understanding more about differences in whisker form and function will provide important insights into mammalian sensory biology. Dr Robyn Grant is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Physiology and Behaviour at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a sensory biologist, studying the sense of touch in mammals and birds. She works closely with museums and zoos to better understand the functional significance of facial sensors. Wednesday 28th April 2021 at 7.30pm This event will be held online via Zoom Members - £2.50 Non members - £4.50 Please follow the link to Eventbrite to book your place https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-walruss-whiskers-the-mouses-moustache-why-do-animals-have-whiskers-tickets-149585096049 All profits we take will go towards the following: The running of our talks The Harvest Mouse Project Our Small Grants Scheme Maintaining equipment for members to borrow  An overview of the work that the DGHB Project has undertaken over the last 6 years. This includes:
Tuesday 9th March 2021 at 8pm This event will be held online via Zoom Members £2.50 - Non Members £4 Please follow the link to Eventbrite to book your place https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/devon-greater-horseshoe-bat-project-achievements-and-new-discoveries-tickets-141591605303 All monies raised through tickets sales will go towards the following: The Harvest Mouse Project Our Small Grants Scheme Maintaining equipment for members to borrow Costs associated with providing talks Please let us know if you can no longer attend our event once you have booked a place as we have limited tickets available. This will allow us to offer your place to someone on the waiting list.  Returning the Eurasian Beaver to Devon (and England) By Mark Elliot. Tuesday, 19th January at 8pm19/1/2021 In August 2020, the government made the momentous decision that the wild River Otter beavers would be permitted to remain in perpetuity and spread naturally into adjacent river catchments. This marked the first authorised reintroduction of a mammal back into the English landscape, and followed the successful conclusion of the 5-year River Otter Beaver Trial (ROBT), which was led by Devon Wildlife Trust, working closely with the University of Exeter, Clinton Devon Estates and Derek Gow consultancy. This talk will outline the background to the Trial and the key findings that have enabled Defra to make this decision. It will include detail on the monitoring of the beavers, their health and welfare and their impacts on the environment of the River Otter. It will also discuss the management of conflicts that they bring, and these will be managed over the next decade, as well as their wider reintroduction into Britain and the upcoming Defra consultation. Tuesday, 19th January 2021 at 8pm This is an online event using Zoom Members: £2.50 - Non Members £4 To book please follow the link below to eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/returning-the-eurasian-beaver-to-devon-and-englan-tickets-133471997337?fbclid=IwAR10qNkB6rG685_nQM5RcQBqsC3ch2oMasuovjGWDi7RF8-MJ5s5znSvzdA  |
AuthorDevon Mammal Group Archives
December 2022
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