The 2021 ARC-BHS Joint Scientific Meeting on Saturday 4th December offers the usual variety of fascinating talks and will be online once again this year. Native UK species feature prominently in this year’s conference, with talks on successes for Lincolnshire Natterjack toads, optimising sand lizard reintroductions, ARC’s smooth snake focused Snakes in the Heather project and a fascinating study on urban adders and their personalities(!), as well as interpreting the results of great crested newt eDNA survey. We will also hear about the new ARC National Amphibian Survey and National Reptile Survey!

Other contemporary issues in herpetofauna conservation are addressed through talks on ranaviruses and chytrid from researchers at the Institute of Zoology, plus a talk on invasive geckos in Florida which looks at how the genetics of the invaders affect their colonisation success – all these issues have wide-ranging implications for conservation practitioners and scientists.

We’re looking forward to a great day, and there will be an informal virtual social event (via MS Teams) on the preceding evening (Friday 3rd) to remind us all how nice it will be when we can meet in person again!

The ARC-BHS Scientific Meeting has been kindly sponsored by NHBS who offer a subscription to British Wildlife magazine plus a discount voucher for the winner(s) of a photo caption competition – the photo to caption will be emailed to anyone who registers for the event!  

Please remember anyone who books via the ARC website will also need to register with Zoom for the webinar prior to the day otherwise you may be delayed getting in! We look forward to “seeing” you there.

Registration closes at 10pm on SUNDAY 28th NOVEMBER. Visit the event page to download the full programme and book your pleace.