Local Mammal Groups bulletin board

22/03/2024 - Nationwide

Annual Conference Tickets for Local Mammal Groups

The Mammal Society’s Annual Conference 2024 takes place from 12th-14th April in Cambridge, and since it marks our 70th year it will be an event to remember!

We want to have as many local mammal groups from different parts of the UK present as possible, and thanks to our generous Conference sponsors RSK Biocensus and Wildlife Acoustics we have been able to make some full weekend tickets (including evening meals and Sunday workshops) available for local groups members.

If you would like to apply for one or a pair of tickets please email Local Groups Committee Chair Rose Toney on localmammalgroups@themammalsociety.org giving the name of the group and the number of tickets you’d like to request. Please highlight if you would like to bring any display materials or if you would like to run an engagement activity in the Marketplace.

A small budget is available to contribute towards accommodation and travel if required – to be allocated on a needs basis to make it as easy as possible for everyone to attend no matter where they are traveling from.

22/03/2024 - Nationwide

Stand up and be counted! Request for videos from local groups to celebrate grassroots mammal action.

We will be creating a video showreel to show during the Annual Conference, and on our social channels during National Mammal Week (22-28 April 2024), to show the wealth of volunteer-led activity for mammals happening across the British Isles.

If you are taking action for mammals locally, as a registered Local Mammal Group or as a group that is thinking of registering, please send us a video clip that introduces you and gives a little insight into your activities. Whether you survey for harvest mice, campaign for hedgehog highways or run engagement events or school sessions, we want to hear what you are up to!

Please record a landscape format video (just on a mobile phone is fine – or even a slideshow of photos with a voice recording will do!) of up to 2 minutes and upload it here by 5th April 2024, and send a completed submission form (also available in this folder) to localgroups@themammalsociety.org (NB you can send a WeTransfer or other file transfer link to this email address with the form if you prefer).

If you will struggle to record a video but have some photos you are happy for us to use in the showreel please send them with a recorded or written introduction to your group.

If any under 16s are featured in your video or photos (which would be lovely!) please note that the model consent form included in the submission form must be completed by a parent/ guardian to give explicit consent that their image can be used.

Video tips:

• Choose somewhere out of the wind and without distracting background sounds such as children playing or cars. Natural sounds such as birdsong and running water are OK provided the presenter is close enough to the mic to stand out clearly.

• Stand close enough to presenters that their voice is picked up clearly by the microphone, but allow space around (including above) their heads in the frame.

• Consider a background that helps to convey what your local area or group activities are like. It could be a representative local landscape, or some group members hard at work!

• If you struggle to remember all of your key points to present in one go, shoot a few shorter clips and cover one or two points in each. This may also mean it is easier to upload a few smaller video files than one big one.

• Example script:
  Hi I’m the Chair of XXX Mammal Group. We’ve been active since XXX, improving data on mammals across XXX and running local events and  campaigns to build public awareness of XXX. In the year ahead we are planning to XXX.