The theme of this year's Kent Field Club organised conference is:
Improving connectivity across our landscape: linking habitats and populations
Date: 17th October 2009
10.00 - 16.00
The Old Sessions Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Christ Church University College, Kent
The aim of this year’s conference is to look at how the interlinking of habitats and populations across the landscape influences our local wildlife. First of all, the flora and fauna need to be mapped on a site by site basis so we know where all the species are and the results made centrally available. This relies largely on the expertise and enthusiasm of the recording community. Further quantitative or semi-quantitative studies then provide us with additional information on where the largest, most viable populations occur and this is especially useful when developing plans for the conservation of rare or endangered species. The presence of suitable habitat on its own may not be sufficient for species persistence long term and close linkage (i.e. connectivity) to other high quality habitats is seen as increasingly important at a landscape scale in maintaining viable populations of many high profile species. Planning initiatives at local district, county and national levels have been implemented in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of habitat fragmentation and deterioration and several examples of these initiatives will be discussed during the conference. Counter-intuitively, motorways which normally exacerbate habitat fragmentation may act as corridors for selected groups of wildlife.
Programme
9:30 - 10:00 Arrival and coffee
10:00 Welcome and Introduction. Richard Moyse (Kent Field Club)
Session 1
10:05 Wildlife and planning in Dover: the Green Infrastructure Approach. Nick Delaney (Dover District Council)
10:25 Mapping Great Crested Newt metapopulations across Kent. Lee Brady (Kent Reptile & Amphibian Group)
10:45 Linking marine intertidal communities. Ian Tittley (Natural History Museum, London)
11:05 - 11:30 Coffee and poster session
Session 2
11:30 Chiropteran Countryside commuters. Frank Greenaway (formerly, Natural History Museum, London)
11:50 Landscape planning and Habitat networks in the Canterbury district. Richard Andrews (Jacobs UK plc)
12:10 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Kentish roadsides: botanical connectivity. Geoff Kitchener (Kent Field Club)
12:30 Connectivity across a woodland landscape: lessons from the management of Blean Woods and the Heath Fritillary butterfly. Nick Bourn (Butterfly Conservation)
12:50 – 2:10 Lunch and poster session
2:10 Project and record requests. (All)
Session 3
2:30 The role of ponds in maintaining freshwater habitats at the landscape scale. Jeremy Biggs (Pond Conservation)
2:50 The role of Agri-environment schemes in restoring habitats and corridors. Dan Tuson (Natural England).
3:10 Reconnecting wildlife in Kent. Sue Young (Kent Wildlife Trust)
3:30 - 3:45 Discussion
3:45 Tea and Close
The cost for the day will be £14.00 per person including all light refreshments and a buffet lunch (vegetarian dishes included). Please contact John Badmin, Kent Field Club, Coppice Place, Perry Wood, Selling, nr Faversham, Kent ME13 9RP (jbadmin@btinternet.com) for booking details and other information.
