An excellent two days of talks, presentations, updates, an evening quiz and workshops are what made up the 22nd Herpetofauna Workers' Meeting. The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust and the Amphibian and Reptile Groups organised the event with the help of sponsors such as Pearce Environmental, Herpetologic Ltd, ARC Ecological Services, Ecoline, Surrey ARG, among the supporters.
The welcome return of the quiz Have I got Newts For You? on the Saturday night was one of the many highlights of the weekend. The presentation programme included varied topics relating to the future work of Natural England, SUDs in Scotland, the Sand Lizard Recovery programme, reintroduction of the native pool frog, Connecting London's Amphibian & Reptile Environments (CLARE), updates from the amazing work of local AR groups in Kent, Warwickshire, Highlands, Wales, Herefordshire along with an update on the UK Chytrid Survey aka the Big Swab.
Workshops covered topics relating to amphibian recording, a new DEFRA pond surveillance project, dealing with negative attitudes to reptiles and making the adder count.
We were joined by TV personality Nick Baker. Nick obviously enjoyed the quiz - to quote him 'this is the best quiz I have ever been to'. The ARG UK 100% Fund was bolstered with £400 raised by the raffle at the end of the Saturday evening.
Nick also joined the workshop on adders. He got really involved with the group discussion of our only venomous snake and its conservation.
Freya Smith from ZSL reported on the latest on the situation with chytrid fungus in the UK and thanked all the Big Swab 2011 volunteers with cakes decorated with a herpetofauna theme.
The weekend was rounded off with a presentation from Nick Baker, who left us with his impressions of the Herp Workers' Meeting:
Thanks to Amphibian and Reptile Conservation for maintaining the high standards of the Herp Workers' Meeting. This was an excellent conference, setting everyone up for the coming field season.