Please read the following. The information relates to all OxMG events listed below.
To date we have not had to cancel or reschedule an talk or activity. However, this may be necessary, for example, due to inclement weather or illness of the speaker / organiser. For activities where you are required to register your attendance via email, the organiser will email you directly to inform you of any changes. For events where booking is not required (such as our Winter Talks), we will update the website and use Social Media (Facebook and Twitter) as soon as possible. Please therefore check before setting off.
We are going to have a whole host of talks, events and activities you can attend this year. At this stage the finer details of many aren't finalised so please come back to check for updates soon or become a member to get updates emailed to you.
Events are in chronological order so please scroll down the page to find our upcoming events.
Winter Talks 2021
Our winter talks are held the first Monday of each month from October-March. There will be a mix of online and in person events, restrictions permitting (see details below).
There will be an opportunity for questions at the end.
Mon. 11 January: Badger Cull - unscientific, expensive, and immoral
By Dr Iain McGill
Mon. 8 February: To the brink of extinction and back: a long-term programme for the recovery of the critically endangered Balkan lynx (Lynx lynx balcanicus)
By Dr Aleks Trajçe, Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA).
Mon. 8 March: Marine mammal and Ocean Conservation
By Prof Sascha Hooker Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews
For a flyer providing further details about the talks please see here.
Monday, October 11th, 7pm, online
"Why did the rhino cross the road?" delivered byManuela Gonzalez-Suarez from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading
Monday, November 8th, 7pm, online
"Wolf", will explore the private lives of wolves delivered by Michał Figura from the Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology at the University of Warsaw and the Association for Nature
Monday, December 6th, 7pm, Oxford University Natural History Museum (restrictions permitting)
"Trophy hunting" delivered by Amy Dickman from Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
Information about how to join the online talks are provided on social media and via email to members in advance of the talk. Please register to become a member to get email updates.
After the event you can rewatch videos on our YouTube channel.
Events 2021
7pm Monday 22 March: Annual General Meeting (AGM)
As you all know, the formal business of an AGM includes the presentation and approval of reports, the election of a Committee to continue the work of the Group, and consideration of amendments to our Constitution.
So some good news - reports will be shorter than usual due to the enforced inactivity of the last year!
Some more good news - most of the Committee are happy to continue for another year. However, I would encourage any member who thinks they might like to join the Committee to give it a go. Whether you have a particular role in mind or not, please put your yourself forward. Ideally, if you are thinking about it, it would be great if you could get in touch with me in advance to discuss your plans.
And the not so fun news - the Committee will be proposing a few amendments to the Constitution. None of these is particularly radical, but all are designed to help the organisation function slightly more efficiently and provide a slightly better service to its members. You will find the detailed wordings by following the hyperlink above.
But now the exciting extra news - once the formal business is over, we will be using this meeting to launch our new BoxCam project. Social distancing restrictions of one kind or another are going to be with us for the foreseeable future. Bearing that in mind, we have developed a project that will allow individual members to conduct small mammal surveys in their own gardens, neighbourhoods, and villages. This will allow members to gather and contribute valuable data, while either working alone or as a family group.
On the night, we will be showing some videos to illustrate the (sometimes surprising) results that can be obtained with this equipment, and we will be looking for volunteers to be among the first to try it out.
The Zoom meeting link was issued to members on 19 February 2021. If you would like to join the AGM please become a Member and we will send you the details.
Please Note: For insurance purposes oudoor events are open only to Oxfordshire Mammal Group members. For more information about membership please see our Membership page.