In an usual twist of fate, it wasn’t the first weekend of December this year but the last weekend of November! For most of you, I suspect that will mark the start of your Christmas countdown, and make you panic about the gift shopping you are yet to complete, or relax at the thought of the family you will soon be spending time with. For us herpetologists though, it is the timing of the annual Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust – British Herpetological Society Join Scientific Meeting, held every year in Bournemouth. The great thing is, this meeting isn’t just full of white-bearded boffins (I mean, I attend) but instead is the perfect blend of amphibian and reptile enthusiasts of all abilities and backgrounds, making the JSM a wonderful event to attend each year.
This year, there were only six talks (usually there are about nine), however they were of such high quality and so engaging, you would have never known! The event this year took a while to get going because of some electrical issues which meant we’d almost run out of tea and coffee before the speakers had the chance to deliver their talks. They covered such topics as the use of genomics in herpetofauna conservation (a subject close to my heart), understanding the relationship between people and their ponds, the perception of adders in North Wales, and using drones to help survey for lizards in the tropics. The talk I was most proud of however was given by Emily Corden, who was one of my MSc students from ARU Writtle in that year’s cohort. Emily was presenting her thesis project looking at whether a museum collection of amphibians in South Korea could help us to determine whether or not they are shrinking as a response to climate change. If you missed it, don’t worry as we are working on publishing the results as you read this.
As is also customary to the JSM, there is also a curry the night before (which is always well attended) and a raffle after the conference. I managed to pick up a couple of awesome books in a silent auction of Tim Halliday’s old library as well as some knick-knacks in the raffle. All of the prizes are donated by the audience and so thank you to whoever donated the awesome little trinkets that I got. Overall, this year’s JSM was highly enjoyable and I’m looking forward to finding out about some amazing research – and maybe even presenting some of my own next year! Will I see you there?
If you liked this post and enjoy reading this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon where you will also gain access to exclusive content.
