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The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) owns a private woodland on the Isle of Wight (IoW) that is managed predominantly for woodland bats, Red Squirrels and Hazel Dormice. Dormice are considered to be widespread across the island in suitable habitat. The IoW is different from the mainland as it has no wild deer species. PTES has been monitoring dormice in its woodland since 1992, when nest boxes were first put up by Paul Bright. However, in spite of appropriate woodland management for dormice at the reserve, dormouse numbers there appear to be declining. This raised the question: “Is the apparent decline in dormice recorded in nest boxes, real or perceived?” If the decline was real, it may be necessary to reconsider management advice that we give for dormice. If the decline was perceived, then it may be necessary to reconsider advice that we give for monitoring dormice. The first challenge was to identify what the woodland may have looked like 30 years ago and identify why high numbers of dormice were recorded. We could then apply the known woodland management that was done in the intervening years, to determine why dormouse nest box occupancy changed by varying amounts in different parts of the wood. We were able to check some of our ideas using data from footprint tunnels and this work is ongoing in 2022. This talk will discuss woodland state, woodland management and dormouse next box occupancy in a dormouse hotspot in southern England.

Action to reduce anthropogenic impact on the environment and species within it will be most effective when targeted towards activities that have the greatest impact on biodiversity. To do this effectively we need to better understand the relative importance of different activities and how they drive changes in species’ populations. Here, we present a novel, flexible framework that reviews evidence for the relative importance of these drivers of change and uses it to explain recent alterations in species’ populations. We review drivers of change across four hundred species sampled from a broad range of taxonomic groups in the UK. We found that species’ population change (~1970–2012) has been most strongly impacted by intensive management of agricultural land and by climatic change. The impact of the former was primarily deleterious, whereas the impact of climatic change to date has been more mixed. Findings were similar across the three major taxonomic groups assessed (insects, vascular plants and vertebrates). In general, the way a habitat was managed had a greater impact than changes in its extent, which accords with the relatively small changes in the areas occupied by different habitats during our study period, compared to substantial changes in habitat management. Of the drivers classified as conservation measures, low-intensity management of agricultural land and habitat creation had the greatest impact. Our framework could be used to assess the relative importance of drivers at a range of scales to better inform our policy and management decisions. Furthermore, by scoring the quality of evidence, this framework helps us identify research gaps and needs.

1. The European stag beetle, Lucanus cervus, is thought to be widely distributed across its range, but a detailed description of its occurrence is lacking. 2. Researchers in 41 countries were contacted and information sought on various life history characteristics of the insect. Data on adult body size were collected from seven countries. 3. Habitat associations differ between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.Larvae are most commonly associated with oak, but the duration of the larval stage and the number of instars varies by up to 100% across Europe. 4. Adult size also varies ; beetles from Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands are larger than those from Belgium or the UK. In the former countries, populations are composed mainly of large individuals, while in the UK, the majority of individuals are relatively small. Allometric relations between mandible size and total body length differ in Germany compared with the rest of Europe. 5. Distribution maps of the insect, split into records pre- and post-1970, from 24 countries are presented. While these inevitably suffer from recorder bias, they indicate that in only two countries, Croatia and Slovakia, does the insect seem to be increasing in range. 6. Our data suggest that the insect may be in decline across Europe, most likely due to habitat loss, and that conservation plans need to be produced that focus on the biology of the insect in the local area.