AGM 2023

Our 2023 AGM was held at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus on Sunday 12th November. Fifty-seven of us arrived to tea and biscuits and were sitting down in time to observe the remembrance day silence. Our speakers this year were Professor Naomi Sykes from the University of Exeter and Professor Greger Larson from Braesnose College Oxford, who spoke to us on Zooarchaeological approaches to biodiversity.

Using bones from archaeological sites across the last 10,000 years they have been able to demonstrate movements of species across the world, the rise and fall of domestic and wild animals, the arrival of new species and the decline of others. We discussed what ‘native’ and ‘invasive’ means and the implications this has for conservation, reintroductions and rewilding. Following a dynamic Q&A session we held our AGM. Dave reviewed our year; Kelly covered the healthy state of our finances, and Kate presented our CMG Award to Hilary Marshall for her amazing work over 50 years in the Southwest.

We moved on to a carb-rich lunch of pasties, cake and chat and concluded with a little light harvest mousing – Emily leading us onto the wilder parts of the campus to find 4 breeding nests and adding more sites to our maps.