Recorders' Conference
Established in 2011, the Recorders Conference has become an annual event, welcoming speakers and recorders from Cumbria and beyond.
We aim for a range of speakers and posters on a wide variety of topics - focused on a particular species, group or habitat; results of recording and monitoring projects; and ideas, techniques and resources to help you get involved. The conference offers a chance to meet others interested in exploring nature, share discoveries and learn more about the species which make their home in Lakeland.
Recorders' Conference 2026
Coming in February 2026!
More information on date, venue and programme soon.
Recorders' Conference 2025 Presentations
Saturday 22nd February 2025, 10am-3pm, at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle.
A summary of the conference is available HERE. If you would like a slightly more detailed overview, you can view it HERE.
Click the links below to see the slideshows from the conference.
Talks by:
- Martin Harris, CBDC Recording Officer - CBDC Recording in 2025
- Pete Jones, Skiddaw Forest Project Manager at Cumbria Wildlife Trust - Skiddaw Forest
- Rhian Ebrey, Access to Eden Project Manager at Eden Rivers Trust - Access to Eden
- Chris Hind, County Recorder - Birds and Cumbria Bird Club - Birds in Cumbria 2024
- David Clarke, British Dragonfly Society County Recorder - Dragonflies in Cumbria 2024
- Mike Porter, BSBI Vice County Recorder and Flora of Cumbria Group - Recording Highlights Plants in 2024
- Tanya Hoare, Sedbergh Community Swifts - Swifts in Cumbria
- Carrie Hedges, Angus Walsh and Georgie Stephens, Cumbria Woodlands/Plantlife - #Species Survival Fund –Rainforest Restoration Project
- Sylvia Woodhead, Cumbria GeoConservation - Geology Highlights in 2024
- Aimee Campbell, Bothel Community Wildlife Group (BCWG) - Introducing BCWG and Torpenhow Bioblitz
- David Scott-Langley, Cumbria Invertebrate Group (CIG) - Introducing CIG
Recorders' Conference 2024 Presentations
Click the links below to see the slideshows from the conference.
Talks by:
- Beth Middleton, Westmorland & Furness Council - Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy
- Joe Clements & Elizabeth Ogilvie, Lowther Estate - Developments at Lowther
- Paddy Palmer & Matterdale Nature Watch - Species & Habitat Recording by the Matterdale Volunteers
- Ian Jackson - Without Geodiversity there would be no Biodiversity
- Mike Porter, Cumbria Flora Group - Vascular Plants Recording Highlights
- Pete Martin, Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte Group - Lichen Recording Highlights
- Frank Mawby - Why do we Ring Birds?
- John Martin - The Benefits of technology: Discovering things you didn't know were there
- David Clarke, British Dragonfly Recorder for Cumbria - Odonata Recording Highlights
- Chris Hind, Cumbria Bird Group - Bird Recording Highlights
- Suzanne Collinson and Matt Carr, Cumbria Amphibian and Reptile Group - Amphibian Recording Highlights
- Suzanne Collinson, Cumberland Bat Group - Bat Update (see previous slides)
- Steve Garland - Recording Scorpionflies, Snakeflies and Snow Fleas
- Sylvia Woodhead, Cumbria Geoconservation - Revealing the Foundations
- Guy Broome - A History of Biological Recording
- David Jutson - Out of sight but not out of mind: marine shelled protozoans and microcrustacea
- David Perkins - Hairy-foot, long-tongue
Recorders' Conference 2023 Presentations
Videos of the presentations can now be viewed at CBDC Recorders' Conference 2023. You will need a password to access the site which is available to all on request. You can view the slideshows without the speaker's commentary via the links below.
Talks by:
- Stuart Colgate, Recording Officer, CBDC - Introduction to species recording and what is CBDC?
- Sylvia Woodhead, Cumbria GeoConservation - Geology Record Highlights
- David Taylor-Norman, West Cumbria Rivers Trust - Riverfly, the secret world of freshwater ecosystems
- Moustafa Eweda, Data Manager, CBDC - CBDC Projects Update
- David Clarke, British Dragonfly Society Recorder for Cumbria - Recorders’ Highlights – Dragonflies
- Mike Porter, Joint Botanical County Recorder - Recorders’ Highlights – A brief summary of Botanical activity in Cumbria
- Paul Evans, Cumbria Local Nature Partnership Manager - Cumbria’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy – a new approach or just another plan. That’s down to us!
- Stuart Colgate, Recording Officer, CBDC - Recorders’ Highlights - Fungi
Recorders' Conference 2022 - Presentations
Open Mosaic Habitats in brownfield sites - Stuart Colgate, CBDC
Updating County Wildlife sites - Deb Muscat, Stuart Colgate, CBDC
Wildlife in Cumbria Highlights 2021
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- Amphibian, reptiles & Bats - Suzie Collinson, Cumbria Amphibian and Reptile Group/Cumberland Bat Group
- Fungi - Paul Nichol - Cumbria Fungi Group
- Harvest Mouse - John Martin, Cumbria Mammal Group
- Birds - Chris Hind - Cumbria Bird Club
- Items of Botanical interest - Mike Porter - Cumbria Botany Group
- Moths - Guy Broome and Martin Tordoff - Cumbria Moth Group
- Lichen and Bryophyte - Clare Shaw, Cumbria Lichen and Bryology Group
- Dragon & Damselflies - David Clarke, British Dragonfly Society
Designating LGS in Westmorland Dales area - Sylvia Woodhead, Cumbria GeoConservation
Recording the Past: Black Dubb Sediments - Tom Garner, Researcher
Improving Cumbria for Pollinators - Carolyn Postlethwaite and Ryan Clark, CWT
Fritillary Butterflies of Morecambe Bay - Chris Winnick, Butterfly Conservation
Recorders' Conference 2020
Our keynote speaker was Steve Garland, Entomologist and Chair of The Wildlife Trusts England Committee who talked about 'Recording Recovery - Biological Recording for a Wilder Future." The main room contained displays and posters from a range of recorders and societies:
- Cumbria Dragonfly Atlas Online
- Cumbria Lichen and Bryology Group
- Macro photography demonstration using a laptop and plug in camera
- Cumbria GeoConservation
- Get Cumbria Buzzing
- Cumbria Amphibian and Reptile Group
- Digitally colour coding red squirrel fur and the potential conservation applications
- Searching for Chrysolina oricalcia
- Found Species: Tufted Loostrife (Lysimachia thyrsiflora)
- Second Hand Natural History books for sale
- Cumbria Fungi Identification Guide for sale
Recorders' Conference 2018
This year recorders watched the first camera footage of a Pine Marten in Cumbria and learned more about their hitch hiking behavior from Kevin O'Hara Project Officer Vincent Wildlife Trust. Delegates also heard about:
- Rural and wildlife crime
- Moth recording without a trap
- Slow-worm Project Update
- Recording Geological Sites
- LOST - Looking out for Small Things
Recorders' Conference 2017
Recorders joined our Annual Conference to hear talks that included:
- National Biodiversity Network Changes and the impact on the future of CBDC
- Earthworms
- Slow worms
- House mouse project
- Stories from the Wildlife Register CBDC Recording Day highlights
Recorders' Conference 2016
89 recorders joined our Annual conference to hear about:
- Hydroscape - a study of British Freshwaters – Dr Alan Law
- UK Dung Beetle Mapping Project – Ceri Watkins
Local recording updates included:
- Cumbria Fungi Group – Paul Nichol
- House mouse project
- Swifts in the Community – Bryan Yorke
- Bats in Trees – Rich Flight
- Mapping Cumbria’s Dragonflies – David Clarke
- Ecosystem Canaries – Peter Woodhead
- Trail Cameras and Recording Technology – John Martin
Recorders' Conference 2015
Topics included:
- Launch of the Cumbria Bird Atlas – Stephen Westerberg, Cumbria Bird Club
- Movements of Wintering Gees and Swans on the Solway – Frank Mawby
- Finding and Monitoring Dormice in Cumbria – Tony Marshall
- Lost and Found Fungi Project – Brian Douglas, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
- Alien vs Predator – the Harlequin ladybird in Britain, Richard Comont
- Cumbria Geoconservation Group and the Local Geological Sites
Recorders' Conference 2014
Presentations included:
- What would Darwin Tweet? – Richard Burkmar
- Polecats and Pine Martins – Elizabeth Croose, Vincent Wildlife Trust
- CBDC Habitat Connectivity Projects – Moustafa Eweda
- Recording Cumbria’s bats – Rich Flight
- Lichens of Cumbria – Allan Pentecost
- What’s at Witherslack – Jim Thomas
