Joint Conference 2026: Recording for Nature Recovery – how biological recording will benefit wildlife in crisis

Conference chair: Dr Rowena Langston is a Founder Member of the Little Ouse Headwaters Project (LOHP) and has been a voluntary warden of Hinderclay Fen since 1998.  She has worked in conservation science as an ornithologist and ecologist for over 30 years, most of that time for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), most recently as a Principal Conservation Scientist, and for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). 

She provided scientific advice to staff across the RSPB, BirdLife International and partner organisations, government departments and industry, and is an experienced public speaker, negotiator, people and project manager with a strong publication record in both scientific papers and more popular items. She maintains an active interest in wildlife surveys, biological recording and practical conservation work. Growing up in the Chilterns sparked an early interest in plants, which expanded into other areas of natural history.

Little Ouse Headwaters Project

Keynote speaker: Professor Bill Sutherland was formerly the Miriam Rothschild Chair of Conservation Biology in the Zoology Department and is an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He has written seven books and edited another five.

He started as a birdwatcher, and his main research interest has been in combining field observations of behaviour with theoretical models to predict the consequences of environmental change, such as changes in agricultural practice and climate change.

Bill Sutherland on YouTube

Jen Burlingham is the Norfolk and Suffolk Nature Recovery Partnership Manager, working for both Suffolk and Norfolk County Councils to initially prepare the Local Nature Recovery Strategies for both counties, and now with a focus on delivery – therefore working with a vast number of stakeholders to co-ordinate and promote nature recovery on the ground across the region.

Having previously worked in ecological research, secondary science education, and community engagement roles, managing the partnership brings together expertise, enthusiasm, and a recognition of the unique and diverse environment across our counties.

Norfolk & Suffolk Nature Recovery Partnership

Nick Marriner is the Nature Recovery Manager for the Chilterns Conservation Board. He leads their farmer engagement work, including several landscape-scale projects across 3 Farmer Clusters. He also set up and manages Tracking the Impact, a BTO Marsh Award-winning landscape-scale monitoring project that establishes long-term trends for birds, butterflies, and plants, as well as a number of site- and species-specific surveys in the Chilterns.

Nick is a long-standing bird surveyor and has supported many BTO projects over the last 20 years and has set up and manages a WeBS and Atlas project on the River Thame. He has also recently taken on the role of BTO Regional Representative and Breeding Bird Survey Co-ordinator for Buckinghamshire.

Tracking the Impact

Dr Mark Bowler is a spatial ecologist at the University of Suffolk, working with citizen science and conservation technology to monitor biodiversity at landscape scales in the UK and in tropical forests abroad.

Mark Bowler

James Heywood is the National Organiser for the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey. After stints pretending to be a palaeobiologist, working in clinical medical analytics, and most recently as a field ornithologist, he joined BTO in 2022 and is the fifth ‘custodian’ of the UK’s foremost terrestrial bird monitoring scheme. His favourite bird is the Wheatear, a harbinger of spring and symbolic of his favourite holiday destinations.

Breeding Bird Survey

Mark Blaxter leads the Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life Programme, generating and analysing genome sequences from thousands of species across the tree of life, especially Britain and Ireland (the Darwin Tree of Life project).

His own research portfolio focuses on the genomics of neglected, non-model organisms – using the chromosomally-complete genome sequences generated by Tree of Life work –  and the interpretation of those genomes in ecological and evolutionary contexts (including, inter alia, parasitic and free living nematodes, tardigrades, molluscs, butterflies, bees, flies, birds, algae, fungi and bacteria).

He has played a key role in defining patterns and processes in chromosome evolution in Lepidoptera (comprising 10% of all described species) and nematodes. Before joining Sanger, he was Professor of Evolutionary Genomics in the University of Edinburgh. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2014.

Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life Programme

Philip Farndon joined Wild Frontier Ecology in January 2023 after 15 years working for a local optics retailer. He brings an in-depth knowledge of optics, including thermal imaging technology and other wildlife monitoring equipment. Phil is a qualified Category 1 Thermographer.

Phil also has 9 years’ experience as a freelance ecologist, primarily undertaking bat emergence/re-entry surveys, but also assisting with building inspections, reptile surveys, wintering and breeding bird surveys, great crested newt surveys and habitat surveys. Phil holds a level 1 bat licence and is qualified in tree climbing and aerial rescue.

Wild Frontier Ecology

Dr Carlos Abrahams FCIEEM is Director of Naturesound Ltd, a UK ecological consultancy specialising in wildlife sound recording for biodiversity assessment, ecological impact assessment, and conservation management.

With over 25 years’ experience in ecological survey, EIA, conservation planning and site management, his current work focuses on developing rigorous,  ecoacoustic methods and projects – combining sound recording, data analysis and interactive reporting. He is a member of CIEEM, and publishes on animal bioacoustics and innovations in ecoacoustics.

Naturesound Ltd

Robin Hutchinson is an entomologist working at the Biological Records Centre (UKCEH), supporting recording schemes and recorders with data collection, verification and mobilisation. They work on iRecord and the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, and are also studying for a PhD in monitoring under-recorded insects.

Biological Records Centre

Graeme Lyons is a freelance entomologist and ecologist now based in Sussex, after growing up in the West Midlands. He has been a biological recorder for 38 years (amassing some 382,746 records to date, typically making over 50,000 records a year), is interested in all areas of UK natural history and is always keen to help others learn about the amazing wildlife on these islands.

He is county recorder for spiders and bugs, and has been a founding member of the pan-species listing movement since its inception, recently publishing the book Pan-species Listing – how to become a super-naturalist with Pelagic. Graeme has seen over 10,054 species in the British Isles to date, and is trying to see 6,000 species here in 2026. He has recently discovered that he is both autistic and ADHD.

Pan-Species Listing

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