Sands of LIFE Conference, May 2024 - Presentations

Session 1: Opening of Conference                                                             

RECORDING

Welcome and introduction

Nick Thomas, Strategic Project Manager, Natural Resources Wales

Opening speech from Natural Resources Wales Chief Executive

Clare Pillman, CEO Natural Resources Wales

Session 2: Sands of LIFE – Five years of action                                        

RECORDING

A roundup of project achievements

Kathryn Hewitt, Sands of LIFE Project Manager

A generation of change - sand dune vegetation monitoring

Steven Heathcote, JBA Consulting, Principal Ecologist

Jewels of the dunes – impact of conservation measures on Welsh dune invertebrates

Mike Howe, Natural Resources Wales, Invertebrate ecologist

Session 3: Forestry on dunes                                                                      

RECORDING

Landscape transformations and logistical challenges in Wales

Laura Davies, SoLIFE Project and Monitoring Officer and Kathryn Hewitt

What works best – A trial of interventions following conifer removal

Mark van Til, Nature Management Advisor, Waternet, Netherlands

Past and future conifer removal on Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR

Dave Mercer, Manager at Ainsdale Sand Dunes National Nature Reserve, Natural England

Session 4: Radical responses                               

RECORDING – Bison / RECORDING

Over 15 years of European bison in the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland

Esther Rodriguez, PWN, Netherlands

Implementing the SNAP approach (managing nitrogen air pollution)

Siobhan Murphy, Monitoring Officer Dynamic Dunescapes

We did not expect that! Our first experience translocating rabbits

Luc Geelan, Nature Management Advisor, Waternet Netherlands

Recreating dunes on agricultural land

Jeppe Pilgaard, Biologist & Project Manager, Thy National Park, Denmark