New Forest Biodiversity Conference - 2026 call for speakers and 2025 review

2026 call for speakers

The 2026 New Forest Biodiversity Conference will take place on 03-04 March 2026 at Careys Manor Hotel in Brockenhurst, hosted by the New Forest Biodiversity Forum (NFBF). We have three excellent keynote speakers lined up, each representing an important conservation sector:

• Dr Andrew Stringer, Head of Environment and Nature Recovery at Forestry England. Andrew is the strategic lead for nature recovery at Forestry England, who are the largest land manager in England (and here in the New Forest). Andrew is spear-heading a series of conservation initiatives within the organisation, including wildlife reintroductions (see here), development of new wild areas (see here), and the biodiversity component of a new resilience strategy (see here). He was recognised in the 2025 ENDS Power List as one of the UK's 100 most influential environmental professionals

  
  

• Debbie Tann MBE, Chief Executive at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Debbie has been CEO at HIWWT for 15 years and has seen it grow into one of the largest Wildlife Trusts in the UK, with a turnover of £10 million, 150 staff, and more than 28,000 members (see here). She was awarded an MBE for services to wildlife and the natural environment in the 2024 King's New Year Honours (see here) and was also recognised in the 2025 ENDS Power List.

  
  

• Rupert Brewer, Head of Conservation at Bisterne Estate. Rupert is responsible for a diverse portfolio of conservation projects across Bisterne Estate, which includes nationally important wetland and heathland sites within the New Forest and Avon Valley SSSI/SAC (see here). Rupert was recently awarded the Schoffel Working Conservationist Award and played a major role in Bisterne Estate also receiving the Wetland & Watercourse Conservation Award (see here).

We are now inviting additional speakers for this event, either for standard 15 minute presentations or for shorter 5 minute flash talks. We are particularly keen to receive offers of presentations that relate to biodiversity and conservation updates from the New Forest National Park in calendar year 2025, although talks that introduce new projects and/or provide wider spatial and temporal context will also be considered. All speakers are offered free conference registration.

Please send suggested titles, author(s), and a couple of lines of description to the NFBF Chair at russ@wildnewforest.org.uk. The deadline for these submissions is 12 Jan 2026, and the final programme will be developed following consultation with the NFBF Steering group and Sponsors.

We will subsequently request abstracts (summaries) for all talks that are accepted for inclusion in the conference programme, and these will be made available online after the event.

Finally, please note that conference registration will open in early January, but due to the limited capacity of 100 spaces the event is invite-only, which ensures we are able to accommodate the widest range of biodiversity and conservation stakeholders.

2025 review

The second edition of the New Forest Biodiversity Conference took place on 04-05 March 2025 at Careys Manor Hotel in Brockenhurst. We once again had a full house of 100 attendees for both days, and a packed schedule of talks, workshops, and networking opportunities.

On day one, after an update on NFBF activities from the Chair, we welcomed our first keynote speaker, Charles Watson of River Action, who gave a passionate account of the challenges associated with campaigning for clean rivers in the New Forst and nationally. The following three speakers, from Southern Water, Freshwater Habitats Trust, and Environment Agency, then provided different perspectives of how freshwater pollution issues are being monitored and tackled in the New Forest.

Charles Watson delivering the opening keynote.

The second morning session included an introduction to the New Forest National Park Authority ‘Net Zero with Nature’ programme, followed by two presentations by Wild New Forest exploring the past, present, and future impacts of climate change on our region; the session concluded with an update on habitat restoration work conducted by Forestry England, and a brief introduction to a new project at University of Exeter looking at smoke stimulated germination of heathland plants.

After lunch, attendees participated in a workshop that provided an opportunity to discuss climate change risks and opportunities in more detail. This was followed by a series of presentation by partners delivering the New Forest Species Survival Fund project, before the day concluded with topical updates on deer management, a new socio-ecological study of large herbivores, and commoning and farming activities in the New Forest.   

Breakout group for the climate change workshop

Day two opened with two keynote speakers, Steve Cham and Andy Barker, who presented on the changes to our dragonfly and butterfly communities in recent decades. The remainder of the morning focussed on species studies, including Sand Lizards, Pitcher Plants, Field Gentian, Green Forest Hoverfly, Speckled Footman, breeding raptors, coastal birds, and fungi DNA.

Steve Cham delivering the first keynote of day two.

The post-lunch workshop saw attendees contribute ideas and perspectives on biodiversity and conservation volunteering, which helped to shape the New Forest Volunteer Ecological Surveyor Programme that was launched later in the spring.

The final afternoon session focussed on vertebrates, with presentations on Bechstein’s Bats, Woodlarks, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, passive acoustic monitoring, recreational disturbance of birds, and coastal fish.

The slides and abstracts for the talks are available here, together with those from the 2024 event.