The Cornwall Mammal Group is celebrating its 10th birthday in style by running a family fun day on Saturday 10th October at the Tremough Campus, Penryn. The event will highlight all the mammal conservation work carried out in Cornwall and launch the ‘Cornwall Mammal Atlas Project’. Everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy the games, prizes and exciting mammal-related activities.

There will be numerous stalls and games, including a Bouncy Castle, Treasure Hunt, ‘Hook-an-Otter’ and Hoopla as well as face painting. Kids can try their hand at being a mammal detective with local experts and meet live mammals, including a special visit from Norman the Noctule bat. There will also be a Raffle, Tombola and refreshments all day, including a cake stall.

The fete will be opened by local wildlife photographer, David Chapman, who will be displaying his work along with students from Falmouth Art College. There will also be a mammal drawing competition, where local school children will be asked to create mammal pictures, which will then be displayed at the fete and the winners announced on the day.

The fete will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the mammals living on our doorstep and how we can help to conserve them. A number of local groups will be represented, including Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Cornwall Bat Group, Cornwall Seal Group, British Divers Marine Life Rescue and many more. The fete will also be an opportunity to see the fantastic local conservation work conducted by students at the Centre for Ecology & Conservation, at the University of Exeter’s Tremough campus.

As well as having an enjoyable day, everyone can also find out how they can help with the Cornwall Mammal Atlas Project. This aims to collate as many sightings and records of all mammals across Cornwall as possible by 2011. The information will be used to produce an Atlas which will give a better picture of the state of our mammals in Cornwall. Anyone can send in a record that will be included in the Atlas, all that we need to know is WHAT you saw, WHEN you saw it and WHERE, as well as WHO you are, just in case we have any queries.

Cornwall Mammal Group chairman, Dave Groves said “We hope that everyone will help us by reporting all their sightings, from otter to house mouse, so that we can produce an accurate and up-to-date record of our Cornish mammals”.

Cornwall Mammal Group, which work closely with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the local records centre ERCCIS, aims to raise awareness and understanding of mammals and encourage the recording and study of mammals in Cornwall. Anyone is welcome to join the group and get involved with the surveys and the regular events. For more information see our website

Event details:
Entrance to the fun day is completely FREE
Date and time: Saturday 10th October, 11am to 2.30pm
Venue: Tremough Campus, Penryn, TR10 9EZ. The campus is just off the Treliever roundabout on A39, then follow the mammal signs to the fete. Free car parking will be available