Richmond Town Hall, DL10 4QL at 7.30pm. £10

Tom is an ecologist and author, who for over twenty two years worked for the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Oxford University. His authorial career comprised a number of children's books, including The River Singers, The Rising, and Trickster, all of which drew on ecological knowledge of water voles and rats, and his adult non-fiction comprises Elegy for a River and Ghosts in the Hedgerow. In this talk Tom will introduce you to the wonderful world of water voles, and the conservation challenges they face in Britain. Through his own work he will explain what conservation research actually does, why it hasn't yet achieved the outcomes we all want and need - but why he still has hope for wildlife and our collective future.