Symposium

Antje Beneken und Ulrike Quartier

Antje is Trailing Specialist according to the international CyberTracker standard and has extensive training in wilderness education and tracking. She is the Owner of the Wilderness School “Naturcamp Dresden” and lives here with her family and loyal dog. As a passionate wilderness educator, experienced tracker and mentor, she imparts her knowledge in seminars/workshops and teaches children in facts of biology. The art of tracking and trailing is particularly close to her heart: recognizing, recording and following fresh tracks of wild animals – also as a fantastic means of connection and basic scientific knowledge.

www.naturcamp-dresden.de

www.spurenmobil-dresden.de

https://www.facebook.com/naturcampdresden

Ulrike is a certificated Trailing Specialist too and passionate to follow wild animals since she was a little girl. Growing up in a family of hunters, nature lovers and gardeners, the connection to nature has been the heart of her childhood. She is experienced in teaching Track and Sign / Trailing and mentoring people of different backgrounds in workshops for many years. Since 2007 she is working at the Laboratory School and the Oberstufen-Kolleg Bielefeld as a coordinating nature educator in practice, research (University of Bielefeld) and school development.

Trailing skills are key elements to change perspectives, to get in resonance with the world and in transformational processes.

Ulrike.quartier@laborschule.de

Ulrike.quartier@uni-bielefeld.de

Trailing the winding path

Many people love to wander around in nature, meandering, letting themselves drift – something may catch their interest, they may be touched by encounters with animals or landscapes – curiosity grows, passion and fascination. Here we are right in the middle of trailing.

This felt connection offers an intuitive way in which we can approach living beings and the world around us. This is an ancient approach that opens new doors with every path.

These paths are sometimes straight, clear and obvious, but often they are winding and difficult to see. They can also be delicate and fragile and we have to be careful. In addition to sometimes challenging conditions in the field are coming up these seemingly impassable obstacles like limited time, missing routines or the lack of woods nearby.

How do we manage to keep the approach open and allow ourselves to be carried away every day on the winding path to the stories of the landscape? How do we remain a part of it?

We talk about options, methods and occasions in trailing – for trailing.

Keep it simple!

Dan Puplett

Dan Puplett is a naturalist and educator and has been intensively studying tracking since 2003. He has a Professional certificate in Track & Sign, a Level 3 in Trailing and is interested in applying tracking as a tool for ecological literacy, nature connection and practical wildlife monitoring. He is the author of two Field Studies Council fold-out guides: British Bird Tracks & Signs and British Mammal Tracks & Signs (2nd ed.). Beginning his career in rewilding and large-scale nature recovery, Dan became a full-time educator in 2011 training people of all backgrounds in tracking, bird language and other naturalist skills. He lives in northeast Scotland.

Tracking and Nature Connection

In this presentation Dan will explore a few of the many ways in which tracking can highlight the hidden connections between different species within an ecosystem, including ourselves. Tracking requires us to think in a joined up way, increasing our understanding of many different aspects of the natural world, as well as bringing us a much needed sense of kinship with the wild world around us.

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Kristian de la Riva

Kristian de la Riva is the founder of European Walking Safari. He uses all his knowledge and skills acquired as a safari guide in South Africa and Europe to facilitate a deeper understanding of the natural world for any participant upon his varied tours. He holds a specilist CyberTracker Track & Sign certification.

Track & Sign can save Humanity….For Real!!!

Tracking as a vital tool in combating societal disconnection from the natural world. My proposal centres around the value system created around Tracking and how its community should be focused around social responsibility over professionalisation.

Mareike Steingaß, and Babette Köhler

Babette Koebri,  Mareike Steingaß: Mareike Steingaß, born in 1990,  is a certified tacker (track and sign Level II) and  B.Sc. student in Forest Sciences and Nature Conservation in Freiburg im Breisgau. She discovered her passion for otters during her training in the Lusatian Pond Landscape; since then, she has been otterly fascinated  and works together with Babette on systematic first records of the species in southern Baden-Württemberg.

Babette Köhler, born in 1964, lives near Freiburg in southwestern Germany and works as an ecological consultant and nature filmmaker. She studied landscape planning and is an enthusiastic tracker (track and sign Level II). Her aim is to promote the use of qualified tracking as a non-invasive recording method in ecological assessments. Together with Mareike, she has been tracking otters since 2024, which have returned to the western side of the Black Forest only in recent years.

Tracking as a professional qualification, using the example of field mapping the return of otters to the Upper Rhine

The otter died out throughout Baden-Württemberg in the first half of the 20th century. In recent years, there have been sporadic chance sightings of the species, but no systematic investigation. To find evidence, the speakers, both passionate trackers, began searching for traces of the returnees on their own initiative in the summer of 2024.
They present the methodology and preliminary results of their investigations and discuss the reliability and applicability of tracker methods to species conservation issues beyond the mere determination of presence/absence: How many otters live in the region? How large and established are their territories? Are they already reproducing? And one of the most interesting questions: Where did they come from?
In such studies, animal tracks and signs are rarely systematically recorded, partly because tracking experts are unfortunately rarely employed by consulting firms. Yet there are many areas of application for professional tracking in ecological planning, assessment, and monitoring. The presentation advocates for the upgrading of tracking certification as proof of competence.

Asaf Ben David

Asaf Ben David is an environmental educator and ecologist specializing in wildlife tracking and citizen science. He, is the founder of the Israeli trackers’ community group Makom Mifgash (makommifgash.org), and is both the author and illustrator of Israeli field guides.

Building Communities of Trackers through Citizen Science: Insights from Ecological Corridor Monitoring Programs in Israel

Ecological corridors are essential for sustaining biodiversity in fragmented landscapes, enabling wildlife movement and genetic exchange. In regions under heavy human pressure, such as central Israel, these corridors face increasing challenges from agriculture, infrastructure, and urban expansion. Citizen science track monitoring offers a practical and inclusive approach to understanding how mammals use these spaces.

This project engaged diverse communities—expert trackers and local environmental volunteersin systematic surveys of ecological corridors. By combining professional guidance with minimal field training and support through the iNaturalist platform, participants contributed meaningful ecological data while strengthening their connection to local nature.

The initiative demonstrated that citizen science can provide reliable insights into species presence and habitat use, while simultaneously fostering environmental awareness and stewardship. Beyond its scientific value, the work highlights the power of community involvement in conservation, showing how shared responsibility can reinforce both ecological resilience and social engagement.

Daniel Hansche

Daniel has been practicing tracking for 30 years. He founded and teaches globally for Spur Wander and is a CyberTracker evaluator with Tracker Certification. As much at home in the rural stretches of northeastern USA as they are in the urban an spaces of Berlin, Daniel loves tracking all of the animals of all of the world’s spaces.

Pushing for Progress

How do we push ourselves to develop as trackers and how can we balance our approach to honing this ancestral art & science? We’ll have a look at approaches, options, and angles that we can play with to bring life to our committed practice.

Kim Cabrera

Kim Cabrera is a lifelong tracker and nature enthusiast. Cabrera earned CyberTracker Track and Sign Specialist certifications in the forest and desert biomes in the USA. She has a Level II Trailing certification. Cabrera created the first web site dedicated to tracking in 1997, and has taught tracking in state parks in California, and for various conservation organizations in northern California.

Learning Tracks Through Illustration

In this presentation, I will present a method I use for using graphics software and track observations to enhance the learning process. Drawing is a great way to solidify track details in your mind and is used to deepen the study of individual species’ tracks.

Robin Rigg

Robin Rigg is chairman of the Slovak Wildlife Society, which he established in 1998. He is a zoologist specialising in large carnivores, their management and coexistence with human communities. He has a Bachelors degree in Natural, Medical & Veterinary Science from Cambridge University and gained his Masters degree in Zoology from the University of Aberdeen with a thesis on “The extent of predation on livestock by large carnivores in Slovakia and mitigating carnivore-human conflict using livestock guarding dogs”. Since moving from Scotland to Slovakia in 1996 much of Robin’s work has focused on wolves, bears and lynx and their interactions with local people. He is an active member of the IUCN-IBA Bear Specialist Group and the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe. In 2016 he was appointed a member of the Ministry of the Environment’s Working Group for the Management of Large Carnivores in Slovakia.

Wolf hunting behaviour: insights from tracking

Tracking is a valuable method to learn about animal movements, behaviour and landscape use that can support wildlife research and conservation efforts. Combination of track and sign identification with trailing and other techniques has the potential to reveal, for example, hunting strategies and interactions between predators, prey and scavengers. In this presentation, case studies are shown from Carpathian Wolf Watch: White Wilderness volunteer weeks (http://slovakwildlife.org/en/activities/whitewilderness). In one such instance, forward- and back-tracking documented the movements of a pack of wolves over several days, during which they made multiple kills and (re)visited older carcasses.

Josephine Kaatz

Josephine Kaatz is a tracker since 2021. Her work as photo editor for various magazines with focus on nature (such as GEO magazine, Walden and transform magazine) deepened her interests in environment and animal communications.

In addition to her commissioned work, she explores the art of tracking with her camera lens.

Title: Temporary moments – Photo Slide Show

The presented photographs capture findings and landscapes during the process of tracking, while at the same time invite the viewer to get lost in the temporary moments and beauty of tracking and reconnection with nature.

You can find out more about her work on her website: www.josephinekaatz.com.

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Sören Decraene

Sören Decraene is a passionate tracker and outdoor enthusiast who enjoys teaching others about the wonders of nature. He also likes to spend time alone in the woods getting close the wildlife to document their behaviour or take pictures of them. He has a Professional level Track and sign in the Cybertracker system.

Signs, who, what and why

In this talk we will be discussing some common sign, what it looks like, who made them and why all accompanied by video-footage to better understand the origin of the sign we encounter on our walks in nature.

Bernd Schelker

Bernd Schelker works for various planning and environmental agencies, for which he mostly maps planning-relevant and protected birds and writes species protection reports. Tracking, birding and photography also draw him out into nature almost every day.

Job opportunities for trackers – Earn money as a tracker instead of spending money on more books

During my career as a tracker and biologist, I was fortunate enough to use this knowledge to find job opportunities at environmental agencies and forestry offices.

In my presentation, I will introduce three methods that give you a good chance of finding job offers as a career changer (tracker, biologist) at forestry offices or environmental agencies.

1. Nest mapping for wind energy and other construction projects
2. Browsing damage assessments for forestry offices
3.  Bark damage assessments for forestry offices

For the dedicated trackers, the basics of this, namely recognising and assessing the relevant tracks, are usually well known. In this presentation, I will explain exactly which tracks and signs need to be looked at and what the assessment procedures and (sometimes statistical) methods for the various institutes look like.

Frank Fass

Frank Fass is founder and owner oft a unique Wolf Information Center „Wolfcenter“ in Germany, Lower Saxxony. Frank is interested in finding effective solution toprevent livestock according to wolf attacks. Nevertheless wolves attack even cattle and horses in Germany.

Traces left by wolves during attacks on wild animals and livestock.

Francis Collie

Francis Collie: Francis is a CT certified tracker living in the woods by the Valley of Mankind, Dordogne (France), famous for the multitude of its prehistoric rock-art caves. In 2014, he founds the French tracking association Je Suis La Piste to share his passion and connect with various First Nations’ people. He has also created tracker intervention-group Périgord Pistage and is co-founder of national association France Pistage.

TRACKIE TALKIE,

A stealthy and intuitive communication system for groups of trackers.

Created in 2022 for the needs of “Périgord Pistage“ intervention trackers-group (presented during ITS 2024), this sign language was then taught to hundreds of curious through our workshops, rapidly expanded to the French- then the international tracking community (ITS 2025).  Trackie Talkie is based on many existing sign languages (traditional Aboriginal & Lakota, scouts, trappers, military and “civilian” sign languages), with a peculiarity :  each sign has to be stealthy (using only one hand and little-to-no- movement) and as intuitive as possible.

Tracking as a group is fun and useful, but lots of talking usually kicks in, startling wildlife and breaking concentration.  Trackie Talkie is the perfect tool to make the most out of your group-tracking experiences !

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Diliana Welink

Diliana Welink: is Level 3 CyberTracker track and sign, MSc Biology a Certified Naturalist and entomologist. She is fascinated by the role of insects in this world and their relations with different kinds of species and loves to make people aware of them and their sign.

Invertebrate tracks on beach and riverbank

When on the beach, it’s inevitible you’ll pick up a shell. At least one…. But which species is it? How can you see whether its fossile or not? Who made the little round holes in some shells? Why are there countless little holes on the mudflatts? You can pick up so many amazing stories on each beach. I will tell you some from the Netherlands.

Michael Hewing

Michael Hewing: has been a tracker since 2018 and he is mapping bats for living, as a freelancer he is also monitoring otters and dormice.
Very fascinated from observing animals day and night, he spends a lot of time with night visions, cameras and binoculars in the fields.
With www.wildlife-muenster.de he teaches track & sign and he shows people carefully the nocturnal wildlife.

“Otters – Ecology and detection of a secret predator”

Otters are fascinating and elusive members of the mustelid family.
While many wildlife trackers are familiar with their signs, finding otters systematically in the wild can be quite challenging.
Which signs are truly distinctive, and how can we tell them apart from those of other animals?
In this talk, Michael Hewing will explore these questions and reveal how these remarkable creatures are perfectly adapted to their habitats.

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Andreas Wenger

Dr. Andreas Wenger is a medical specialist, a long-standing ornithologist, a nature-loving traveler, a tracker, and founding chairman of a regional conservation NGO. He is also involved in environmental education, contributes articles, and in 2024, his book on bird tracks was published.

Philip Mill

Philip Mill: Wildlife sound recordist and nature enthusiast, studied in London, UK, currently practicing with a focus on trying to capture detailed and close-up recordings of European Wildlife through sound.

Regularly walking both off and on the trails around mountain trails in Poland, Central Europe, and across Europe, he tries to apply tracking and trailing techniques as well as listening to follow and record wildlife, observing field signs in conjunction with audio recordings to try and best identify the habits and movements of wildlife through the forest.

Tracking and trailing is a large part of what I do and it’s amazing to study the little details of the forest that are often missed, and also listening out for and engaging with wildlife sound in European habitats.

Tracking by Ear: A Winter with the European Wolf

In my presentation, I’ll explore how listening—whether through audio recording technology or with our ears alone—can enhance the practice of tracking and trailing wildlife. My main focus will be on wolves, though I’ll touch briefly on other species to illustrate key ideas and methods.

Before I began studying tracking in depth, my work relied almost entirely on sound. Listening to the environment was my primary method of observing wildlife. Over time, I began to integrate visual tracking, field signs, and trailing to complement my recordings. This combination revealed much about different species—their communication, presence, and movement patterns.

Last winter, in the Owl Mountains of Poland, I tracked wolves primarily by sound, supported by field signs. Listening allowed me to locate rendezvous points, frequently used areas, and even estimate pack size. In spring and summer, when field signs are harder to find, I often rely on sound alone to relocate wolves. On one occasion, following their howls led me to visually spot a wolf after its usual territory had been disturbed by logging.

This long-term listening and tracking approach builds a larger picture of wolf movements and behavior—though it takes months of patient recording and observation.

I’ve also applied similar methods with other species. For instance, I used sound alone to locate Red Deer rutting sites by placing recorders along forest trails, which revealed patterns in their movements and behavior. I’ve also studied beaver communication and the seasonal variations in what can be heard throughout the year, as well as vocal activity in badgers and pine Martens.

Stuart Keenan

Stuart Keenan has been identifying feathers since he was a kid in the 1970s. 5 years ago I started a FB group Feather ID UK which now has 14, 600 members.

An introduction to identifying feathers

Feather ID can be quite daunting but over the years I have developed a series of 5 questions which, although not a magic formula, it helps a great deal to narrow down the possible species. In the talk I will explain this method, particularly concentrating on what I consider to be the first and most important step.

Jörn Kaufhold

Trailing specialist and evaluator

Jörn , Rene and John will be hosting this years event

Rene Nauta

Senior tracker and evaluator

Jörn , Rene and John will be hosting this years event

John Rhyder

Senior tracker and evaluator

Jörn , Rene and John will be hosting this years event