#647: Mary Oliver

The poetry of Mary Oliver has come up a few times in recent weeks.

This poem was mentioned a few times.

Are you familiar with her work?

What other poems are potentially relevant for a perspective on the natural world?

#646: Field Studies Council Virtual courses

The Field Studies Council has made a lot of free online courses available. These explore a range of habitats and types of animals. These are two of the focus areas of the proposed subject content which are currently out for consultation until early September.

Some of these would be of potential value for teachers who want to upskill themselves and prepare to potentially teach aspects of natural history with which they are not familiar.

#645: The RMetS Consultation on the GCSE Natural History

The RMetS has shared their thoughts on the GCSE Natural History ahead of the closing of the consultation on the proposed subject content.

Although the draft revised science and geography subject contents are not expected to be published within the consultation period of this GCSE, we anticipate that climate change education will be strengthened in both subject areas. 

Therefore, it is important that that Natural History GCSE builds on, rather than duplicates, learning in those subjects.

To this end, we recommend that the Natural History GCSE subject content should specifically develop systematic understanding of the interactions between weather, climate and climate change and the natural world, through an understanding of:

• How climate determines biomes.
• The interaction of extreme weather (including extremes of rainfall and temperature) and weather-related hazards (such as floods, droughts and fires) with habitats and species.
• The impact of current and projected climate change as well as climate mitigation solutions with habitats and species and how negative impacts can be reduced or avoided.
• The role of the natural world in the climate system, including the role of nature-based solutions (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change.

It is also important to clearly delineate the natural processes that controlled the interrelationship between weather, climate and climate change and the natural world before the Anthropocene, and the more recent human ones.

We support the inclusion of fieldwork and observation in the proposed content and recommend that this includes simple weather observations or measurements.

We support the broad range of data skills included but recommend that wider skills such as critical evaluation are also included.

#644: Shooting Times journal article

Via my Google Alert for GCSE Natural History.

It will be inter­est­ing to see what the uptake might be. Will it be mostly teen­agers who already have an interest in nature, want­ing to know more, or new­comers hop­ing for an easy course? There are gen­er­a­tions of fam­il­ies spend­ing little time out­side their imme­di­ate sur­round­ings. From my own exper­i­ence, I am con­cerned to see so many people whose primary con­tact with nature is via tele­vi­sion doc­u­ment­ar­ies, their views on envir­on­mental issues shaped by mis­in­formed presenters and social media influ­en­cers.

Per­haps some of us can fill the gap and offer to help with the field­work aspects of the new course. Field­s­ports are the ori­ginal form of nat­ural his­tory in prac­tice, so per­haps the onus is on us to engage pro­act­ively with local schools rather than moan­ing from afar should the antis take over the nar­rat­ive.

The article quotes someone from the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) - a friend of mine Paula worked for them over 40 years ago... the article asks some of the questions that many others will also be asking.

#643: The Path More Travelled

A cross posting from my Geo Library blog project - what do you mean you haven't visited? There's over 700 books that would be of interest to geographers.

'Absorbing and exhilarating . . . This book will literally expand your horizons' MICHAEL PALIN
'A panoptic, deeply researched and compelling history of our nation' PATRICK BARKHAM

This was the book I finished at the beginning of the summer break.

It's a chunky tome from Nicholas Crane which sits alongside his earlier book on the making of the landscape of Britain.

It explores the origin of the paths and tracks that run through England, from their first makings as the landscape was populated with the first arrivals. 

The paths firmed up with foot traffic and created a network of paths connecting settlements as they developed. Horses expanded the network, and trade turned them into roads. They were joined by trains and canals and then the car changed everything.

It's scholarly and accessible and full of incident and detail, taking you through the thickets of ancient woodland and out to the development of motorways and the current issues we face travelling through the countryside, including past struggles to gain access to open access land.

Details from the publisher:

In The Path More Travelled, acclaimed geographer and travel writer Nicholas Crane explores the hidden history of Britain's coast-to-coast web of footpaths, from the icy Cairngorms to the banks of the Severn (where he discovers footprints left over 7,000 years ago). 

Witty, wide-ranging and passionate, this is an enchanting call to rediscover and protect the lifeblood of our landscapes.

My copy was published by W&N in 2026

Hardback, 432pp

ISBN:  978-1399605816

If you want to hear more about the book, Nicholas Crane is doing a series of events around the country, including a talk in King's Lynn at the Town Hall.

Your best option if you live in the East of England is to come along to our Christmas social event on Tuesday the 8th of December.

It will be hosted by Norwich School.

Nick will have a focus on the ancient footpaths of East Anglia as well, given the location of the talk, and the fact he was born in Cringleford - a few miles from where my daughter lives - and grew up in the area.

My ticket is booked, so I will see you there and may even help you get some sausage rolls and brownies once the talk is over. We usually have mulled wine on arrival as well...

#642: Wildfires

Wildfires are breaking out across Europe.

It's not clear whether most of them started by natural causes.

A report from the House of Lords.

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon and an essential process in some ecosystems. However, around the world climate change, demographic changes and shifts in land use are altering their frequency and severity.

In the UK, natural wildfires, for example those sparked following lightning strikes, are rare and most wildfires are the result of human action. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), which represents fire and rescue services (FRS) across the UK (44 in England, three in Wales and one each in Scotland and Northern Ireland), notes that most wildfires nationally originate from human activity such as:

• littering (from improper disposal of a cigarette to dropping litter such as reflective items and glass bottles that then start a fire)
• unattended fires (campfires, bonfires and barbecues left unattended or not fully extinguished)
• deliberate fire-setting
• controlled burning used to manage land that then gets out of control

There is no single definition of what constitutes a wildfire in the UK, with different definitions used by government agencies, the media and FRS. 

The UK government used to define a wildfire as any “unplanned and uncontrolled fire(s) in the natural environment”, but now defines the term to mean an “uncontrolled fire that burns vegetation, such as grass, heather, woodland, crops and scrubland”.

The NFCC maintains that not all outdoor fires are wildfires. Instead, it defines a wildfire as “any uncontrolled vegetation fire which requires a decision, or action, regarding suppression”. In addition, the NFCC specifies that a wildfire will meet one or more of the following criteria:

• involves a geographical area of at least one hectare (10,000 square metres)
• has a sustained flame length of more than 1.5 metres
• requires a committed resource of at least four FRS appliances/resources
• requires resources to be committed for at least six hours
• presents a serious threat to life, environment, property and infrastructure

One of the most heartbreaking ones, was relatively local to me, and an area I know well: Dunwich Heath which borders Minsmere RSPB reserve.

A fundraiser shows the depth of feeling for this landscape.

"This beautiful purple landscape, once filled with the sound of warblers and skylarks and people enjoying a walk through the heather, is now unrecognisable."

Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust

#641: Losing front gardens

This Conversation article revisits a theme which has been the focus for some fieldwork in the past in Ely. I've blogged about that separately.

People have tended to pave over front gardens and drop the kerb to create off-road parking... which then restricts the available on-road parking, which encourages more people to do the same.

Many modern housing developments prioritise off road parking.

This is increasing urban temperatures as the surfaces absorb and retain more heat, and the lack of vegetation reduces biodiversity.

I have a front garden laid to lawn with some pots by the front door. This makes it low maintenance but retains some elements of green space and a permeable surface for rainfall.

The article references an RHS report from 2025 on the loss of gardening spaces and the inequality of access.

This report found:

• The average domestic garden is 244 square metres – that’s nine tenths of a tennis court.
• 19 million trees can be found in Great Britain’s domestic gardens and 50.5 million across all cultivated green space - six times more than London’s entire urban forest.
• Just 0.15% of domestic garden is artificial lawn but this still accounts for 7.5million square metres while artificial grass across all cultivated green space stands at 18million square metres - more than six times the size of the City of London
• More than a third (35%) of domestic gardens comprises lawn, with 25.8% under trees and 11% as flower beds.
• 42% of domestic garden space is paved over (55% of front garden space and 36% of back garden space), reducing gardens potential to cool, capture pollution, support biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, and restricting rainwater absorption by the soil and exacerbating flooding.

To maximise the benefits of cultivated green space and protect them for the future the RHS is urging:

• Policymakers to guarantee “Space to Grow” in all housing and urban planning, so every household has access to a garden
• Homeowners to consider robust planting and permeable paving for front garden driveways to help mitigate flood risk and promote the cooling potential of gardens as well as support biodiversity
• Local councils to ensure diversity in tree planting, prioritising those species that will respond best to climate change
• Developers to design gardens with water channelling, capture and storage facilities to help future proof them

Gardening is certainly a popular activity, both to do but also to go to see. There were massive queues in the local area where I live due to the RHS Sandringham Show: an expansion on the previous Sandringham Flower Show.

#640: Greenlightenment

Another post which came from my Google Alert for "GCSE Natural History"

For the last week, Steve Backshall has been presenting his Wild Heligan event at the 'Lost' Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.

This Cornish Times article explains how he and Tim Smit (creator of the Eden Project) are calling for a "greenlightenment".

Sir Tim said: “The launch of the government consultation is a seismic moment for British education and we must recognise that a deep understanding of the natural world is fundamental to humanity’s future.
For too long, natural history has been seen by some as a folly – the domain of tweed-jacketed professors hoarding specimens in glass cases – but the reality is that so many of the problems in our education system can be solved by putting natural history at the centre of the curriculum. We need young people to realise that natural history is for everyone, not just the privileged few, and that nature surrounds us wherever we live. It is our responsibility to equip the next generation with the tools to protect nature so it doesn’t become history.”

#639: Consultation response submitted

I've submitted my personal response to the consultation on the GCSE Natural History's proposed subject content. The RGS will be submitting a response - as will the GA and other related organisations.

One of the core aims of the natural history GCSE is for students to acquire deep knowledge of the species and habitats that make up the natural world in the UK, as well as how these species and habitats interact with one another.

The subject content seeks to enable students to gain a profound understanding of the distinct features and uniqueness of the natural world in the UK. Students will learn about the characteristics of the main wildlife groupings, which will enable them to identify species they may see in their natural habitats. This focus on species and habitats – and the specific requirements contained within the proposed subject content – will ensure students gain excellent breadth and depth of knowledge of a range of key elements of the natural world.

Studying human interaction with nature is essential for educating students about fostering a sustainable and responsible relationship with the natural world. This knowledge is crucial for supporting and conserving habitats and species. The content focuses on understanding the effects of a range of human activities on wildlife and habitats, and exploring how different conservation and habitat‑management methods can preserve and enhance biodiversity.

Through development of the subject content, we have heard clearly that fieldwork is integral to the study of natural history. It plays a key role in providing students with practical experience to support the knowledge they have been taught and the skills they would need to take most advantage of their time outdoors. For this reason, we are proposing an ambitious fieldwork requirement of 20 hours, which goes further than other GCSEs, and will allow students to fully consolidate and extend their learning beyond the classroom.

Within this requirement, we have been mindful of potential delivery challenges for schools. We have therefore used the metric of ‘hours’ (which contrasts with metrics used for fieldwork in other subjects, such as GCSE geography) to make clear that the requirement can be structured flexibly across the duration of the course, including during regular timetabled lessons. Specifications must allow schools to choose locations for fieldwork based on their own local contexts and circumstances, as long as students are able to meet specification requirements. While schools may consider locations in their local areas and further afield, we also encourage schools to consider using school grounds as a location for fieldwork study.

The proposed subject content requires students to understand how climate change – both natural processes and human‑accelerated factors – affects habitats, species and ecological relationships. While climate change is not the primary focus of the qualification, students will be able to build on learning in other subjects and apply this knowledge to the study of the natural world, including how species respond to changing environmental conditions.

Some elements of my submission were outlined on a Substack post.

A few points I referred to:

• there’s no mention of GIS and mapping, which is vital for plotting species distributions and habitats and monitoring changes in those over time
• there are 17 elements to the fieldwork suggestions - is this too many, and are all of them realistic in a school context?
• 20 hours of fieldwork sounds like a lot… but it isn’t across the length of the course itself - more fieldwork time is needed
• ecologists and others who work in the field will often use a notebook where observations and other materials are kept - should a field journal (kept across the length of the course) be a possible method of assessment (in the same way as other subjects allow a portfolio of work
• are the chosen habitats and species appropriate, and what will students do with the knowledge they have of identifying particular species?
• how can the subject be made more inclusive in nature?

Kit Marie Rackley has shared their position on this as well.

#638: Bill Oddie RIP

Bill Oddie was a broadcaster - I remember him in 'The Goodies' - Ecky Thump, giant Dougal, Cat on the BT Tower et al... 

He was also a bird-watcher and naturalist and presenter on Springwatch.

#637: Tree of the Year 2026

The Woodland Trust is once again inviting votes for the Tree of the Year.

For the Woodland Trust, trees are really important.

A tree may be a village’s oldest inhabitant, a much-loved local landmark, a place to meet, play or exercise, or a gardener’s pride and joy. Whatever their story, Tree of the Year aims to highlight and appreciate how vital trees are for our landscapes and our lives.

Trees clean our air, cool our streets, reduce flooding, support wildlife and boost our health and wellbeing. This year’s Tree of the Year contest is celebrating the trees that have gone the extra mile, surviving an array of challenges and still standing strong against the odds. These extraordinary trees are icons in their communities, clinging on despite extreme growing conditions, disease, lightning strikes and even cannonball fire! Each one is remarkable to look at and has an even more remarkable story behind it.

The team has shortlisted 10 trees and you can vote for your favourite before the 29th of September.

I've voted for mine...

#636: Alexander von Humboldt

Another in a series of posts on people who one would probably be worth discussing with students as part of the final course, because of their contributions to Natural History.

It remains to be seen whether this will actually form part of the final specification.

Alexander von Humboldt should have a place on any such list.

There is a very useful book on the life and work of von Humboldt by Andrea Wulf: a biography published in 2015 which won several awards. 

It outlines his pioneering work in a range of sciences, including the creation of 

Here's a short video from the Smithsonian which talks about his ideas, some of which were contemporaneous with other figures.

His first major expedition to South America began in 1799. It would last five years and what he 'discovered' and described there was to kick start his career.

.

& one from TED Education...

Von Humboldt was also credited with some of the early examples of infographics, which he developed.

#635: Getting ready

I mentioned the podcast with Mary Colwell in the previous post.

In this podcast she describes her thoughts on when it should be launched..

I’m absolutely convinced it should be launched when it’s ready to be launched. And much as after this long and rather torturous journey, it looks like now being a reality, I think it would be a great mistake to rush it through. I think what we need to do is get everything right. We need to get really good textbooks written.

We need to get really good support materials out to teachers. I would love to see a whole bank, a sort of library of the country’s greatest naturalists giving lessons on whatever turns up in the syllabus. So you’d have Tim Birkhead talking about seabirds. You know, you’d have the perfect people to teach young people about whatever is in the syllabus.

Now, that’s gonna take time, and that will take time to develop well. I think let’s now take our time, get it right, get schools feeling confident and teachers feeling confident that they’re supported enough to teach it, and then we launch it out onto the world.

If it’s rushed through, it has the danger of being a little bit shoddy, a bit insubstantial. It won’t fire the young people’s imaginations about what natural history is. The biggest problem we have is that most people have forgotten what natural history is. They think it’s about climate change and sustainability. We’ve forgotten that it’s about animals and plants, creatures. It’s about the living world around us and knowing that living world intimately, and that takes time to develop those materials because they’ve been lost. They need to be brought back together again and presented in exciting and enticing ways that make natural history such a relevant subject going forward in their lives.

She goes on to say:

I would love to see a greater connection between natural history, as in the studying the subject, and the connection out to all the other parts of life. All the art, the music, the poetry, the literature, the history, the geography, the mathematics. Everything that we do can be traced back to nature, can be traced back to the forms, the sounds, the sights, and the wonder of the natural world.

And the more that nature is put into this much broader context of the human experience of being a living, breathing mammal in this extraordinary planet, the more we can make our relationship with nature evident everywhere in our drama, in everything that we do, then I think that will just slowly build the awe and wonder, which is what sustains all of life.

Caroline Lucas also describes access to green spaces...

We know that access to green space in England and Wales is hugely unequally spread, and we know that people from lower income backgrounds, people from ethnic backgrounds and so forth, are far less likely to have access to green space.

So it feels to me that we need to do far more to make sure in the development and planning space that we build in access to green space right from the start.

#634: A podcast with Caroline Lucas and Mary Colwell

Shared by the Green Alliance.

After more than a decade of campaigning, a natural history GCSE for England is finally on the table. In this special episode, former MP Caroline Lucas and conservationist Mary Colwell sit down to unpack the government’s new consultation: what it gets right, what it’s missing and what bumblebees have to do with it.

A new Podcast with Mary Colwell.

A transcript is available.

Mary's views on the consultation document:

Yeah, there’s lots to welcome about it actually, and from earlier iterations it’s hugely improved. So it really has shifted, um, the focus back onto studying nature, which is really accessible to you, and I think that is the most important thing. The GCSE has to be grounded in localism. It has to be the nature you see on a day-to-day basis. Now, that might not be puffins and dolphins. It might just be, uh, the worms in your garden, the butterflies, the bees, the street trees, the flowers that grow up in the streets in the springtime. It might be the everyday stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in wonder. And so to put the emphasis back on what people will see every day is really good.

I welcome the sense of wanting to be a naturalist has come through a lot more strongly. But where I’d say it was lacking is in two or three areas. One is in the keeping of field notebooks and jottings and recordings, actually physically committing down on paper or electronically your thoughts, your observations, your data.

That’s not explicitly put in there as part of a requirement for the GCSE, and that is so important. There is not a naturalist who has ever lived that hasn’t kept a notebook. And notebooks are not only places to write numbers down, they’re places where you express that connection that we were talking about earlier, which is so important.

They’re places where your interaction, your relationship, personal relationship with what’s before you is recorded, and that psychological process sets in train a whole lifetime of connection. The other thing that’s missing, I think, is a sense of the shifting baseline. And I think until we understand that some of the greatest losses in UK nature has happened within living memory.

In the last 100 years, we have lost 50% of the mass of wildlife in the UK. Until we know that, we won’t make sense of what’s before us now. And that shifting baseline, that sense of "this is normal". You look out of the window and this is what’s normal because this is what you see, as opposed to if you’d looked out of the window 50 years ago, you’d have seen a very different world.

But we just gradually get used to less. We gradually get used to an impoverished world. And so if they could put in some way of tackling the shifting baseline in a way that younger people could talk to the older generation, it could be members of their family or their community. What was it like here 50 years ago?

Listen to it here...

#633: Europe's soils are drying out...

And that is not good news...

Rivers are running low across Europe, cutting the generation of clean hydropower and restricting cargo ships. The Rhine at Lobith in the Netherlands is now lower than the minimum level seen in the hot summer of 1976. The scientists warned that this disruption could push up the price of food and energy, hitting low-income households hardest.

The original research is here. 

#632: Cambridge Zoology Museum

As part of the resources which are being developed in due course to go along with the GCSE Natural History specification, we will be suggesting lists of places to visit as part of the wider work of delivering the new course. It will be important to connect students with these places, whether through school, or by encouraging parents to consider taking their children there for enrichment purposes.

As I teach in Cambridgeshire, this would be one place to consider should my current school decide to offer the new GCSE Natural History specification.

It's right here, in Cambridge, the only real giant ground sloth skeleton on display in the UK. These South American herbivores were among the largest mammals to walk the Earth. We're open this weekend, incl. 12 - 4.30pm Bank Holiday Monday, if you fancy a look 😎@CamUnivMuseums pic.twitter.com/WSMU0OlyIY

— Museum of Zoology, Cambridge (@ZoologyMuseum) August 24, 2022

The website is here. 

#631: Our Broken Planet - now up to ten episodes

The Natural History Museum's Our Broken Planet Podcast has been going for over 2 years now. I posted about it when it had just started, so it's worth revisiting to see what topics have been covered in that time.

The most recent episode looked at what action had been taken about climate change.

Surveys show that most of us are really worried about climate change and we want something to be done. But what?

This series, we’ve explored many ways in which nature is changing in response to human activity and the dangers posed to people and planet as a result. In this final episode, Tori and Khalil explore how people are taking action in the face of the planetary emergency. Along the way, you’ll find out:When has activism been effective?
How do scientists feel about climate change?
One thing everyone can do to start making a positive change

Contributors:Dr Erica McAllister - Senior Curator for Diptera and Siphonaptera (flies and fleas) at the Natural History Museum
Professor Tristram Wyatt - Senior research fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford and Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research
Alessandra Korap Munduruku - Member of the Munduruku group of Sawré Muybu, an indigenous territory in northern Brazil, and President of the Pariri Indigenous Association
Dr Rim Saab - Social psychology lecturer at the University of Sussex, who specialises in the psychology of political action

#630: Insectageddon

A page from the current issue of the 'Geographical' magazine on the decline in insects which spells trouble for many ecosystems as they a crucial part of the food web.

I have a subscription to this magazine, and it would be a useful source for those planning to teach GCSE Natural History.

#629: Youth Climate and Nature Panel

The Youth Climate and Nature Panel is a new initiative from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) putting young people’s voices at the heart of climate and nature policy.

We are looking for passionate young people from across the UK who want to help shape the future of climate and nature policy, share their views, and inspire wider action.

The panel will bring together young people aged 16 to 25 from across the UK, representing a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to: 

• provide insight and advice to government on climate and nature policies
• support better engagement with young people
• strengthen collaboration between different generations on climate and nature issues
• help amplify youth voices and action across the UK

The panel is part of the UK government’s commitment to work with people and communities across the country to make sure that everyone can benefit from the transition to net zero.

Fifteen young people will be selected. Young people based across the UK aged 16 to 18 can send in applications for this exciting opportunity.

More details here.

#628: Live lesson with Steve Backshall

Encounter Edu have organised a live lesson link up in September with Steve Backshall as part of Ocean Live.

The live lesson is on Tuesday 22 September, and will be pitched for ages 7-11, with all welcome to join.

We’re thrilled to launch an exciting new live lesson series, Ocean Live with Steve Backshall. Engaging young people with our ocean is one of the things Steve cares about most, and this series marks the start of a brand-new partnership with Nekton, an incredible ocean exploration charity using the latest technology to understand and protect our seas.

Join us live from The Deep on 22 September, as primary schools across the world tune in for the first broadcast.

Live from DEEP Campus, the UK’s leading underwater training and innovation centre, Steve will explore the cutting-edge technology opening up new frontiers in ocean exploration, and speak to the science team behind some incredible new species discoveries.

Expect live quizzes and interaction, segments on tech, exploration and discovery, and a full set of classroom resources and activities to extend the learning long after the broadcast ends. This live lesson will also be broadcast on Children United.

Further details to be confirmed over the summer ahead of the new academic year, but we wanted to get this in your diaries now.