#674: Who owns Norfolk?

I'm going to be using Norfolk as a located example for quite a few elements of the course, including some of the habitats and flora and fauna along with other elements of the subject content. 

I've already started creating some of those. Some of them will take the form of StoryMaps.

Who owns Norfolk? is a valuable website to explore the ownership of land in the county.

Details:

Who Owns Norfolk? This project sought to provide more detailed local landownership data in Norfolk in support of Who Owns England? Particular focus was given to Norfolk's large land estates, and how these were managing their environmental and social responsibilities.

The landownership research started in 2020 and concluded in 2024. Part way through the project, due to time and resource constraints, it shifted to focusing on the West Norfolk district only. At the time of its conclusion, the project had mapped the owners of 70% of West Norfolk's land area.

From 2024 onwards, the project is seeking to map the areas of Norfolk that have been protected for nature - see Rewilding Norfolk.

#673: Countryfile calendar voting

Today's the day that the voting took place for next year's BBC Countryfile calendar.

If you're reading this in time, you can vote for your favourite for the final 12 chosen images.

The theme is "Signs of the Seasons".

Vote for your favourite here.

#672: Taxonomy and wildlife groupings

Taxonomy is a system of classification of living things.

An early draft subject content document for the GCSE Natural History said that students need to know about this process: to "gain knowledge of classification and taxonomy and enable them to identify plants, animals and fungi found in the UK, both native and alien (non-native, including invasive)."

The proposed subject content (currently up for consultation until early September) says that the specification:

must require students to extend the knowledge of the natural world acquired at key stage 3 of the national curriculum, to gain knowledge of classification and taxonomy and enable them to identify plants, animals and fungi found in the UK, both native and alien (non-native, including invasive). 

Taxonomy is described by the Natural History Museum as "the science that attempts to categorise the many millions of species on Earth." 

Here's how humans are classified:

It is defined as:
"the study and classification of living and extinct forms of life". 

It works by dividing all life into groups known as taxa, where a single taxon represents a particular way of dividing up nature.

There are different systems, the most commonly used being the Linnaean classification.

Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) was a Swedish naturalist who became known as the father of taxonomy.

A PPT and other resources connected to this will be created, including some activities testing understanding of the different levels of taxonomy that can be used to identify something.

Image source: https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/classification-living-things-taxonomy

Students also (according to the proposed subject content) must be required:

to know and understand the main groupings and characteristics of each of the following wildlife groupings generally, as well as each of the specified sub-groupings: invertebrates (including insects, arachnids, crustaceans, molluscs, and worms), vertebrates (including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish), flowering and non-flowering plants (including vascular plants, trees, ferns, bryophytes), lichens and fungi. Awarding organisations must select an appropriate number of characteristics to effectively distinguish between each of the groupings.

#671: UN World Restoration Flagships

Via email newsletter from UNESCO.

A global focus, whereas a UK focus is more likely for the GCSE.

At the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the United Nations has recognised three new UN World Restoration Flagships.

From Brazil's Cerrado savannah to the Sahel and the vast lands of Saudi Arabia, these initiatives join a movement now restoring nearly 20 million hectares worldwide, with 75 million hectares committed by 2030 and over 800,000 jobs created along the way. Land degradation is not irreversible, and these three winners prove it.

The Cerrado Savannah, Brazil



This initiative takes on the Cerrado, a savannah that has already lost over half its native vegetation to land conversion. More than 180 organizations, Indigenous Peoples, farmers and researchers are restoring land across nine states through natural regeneration, direct seeding and agroforestry. Over 27,000 hectares are already mapped under restoration, with seeds from more than 150 native species collected to build a lasting restoration supply chain.
By 2030, the initiative aims to restore 2 million hectares — part of Brazil's national commitment to restore 12 million.

Read more about the initiative.

The documentary trailer is here:

Sahel Intergrated Resilience Initiative.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger.



Restoring land, feeding millions.

Since 2018, the Sahel Integrated Resilience Initiative has strengthened food security and livelihoods for more than four million people, rehabilitating over 335,000 hectares through stone bunds, zai pits, wetland restoration and water-harvesting infrastructure. This work matters most now, as 7.4 million people across the region face crisis-level food insecurity this lean season. In Chad alone, more than a million people were reached in 2025 across 313 villages. 

By 2030, the initiative aims to restore 470,000 hectares and lock away up to 20 million tons of CO₂.

Read more about the initiative.

Documentary trailer:

National Greening Program

Saudi Arabia.



159 million trees and counting: Saudi Arabia's National Greening Program is restoring degraded landscapes — rangelands, forests, deserts, urban areas and coastal mangroves. By June 2026, the programme had planted more than 159 million trees and brought 1 million hectares under restoration, reintroducing species including the Arabian oryx, gazelles and ibex. By 2030, the programme aims to restore 2.5 million hectares and plant 215 million trees, part of a national goal of 40 million hectares and 10 billion trees.

Read more about the initiative.

Documentary:

StoryMap



The interactive StoryMap takes you inside the journeys behind Brazil's Cerrado, the Sahel and Saudi Arabia's National Greening Program. 

Explore the people, the land, and the results, mapped and told in their own words. 

#670: 24 rabbits

A BBC Ideas video shares the story of 24 rabbits which were introduced to Australia. 

They bred like... rabbits....

More details on the work that went into the making of the film can be seen here.

24 rabbits from Somerset were brought by Thomas Austin in 1859.

The Rabbit Proof Fence had to be built to precent their spread. 

#669: Can Britain become wild again?

A film which was made a few years ago, and is now available to view on YouTube.

Hope Rewilded is a documentary exploring rewilding in Britain — what it means, why it matters, and whether giving nature the freedom to recover could help reverse the dramatic decline of our wildlife.

Across Britain, landscapes that have been shaped and depleted over generations are being given the chance to recover. Species are returning, habitats are regenerating and people are beginning to rethink what our countryside could look like. 

But what does it really mean to rewild a country like Britain? 

How much nature have we lost? 

What should we bring back? 

And how wild are we prepared to let Britain become? 

Hope Rewilded explores these questions through some of the people at the forefront of rewilding, conservation and nature recovery in Britain. Featuring interviews with: 

George Monbiot — environmental journalist, author and campaigner, and co-founder of Rewilding Britain. His books include Feral, an influential exploration of rewilding and ecological restoration. 

Isabella Tree — award-winning author and co-owner of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, home to one of Britain’s best-known rewilding projects. She is the author of Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm. 

Simon Roper — zoologist, conservationist and co-founder and Director of Ambios, an organisation working in nature recovery, conservation training and species reintroductions. 

Prof. Alastair Driver — ecologist and leading UK rewilding specialist, former Director of Rewilding Britain and former National Conservation Manager for the Environment Agency, with more than four decades of experience in conservation and nature recovery. 

At its heart, Hope Rewilded is not simply a film about what Britain has lost. It is about what we could get back. What happens when we give nature another chance?

#668: GA's response to the consultation on proposed subject content

Thanks to Steve Brace for sharing a link to a post on the GA's website which shares the main themes of their response to the current consultation of the proposed subject content, which closes on the 4th of September.

#667: Natural History Podcasts #10: 'As the Season Turns'

Thanks to Michelle Graffagnino for the recommendation to this podcast on the Facebook group.

It's presented by Alice Boyd.

"As the Season Turns" has two new episodes each month - on the first of each month there is a post from Lia Leendertz, who was mentioned in the previous post.

Later in the month, Alice speaks to someone.

In the August edition she visits Jackie Morris.

Jackie Morris has worked with Robert MacFarlane on a series of projects.

#666: Lia's Almanac

Thanks to Michelle Graffagnino on the Facebook group for the recommendation of this book.

This has been published for quite a few years, and the 2027 version is now available to purchase. 

This would be a useful resource to have a copy of within the 'department' and refer to when working out some activities and foci during the year(s) that the course is taught for.

Reconnect with the seasons in Britain and Ireland with this month-by-month guide to the world around us - including tide tables, sunrises and moon phases; wildlife and folklore; seasonal recipes and more.

The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2027 gives you the tools and inspiration you need to celebrate, mark and appreciate each month of the year in your own particular way.

Divided into the 12 months, a set of tables each month gives it the feel and weight of a traditional almanac, providing practical information that gives access to the outdoors and the seasons, perfect for expeditions, woodland foraging and beach holidays.

You can also sign up to receive weekly seasonal posts.

Check out the ones so far this year here.

Click and search the archive for 3 years' worth of posts, which will contain useful ideas and inspiration for following the course of the seasons and how they are reflected in the landscape.

#665: Thought for the Day

“We should pay more attention to how we're treating our mountains, how we’re treating our world, how we’re just treating everything.

We’re just mistreating Mother Nature. That's, like, being ugly to your mama, you know?”

Dolly Parton (RIP)

#664: Tom Gauld and Peter Brookes

I'm a big fan of the work of cartoonist Tom Gauld.

My cartoon for this week’s @GuardianBooks / @GdnSaturday pic.twitter.com/iHKQaUp8mc

— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) September 16, 2023

Along with several other newspaper / syndicated cartoonists they sometimes turn their attention onto Natural History.

The most obvious cartoonist to do this is Peter Brookes.

His Nature Notes cartoons have been appearing for over 25 years!

A collection of suitable cartoons would make a good resource for teachers, to help students think critically about changes in nature.

#663: CORINE

The UK National Parks in 100 Seconds film I mentioned in a previous post uses CORINE data to work out land cover (not land use). 

This is useful data and is freely available. 

The earlier film on the UK in 100 Seconds showed just how little of the land was actually covered with housing.

Access the data here.

#662: Tectonic plate movement

Several animations: the first from ESRI

And one from Visual Capitalist:

Plate tectonic evolution from 1 Billion years ago to the present..mp4 from Visual Capitalist on Vimeo.

and finishing with this map which you can explore.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/us/map-hometown-earth-continental-drift-scn-trnd/index.html

#661: Getting used to drought

How resilient is the UK's wildlife to the coming climate emergency? 

Not very seems to be the answer...

This Conversation piece talks about the changing nature of our climate.

#660: Field Guides

The Linnean Society has shared a good collection of field guides to help you identify species.

These are going to be useful for those beginning to upskill themselves in such skills ahead of potentially teaching some of the proposed habitats in the subject content which is out for consultation until early September 2026

#659: Georges Cuvier and comparative anatomy

Georges Cuvier was someone who looked at extinct animals and used fossils and comparative anatomy to work out what they might have looked like

When we think about early life, we have a particular view of what anumals look like...

August 23, 1769, birthday of French anatomist & naturalist Georges Cuvier. First to reconstruct - when not busy drawing stratigraphic profiles - extinct animals based on comparative anatomyhttps://t.co/F5qYSMdmjF pic.twitter.com/6Eiu1XLq8a

— History_of_Geology (@Geology_History) August 23, 2022

 

#658: Cumberland House Natural History Museum - Portsmouth

Another location in the list of possible visit locations we are putting together as part of the support materials for the new specification when it is finalised.

Cumberland House Natural History museum is in Portsmouth.

It is located in a historic house near to Southsea Beach.

This has a good varied collection of items with a natural history focus.

One area is the Butterfly House.

There is also plenty to connect the visit with other natural history related field work to connect up to make a good 

The musum is free to visit.

If you've been, please let me know...

#657: Fractals, Mandelbrot and granularity in nature

Nature is the best artist, and produces stunning patterns: the feathery fronds of ice on a car in the morning, the complex patterns in a cauliflower and the aerial views of a river and its distributaries across a delta are just three of many thousands.

Often, when one views a pattern, zooming in reveals further granularity.

There is a mathematical relationship at work here. I've previously blogged about the Golden Ratio / Fibonacci sequence and its impact on natural forms.

In Adam Nicolson's 'The Sea is not made of Water' he talks about connections between Tim Robinson's maps of 'Aran' and these patterns.

The coastline of an island is impossible to measure accurately because as we zoom in the complexity of the coast reveals that it is not a straight line but has endless small imperfections which we should also measure if we want to be accurate.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

#656: Big River Watch - back again in September

 The Rivers Trust is running their next Big River Watch between the 18th and 24th of September.

Twice a year, anyone can take part in these week-long citizen science surveys that help to build an important picture of river health across the UK and Ireland. Our rivers are far from healthy. They’re polluted with sewage, plastic, chemicals and nutrients, and just 15% of river stretches in England are in good overall health.

With the Big River Watch app, you can help identify the issues, which help’s the Trust influence policymakers and hold polluters to account. After the drought of this summer, many rivers are at low levels of flow, and my local chalk stream the River Nar is running at very low levels which is not good. To take part you need to download the app, which is free

This would be a good Citizen Science opportunity for students to participate in.

Download the app and head for your nearest river. Mine is about 2 minutes walk away luckily.

Spend 15 minutes watching the river, and answer the questions in the survey. You can complete the Big River Watch at your favourite local spot, or get to know somewhere new. The survey will ask you about what you see, from wildlife and plants to any signs of pollution. Not sure what you're looking at? The in-app pollution and wildlife guides can help you make an identification.

#655: Storm Shaun or Storm Timmy?

I've had a busy summer of Aardman related things.

I've been to Bristol where there was a special exhibition at the MShed, marking 50 years of Aardman.

I also saw another exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, and the one at the Young V&A in Bethnal Green.

There's now a chance to vote for either Shaun or Timmy to be added to the new list of storm names for 2026-27 which will be announced in September. They have teamed up with the MetOffice. Go to one of their social channels to vote.

• Voting closes at 11:00 am on Friday 21 August 2026
• Members of the public can vote for either Shaun or Timmy
• The vote relates specifically to which Aardman character will be added to this year’s storm names list
• The result of the public vote will be announced on Friday 21 August and included in the 2026/27 storm names list

Predictably some people are saying this is inappropriate as these storms may cause damage and even lead to fatalities...  others that we'll soon have sponsored storms... others say it's a bit of fun and raises awareness of why storms are named.

The Met Office say:

Storm naming is an important public safety tool, helping people notice, remember and discuss severe weather when it has the potential to cause significant impacts. By working with Aardman, the Met Office hopes to reach new audiences and encourage conversations about severe weather preparedness in an engaging and accessible way.

The announcement also forms part of Aardman's 50th anniversary celebrations and comes ahead of the release of  Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, which arrives in UK cinemas on the 18th of September.

As a sustainability ambassador and one of Britain's most recognisable animated characters, Shaun has long been associated with themes of nature and the environment, making him a natural fit for a campaign focused on weather awareness and preparedness.

Met Office Head of Warnings and Guidance, Holly Clements, said: "Naming storms helps our weather warnings reach more people and encourages the public to take notice when severe weather is approaching. This collaboration with Aardman gives us a fantastic opportunity to engage new audiences and explain why storm naming matters, helping people understand the risks severe weather can bring and the actions they can take to stay safe."

Hopefully we won't reach 'S' in the alphabet next year....