#49: You're invited to a different kind of 'Stag Do'

One of the resources that I am putting together is something on oppoertunities to get involved in Citizen Science. There are quite a few of these spread through the year, and teachers could perhaps create a 'loyalty card' which allows students to earn points through engagement with them.

Wildlife charity, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ (PTES) is looking for volunteers across Britain for its annual ‘Great Stag Hunt’ survey, to discover where endangered stag beetles are living and where they most need help.

Stag beetles were once widespread but due to habitat loss they’re now declining and have even become extinct in some parts of Britain and Western Europe. To prevent that from further happening PTES is calling for nature lovers, families, and individuals to help this summer by recording all sightings of male and female stag beetles, and their larvae (large, white grubs), online at:

  www.ptes.org/gsh

Stag beetles are easy to spot – they’re the UK’s largest land beetles and the males are instantly recognisable with their antler like jaws. From late May into July these iconic insects emerge from the ground in search of mates, and are usually spotted flying around gardens, parks and allotments on warm summer evenings. They can also be seen on walls and warm tarmac surfaces in urban areas, and in other green spaces too such as woodland edges, hedgerows and traditional orchards.

Laura Bower, Conservation Officer at PTES says: “Last year almost 10,000 sightings were recorded by thousands of volunteers, giving us a real insight into where their range is, which is crucial for the species’ long-term survival. More help is always needed though, so whether you’re out in the garden, dog walking in a local park, on the school run or even walking to the pub, keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful beetles and tell us about any you see. You don’t need to be a beetle expert or have taken part before, as PTES has a free ‘beetle ID’ guide to help anyone new to the survey to help them tell the differences between stag beetles and other insects.”

To take part in the Great Stag Hunt 2023, for top tips on creating the perfect log pile, or to find out more about stag beetles, please visit: stagbeetles.ptes.org

#48: Suffolk Coast and Heaths - AONBs

Suffolk has an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty called the Suffolk Coast and Heaths.

Follow the Twitter feed here.

Explore the Map of Mystery! 🗺️

An alternative map that allows you to enter a wide world of wonder, whether a visitor or proud resident - there is much to discover from our past and present

This is just part of it - view & download the full map

👉 https://t.co/faN3EKEatF pic.twitter.com/flUULXq5P8

— Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (@SuffolkAONB) May 22, 2023

You can download the Map of Mystery from the link above, or here (PDF download)

It's a lovely piece of work. Here's an extract:

It may be worth considering how to make the most of your local AONB.

You can find it using a map from the Landscapes for Life website. 

This is an interactive map which has details of the UK's 46 AONBs. 

Students might usefully be allocated an AONB each to explore the particular landscape features, along with the biodiversity that it contains, and projects which are being undertaken to preserve its natural beauty.

#47: Natural History Podcasts #2 - Our Broken Planet

A new Natural History Museum Podcast has been made available. There are several episodes currently available.

They might be of interest to those preparing entries for the RGS Young Geographer of the Year competition with its theme of 'A Blueprint for the Future'.

Tune in for stories from the forefront of the planetary emergency. Along the way, we’ll unpack how we got here and discover solutions from science and nature that could help tackle the problems facing our world. Each episode explores one of the challenges facing nature globally, from wildfires to plastic pollution, zoonotic diseases to farming and beyond.

Join your hosts Tori Herridge and Khalil Thirlaway as they transport you around the globe to the front lines of the climate change and biodiversity crises.

Details:

Episode 1
A rising tide: Melting ice sheets and sea level rises

With:

• Selina Leem - Climate activist from the Marshall Islands
• Laura Tenenbaum - Climate expert and former NASA scientist
• Dr Mark Spalding - Senior marine scientist with the Nature Conservancy and mangrove expert
• Dr Bethan Davies - Glaciologist from Newcastle University
• Iris Moeller - Professor of Geography at the University of Dublin

Episode 2
Fire: Life in the New Pyrocene

With:

• Dr Sandy Knapp - Botanist and merit researcher of plants at the Natural History Museum
• Professor David Bowman - Fire researcher, University of Tasmania
• Nerilie Abram - Paleoclimatologist from the Australian National University
• Elizabeth Azzuz - Traditional fire practitioner from California

There are also links to related content, such as an illustrated guide to what we can do to save the planet.

#46: Tree Tools for Schools - from the Woodland Trust

From the Woodland Trust

They offer tree packs for schools.

There is also a tree simulator, where you can see how trees grow over time.

This may be of interest when schools are teaching about woodlands.

#45: Royal Horticultural Society projects

There have been two projects started by the Royal Horticultural Society relatively recently which may be of interest to schools. 

If I was to teach the new specification I think I would want to make it as active as possible, with students involved in practical actions to help natural history in some way, whether throuth citizen science, or through nature conservation projects.

The first one was from November 2022

It is a partnership with the Natural History Museum and the DfE.

The second was announced recently, and relates to hedges.

This explores their link to greener schools.

This is a two year project.

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

#44: Climate Change Insights report from the ONS

The Office for National Statistics produces a quarterly report which provides the results of surveys which they have carried out with a healthy number of respondents. 

One was published in May 2023 which may be of interest and relevance to those who are exploring the impacts of the climate emergency on the natural world. 

Good to see 73% of adults in Great Britain are concerned about the loss of natural habitats or wildlife - above the 64% worried about the impact of climate change in the latest @ONS data. Both matter, but wildlife loss has had much less attention: https://t.co/tTKeGek2zY pic.twitter.com/DhDEVTkxz8

— Miles Richardson (@findingnature) May 12, 2023

Almost two-thirds (64%) of adults in Great Britain said they were worried (somewhat or very) about the impact of climate change in the past 12 months.

Of those who said they were worried, around three-quarters (74%) said that they were concerned about the impact on future generations; this was highest among those aged 70 years and over (83%).

The most recent decade, 2013 to 2022, has seen an increase of 26% in the annual average number of summer days and a 16% decrease in icing days (days where the air temperature does not go above freezing) in the UK compared with the 1991 to 2020 average.

Charts can also be obtained from the report's page.

#43: Wild Ken Hill

Wild Ken Hill has been the home of the BBC's Springwatch and Autumnwatch for the last couple of years, and also the occasional Winterwatch.

Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and the team base themselves here, having previously been based at Minsmere and other locations including the nearby location of Pensthorpe, near Fakenham for a while.

Wild Ken Hill is in North West Norfolk, between King's Lynn and Hunstanton.

Wild Ken Hill is a site of rewilding, conservation, and a working farm. Its land is made up of hilly wood, wetter marshland, pasture landscape, and agricultural fields. As such, the ground is predominantly uneven with thick undergrowth. Ponies, pigs and cattle graze parts of the site and it is home to many, small, wild animals.

I lived in Snettisham for 12 years, and walked over Ken Hill many times, through the woods and down through the reed beds and along the old railway line which was sadly a casualty of Beeching's cuts in the 1960s. 

That line, passing through Wolferton, Snettisham and Heacham would make a fantastic route from King's Lynn to the coast. Sadly, there have been some changes and new buildings which mean that the line is unlikely to ever be reinstated despite the fact that it would immediately 

The area has changed substantially over the 12 years since I last visited for a good period of time.

Locations such as this may well form a good site for a field visit, or a case study of rewilding should that be a focus for the final draft specification. 

To find out more you can follow Dominic Buscall on Twitter. Fun fact, my daughter went to school with members of the Buscall family.

I can imagine the area of the Wash, and surroundings landscapes and land uses, and some of the potential conflicts that occur there would make a good large scale case study.

#42: Defining Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a key word within the glossary of key terms that will no doubt form part of any set of resources for the new specification. Teachers and students will need to get to grips with the vocabulary around Natural History, where some words may have slightly different meanings or emphases compared to geography or science.

I have put together a list of suggestions for this already as part of the proposed resources that I am working on and compiling in Google Drive. It's already looking quite impressive.

Here's a suggested definition from the Natural History Museum.

One of the likely focuses for the draft specification is likely to be an exploration of global and local trends in biodiversity and in particular biodiversity loss (and protection).

Reports such as those from Dasgupta are showing worrying trends.

There are plenty of other useful resources.

The UN explores biodiversity myths and facts here.

#41: Remembering Barry Lopez

One of the proposed 'benefits' of the new specification is that it will introduce students to nature writing (along with other media such as paintings and literature...)

I hope that one of them is Barry Lopez. 

He is described in this piece as an author who tied people to place.

He deserves to be on any official reading list. We'll be suggesting our own Reading List as part of our proposed resources for those teaching the new specification.

Barry passed away in December 2020.

Thanks to Point Reyes Books for organising this webinar.

A special tribute to Barry Lopez (1945-2020), featuring John Luther Adams, Bathsheba Demuth, Jane Hirshfield, Robert Macfarlane, Colum McCann, and Rebecca Solnit, along with Barry’s wife Debra Gwartney. John Freeman served as moderate the conversation. 

This event was presented by Point Reyes Books, in partnership with Elliott Bay Book Company, Emergence Magazine, and Orion Magazine. 

This recording has been edited due to copyright issues. In the original, John Luther Adams' tribute was followed by a recording of "Sky With Four Suns." The event concluded with an excerpt from "Horizons," Jeremy Seifert's film about Barry Lopez, which can be found on the Emergence Magazine website. See later in the post.

I've read Barry's final collection of essays which came out over the summer 2022, and it is really rather wonderful and memorable, and shocking... and it will make you cry.

Get yourself a copy...

Here's Horizons:

Horizons from Emergence Magazine on Vimeo.

#40: Rachel Carson's prophetic 'Silent Spring'

Rachel Carson was the author of the classic book 'Silent Spring'.

This BBC World podcast explores the origins of the book, which is one of the more significant environmental books ever published.

She also wrote several other books which would be of relevance, including on the theme of the world's oceans: 'The Sea Around Us' and 'The Edge of the Sea' - I have copies of these in my library.

One would hope that Rachel Carson will be another person whose name is added to the list of people which those studying the new GCSE Natural History specification should be made aware of.

Details on the podcast:

Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring has probably done more than any other to raise concerns about the damage that uncontrolled use of chemicals can cause to the natural world. Carson imagined a ‘silent spring’ in a world where birds no longer sang, killed off by indiscriminate spraying of pesticides.
Her plea for caution when using insecticides led to major changes in government regulation of agrochemicals both in the United States and elsewhere. So who was Rachel Carson? How did this scientist with a passionate interest in marine biology turn first into a best-selling author and then into an environmental campaigner? And - six decades on - have the warnings of Silent Spring been heeded? Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Sabine Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at University of York with a particular interest in the history of synthetic insecticides; Michelle Ferrari, an award-winning film maker who directed a documentary about Rachel Carson's life for the American public broadcaster PBS; and Professor David Kinkela, an environmental historian and chair of the Department of History at Fredonia, State University of New York whose books include 'DDT and the American Century'. The reader is Ina Marie Smith.

The book is available in a large number of editions.

Her story about a lack of insects has been in the news for some years.

In 2016 for example, The Guardian reported on it.

Several people have mentioned the obvious dearth of insects this spring...

Check out her Wikipedia article for plenty more information on her life of campaigning against pesticide use.

#39: Caroline Lucas

Another post which came from the Google Alert I have set up for 'GCSE Natural History'.

One of the big supporters of the new GCSE Natural History was the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas. 

She was the Green Party's first MP. 

She served in Brighton and was also the former co-leader of the Green Party. She announced this week that she was stepping down as an MP.

This week we had a number of other MPs announce they were stepping down. Several of them were appalling individuals and will not be mentioned here.

In the Metro yesterday, Caroline Lucas released a statement.

It contains the following statements, starting with a thanks to the people of Brighton:

I’m truly grateful for the trust they placed in me to be their MP - but I’m standing down to ensure I can focus fully on the climate and nature crises gripping the world.

The Climate and Ecology Bill, which I first tabled back in 2020, and currently going through Parliament, has broad cross-party support.

When campaigns have needed a voice inside Parliament, I have sought to offer it.

After collaborating over many years with nature campaigner Mary Colwell, a Natural History GCSE, will be on the syllabus by 2025/26.

(More evidence that there may well be a delay in the specification being taught for the first time)

I’ve sometimes struggled to focus on the existential challenges that drive me – the climate and nature emergencies.

So I’ve decided to step down at the next election to allow me to turn my full attention to those twin issues.

#38: Thought for the Day

These will be added intermittently.

It's also worth using these as provocations for discussions. 

One would hope that as students take part in the course, they will be collecting information such as this as part of their wider reading.

"Biodiversity loss is as catastrophic as climate change and our own research has shown the UK to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

Combatting biodiversity loss by supporting children and young people in England to transform their education space for wildlife will be a significant step in addressing the planetary emergency as well as empowering young people to take action, connect with nature and become Advocates for the Planet."

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum