#109: Natural History Podcasts #4: Curlew Calls

.@curlewcalls is one of the guests in the latest episode of the @Ashdown_Forest podcast, with wildlife guide Tom Forward and podcast producer Eka Morgan.

They discusses Curlews (of course), wild cats, and the Natural History GCSE.

Listen here: https://t.co/2BUjhLctAo pic.twitter.com/Ob2wD43Uto

— Curlew Action (@CurlewAction) October 1, 2023

With few official updates on progress, hearing from Mary Colwell in this podcast is important. She talks about the campaign - 11 years long so far - to develop the GCSE in Natural History. There was the involvement of Tony Juniper from the beginning, and later Caroline Lucas of the Green Party.

Listen here on Apple podcasts. You need to listen from 18' 50" in particular to hear Mary speaking.

Ashdown Forest was the original Hundred Acre Wood from Winnie the Pooh.

She talks about the importance of observing, recording and monitoring local wildlife and understanding its relationship with national and global wildlife. It involves getting involved with nature. Mary hopes it will be a 'catalyst' for producing more naturalists in the future...

She references Gilbert White and the presenter references Gerald Durrell.

She also mentions the importance of localism and rootedness and drawing on the local voices. This means that every school will need to have a focus on teaching about their own local area, and the idea of localism.

An activity on developing this within students will obviously be needed.

She also explains that the development subject criteria has been delayed which means that it is likely that the new specification will arrive for first teaching from 2026.