#269: Woodland

Trees are (normally) going to be an important part of the final specification when it launches - with a look at deciduous woodland management, local woodland being used for field visits to investigate plant succession, fungi forays etc, and also some tree-planting going on hopefully.

It would be nice to think that some environmental organisation or other company might offer free trees to any centre that offers the new specification. 

There are certainly some interesting stories and books which delve into the connections we have with trees and ancient woodlands and our subconscious: our folk memories of life amongst the trees in the past. 

This avenue is about half a mile from my home and in spring is lined with snowdrops.

What tree-related books do you think are of value to add to our reading list?

Here's a few that we thought of:

'British Woodland' - Ray Mears

'How to read a tree' - Tristan Gooley

'Woodlands' - Oliver Rackham

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

#268: Nature has rights - or not...

Another new low from the UK government from a week or so ago, which I've just got round to posting here... there've been quite a few other related stories as well.

This Guardian article has been retweeted a number of times over the last few days, with the same sort of response from a great many environmental organisations and campaigners.

“It’s paradoxical because it recognises rights for non-human entities like corporations but denies them to non-human living beings. It’s contradictory because, while rhetorically acknowledging different cultures and Indigenous worldviews, it nevertheless imposes the western understanding of rights and law,”

Robert MacFarlane has written on the fact that rivers were recognised as being a living thing, and Patrick Barkham has also written for The Guardian on this theme.

#267: New land

I'm working on a resource which looks at plant succession in areas where there is no previous history of plants and no seeds. 

Towards the end of last year, Japan gained a new island.

There are other examples, with one of the best known being Surtsey, which is as old as I am. I saw it earlier in the week as well during a trip to Iceland.

The book 'The Island' by Barry Smith covers some other examples, which have interesting and precarious geographies. Some of these are caused by volcanic activity, others by temporary deposition in bodies of water.

Read a sample of the book here.

#266: Natural History GCSE and Climate Literacy

A new post on the OCR website from Professor Sylvia Knight.

She talks about the connections between the proposed specification and climate literacy.

"Whilst the Natural History GCSE is not and should not be a ‘climate change GCSE’ (in my opinion, the Statistics GCSE is actually best placed to be delivered entirely within a context of climate change), the inherent and intrinsic links between climate change and the natural world, in terms of impacts, adaptation and mitigation, are too numerous for climate change not to be near the core of the new qualification.

The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) is the UK’s Professional and Learned Society for weather and climate. We believe that every student should leave school with the basic climate literacy that would enable them to engage with the messages put forward by the media or politicians or to make informed decisions about their own opportunities and responsibilities when it comes to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and also to equip them with the knowledge and skills required for the green jobs of the future."

Worth reading...

#265: World Rewilding Day - 20th March

Mark your calendars for #WorldRewildingDay on 20 March as we celebrate those turning #HopeIntoAction.

Discover how you can celebrate this special day and become a part of the rewilding movement 👇https://t.co/4hhRJHBwbi #ThinkBigActWild pic.twitter.com/YaWNdVsXvK

— Rewilding Britain (@RewildingB) March 8, 2024

It's today!

This should hopefully be a focus for all schools offering the GCSE Natural History each year.

Happy #WorldRewildingDay! 🌿

Rewilding…
Lets nature lead
Recreates natural processes
Connects land & sea
Takes climate action by restoring ecosystems
Revives communities & local economies
Builds a future around the living world

Share to spread the word 🔃 #HopeIntoAction pic.twitter.com/AkIU6gMC0l

— Rewilding Britain (@RewildingB) March 20, 2024

#264: Spectator piece on the GCSE Natural History

Another tipoff from my Google Alert which I have set up for the term "GCSE Natural History".

You may (or may not) be able to read this article, depending on whether you have already visited the website before. I was able to read it in a web browser.

It expresses a few interesting opinions on the new qualification... particularly on the value of actually experiencing nature.

#263: Giants are flourishing

An interesting story on the BBC today about the giant redwooods that were planted in a number of locations to add to arboretums or woodlands in the grounds of stately homes, and which are now flourishing in the UK's climate. 

They were brought over by the Victorians, along with a range of other plants which were introduced at this time to ornamental gardens.

It was interesting to see that there are now more of the trees here in the UK than are left in California. 

As they are no older than 160 years, does that make them part of our natural history now? They are non-native species of course.

The research article also refers to the carbon sequestration potential of the trees.

Disney, Mathias et al. (2023). Data for: UK redwoods terrestrial laser scanner point clouds [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08m3n

Giant redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are some of the UK’s largest trees, despite only being introduced in the mid-19th century. Given recent interest in planting redwoods in the UK, partly due to their carbon sequestration potential and also their undoubted public appeal, an understanding of their viability is important.

#262: Carbon Footprints

An interesting analysis from OFQUAL of the carbon footprint of sitting a GCSE.

If we have a new GCSE in Natural History does that mean that it is actually increasing the carbon footprint of anyone who takes it? Interesting to discuss.

It's worth remembering that the use of the term was particularly developed by the oil company BP, and could be thought of as a way to deflect the blame away from fossil fuel companies and place it onto us...

See this Mashable article for more on this.

#261: On the verge - investigating soft estate

Britain's roadside verges are a huge area of the country if they are taken cumulatively. They vary in nature, from areas of scrubland and bramble, to woodland, to wide grassy banks, perhaps planted with flowers, and studded with lighting for important junctions. 

They are also likely to contain huge amounts of litter - some of it indescribable. We care so little about these spaces.

These are described as 'liminal spaces' and they have also been given other names, including "soft estate"

Soft Estate is the term used by the Highways Agency to describe the natural habitats that line our motorways and trunk roads, (some 30,000 hectares of land nationally). 

Whilst roads play a major role in opening up land for housing and economic development, their attendant verges offer a genuine refuge for wildlife and a modern form of wilderness in the midst of intense urbanisation and agro-chemical farming. 

Our road network, the site of some of our most carbon-intensive activity, is flanked by Britain's largest unofficial nature reserve.

Source: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FJ005797%2F1#:~:text=Soft%20Estate%20is%20the%20term,30%2C000%20hectares%20of%20land%20nationally).

Plantlife has a section of its website exploring the management of grasslands by road sides, and there has been much written about the (mis)management of these areas and the fact that Councils are accused of neglecting them. On less busy roads, many communities will have a 'local hero' or two who gives up their spare time to clean up their local area.

National Highways have the job of looking after this significant area of land.

There has recently been a lot of effort made to encourage people to care about them, with a campaign featuring the voices of the animals who are affected.

Check the details of the Lend a Paw campaign. You can see the various visual assets which form part of the scheme here.

The focus is on some key audiences.

The campaign is set to reach all drivers, but the key focus is on:

• families (traveling with children and snacks in the car, with the opportunity to teach values/habits) - 8.1m people (1.3m claimed litterers)
• young drivers (who are inexperienced/overconfident but like to follow social norms) - 6.4m people (1m claimed litterers)
• commercial drivers (driving long journeys and treating lorries as their home/office) - 803k people (406k claimed litterers)

Details on the litter strategy and how to report litter are here.

I would not recommend that these areas are visited by students as they are not safe places.

Google Street View images sometimes show up the litter or issues in areas - particularly after grass or hedge cutting has recently taken place.

One additional story here is the apperarance of fruit trees, which have grown from food waste that has been discarded. This is 

In Iceland some years ago, there was a deliberate campaign to ask for motorists to throw something out of the car window.

Image: Alan Parkinson - verges near Rougham, Norfolk

#260: Center Parcs and muntjac

I recently spent a weekend at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest. 

This is one of several pictures I took which featured the very common muntjac which prowl the site. They are Reeves Muntjac. They are very common in Norfolk and Suffolk.

They are native to China and Taiwan. The animals which we see today are related to animals which are thought to have escaped from Woburn Abbey and other locations in the early part of the 20th century, and have adapted well to the UK's landcape and climate. They don't really have predators (although I wiped one out with my car, which was written off in return). They also don't really compete with the native deer. They are common in SE of England and are heading north and west.

They are not too fussy about what the eat which means they can cause damage to woodlands, and eat rare plants. The loss of these plants affects insects and birds. 

The local 'KL Magazine' had a piece recently, which suggested that the loss of woodland ground cover is a key impact that they have. One suggestion has been to reintroduce the lynx - even the smell of a lynx is enough to keep muntjac from grazing an area.

Keep an eye out for them, but remember that their presence has an impact on woodlands.

Image: Muntjac, Alan Parkinson, and shared under CC license.

#259: UN and Biodiversity

This is well worth reading.

"Nature loss and ecosystem collapse pose significant risks to businesses, given that over half of the world’s total GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature"

learn about the threat businesses pose to nature via @wef https://t.co/6LyJhHe0XT pic.twitter.com/kCsqLCbtmc

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) March 10, 2024

#258: The Big Plastic Count - starts tomorrow

Citizen Science projects are a good thing to connect students with as the specification is revealed and the content is built around it.

Plastic is a pervasive element of all natural environments, and has negative impacts on natural history - in particular by affecting wildlife which ingests it, or can be affected by its existence.

This starts tomorrow. 

Sign up and get your survey recording form to stick by the bin.

It's the counting that counts.

#257: Declining plant awareness

This is an area that I have previously blogged about, going back to work by Robert MacFarlane, which led to the original 'Lost Words' book being created with Jackie Morris.

There were articles published when the Oxford Junior Dictionary announced it was dropping some nature words back in 2015.

The words missing were natural words, and there were others which replaced them that were to do with technology. One could argue as well that these technology words were far more ephemeral than the natural words - technology changes and things become redundant.

This is a more recent academic paper on the same theme. This is very readable.

It starts with some striking words, which I can see being used as the basis for a section in a textbook:

From our earliest settlements, we have been reliant on plants to provide shelter, fuels, and sustenance and are the basis of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems (Lev-Yadun et al., 2000). Plants perform a huge variety of essential functions, from forming soils to producing oxygen, yet their neglect is costing us dearly (Bardgett et al., 2021). From birth to death, plants dominate every aspect of our existence—they are our silent partners in civilization (Adamo et al., 2021). There is virtually always a plant or a plant product in your field of vision. Despite this significance, plants are currently underappreciated and neglected in many sectors of modern society, and there has been little research into identifying the measurable consequences of our plant apathy toward societies' challenges.

It also references Robert Pyle's work referring to the "extinction of experience".

Pyle describes disconnection from nature via a “cycle of impoverishment  that  is  initiated  by  the  homogenisation  and  reduction  of local  flora and  fauna,  followed  by  disaffection  and  apathy.”  Ultimately,  this  impoverishment  is  intensified by a “shifting  base-line,” progressively decreasing expectations of the quality and function of  the natural areas individuals are exposed to.

#256: Fieldwork resources - every Friday

Chloë Searl is an independent field studies tutor on the Isle of Wight. She also works as a CPD consultant, examiner and award-winning resources writer. 

She is also the current Chair of the Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group of the Geographical Association. 

You can follow their Twitter feed on the link below.
@GAFOLSIG

Each Friday she shares a resource linked to fieldwork, and several of these have the potential to be put to use to those teaching the GCSE Natural History. This week's resource is a useful sheet that can be used to assess the human impact on ecosystems and habitats in an area.

This is sheet #93, so it's probably worth checking back through the feed for previous resources, or check the website.

🌍🔍#FridayFieldwork

Every Friday I showcase a resource which might make planning and delivering geography fieldwork a little easier. This week...

Human Impact Survey (Ecosystems and Habitats)https://t.co/SybBwsW1SJ pic.twitter.com/hCoGoka5Wv

— The Island Geographer (@theislandgeogr) March 8, 2024

#255: Royal Society of Biology's Signs of Spring

The Royal Society of Biology introduced a new project in January.

The measurement of this sort of data is called phenology.

🌱We’ve teamed up with @FieldStudiesC to create the Signs of Spring survey to chart the arrival of spring this year.

Join in by spotting and recording signs of spring like new frogspawn in ponds and daffodils emerging. 🐞🐸🌾

Take part: https://t.co/wSA7JzldwV#SpringSpotting pic.twitter.com/6ajiOLxlFw

— Royal Society of Biology (@RoyalSocBio) January 5, 2024

 Image: Snowdrops - Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

#254: BASC: the British Association for Shooting and Conservation

When considering a specification on Natural History, an organisation which has the word "shooting" in its name may not seem like the obvious match. A friend worked for BASC many years ago, and explained how this might not seem such a problematic connection.

BASC: the British Association for Shooting and Conservation has a website which outlines their work.

BASC's Curtis Mossop explores the need for a GCSE in Natural History. BASC has been a supporter of the new qualification.

Part of this would be to have a space in the curriculum for considering the need for shooting.

As BASC says:

When you consider that shooting is involved in the management of two-thirds of the rural land area in the UK, we believe that land management activities need to be considered, and ultimately included, in the development of this new qualification.

BASC’s response to this consultation focused on fair representation of shooting and its associated land management practices. We encourage students to think holistically but also challenge their own moral compass: “Is killing one species to save another okay?”.

We know this to be sound and scientifically proven. We have seen examples of this in nature like the curlew coming back from the brink of extinction. But would a teenager who has never visited the countryside understand this concept?

It will be interesting to see whether the final document offers opportunity for a nuanced look at alternative methods of countryside management.

#253: Peat

The Wildlife Trusts have a campaign currently to encourage people to move away from using peat based composts in the garden or for house plants. 

❗ Peatlands are formed over thousands of years

It takes 1,000 years for 1 meter of peat to form. That’s around 1mm per year!

🌿 Yet, it’s dug up when it shouldn’t be, e.g. to grow house plants

💚Pledge to go peat-free!https://t.co/ILlmi8ydSK pic.twitter.com/4aPiovPrpd

— StaffsWildlife 🦔🍄🦇 (@StaffsWildlife) February 10, 2024

 

UK peatlands are home to carnivorous (insect-eating!) plants & many weird & wonderful wild species, yet peatlands are still dug up and damaged.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming Peat Inspectors action to help our peatlands and pledge to go peat-free! 💚https://t.co/ssHPTbECbJ pic.twitter.com/7yLrLN25vt

— The Wildlife Trusts (@WildlifeTrusts) February 17, 2024

#252: WorldWildlife Day - 3rd March

World Wildlife Day is the 3rd of March.

Various brands are removing signs of nature from their logo, the idea being that in a #WorldWithoutNature nothing is possible. What others can you find on the hashtag? What others could you suggest?

Nothing survives in a #WorldWithoutNature. Not Barley. Not hops. Not us. So this #WorldWildlifeDay, join us in raising awareness about the dramatic loss of biodiversity in the UK, and what positive steps we can take to be kinder to the natural world around us. pic.twitter.com/FjYAOKIBXt

— Carlsberg UK (@CarlsbergUK) March 3, 2024

We’ve altered these images of our Gardens to highlight the nature crisis.

We must take action to tackle this crisis, for the simple reason that all life on earth depends on biodiversity. #WorldWithoutNature @wwf_uk ##WorldWildlifeDay pic.twitter.com/ekpP8y7bNI

— Kew Gardens (@kewgardens) March 3, 2024

This #WorldWildlifeDay, we're joining @wwf_uk and removed the dove from our logo to show how empty a #WorldWithoutNature would be 🕊️🌎

Read more https://t.co/KpSWUPEKWp pic.twitter.com/buscZe6jTb

— Dove UK & Ireland (@DoveUK) March 4, 2024

#251: What 3 Words Rewilding scheme

 HealRewilding has an interesting idea to encourage people to sponsor an area for rewilding.

For all the nature lovers 📣@HealRewilding, a non-profit that aims to rewild land across the UK. They use the what3words addresses to allocate a 3m square that someone can then sponsor. Giving that person their very own patch of #rewilding land🌱Watch the video to find out more pic.twitter.com/5MS83g4CcD

— what3words (@what3words) March 3, 2024

You can choose an amount, and then will be told the address of your chosen square.