#490: How Zoologists organise things

Taxonomy will probably feature in the GCSE Natural History. Knowing how different species can be compared and differentiated and the structures that biologist, zoologists and ecologists use will be important.

#489: From 'Inside Worthing'

Dinosaurs and the Theory of Evolution? Absolutely

The sort of climate change alarmism that teachers will no doubt be pushing in the Natural History GCSE? Maybe not so much

Matilda Cutting, age 16 - in Inside Worthing pic.twitter.com/qQbCaO3dL2

— Sussex Globe (@SussexGlobe) August 8, 2025

#488: Renaming the Pink Cockatoo

An interesting article in the Guardian back in 2023 looked at the comparisons between indigenous naming and the scientific names that are given to species, often by those who 'discover' them. 

One would hope that this aspect of natural history may be included in the specification.

#487: Cley Spy

One of the aspects of the new draft specification is the suggestion that students are exposed to fieldwork which takes them to areas of interest locally. The cost of fieldwork visits will be one thing which potentially limits the uptake of the new specification. Locally based fieldwork, and on-site fieldwork guidance will be important here.

There are a number of excellent locations where students may be taken. 

If I was teaching in Norfolk again, I would aim to head for Cley Marsh reserve. We have previously taken students there from Ely to carry out GCSE fieldwork exploring the management of the land for habitats. The area has been expanded over the years with additional land purchases and they have an active education programme.

Cley Reserve has an important place in the history of conservation. This is partly explored in this article in KL Magazine (a local magazine that I read when it comes out).

A history by Kay Forbes explains how ther reserve started.

The Simon Aspinall Centre at the reserve was opened by Sir David Attenborough.

What other Norfolk locations would you recommend? 

And where are your own locations that you think would fit well with the subject?

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared on Flickr under CC license.

#486: And Positive News

Via my Google Alert for 'GCSE Natural History'.

A feature on Sara King of Rewilding Britain.

Written by Hannah Partos.

Published today in Positive News.

Hopefully rewilding will feature on the GCSE Natural History curriculum.

#485: Some good news...

Via The Guardian today.

News of some recovery in some wildlife populations was shared today by Natural England. 

As part of its £13m species recovery programme’s capital grants scheme, the recovery of 150 species has been supported.

As Tony Juniper says, such nature recovery work needs more projects, more volunteers and more money to flow from all sources, particularly the private sector. It will also need to go hand in hand with improved environmental quality, including through reduced pollution.

#484: Nature connectedness

A recent piece in The Guardian by Patrick Barkham on some work by Miles Richardson on nature connectedness.

Nature connectedness is bad in Britain.

"We are seeing an ongoing “extinction of experience” with future generations continuing to lose an awareness of nature because it is not present in increasingly built-up neighbourhoods, while parents no longer pass on an “orientation” towards the natural world. Other studies have found parental nature connectedness is the strongest predictor of whether a child will become close to nature.

“Nature connectedness is now accepted as a key root cause of the environmental crisis,” said Richardson. “It’s vitally important for our own mental health as well. It unites people and nature’s wellbeing. There’s a need for transformational change if we’re going to change society’s relationship with nature.”

A newborn child is much the same as a child born in 1800. Children are fascinated by the natural world. It’s maintaining that through their childhood and schooling that’s essential, alongside urban greening. There’s policies starting to do that but we’ve got to think in transformational terms – not 30% but 1,000%.”

One particular statistic from the report was shocking...

A study found that people in Sheffield on average spent just four minutes and 36 seconds in natural spaces each day.

#483: Safari... so good...

One from the Google Alert that I set up for 'GCSE Natural History'.

Intrigued by this story.

Cottar's, Africa's oldest family-run safari company, has launched an innovative five-day educational experience for teenagers, specifically designed around the UK's new Natural History GCSE curriculum. Olivia Palamountain reports

Cottar's Safaris will debut "Tracks for Tomorrow" in October 2025 at its 1920s Camp in Kenya's Olderkesi Conservancy in the Maasai Mara.

Targeting young people aged 14-18 with hands-on conservation learning, the programme represents a unique approach to educational travel, with activities specifically aligned to Natural History GCSE educational goals including observation, field studies, sustainability, and ecosystem awareness. Participants receive a certificate of completion, creating a lasting milestone in their conservation education.

The programme launches as the UK introduces its new Natural History GCSE, creating a timely educational tourism opportunity that bridges classroom learning with real-world conservation experience in one of Africa's most significant wildlife areas.

Intrigued because the curriculum for the new Natural History GCSE isn't yet confirmed, following an earlier draft consultation - which produced something which will inevitably change substantially following other consultation processes.

The trip sounds excellent to be fair... it includes:

Innovative programme elements include wild foraging for edible plants and insects, seedball reforestation projects, and a choice between deep-diving into cheetah conservation or raptor studies with daily updates on 500 monitored nests.

The programme blends traditional Maasai cultural education through "Warrior School" with modern conservation challenges, including sustainability tasks where teens design eco-friendly camps or develop ideas to reduce travel carbon footprints.

However, the price may put it out of the reach of most schools.

#482: Slow Ways Crowdfunder

This could be a useful context for work outside the classroom, and mapping routes to wildlife, wildflowers, woodlands and other habitats. Students could get involved in mapping the routes.

I've blogged about Slow Ways before.

You have until the end of August to join in with the Slow Ways Crowdfunder to fund the next stage of development and get some benefits in return. Details are here.

Where we’re coming from

Thanks to thousands of people we’ve already created a Slow Ways national walking network with 140,000km of routes that connect all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes.

We’ve proven the idea. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.

Where we’re going

With your support we’ll help millions of people to find, follow and enjoy great routes that match their diverse interests and needs - making places more enjoyable and inclusive in the process.

We'll make the network much bigger and better, add more ways of getting around, enable groups and organisations to share routes for communities and develop website and app to make it all happen.

Slow Ways routes will always be publicly available and free for everyone to follow and enjoy.

We’ll be introducing memberships for people and groups that would like to support our work. In return, we’ll give you extra benefits, features and powers.

For less than the cost of a pair of walking socks and few coffees, as an individual member you’ll be able to enjoy special member-only benefits, including:

✔︎ Better features and functionality - See the table below!
✔︎ A growing calendar of talks, podcasts, meet-ups and workshops
✔︎ Votes on what we develop next

Community organisation members will additionally get:

✔︎ Tools to collaboratively develop route collections and networks
✔︎ Training, talks, workshops, newsletters, podcasts and online forums
✔ Public profile on the platform, with the same abilities as individuals

#481: ETP - Endangered, Threatened and Protected Species

ETP stands for Endangered, Threatened and Protected Species (also called ETP Species) and refers to species which are listed as endangered, threatened or protected under national and international legislation, often marine species.

There are many of these in the oceans, and one of the things that threatens them is the warming temperatures in many parts of the world's oceans. There is also a growing risk as a result of declining insect populations worldwide, which act at the base of the food chain in many ecosystems.

Some of the threat comes from the removal of the food that species eat as a result of overfishing and mismanagement of fisheries. 

It is likely that there will be a focus on the oceans as part of the themes which underpin the new qualification, given the importance of their state, and current temperature anomaly following decades where they have been absorbing heat. Remember also that water heats up slowly but also cools down slowly...

The Marine Stewardship Council works in this area.

Source:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-08/WWF_Risky_Seafood_Business_Summary_Report_2022.pdf

#480: That's gneiss... the oldest rock...

Wikipedia has a useful page on the development of life on the earth and the different eons that the planet has gone through. 

There is plenty of new language and vocabulary for students to potentially engage with here.

Source - CC licensed 3.0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life

#479: Thought for the Day

‘If you see, touch, name, connect with something, you will value it more’

R. Louv, 2005

#478: Plastics in nature

An excellent Guardian interactive looking at the life of microplastics.

It includes some interesting details which I hadn't considered before about the impact on microfauna.