#570: Blandscapes

An old tweet from Robert MacFarlane that I came across while clearing images from my phone. Some places are devoid of natural history and 'life'... what would you suggest as examples of blandscapes?

#569: Jane Goodall - someone to mention

We recently lost a real hero of Natural History: Dr. Jane Goodall.

She had spent her life speaking about the need to conserve nature, and habitats, particularly for primates. 

There are many quotes which are attributed to her, where she shows the true value of connecting with nature.

She also recorded a Netflix special interview for "Famous Last Words" which she said could only be shown after her passing and in this she named the people she thought were having the greatest impact on the natural world through the actions of their companies or political decisions. 

Who would be on your list of people to mention as part of a GCSE Natural History specification??

Let me know in the comments.

#568: NWT Centenary event with Chris Packham

I've been a member of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust for over 25 years.

They are the oldest of the Wildlife Trusts in the UK and are celebrating their centenary.

Last week, I attended an event at UEA to celebrate the centenary of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  

Chris Packham was able to join us for a conversation with Patrick Barkham, followed by questions from the Youth Forum and the audience.

An audience of over 500 people was crowded into Lecture Theatre One for the talk and question session. The evening started with the film above, made to celebrate 100 years of conservation work within Norfolk, starting at Cley Marshes on the Norfolk coast. I have been a member of the NWT for over 30 years. Norfolk has a great many places to see wildlife.

Chris talked with candour and passion about the value of wildlife to him personally and to us all individuallly and collectively. It was a good evening.

The BBC News picked up what he had to say about young people and the impact of David Attenborough's work as we get closer to his 100th birthday.

"He is the greatest broadcaster the world has ever had and the greatest ambassador of life. He has entertained, engaged, enraptured people, he has taught generations of young people to have a deep-rooted affinity, a love, for the natural world".

#567: Natural History Reading List #24: "Landmarks"

The latest in a series of posts on suggested books that could be in a GCSE Natural History subject library. The library is building but a long way from the contents of my GeoLibrary blog which has over 600 books on its virtual shelves.

'Landmarks' was written by Robert MacFarlane. 

It was published in 2016, so is coming up for ten years old, which makes me feel old.

There are several reasons for including this book on the reading list.

This description from a New York Times review provides some sort of sense of the contents of the book.

It includes some lists of words which describe some quite specific aspects of landscapes - particularly of words which are disappearing from dictionaries and common usage.

Expanding the vocabulary of young people with respect to Natural History will hopefully be an important part of the new course once the specification is revealed.

#566: A new OCR Blog on Nature Education in School

This is an excellent blog by Kim Polgreen and Joe Boyle of the University of Oxford. 

It was written for the OCR Blog and relates to the continuing preparations for the GCSE Natural History.

There's a focus on what Secondary schools can do in their own grounds and at low cost to offer potential for students to develop their thinking around natural history and its value.

They say:

From what we see in our own community in Oxfordshire, the fact that the GCSE has been mooted and now been confirmed has changed the conversation. Natural History is now a legitimate subject for teenagers to study at school.

And while we wait and prepare for the GCSE, there is a growing recognition of a more urgent set of “business drivers” for secondary schools to engage with nature and promote nature education. Student stress and mental health problems, student absence, teacher retention, inequality of attainment, parent stress, and even excess building heat and outdoor heat in the summer – these are all becoming overwhelming challenges for school leaders that can be helped by nature.

The blog refers to some research they have done on the way that young people relate to nature. The research is linked to here.

It finishes with 7 principles for working with young people...

These aim to help teachers and schools take advantage of cited opportunities: for wellbeing, skills development, brain development, alternative settings for learning and community building.

These are excellent and the emboldened bits are the the bits I like the most. I think some resources which relate to these would be very useful going forward.

We await the first draft specification for further consultation.

1. Experience nature first-hand. Hands-on is much much better than pictures. Contact with soil and plants supports gut health. Different outdoor spaces support different students.
2. Address key school issues. Thoughtfully-designed nature engagement activities can be used to build confidence, resilience, community, attendance and attainment, with benefits resonating through the school community.
3. Work close to school. Nature is everywhere. Lack of funds for a big trip doesn’t preclude getting out into nature locally or in school grounds. There are lichens on the school walls, a huge variety of species on playing fields and verges, and birds everywhere. A pile of dead wood or a small pond creates a mini ecosystem. Visiting areas near school, within the students’ own environment, cultivates place-based connection.
4. Diversify views of nature. nature can be studied through science and geography, but also through art, literature, history, drama, religion, philosophy, economics and maths. Examining the varied interrelationships between humans and nature through human history offers many entry points.
5. Embrace co-learning. Teachers don’t need to be experts, they can become learning coaches, discovering with and from their students, using the many tools available. Nature is such an immense topic that we’re all learning all the time.
6. Mediate with care. nature engagement is best when it’s led thoughtfully: managing expectations, involving students in risk assessments, accepting variable behaviour and remaining calm and confident will build students’ confidence and enjoyment, and support their ability to learn.
7. Work together and celebrate difference. People approach nature in different ways. Some are quiet observers, others are active workers. Nature spaces can help collaboration, allow individuals to thrive, and develop mutual appreciation and respect.

Read more here.

And check out the wider work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery.

#565: 75 years of the Peak District

2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the first National Park to be designated in the UK.

Peak District National Park

A local National Park will be a perfect place for visits once the GCSE Natural History launches, and many schools will be within a reasonable distance of one... or actually within one.

#564: Routes Journal - a special issue

Routes is a journal which features articles by students.

Volume 5 Issue 2 is now published, and is a special issue on young rewilders. Check out the articles on the links below. Well done to all those who have contributed to this special issue.

Editorial Introduction: Young People and Rewilding

By Oscar Hartman Davies (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and Jonathon Turnbull (Durham University)

by Routes10/04/2026

Essays

Turning back the clock or facing the future? Rewilding’s alternative conception of time and the potential for social justice

By Alfie Wraith (University of Cambridge)

by Routes10/04/2026

BIG FISH, BIG TIME: Exploring more-than-human temporal affect with respect to sturgeon

By Jessica Barker-Wren (University College London)

by Routes11/04/2026

Restoring forests in a changing world: the ash dieback crisis

By Haoran Wu (University of Oxford)

by Routes11/04/2026

The role of young people in the UK species reintroduction movement

By Șeniz Mustafa (The Ealing Beaver Project)

by Routes11/04/2026

Rewilding Research: Exploring young people’s perceptions of nature, identity and home

Ben Harris and Eden Sedman (Rewilding Youth)

by Routes11/04/2026

Balancing radical and sustainable rewilding: A case study of London’s urban future through the Neighbourhood Mobility Map Guide

Trisha Mehta (Royal College of Art School of Design)

by Routes11/04/2026

Rewilding and complex human-nature relationship in cities: Ecological parks in Chengdu, China

Ruoyan Zhu (Hong Kong Baptist University)

by Routes11/04/2026

Blue rewilding and nature-inclusive design: Offshore wind farms as anchors for marine biodiversity recovery in the UK

Prerena Balu (Newcastle University)

by Routes11/04/2026

#563: Secret Garden

A new BBC series which started this evening focusses on the wildlife that can be found in people's gardens, although frankly the first episode featured a completely unrealistic garden...

There's an interactive tool as well, made with the Open University, which you can use to uncover the secret wildlife in your own garden.

#562: New from Robert MacFarlane

A new film by Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane.

It's a documentary.

Here are the details from the film maker:

In 2020, during a lock down that marked us all, I discovered The Lost words book. This illustrated object simply celebrated words that qualified the nature around me in northern Europe. These words were blue bell, fox, badger, willow, conker, magpie, raven... 

Common nature names that had been taken out of the Oxford Youth Dictionary in 2007 and to which the authors Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris had given a second life. As I was relearning the landscape around me, it seemed unimaginable to lose ways to point it out, understand it and care for it.

The philosophy behind The Lost Words - between grief of disappearance and creative action - became something I wanted to bring to the screen; It is there that I found hope.

Sarah Konrath's (Indiana University) studies show that the level of empathy in younger members of the earth's population has gone down by 40% in the last ten years. Considering the easy access to the hard truths of a world in crisis, this is not surprising. Furthermore, when looking at documentaries that warn of the state of our planet, we quickly notice that catastrophe is written into the fibre of each film, warning and debilitating. The kindness in The Lost Words was what struck me; and its kind but subversive approach is what gave me the desire to make a film that invites us to change our point of view on our position as interconnected earth dwellers.

This is not a film about the book, but a film inspired by its creative and hopeful gaze. It is in this aesthetic of care that Lost For Words inserts itself; holding out a hand to the human and more-than-human.

Here's the trailer:

#561: MPAs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are important for marine conservation. There are few of them.

If you want to find them, check out the map here.

Find out more about marine protected areas with this infographic by @FishOceansCAN⬇️
🐠#Biodiversity pic.twitter.com/K27lAV5JPL

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) March 7, 2024

#560: Emperor Penguin decline....

A sad but inevitable consequence of the loss of sea ice, given the life cycle of this bird...

#559: Biodiversity Stripes - new infographics

I posted about these some years ago, but there is now a range of new visualisations available.

Visit the site and every few seconds you are treated to a new one...

#558: A new image of Earth from Space

Via Artemis II.