A blog providing ideas and resources for those teachers hoping to teach the new GCSE Specification, first announced in April 2022. Draft subject content released for consultation in June 2026 - for first teaching from 2028 or 2029.
Welney was the second reserve created by Sir Peter Scott for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
The first was at Slimbridge in 1946.
Sir Peter Markham Scott was the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott who, in his dying letter, urged Peter’s mother to “make the boy interested in natural history”. He was only two years old when his father died
Another potential fieldwork activity idea, particularly for those who are fortunate to teach within easy reach of a beach - particularly one with a reasonable tidal range - is to go beachcombing.
I have copies of a very useful guide to 'Beachcombing' which includes images of what you might expect to find on a typical beach.
There's also a useful guide to the sort of man-made items that you might find on the beach which was created some years ago now by an artist.
I blogged about them here. Not sure they are still available.
This includes plastiglomerate.
WONDER was launched by Jake Fiennes as part of the work of the Holkham Estate.
Image: Holkham Dunes
It's their strategy for sustainability. I've blogged about the Holkham Estate before.
I've also blogged about his book 'Land Healer', which I think is an excellent book - and should be part of a library of books for those teaching GCSE Natural History.
We believe Holkham is remarkable, somewhere more than a million people visit each year to admire and enjoy. It is also a place vulnerable to the effects of climate change, associated sea level rises and risk of flooding. So, our drive to be more sustainable is a very real one.We need to ensure we work towards improving our practices and cherishing our environment for the benefit of future generations. It is by sustainability becoming an instinctive and natural behaviour that we will succeed.
Today's the day that the voting took place for next year's BBC Countryfile calendar.
If you're reading this in time, you can vote for your favourite for the final 12 chosen images.
The theme is "Signs of the Seasons".
Taxonomy is a system of classification of living things.
An early draft subject content document for the GCSE Natural History said that students need to know about this process: to "gain knowledge of classification and taxonomy and enable them to identify plants, animals and fungi found in the UK, both native and alien (non-native, including invasive)."
The proposed subject content (currently up for consultation until early September) says that the specification:
must require students to extend the knowledge of the natural world acquired at key stage 3 of the national curriculum, to gain knowledge of classification and taxonomy and enable them to identify plants, animals and fungi found in the UK, both native and alien (non-native, including invasive).
to know and understand the main groupings and characteristics of each of the following wildlife groupings generally, as well as each of the specified sub-groupings: invertebrates (including insects, arachnids, crustaceans, molluscs, and worms), vertebrates (including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish), flowering and non-flowering plants (including vascular plants, trees, ferns, bryophytes), lichens and fungi. Awarding organisations must select an appropriate number of characteristics to effectively distinguish between each of the groupings.
A BBC Ideas video shares the story of 24 rabbits which were introduced to Australia.
They bred like... rabbits....
More details on the work that went into the making of the film can be seen here.
24 rabbits from Somerset were brought by Thomas Austin in 1859.
The Rabbit Proof Fence had to be built to precent their spread.
A film which was made a few years ago, and is now available to view on YouTube.
Thanks to Steve Brace for sharing a link to a post on the GA's website which shares the main themes of their response to the current consultation of the proposed subject content, which closes on the 4th of September.
Thanks to Michelle Graffagnino for the recommendation to this podcast on the Facebook group.
"As the Season Turns" has two new episodes each month - on the first of each month there is a post from Lia Leendertz, who was mentioned in the previous post.
Later in the month, Alice speaks to someone.
In the August edition she visits Jackie Morris.
Jackie Morris has worked with Robert MacFarlane on a series of projects.
I'm a big fan of the work of cartoonist Tom Gauld.
My cartoon for this week’s @GuardianBooks / @GdnSaturday pic.twitter.com/iHKQaUp8mc
— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) September 16, 2023
Along with several other newspaper / syndicated cartoonists they sometimes turn their attention onto Natural History.
The most obvious cartoonist to do this is Peter Brookes.
His Nature Notes cartoons have been appearing for over 25 years!
A collection of suitable cartoons would make a good resource for teachers, to help students think critically about changes in nature.
The UK National Parks in 100 Seconds film I mentioned in a previous post uses CORINE data to work out land cover (not land use).
This is useful data and is freely available.
The earlier film on the UK in 100 Seconds showed just how little of the land was actually covered with housing.
Plate tectonic evolution from 1 Billion years ago to the present..mp4 from Visual Capitalist on Vimeo.
and finishing with this map which you can explore.How resilient is the UK's wildlife to the coming climate emergency?
Not very seems to be the answer...
This Conversation piece talks about the changing nature of our climate.
Georges Cuvier was someone who looked at extinct animals and used fossils and comparative anatomy to work out what they might have looked like
When we think about early life, we have a particular view of what anumals look like...
August 23, 1769, birthday of French anatomist & naturalist Georges Cuvier. First to reconstruct - when not busy drawing stratigraphic profiles - extinct animals based on comparative anatomyhttps://t.co/F5qYSMdmjF pic.twitter.com/6Eiu1XLq8a
— History_of_Geology (@Geology_History) August 23, 2022
Another location in the list of possible visit locations we are putting together as part of the support materials for the new specification when it is finalised.
Cumberland House Natural History museum is in Portsmouth.
It is located in a historic house near to Southsea Beach.
This has a good varied collection of items with a natural history focus.
One area is the Butterfly House.
There is also plenty to connect the visit with other natural history related field work to connect up to make a good
The musum is free to visit.
If you've been, please let me know...
Nature is the best artist, and produces stunning patterns: the feathery fronds of ice on a car in the morning, the complex patterns in a cauliflower and the aerial views of a river and its distributaries across a delta are just three of many thousands.
Often, when one views a pattern, zooming in reveals further granularity.
There is a mathematical relationship at work here. I've previously blogged about the Golden Ratio / Fibonacci sequence and its impact on natural forms.
In Adam Nicolson's 'The Sea is not made of Water' he talks about connections between Tim Robinson's maps of 'Aran' and these patterns.
The coastline of an island is impossible to measure accurately because as we zoom in the complexity of the coast reveals that it is not a straight line but has endless small imperfections which we should also measure if we want to be accurate.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license
Twice a year, anyone can take part in these week-long citizen science surveys that help to build an important picture of river health across the UK and Ireland. Our rivers are far from healthy. They’re polluted with sewage, plastic, chemicals and nutrients, and just 15% of river stretches in England are in good overall health.
With the Big River Watch app, you can help identify the issues, which help’s the Trust influence policymakers and hold polluters to account. After the drought of this summer, many rivers are at low levels of flow, and my local chalk stream the River Nar is running at very low levels which is not good. To take part you need to download the app, which is free
This would be a good Citizen Science opportunity for students to participate in.
Download the app and head for your nearest river. Mine is about 2 minutes walk away luckily.
Spend 15 minutes watching the river, and answer the questions in the survey. You can complete the Big River Watch at your favourite local spot, or get to know somewhere new. The survey will ask you about what you see, from wildlife and plants to any signs of pollution. Not sure what you're looking at? The in-app pollution and wildlife guides can help you make an identification.I've had a busy summer of Aardman related things.
An article in The Guardian on urban gulls.
Gulls are birds which have grown to live with us, and which we both tolerate but also encourage through the way that we interact with them. They have been called "rats with wings".
Instead of sea cliffs, gulls find nests on the side of tall buildings, which mimic them.
Instead of hunting for food, we supply them with a steady stream of waste food because of our convenience lifestyle and overflowing rubbish bins.
Gulls learn how to steal, and there are lots of videos which show them opening automatic doors into shops and then coming out with packets of food.
To find out a great deal more, I recommend that you read the book 'Landfill' by Tim Dee.
They have developed a soil health scorecard with videos to help.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.
This story from the BBC News had a headline which at first glance is the wrong way round surely...
It's since been changed.
Stone curlews are a protected species. I have seen them in the wild in a field which is part of a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve.
I've visited Weeting Heath and seen the bird in the fields at the reserve. It's eye always draws the eye... it's a beautiful bird.
Via LinkedIn I came across this development.
Basecamp Lyngby is described as a housing and multi-use development.
I have been reading it slowly for the last year or so, one chapter at a time.
This review has some useful details.
We talk about ‘nature’ all the time, but what exactly is it? Does nature include physical processes such as rocks and rivers, as well as life? Is humankind part of nature or is there now a clear separation between the artificial and the natural? And if the latter, when did that divorce take place? Nature has a deep history, and what we think about it today may be different from how it was viewed in the past (there have been changes in perception even in my own lifetime). Who invented nature anyway?It explores some of the early relationships that people had with nature and how those relationships have changed. I was interested in the chapter on cave paintings for example, and the relationship that we had with nature in those times.
Introduction:
What is ‘nature’? Has it always meant the same thing? Are we a part of it?…This is a huge subject, of course, and it would be impossible to write a comprehensive and systematic account of it in a book of this length — or indeed any length. But…stories offer a different way of finding routes through such a vast, varied and difficult terrain and my story is only one among many possible ways of tackling this theme.Sea Land and City is a new documentary, supported by The Crown Estate.
Series such as David Attenborough’s Wild Isles have made audiences aware that the UK is one the most nature depleted countries on earth, but what can we do about that?
With The Crown Estate’s diverse portfolio which includes urban centres, rural land, the seabed and much of the coastline, the connection between these ecosystems needs to be at the heart of how we approach nature recovery for the UK.
That’s why we are thrilled to have supported a new adventure and documentary, ‘Sea, Land and City’, alongside Triodos Bank and distributed by Waterbear, to spotlight powerful nature positive solutions across South-West England. The documentary was premiered at the Blue Earth Summit in October 2024 following months of filming.
From tripling the size of the UK’s temperate rainforest, to restoring the South Coasts’ lost sea grass and kelp forests, to growing access to regenerative food in a changing climate — the documentary features some of the most exciting projects with the potential to lead big impact. The team, led by Mairead Cahill, Founder of Wonderoom, trekked, climbed, wade and foraged their way through the region to meet exceptional projects and the people behind them, giving the audience a direct and intimate experience of nature restoration in action.
Our Head of Nature and Environment for Marine, Caroline Price, joins Mairead in Dorset to discuss how The Crown Estate is working in partnership with a range of organisations under The Studland Bay Marine Partnership to support nature recovery in the region through the use of eco-moorings.
View the film on Waterbear - free account necessary.
Plenty of other interesting films on there which may be relevant to Natural History.
Here's the trailer.
The poetry of Mary Oliver has come up a few times in recent weeks.
This poem was mentioned a few times.
Are you familiar with her work?
What other poems are potentially relevant for a perspective on the natural world?
The Field Studies Council has made a lot of free online courses available. These explore a range of habitats and types of animals. These are two of the focus areas of the proposed subject content which are currently out for consultation until early September.
Some of these would be of potential value for teachers who want to upskill themselves and prepare to potentially teach aspects of natural history with which they are not familiar.
The RMetS has shared their thoughts on the GCSE Natural History ahead of the closing of the consultation on the proposed subject content.
Via my Google Alert for GCSE Natural History.
The article quotes someone from the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) - a friend of mine Paula worked for them over 40 years ago... the article asks some of the questions that many others will also be asking.
A cross posting from my Geo Library blog project - what do you mean you haven't visited? There's over 700 books that would be of interest to geographers.
This was the book I finished at the beginning of the summer break.
It's a chunky tome from Nicholas Crane which sits alongside his earlier book on the making of the landscape of Britain.
It explores the origin of the paths and tracks that run through England, from their first makings as the landscape was populated with the first arrivals.
The paths firmed up with foot traffic and created a network of paths connecting settlements as they developed. Horses expanded the network, and trade turned them into roads. They were joined by trains and canals and then the car changed everything.
It's scholarly and accessible and full of incident and detail, taking you through the thickets of ancient woodland and out to the development of motorways and the current issues we face travelling through the countryside, including past struggles to gain access to open access land.
Details from the publisher:
My copy was published by W&N in 2026
Hardback, 432pp
ISBN: 978-1399605816
If you want to hear more about the book, Nicholas Crane is doing a series of events around the country, including a talk in King's Lynn at the Town Hall.
It will be hosted by Norwich School.
Nick will have a focus on the ancient footpaths of East Anglia as well, given the location of the talk, and the fact he was born in Cringleford - a few miles from where my daughter lives - and grew up in the area.
My ticket is booked, so I will see you there and may even help you get some sausage rolls and brownies once the talk is over. We usually have mulled wine on arrival as well...
Wildfires are breaking out across Europe.
It's not clear whether most of them started by natural causes.
A report from the House of Lords.
Wildfires are a natural phenomenon and an essential process in some ecosystems. However, around the world climate change, demographic changes and shifts in land use are altering their frequency and severity.
In the UK, natural wildfires, for example those sparked following lightning strikes, are rare and most wildfires are the result of human action. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), which represents fire and rescue services (FRS) across the UK (44 in England, three in Wales and one each in Scotland and Northern Ireland), notes that most wildfires nationally originate from human activity such as:
There is no single definition of what constitutes a wildfire in the UK, with different definitions used by government agencies, the media and FRS.
The UK government used to define a wildfire as any “unplanned and uncontrolled fire(s) in the natural environment”, but now defines the term to mean an “uncontrolled fire that burns vegetation, such as grass, heather, woodland, crops and scrubland”.
The NFCC maintains that not all outdoor fires are wildfires. Instead, it defines a wildfire as “any uncontrolled vegetation fire which requires a decision, or action, regarding suppression”. In addition, the NFCC specifies that a wildfire will meet one or more of the following criteria:
People have tended to pave over front gardens and drop the kerb to create off-road parking... which then restricts the available on-road parking, which encourages more people to do the same.
Many modern housing developments prioritise off road parking.
This is increasing urban temperatures as the surfaces absorb and retain more heat, and the lack of vegetation reduces biodiversity.
I have a front garden laid to lawn with some pots by the front door. This makes it low maintenance but retains some elements of green space and a permeable surface for rainfall.
The article references an RHS report from 2025 on the loss of gardening spaces and the inequality of access.
This report found:
Gardening is certainly a popular activity, both to do but also to go to see. There were massive queues in the local area where I live due to the RHS Sandringham Show: an expansion on the previous Sandringham Flower Show.
This Cornish Times article explains how he and Tim Smit (creator of the Eden Project) are calling for a "greenlightenment".
One of the most likely places for teachers (particularly in London) to take students for the GCSE Natural History course will be the Natural...
