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.
The BBC's new Evolution series is now up and running.
Evolution is co-produced by The Open University and the BBC, and supported by leading OU academics specialising in evolution, ecology and the history of life on Earth.
Through Chris Packham's journey, the series explores the extraordinary story of life on our planet, from humble origins to the complex creatures we see today, shaped in surprising ways by the unstoppable force of evolution.
We now have the proposed subject content for the GCSE Natural History and you have some time to respond to the consultation to give your opinions. Please do... it's cheaper than buying books.
Don't forget to head off to your local library. It's vital to support it so that it doesn't go the way of many others and disappear. My main library is the Millennium Library at the Forum in Norwich.
However, this closed in April 2026 for a £1.3 million refurbishment and complete re-organisation. It reopens in mid-July 2026. I look forward to seeing what has been done there. There was a very large Natural History section in the library stretching for quite a while.
In the meantime, I headed for the library at Wells-next-the-Sea, which is a small one, and operates as as unmanned library for much of the week. I found these two books which look like being very interesting amd appropriate for the collation of materials and ideas and images that will have to take place fairly quickly once content is approved and we move onto draft specifications....
If they prove to be vital to have a physical copy of, there will perhaps be a budget provided for the development of the new specification and a library of books can be built up - some for teachers to refer to, and some for students to be inspired by.
Image: Alan Parkinson
It's always good to have Springwatch back... although that means another spring from the ones that I have left to see...
This time round the team are in Northern Ireland.
Last night's episode was a good opener, and you can see them on BBC and iPlayer. You can keep up with the action on the live wildlife cameras too.
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.
The location for the BBC's Springwatch / Autumnwatch programmes has often been in places I know well, and even very close to home.
From Pensthorpe near Fakenham to Minsmere, and particularly Ken Hill in Snettisham (where I lived for 12 years)...
And now they've moved to an area of Derbyshire which I visited regularly for decades when I was younger, for walks, climbing, pubs and generally getting out of the city and into the countryside at weekends. The new venue is the Longshaw Estate, which is close to Grindleford (with its famous cafe and where my parents actually had their honeymoon), and Hathersage, and Fox House (where I was first served alcohol in a pub... but that's another story.) Burbage Brook - a classic location for fieldwork for schools from Sheffield - runs through it - through Padley Gorge, and Stanage Edge is not too far away, or several of the other edges where I used to climb. Heading for Hathersage you will pass Froggy Rock and then Surprise View - always things we looked out for when heading there as a child... half a century and more ago...
The estate is managed by the National Trust.
The programme started yesterday and is on iPlayer.
Multicams can be watched through the day....
e.g.here's a Short Eared Owl I just saw live... complete with distant traffic noise and a plane going over... the sounds of us impinging on the sounds of nature...
The new series of Winterwatch starts tomorrow and as always there will be plenty of interest for those who are interested in the wildlife to be found in the UK, and a range of explainer videos and props to explain how animals and plants survive.
The trailer tonight mentioned a look at the temperate rainforest ecosystem along Lydford gorge, and also a look at the red squirrel population on Brownsea Island.
You can also sign up for natural history emails. This may be well worth doing.
Watch out, there's a new wildlife show on the block!
— 8 Out Of 10 Bats (@8outof10bats) October 8, 2023
Introducing @8OutOf10Bats, coming this autumn to a digital screen near you 🦇🍂 pic.twitter.com/gCH9zuH5vV
This is the latest offering from Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin
On the website is references the cancellation of Autumnwatch.
There’s a large gap in our calendars this year, after the axing of a certain autumn-based wildlife programme… enter stage 8 Out Of 10 Bats!
We’re delighted to be able to offer two weeks of free live broadcasts celebrating UK wildlife, showcasing campaign issues and giving space to new young & diverse talent. Starting on 23rd October at 7:30pm, the series will be based at two locations; Dundreggan Rewilding Centre in Scotland and the British Wildlife Centre in England.
You can sign up to be on the mailing list.
The programme starts on the 23rd of October. Free to watch on YouTube.
This series concluded last night...
Catch it on iPlayer - particularly this final episode.
In 30 mins on @BBCTwo we conclude our #Earth series . 4.5 (ish) million years in 5 (ish) hours . Only the BBC could/would do this & get the support of >200 scientists @OpenUniversity I’d say it has been the greatest story ever told , and I’d say my final PTC is one of the most… https://t.co/yQXUqVZtgi
— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) August 14, 2023
ID Keys are a key resource for use in the field to help identify plants (flowers, mosses, lichens), birds, animals (mammals, insects etc.) or other flora and fauna.
They are available in folded, laminated form from the FSC Shop and other outlets (RSPB reserve and Wildlife Trust shops for example). They are called WildID Guides.
Some have also previously been translated into Smartphone apps but don't seem to be available.
Each guide costs around £4 and it would be worth factoring in the cost of these to budget planning.
Look at the new specification when it (eventually) appears to see which guides might be the most useful.
I already own about ten different keys, from sand dune plants to bats.
Any school that is planning to teach the new specification and qualification will need to work out a budget for the whole process of preparing the teachers, resourcing the lessons and providing a range of associated books, equipment and fieldvisits. This is why some people are suggesting that it will be more likely to be offered by schools that can afford the investment of time and money. We will see whether that is what transpires, but hopefully I will be involved in providing resources for schools with different budgets.
Update - September 2023
📣New Guide Earlybird Offer📣
— Field Studies Council (@FieldStudiesC) September 2, 2023
Discover waders with our new WildID guide #Waders of Britain and Ireland. £3 until 1 Oct 2023.
A distinctive group of birds perfect for autumn bird watching.
Learn more in our latest blog and get the offer: https://t.co/OKpUSAWqXf#Birdwatching pic.twitter.com/DmMFOMtjPo
Updated October 2023
They also have this fan...
I have a few collections – animal skulls , poo , feathers – but this may be one of my most prized !@FieldStudiesC Wild ID Guides are a must-have for any naturalist , I take them everywhere I go . You can view the range here https://t.co/SLLse4LjUZ pic.twitter.com/qKnPuX6YLo
— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) September 29, 2023
Wild Ken Hill has been the home of the BBC's Springwatch and Autumnwatch for the last couple of years, and also the occasional Winterwatch.
Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and the team base themselves here, having previously been based at Minsmere and other locations including the nearby location of Pensthorpe, near Fakenham for a while.
Wild Ken Hill is in North West Norfolk, between King's Lynn and Hunstanton.
Wild Ken Hill is a site of rewilding, conservation, and a working farm. Its land is made up of hilly wood, wetter marshland, pasture landscape, and agricultural fields. As such, the ground is predominantly uneven with thick undergrowth. Ponies, pigs and cattle graze parts of the site and it is home to many, small, wild animals.
I lived in Snettisham for 12 years, and walked over Ken Hill many times, through the woods and down through the reed beds and along the old railway line which was sadly a casualty of Beeching's cuts in the 1960s.
That line, passing through Wolferton, Snettisham and Heacham would make a fantastic route from King's Lynn to the coast. Sadly, there have been some changes and new buildings which mean that the line is unlikely to ever be reinstated despite the fact that it would immediately
The area has changed substantially over the 12 years since I last visited for a good period of time.
Locations such as this may well form a good site for a field visit, or a case study of rewilding should that be a focus for the final draft specification.
To find out more you can follow Dominic Buscall on Twitter. Fun fact, my daughter went to school with members of the Buscall family.
I can imagine the area of the Wash, and surroundings landscapes and land uses, and some of the potential conflicts that occur there would make a good large scale case study.
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 in...
