#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.

#546: RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

This takes place this coming weekend.

Make sure that you take part in this huge citizen science event. Just give up an hour of your weekend to sit there with a cup of tea and see which birds land in your garden.

At the time of posting around 400 000 people / families have registered to take part.

Come and join us!

#365: Art

Hopefully the final specification for the GCSE Natural History will follow up on the promise of the original draft thoughts of Mary Colwell and others. From the clues that I've seen at OCR Consultative Forum meetings and elsewhere, I'm not sure that all of the more interesting (to me) elements such as reference to art, literature and poetry will survive OFQUAL reviews.

One thing I hope stays is an exploration of how Natural History has been represented in art, and how that has changed - from prehistoric cave paintings to the iPad drawings of the Yorkshire Wolds through the seasons by David Hockney. Here's a really beautiful painting - I'll share more of these on the blog in the next year or so as things hopefully get back on track for an eventual launch.

'A City Garden', James McIntosh Patrick, oil on canvas, 1940.

#322: Where the wild things are...

An excellent piece in today's Guardian explores the importance of gardens and parks to Britain's wildlife.

The piece explores the "shifting baseline" and the quiet disappearance of animals we used to take for granted, such as hedgehogs. I also remember a fox family that used to live in the grounds of the derelict church opposite the GA headquarters in Solly Street, Sheffield. They are now a huge block of student accommodation, and the foxes are nowhere to be seen.

We cry habitat loss, but it’s theft, really – no one is so careless as to lose their home. We call it progress, but how dare we? How many people, throughout the planning process, will have thought of or cared about hedgehogs? Or considered any of the other residents, both human and wild? The management company would have conducted an ecology survey, no doubt. But, as is often the case, it was probably done in winter, when the hedgehogs were hibernating. Did any residents other than Choel and me know there were hedgehogs on that estate? Did anyone care? The council paved over the gardens to save money on maintenance. The trees and park were lost because the car parks that replaced them can be a source of income. The residents placed there by the council would not necessarily have known or thought about those habitats, making them so much easier to destroy.

#250: Horniman Museum and Gardens

The Horniman Museum and Gardens might make a useful location for a field visit for those schools who are within easy travelling distance.

We will be collating a list of suggested places for field visits, including museums of this kind. We have a spreadsheet with quite a lot already, but keen to hear your suggestions.

Here's a description of the museum collection, one of which is particularly useful.

Our Natural History collection contains over 250,000 specimens of local, national and worldwide origin. 

They were assembled from the mid-19th to the early 21st centuries for public display, education, reference and research.

The collection contains biological and geological material of national and international significance and includes taxidermy, skeletal material, pinned insects, fossils, minerals, rocks, models, dried pressed plants, fungi, shells, and birds’ eggs.

Having recently declared an ecological and climate emergency we increasingly use our collections to connect people with nature and encourage a deeper appreciation, love and respect for the natural world. Our collections and research – combined with the public programmes – help to raise awareness of the global environmental challenges we all face. We seek to empower and encourage people to take action to protect the planet and its ecosystems for future generations.

The Natural History collection can be searched. It is split into Zoology, Geology and Botany.

There is plenty of taxidermy, and also collections of skeletons.

Some of the museum is free to visit, but there is a charge for the Aquarium and Butterfly House, which may be of interest.

I also like the look of the World Gallery.

This school seemed to like their visit:

Year 10 GCSE artists & photographers visited the Horniman Museum in London on Monday. They carried out drawings and photographs in the butterfly house & aquarium as well as making observations of the vast array of taxidermy on exhibit in the gallery of natural history. #horniman pic.twitter.com/rPfFRYXjsM

— Claremont Fan Court School (@CFCSchool) September 22, 2023

What's your nearest natural history museum / display / exhibition? 

#211: Gunnera

Students studying the GCSE Natural History will become aware of the impact of invasive species on the native plants and animals in an area. 

Several of these were originally introduced because of their ornamental appearance in the estates and gardens of wealthy people. They are now being removed, which is costing a lot of money in some cases.

One of them is gunnera. It looks like giant rhubarb.

UK bans popular garden plant Gunnera after study finds it an invasive species https://t.co/xKmxTudYxm

— Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) December 8, 2023

Many years ago, I spent time working as a volunteer for Scottish Natural Heritage on the Isle of Rum. One of the jobs we had was to do was to remove rhododendrons from the vicinity of Kinloch Castle with chainsaws and burn them. I also painted a few doors in the cellars of the castle. This was a huge job as many of the slopes in the area around the castle were covered in the plant, which produced shade which led to the disappearance of other plants. There is a concerted effort to remove it from Scotland if possible.

Rhododendron ponticum is the most expensive alien plant conservation problem in Britain and Ireland. It was introduced in the eighteenth century, probably in 1763 from Spain, and was then described as a not fully hardy plant. 

It was expensive to buy. 

It was made hardier by artificial and natural selection and by hybridisation with Appalachian and other Rhododendron species. It is easy to propagate and became cheap and popular in the mid and late nineteenth century as an ornamental, for game cover and as a root stock for other ornamental rhododendrons.

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233485570_Rhododendron_ponticum_in_Britain_and_Ireland_Social_Economic_and_Ecological_Factors_in_its_Successful_Invasion 

Image source: https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-gunnera/ 

#87: Gardens and Natural History

Gardens are an important resource for Natural History. Hopefully students will be encouraged to make use of the school site, but also their gardens should they be fortunate enough to have access to one. They will vary dramatically in their size and nature... but quite a few students will not have access to one:

1 in 8 British households have no access to a garden. 🍃

Parks can provide green space to relax, meet friends and connect with nature.

Allestree park in #Derby is the UK’s largest urban rewilding project.

🎥 Watch to find out more: https://t.co/W7RHzB44VN#LoveParksWeek pic.twitter.com/WXDQqWYGqj

— Natural England (@NaturalEngland) August 2, 2023

Image: my garden in a previous house - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license