#209: Plantlife

Plantlife is one of the organisations which will be on the list we will create, identifying websites of groups which may well prove useful for teachers preparing to teach the new specification.

The organisation has the following Mission:

Our mission is to secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi.

Wild plants and fungi underpin the health of our environment. They can help us to resolve the climate, ecological and societal challenges which we face.

Protecting them will lead to a world full of colour, beauty and life while allowing the plants and the animals which depend on them to thrive.

Those teaching the specification might be interested in their strategy document. There are opportunities for schools to get involved in their work.

The Advice and Learning section of the website is worth visiting too.

This includes a learning section to help identify plants and fungi with an illustrated database of plants and fungi which are searchable on a number of criteria.

There is also a Meadows Hub giving advice on how to manage this sort of ecosystem. I have blogged about this separately.

#207: Meadows

This is a concerning statistic.

The Plantlife website has a meadows page which goes into detail on the value of this type of habitat, which has been a victim of intensive farming. Plantlife is trying to protect meadows.

The headline is stark. Since the 1930s, over 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost. Where once thirty species of plants would bloom under your outstretched arms, in most of our fields there are now just six.

But, in the last few years, we have come to appreciate what we’ve lost. The tide is turning and the appetite for creating and restoring meadows - from the smallest garden to the largest fields - is greater than ever.

From storing carbon, to supporting biodiversity, to just enjoying their astonishing beauty, many of us want become meadow makers.

Whether you want to learn more about creating and planting meadows, help on how to keep meadows looking fabulous, or want some advice on starting a local meadows group by adopting a few basic principles, you are in the right place to find out how you can create flower-rich meadows on any scale - from a few square metres in your garden to fields of many hectares.