#337: The State of Nature

This piece in Unearthed explores the state of the River Test in Hampshire, one of our rare chalk streams and it is under pressure. Many of our natural treasures (chalk streams are very rare on a global level)

I have a chalk stream running through my village: the River Nar, and am concerned that it will be polluted eventually.... 

Let's hope that the new Government will get to grips with the water companies ....

#336: Green Party message following the recent election

We now have a new Labour Government and a new Education Secretary in Bridget Phillipson. She is going to be very busy. The new Government has already shown that it is different in that it has placed people in key ministerial positions who have some knowledge of the spheres in which they will be working.

The Green Party quadrupled its number of MPs at the election.

They have released a list of 10 priorities they think the Government should have to improve the environment, and Britain generally.

Number nine is of particular interest to us.

#335: Wilding

This movie has been getting a lot of attention.

It tells the story of a farm taken over, and a decision to change how it was managed. 

Linked to a book by the same name written by Isabella Tree which I also have a copy of.

334: EncounterEdu - a new unit on the Oceans and Climate

EncounterEdu (formerly Digital Explorer) have produced some excellent resources over the years - I know because I wrote some of them back in the day. One of them even won a GA Award.

They have now launched a new free resource.

The resources have been created in collaboration with the team behind the Convex Seascape Survey.

This comprehensive unit aligns with the KS3 geography programme and introduces important aspects of the ocean and science. Topics include the carbon cycle, causes, evidence, and impacts of climate change, ocean biodiversity and its protection, alongside intersections of human and physical geography through mapping, ecosystem services, and coastal livelihoods.

With the ocean covering 70% of the Earth's surface, absorbing over 90% of excess heat from global warming, and the source of livelihoods and food for billions, this unit provides students with an engaging journey into one of the most important issues of the 21st Century.

Here are the 9 units that are included in the unit.

#333: Tropics Day

Today is apparently Tropics Day.

The Tropics host 80% of the world’s biodiversity - and face severe challenges - including climate change, deforestation, urbanisation and demographic shifts.

Saturday is #TropicsDay.https://t.co/8sR4YNfQ1O #ForNature pic.twitter.com/y8cuBiICIR

— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) June 29, 2024

Today is International #TropicsDay 🍍🐒🌴🦜🌧️🐠

On this day, @UN celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the Tropics while highlighting the unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face.#WeAreTheTropics pic.twitter.com/aa9EvYZ08C

— ipbes (@IPBES) June 29, 2022

#332: Take a Nature Break

Biodiversity—the variety of all life on Earth—supports the health and wealth of our societies.

Take a 2 minute nature break with an animated video about how nature improves your health:🌍🌿

Via @nature_org pic.twitter.com/WjsiirNk77

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) June 25, 2024

The video is made by the Nature Conservancy. 

#331: UN Biodiversity

Another Twitter feed worth following is that of UN Biodiversity.

Learning about #biodiversity in your classroom? Check out this colorful infographic by @CanGeo
about the layers of life found in an old growth forest.
🌳🌲🌳
Find the full version here➡️https://t.co/iD3Pk3H3Eu

Via @CanGeoEdu pic.twitter.com/VFGVWBXicz

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) June 22, 2024

#330: Wildlife Trusts and Living Landscapes: Cley Marshes

Cley Marshes Reserve is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. 

It is an important place in the history of British birdwatching and conservation.

Its education centre was opened by Sir David Attenborough, who described the place as being particularly significant in these respects.

It also has a rather wonderful view of the reserve and hides heading out to the shingle beach, which can be enjoyed with a cheese and tomato toastie if you're feeling peckish.

There's a good visitor centre space with a series of different art exhibitions and several purchasing opportunities.

The reserve talks about this landscape being a "living landscape" and "a living coast".

It changes twice a day with the tide.

Follow them on Twitter here.

#329: Today's march in London

Will be interesting to see what stance the specification will take on the ability to include events like this in the teaching, or will this be classed as 'political'... The logos on the bottom suggest that this is something a lot of important nature conservation groups take very seriously.

Best wishes to all those making their way to London today.

#328: NENP: 'Weather and Seasons'

The National Education Nature Park (NENP) is making good progress. 

Over 1000 schools are signed up now, although that means there are many thousands still to sign up. 

🌤️ The National Education Nature Park's 'Weather and Seasons: Explore' activity encourages students to observe and compare the four seasons in the UK, helping them understand the impact of various aspects of our lives.

Learn about this free resource 👉 https://t.co/8JwbOWp331 pic.twitter.com/kTntneAKRn

— RGS-IBG Schools (@RGS_IBGschools) March 9, 2024

The Weather and Seasons activity is worth checking out.  It's designed for KS1

It will be interesting to see where the National Education Nature Park and Climate Awards fit in with wider developments of the GCE Natural Histoty.

#327: Teaching Times article from Mary Colwell gives an update

A new article in 'Teaching Times' by Mary Colwell gives a bit of an update into the state of the GCSE Natural History, and its possible introduction in 2026.

She mentions the assessment as being based on coursework and fieldwork - I think that is very unlikely.

The Subject Criteria have now been written and were signed off by Damien Hinds, who is the current Minister of State for Schools. However, it became mired in the political process before the general election was called, and it has not yet gone to public consultation. We wait to see if the next government will revive it and make it a reality for first teaching in 2026 (at the earliest). 

There is a long way to go still; the public consultation will need to be taken on board, Ofqual will need to produce its requirements and the exam boards will need to write their exam content, which must be approved again by Ofqual. Textbooks will need to be written and teacher training and resource provisions put in place. 

There is a lot to do even for a 2026 introduction.

Natural history requires specialist knowledge and support must be found for schools that want to train teachers or take on new staff. Resources must also be available to help schools with trips and equipment.

#326: Lower Otter Restoration

Retired Geography teacher Paul Berry writes a blog called Devon Geography.

A recent post explores the project to allow the restoration of the lower reaches of the River Otter in Devon, as it approaches Budleigh Salterton, through managed realignment.

It's an area I know well. I've been visiting the town each summer for at least 15 years - staying in a range of holiday homes and with family.

Image: Otter Restoration Project

The blog post would be useful as it includes an area where there have been attempts to reintroduce beavers (not otters) into the river to assist with flood management.

The area is changing rapidly as the scheme starts to take shape.

Here's an image of the mouth of the distinctive trees at the mouth of the river. 

It's one of a number in my Flickr album entitled: GCSE Natural History, which is growing (now up over 100 images) and which everyone is free to use once resources start to be developed as an additional offering from our suite of resources.

#325: No hedges, no hogs...

This Cambridge News piece reminds us that if there are no hedges, there will be no hedgehogs... and hedges are being lost from farms, despite attempts to restore them now, with new targets for planting new hedges. 

Some are being planted in the fields around the village where I live in Norfolk. We need more hedges for sure.

#324: New for Pride Month: A Little Gay Natural History

This is an intriguing books, which can be purchased from the Natural History Museum shop.

🌈It's #Pride Month!🌈

Which means my ✨debut book✨ is now in the wild! A Little Gay Natural History has been a bit of a labour of love, and I hope you'll all enjoy it!

Get your hot little hands on a copy exclusively from the Natural History Museum 👇 https://t.co/0jotz9Pcdf pic.twitter.com/tm5yBZfWgH

— Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 (@JoshLukeDavis) June 1, 2024

Packed with colourful imagery and fascinating insight, A Little Gay Natural History celebrates the astonishing diversity of sexual behaviour, biology and reproduction found in nature. Or, as Stephen Fry describes it, ‘A very welcome slap on the wrist for those who claim that same-sex love, intimacy and bonding are “unnatural”. Josh Davis’s splendid book will be a most useful settler of arguments and silencer of bigots.’

Davis considers how, in both animals and plants, sexual reproduction and determination rely on a complex interaction between genes, hormones, environment and chance. Meet turtles whose sex is set by the incubation temperature of their eggs and a butterfly that embodies male and female biological tissue.

He also reveals behaviours in nature that have previously been covered up and explains how same-sex courtship is more widespread than many realise - encouraging readers to rethink any assumptions. Expect to be informed, surprised and entertained.

#323: A casualty of the early election?

Earlier today, this diagram was shared on Twitter, which looks from the formatting to be a panel from a recent copy of the i newspaper.

It shows the Government policies that were announced, but never came to fruition because of the early call for a General Election. 

Some of these were not the result of the 4th of July call, but the civil servants who would have been working on preparing all the documentation for the consultation that is needed in order for the next stage of the qualification's development ahead of a possible 2025 start will no longer be working due to purdah. This means that the relevant steps to progress have not been taken. 

Is it the end for the qualification? 

Will the new Government continue to develop the project? 

It's unlikely to be earlier than 2026 before it will be taught for the first time?

We'll find out more after the Election I guess....

Update - a Tweet from Mary Colwell...

Thanks Jules - so despairing about the last delay to the GCSE in Natural History - it now hangs in the balance and relies on Labour pushing it through. But will they? https://t.co/kbEvfXTYhl

— Mary Colwell (@curlewcalls) June 3, 2024

#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.

#321: Charles Waterton: Naturalist

One of the features of the new specification will presumably be to introduce students to people who were pioneers in the field. I've already mentioned quite a few of these people on the blog, such as White, Von Humboldt, Darwin etc. 

When I was a little more peripatetic in my work, travelling around the country, I spent several days working at the Waterton Hall Hotel on the edge of Wakefield. It also featured recently on one of the many programmes involving people buying and selling antiques on a road trip.

Charles Waterton was born in Wakefield in 1782.

He is described on his Wikipedia page here.

When David Attenborough opened an exhibit at Wakefield's museum he said of Waterton that he was:

"one of the first people anywhere to recognise, not only that the natural world was of great importance, but that it needed protection as humanity made more and more demands on it”

Waterton Hall Hotel is in Wakefield, and is well worth a visit.

In March 2024, the Guardian reported that the estate was going to be receiving Grade II heritage listing status to protect it as it was regarded as "the world's first nature reserve".

The estate owner was known for climbing trees into his 80s, padding around his land barefoot, talking to visitors while standing on his head and, during dinner parties, pretending to be a dog who would bite the legs of guests.

Yet his contemporaries often thought him eccentric for the way he managed his estate, such as his decisions to ban shooting on his land and to invite members of the public to visit it for free. Asylum patients were welcomed as part of their treatment.

“He isn’t that well know today, but when he was alive he was quite widely known for his explorations and scientific expeditions,” said Sarah Charlesworth, Historic England’s listing team leader in northern England.

“He was a fascinating man, ahead of his time. He created what is in effect the first nature reserve in the world to protect native wildlife. He deserves to be better known.”

Image of hotel: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

The estate was protected by a wall which Waterton built at great expense. He has family links with slavery, which are explored here - on the Friends of Waterton's Wall website.

#320: A history of Whaling

A useful history of whaling, which may be of interest.

This article discusses the history of whaling from prehistoric times up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. 

Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Commercial whaling dramatically reduced in importance during the 19th century due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the collapse in whale populations. Nevertheless, some nations continue to hunt whales even today. 

Early history Humans have engaged in whaling since prehistoric times. Early depictions of whaling at the Neolithic Bangudae site in Korea, unearthed by researchers from Kyungpook National University, may date back to 6000 BCE. The University of Alaska Fairbanks has described evidence for whaling at least as early as circa 1000 BCE. 

The oldest known method of catching cetaceans is dolphin drive hunting, in which a number of small boats are positioned between the animal and the open sea and the animals are herded towards shore in an attempt to beach them. This method is still used for smaller species such as pilot whales, beluga whales, porpoises and narwhals, as described in A Pattern of Islands, a memoir published by British administrator Arthur Grimble in 1952. Another early method used a drogue such as a wooden drum or an inflated sealskin tied to an arrow or a harpoon. Once the missile had been shot into a whale's body, the buoyancy and drag from the drogue would eventually cause the whale to tire, allowing it to be approached and killed. Cultures that practiced whaling with drogues included the Ainu, Inuit, Native Americans, and the Basque people of the Bay of Biscay. 

Most nations have now stopped whaling, with a few exceptions.

#319: Thought for the Day

“Man is the most insane species. 

He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature. 

Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshiping.”

Hubert Reeves

#318: LEAP - our diet and the environment

LEAP was involved in the creation of the Meat the Future exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in 2022.

The LEAP project (Livestock, Environment and People) at Oxford University studies the health, environmental, social and economic impacts of meat and dairy production and consumption.

The LEAP website includes an excellent image... Check the tabs to see more. 

The proposed specification was originally down to include something on the impact of our dietary choices on the environment e.g. meat eating has a high carbon footprint.

Image copyright: LEAP