There has been a huge shift in society towards nature conservation. In the last year especially, we have seen a monumental rise in public interest regarding protecting our environment thanks to programmes like Planet Earth and Blue Planet (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Sir David has magical powers when it comes to public engagement!). More people than ever before are being careful about how much meat they consume, how much waste they produce, and are thinking seriously about their carbon footprint.

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Last year I took on the role of Team Leader in the Mammal Society’s University Mammal Challenge (UMAC), using a variety of survey techniques to record as many mammals as possible at Nottingham Trent University’s Brackenhurst campus. With a grand total of 6529 observations of 24 mammal species, our team won a trip up to the Cairngorms in Scotland to spend a day learning about Scottish wildcats and current conservation efforts.
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In 2016 the Field Studies Council (FSC) were awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a project to address the lack of people able to identify and record difficult species groups, with a focus on the West Midlands and South East regions of England. [Read More]

Traditionally, March is the first month of Spring: a time of pleasant birdsong, early blooms and fresh, new life. This year, things appear somewhat different. Storm Emma and the ‘Beast from the East’ have collided and merged and Britain, for the most part, finds itself enduring what seems to many like a second Winter. Snow blankets the floor, ice our rivers and lakes and, generally, conditions outside seem rather horrid, both from a human perspective and from that of the wildlife set to suffer should such conditions continue. The only positive aspect of the latest bout of bad weather being that many of us, concealed in the relative warmth of our homes, now have ample time to catch up on reading… [Read More]

We are currently recruiting for a new Administrator! Read on for details! [Read More]

“We must all decide what world we want to live in.”

Paul Rosalie, Vision for Nature Report, July 2016 [Read More]

A few ideas to get you started – whether you do them all or one, you are adding to the thousands of others that are making contributions to help our oceans. [Read More]

“It is a moment of quickening, of rebirth. The old, lovely story: life surging back, despite everything, once again. However spring finds you – birdsong, blossom or spawn – it is a signal: the earth turning its ancient face back to the sun.”

Melissa Harrison – ‘Spring: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons’ [Read More]

It’s been a very busy time lately with lots of interesting environmental news being released this month. Don’t worry if you missed any of it though, as in this issue of New Nature, Abby Condliffe gives us 10 easy ways to help the environment right now (p.26), and our own Emma Pereira recaps the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan (p.41) looking at just how connected all of us are to the natural world! Later, Lucia Speroni rounds everything off by looking at the impact of plastic in the North Atlantic (p.30). [Read More]

Saltmarshes are areas of coastal grassland that are regularly flooded by seawater. They form important habitats for wading birds and coastal flowers alike. [Read More]