Today (13 March), in their first major campaign together, the National Trust, the RSPB and WWF are urging everyone in society to come together to halt the destruction of UK nature and take urgent action to Save Our Wild Isles.
Millions of people from all walks of life discovered the wonder but also the fragility of UK nature through the first episode of the new Wild Isles series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, which aired last night[1].
Now, three of the UK’s largest conservation charities, with 324 years of combined experience and 8.5 million combined members, are using their collective voice to call on all sectors of society across the UK to act.
The Save Our Wild Isles campaign will engage the UK public and inspire them to act – highlighting not only how nature underpins everything that makes our lives possible, but also how profoundly threatened it is.
The charities say there is just enough of the UK’s natural world still left to save, and if everyone – the public, communities, businesses and our leaders all urgently work together to aid its recovery, nature can begin to thrive again within the next few decades.
Against a background of unprecedented anxiety about nature loss and climate change, the charities are calling on the public to show their love of nature by committing to “Go Wild Once a Week”. That could mean making space for nature in our neighbourhoods by planting wildflower seeds in a window box or green space, eating less meat or getting involved in local community projects, or joining the charities in urging our leaders to act now for nature’s recovery.
Leaders and businesses must act now to implement a crisis response to the nature emergency to build on the promises they have made to halt the destruction of nature and speed its recovery.
Here’s how people have been helping nature in London and the surrounding counties
At Ham House and Morden Hall Park, the teams work with Operation Centuar to bring in heavy horses to cut their hay meadows. This traditional technique creates lower levels of noise disturbance and soil compaction and has a gentler impact on flora and fauna. It’s got a lower carbon footprint too, making it an eco-friendly option all round. By harrowing, cutting and raking with the traditional working horses, wildflower species throughout the meadow are given an opportunity to regenerate and recover. Their pollen forms an important food source for wildlife such as bees and butterflies, pollinators who support the running of our eco system.
Gardens & Outdoors Manager Jason Norris: We’re delighted to work with local organisation Operation Centaur to bring their shire horses to Morden Hall Park. Their low carbon approach aligns perfectly with our values at the Trust and their work means we’re able to encourage pollinators to the park.
At Runnymede in Egham, volunteers are being trained as habitat monitors, setting up routes around the most wildlife-friendly parts of the estate, such as Langham Pond or the hay meadow.
This is part of Runnymede Explored project, a five-year programme (joint funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) aiming to improve engagement and access at Runnymede.
Surveying on a near daily basis throughout spring and summer, the team follows these routes through the meadows and along the river, mapping out the diversity of wildlife they spot along the way. They’ve documented rare species of butterfly (including silver-washed fritillary and marbled white), and dragonflies, hoverflies, burnet moths, damselflies, bees and bats.
The volunteer team use a base called The Hive, a purpose-built building for nature-based learning. Volunteers, families and community groups use The Hive to learn about habitat surveying and monitoring, data logging to record ranges of species, and how to propagate threatened plant species to help them thrive.
National Trust Habitat Monitoring volunteer Catherine Clarke: We set up a transect at the south end of Runnymede, which includes Langham Ponds (a Sight of Special Scientific Interest) and the wonderful, adjoining hay meadow. I mainly see butterflies and bumblebees, but occasionally there have been large numbers of other insects such as hoverflies and burnet moths. Our rarest local butterfly is the Silver-washed fritillary.
Project Manager Jess Kellard: Our habitat monitoring volunteers are enhancing our understanding of this unique landscape, allowing us to protect the wildlife which lives in the meadows and woodland for future generations.
This wildlife conservation work is mirrored at Morden Hall Park, where an annual ‘Bioblitz’ event is held. Originating in the USA in 2009, this intensive biological survey sees an intense effort made to record all the different species wildlife in a specific place, in a set timeframe. BioBlitzes are held across the world and all over the UK by institutions such as the Natural History Museum and the Durrell Institute of Conservation. Previous events at Morden Hall Park have recorded species such as the lime hawk moth, greater stag beetle and pipistrelle bat. Carrying out intensive surveys like this helps ranger teams develop their understanding of the park’s wildlife and how to care for the multiple different habitats present.
