Tag: Conservation

Mammal Society: Q&A with Stephanie Wray

The Mammal Society is a charity dedicated to the research and conservation of Britain’s mammals. By surveying, monitoring, researching, and sharing information about the state of mammals, it contributes to conservation efforts to help maintain these species.

Stephanie Wray

We recently spoke to Stephanie Wray, the new Chair of Mammal Society, who kindly took the time to answer some questions about her background, her ambitions for the charity, and some ways in which you can get involved and support mammal conservation.

 

 

1. First, could you tell us a little bit about the Mammal Society and the important work that it does?

The Mammal Society is a charity which works towards the conservation of British mammals based on sound science. We were started in the 1950s and have always had both a strong academic member base of the ecologists and natural scientists who study our wild mammals, but also a fantastic body of amateur naturalists who are fascinated by mammals and willing to give up their free time to learn more about them and help their conservation in practical ways. Over time our membership has grown to include, for example, ecological consultants who work with protected species, protecting them from development, and many others who just love mammals. Increasingly we are benefiting from support from members of the public who, while they may not be able to devote time to practical projects themselves, care deeply about the British countryside and our iconic mammal species and want to help us to help them. At the moment we are developing exciting projects looking at the conservation of mountain hares, our amazing native hare which turns white in the winter and which may be threatened by climate change, and the harvest mouse, a species of traditional farmland as small as a two-pence piece and increasingly threatened by the way we manage our countryside.

Mountain Hare, Cairngorms by Sorcha Lewis (Mammal Photographer of the Year 2020)

2. From your PhD on brown hares in the 1990’s and a post-doc on Livingstone’s bat on the Comores, to your role as past president of the CIEEM and, most recently, your position as director of Biocensus and founder of specialist consultancy Nature Positive, you’ve had an incredibly fascinating and influential career so far. What attracted you to the position of Chair of the Mammal Society?

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Mammal Society, since my first Mammal Society conference in 1989. It’s where, a couple of years later, I presented my first scientific talk on the results of my PhD research and where I met many other mammal enthusiasts who have remained lifelong friends. Many of the Society’s members, professional and volunteer, have helped me with my research over the years, turning up in fair weather or foul to help me catch and radio-collar mammals to learn more about their habits, collect samples of dropping and other ‘glamorous’ tasks. So I want to be able to give something back, to make sure that the Society continues to grow and acts as an effective, science-backed voice for the conservation of wildlife in the UK. Our members have a huge amount of knowledge and experience and I want to make sure that we can leverage that to have our voices heard and deliver the right outcomes for conservation.

3. Unusually for an ecologist, you also have a Master’s degree in Business Administration. Do you think that marketing, economics, and the social sciences in general have an important role to play in ecology and conservation?

Well, you have done your research – I do indeed! We hear a lot about the bad things that businesses do, but the economic reach, innovation and entrepreneurship of industry can also act as a huge power for good. Businesses are starting to realise that their entire operations depend on biodiversity and that working to protect the natural world is not just a philanthropic exercise, it’s sound business sense. Sometimes how a business affects the environment is very obvious (they may use a lot of water or harvest a wild species) but in many cases it is hidden deep in their supply chains. Let’s say that you are a manufacturer of oat milk. You will have a great narrative around the climate impacts of your product compared to dairy milk, soy and almonds – but what about the biodiversity impacts? If the oats you buy are grown at a factory scale, removing hedges and ploughing up to the field boundaries, with the addition of lots of artificial fertilisers or pesticides, then you will have undone all those climate benefits through your impacts on nature – and the decline in the harvest mouse population would be an indicator of that. Now that is not just a concern to the Mammal Society – it’s a risk to your business in terms of future costs (as the environment becomes more degraded then we lose soil fertility and pollinator species, and yields will fall) in terms of your reputation (we’re drinking oat milk in the first place because we care about the environment) and in terms of your ability to attract investment (the institutional lenders don’t want to be on the wrong side of the next ‘palm oil’ issue). Under that kind of pressure, businesses can be incredibly flexible and develop new approaches, like regenerative farming, which can represent a win-win – a premium product for them, a healthier environment for everyone.

4. Taking on the role of Chair of a charity during a global pandemic must be an exciting yet challenging prospect. What are your hopes and ambitions for the charity over the next few years?

It is certainly an exciting time to take on a new role. Particularly during our first ‘lock down’ in Britain last year I think we all really appreciated our limited time outdoors and took time to enjoy those short nature ‘snacks’. For some that meant spotting wild goats or deer in the car-free streets, for others it may have been a grey squirrel or urban fox in the garden. My hope is that as we recover from the pandemic we don’t lose sight of that link to nature, and that as society moves forward it will be with increased understanding of and respect for the way the natural environment supports and underpins everything we do. My ambition for the next phase of the Mammal Society’s life is to really raise our profile to that of a household name alongside larger charities such as RSPB and WWF. I want to make sure that we develop our communications strategy, and through our website, publications and social media engagement, reach a wider audience and raise the profile of British mammals and their conservation in line with our charitable objectives. I want us to continue delivering the highest quality of scientific research and to proactively engage with government and the media on mammal conservation and management issues to contribute to the delivery of evidence-based policy.

Female Muntjac by Keith Elcombe (Mammal Photographer of the Year 2021)

5. As stated on your website: Britain is now recognised as one of the most nature-deprived countries in the world. Are you broadly optimistic about the future of mammals in the UK?

I think we have to be; the only viable option for human society is to live in harmony with nature. This year is a hugely important one for nature with the COP15 meeting in China in October on the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and the related COP26 meeting on climate change in Glasgow in November. These will be decisive in setting out international approaches to protected areas and sustainable use of the commodities we harvest from nature. Here in the UK, we have clear commitments arising from our exit from the EU, in the government’s 25 year environment plan, and through measures such as mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain in the forthcoming Environment Bill. All the pieces are there, we just need to commit to putting them together into a coherent protection framework. One quarter of British mammals are currently at risk, but it isn’t too late to bend the curve on extinctions and watch our biodiversity flourish again.

6. Finally, for any of our readers who are wanting to get involved with mammal conservation in the UK, what are the most important things that they can be doing right now?

Firstly (obviously!) have a look at the Mammal Society’s website (https://www.mammal.org.uk/support-us/) and you will find all sorts of things you can do to help from sending us records of mammals you have seen to organising a bake sale (hedgehog cupcakes, anyone?). In your day to day life, here are a few things you might try to help mammals.

  • Garden with nature in mind. If you have a garden, try to leave a wild corner with food for wildlife particularly in the autumn and winter. An open compost heap if you have space is helpful to invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals (but don’t add any cooked food!) If you have a pond, make sure the sides are not too steep or add a ramp to make sure thirsty creatures don’t fall in and drown. Consider leaving food out for hedgehogs (cat food, never milk) or badgers (they aren’t too fussy!) if you are lucky enough to have them. Leave small gaps under fences to make sure hedgehogs and other small mammals can move around. If you don’t have a garden, a window-box or a pot of herbs on the doorstep can provide a source of food for pollinators and contribute to biodiversity.
  • One of the biggest threats to nature is how we manage the countryside and as consumers we can all send a message about what we want agri-business to do. Choose products wisely – is there embedded destruction of the countryside in that breakfast cereal? Write to the supermarket or the manufacturer and ask them how they manage their impacts on biodiversity – both directly and through the ingredients they buy in.
  • Write to your local MP and ask them what they will be doing to make sure that even removed from the EU’s strong environmental legislation, Britain will be a leader in environmental protection. The Wildlife and Countryside Act, which is the key piece of legislation for protecting mammal species such as bats, otters and dormice, is under review this year. Ask your MP to vote to retain and add to the strict protection we have for some mammal species and to prevent it being watered down.
  • And most importantly – just go out there and watch mammals. I may be biased, but for me there is nothing better than being out in the countryside early on a spring morning watching the hares chasing around and knocking seven bells out of each other. You might like to stay up late watching badgers or bats, or enjoy the crazy antics of a squirrel on a bird feeder. It’s important that we engage with nature and encourage our children to do the same. If we don’t see and understand wildlife, we won’t fight for it. And, trust me, we need to fight for it.

You can find out more about Mammal Society from their website and by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Author Interview with Sarah Gibson: Swifts and Us

Whirling swifts overhead are evocative of early summer, and their arrival to the UK brings joy to many. In Swifts and Us, Sarah Gibson explores what is currently known about swifts and their ancestry, while also addressing some of the contributing factors to their huge decline over the last few decades. She meets key experts and researchers as well as many determined individuals, all advocating for change to ensure the swifts’ survival.

Sarah Gibson is Press Officer for Shropshire Wildlife Trust, as well as Editor of the members’ magazine. She also regularly writes nature columns for her local magazines and newspapers. Sarah has kindly agreed to answer some of our questions below.

Firstly, could you tell us about where the motivation for your book came from?

I’d become passionate about swifts since moving into a town from the country.  Then I had a long period of illness and would be exhausted after the briefest of conversations and couldn’t even walk up my street – I was so slow I would be overtaken by very old people on Zimmer frames. It seemed as though I’d hit 97 five decades prematurely.

Then I got better and decided it was time to do something new with my life – alongside my now part-time job at Shropshire Wildlife Trust. I knew I could string words together, so decided to research and write a book about swifts to try and inspire others to love and take action for them too.

During your research, did you discover anything especially interesting that you were previously unaware of about swifts?

That hummingbirds are the swift’s closest relatives! Fossil evidence from 52 million years ago found in Wyoming, USA, revealed a bird that is the forerunner of both. The characteristic common feature is a super-strong, stout humerus bone, that would enable the swift to endure and flourish in perpetual flight and the hummingbird to flap its wings 50 times per second as it hovers over flowers collecting nectar. Their shared ancestry seems less surprising when you think about the intense aerial demands of both birds. 

Your book features exceptional and inspirational people that have fought to ensure nest spots are protected and accessible for returning swifts. Do you have any particular highlights or success stories that you’d like to talk about here?

Photograph by Laurent Godel

The Crescent Art Centre in Belfast is a cross-community cultural hub, bringing people together from all backgrounds.  It also has a thriving colony of swifts and when major renovation work began 12 years ago, the architects and builders worked with a local swift champion to ensure that access to the original nesting holes was retained and additional holes provided by integrating nest bricks into the walls. This is a great example of how renovation doesn’t have to lead to ruin for swifts.  It can be achieved, if thoughtfully carried out. This swift colony is now a living emblem of the arts centre and its aspirations – uniting people across boundaries. 

What role can citizen science play in surveying and monitoring swifts?

Photograph by Ulrich Tigges

Local surveys to identify swift breeding sites are very valuable. Knowledge of swift colonies can at times make it possible to work with building owners when renovation works are planned, so that nesting holes can be retained. When the data is fed through to local biological records centres, the presence of swifts in particular areas will be flagged up to planners who will sometimes, but not always make it a condition for development that nest bricks should be integrated into buildings.

The RSPB’s SwiftMapper is a useful tool and you can find out about surveying with local swift groups from Action for Swifts or Swift Conservation.

Habitat destruction, climate change and a stark reduction in their food supply are just a few factors contributing to the decline of swifts over the past 20 years – the odds appear completely stacked against them. Post-research for your book, do you feel any optimism for the future of these incredible birds?

Photograph by Piotr Szczypa

Contemplating the global crisis in nature can lead to despair. Our inability to prevent the destruction of wild habitats and the wild creatures that depend on it strikes deep into our souls, but worrying about the future cripples our ability to act, so I try to live in the present. It is what we do now that will shape the future and we need all of our energy to bring better times.

Climate change is inextricably linked to the degradation of nature. At last, there seems to be a glimmer of awakening at a political level to the fact that nurturing nature is essential for all our sakes. The campaign for 30% of land and sea to be protected by 2030 across the world brings hope but it needs a radical reset of values to be achieved.  All of us though, can do something to help bring it to reality. 

Do you have any current projects or plans for further books that you’d like to tell us about?

I’ve just been down to my local cemetery where there’s a project to turn the unmarked graves area into a wildflower meadow.  The yellow rattle seed we sowed last August is coming up, along with cowslips and violets.  It will be a living memorial for those buried beneath and will attract bees and other pollinators.  I’m also keeping an eye on the eaves of a medieval building managed by the town council. Restoration work on the timbers last autumn included six bespoke swift nest boxes – fingers crossed! 

There will be another book but I haven’t written it yet.  It will explore the connectedness of people with nature but I can’t reveal more just now.

 

Swifts and Us
By: Sarah Gibson
Hardback | Published May 2021 | £16.99

We have a very limited number of bookplates signed by Sarah, available while stocks last.

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with David Stroud: International Treaties in Nature Conservation: A UK Perspective

To the casual observer, global summits and the resolutions they produce can seem frustratingly ineffective – repeating cycles of targets set, missed and reset, with no obvious progress. Yet despite the apparent inertia, when used to good effect these processes can be powerful tools for positive change. International Treaties in Nature Conservation: A UK Perspective provides a unique insight into the inner mechanisms of international treaties – their history, development, successes and failures – from those who have spent their lives working with them.

All of the authors involved in this book bring a huge wealth of expertise from their past and current positions within both statutory and non-government nature conservation organisations and academia. One of the authors, David Stroud, kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions.

International treaties are directly responsible for some of the greatest environmental success stories in modern history. But despite their importance, their role in nature conservation is not one many of us are familiar with. How important do you think it is that the mechanisms of these treaties are more widely understood?

It’s hugely important. Not only do these treaties establish some of the most important conservation objectives, but they provide a means of learning from other experience. Typically, international treaties set a broad goal – such as ‘the wise use of wetlands’ in the case of the Ramsar Convention – but are much less prescriptive as to exactly how this will be delivered nationally. Accordingly, there is much to learn from the broad diversity of other national conservation experience in implementing treaty obligations. Such comparative experiences make these treaties fascinating and their study valuable.

They also provide important drivers of national conservation policy. Thus, for example, it was the obligation under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement to phase out the use of lead gunshot in wetlands by 2000 that created the policy incentive resulting in legislation across the UK to that effect from 1999.

There has been a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the departure of the UK from the European Union, and what this means for conservation. In terms of environmental protection and influence during the development of international treaties, what are the implications of leaving the EU?

Lots of issues here! As we explain, there are also serious risks to standards of environmental protection, especially the removal of strong compliance mechanisms that hold government to the environmental obligations it has assumed, and for which proposed domestic replacements look far from sufficient and have yet to be introduced. That said, some aspects of EU policy, most notably the Common Agricultural Policy, have driven significant harm to nature and to natural systems, and here the promise (as yet unrealised) of a new domestic approach which confines the payment of public money to the delivery of public goods, could mark a significant improvement in the state of nature in the farmed environment.

But there is also a risk that there may be an appetite to replace well-established processes and priorities, developed in partnership with EU states, with unique UK approaches, without reference to their efficacy. Whilst there is always room for improvement, including of existing EU processes, it is important that any such improvements build on existing systems and lessons learnt, and avoid causing delays and disruption that would take time we do not have, given the urgency of the environmental challenges we face.

Many aspects of environmental protection are inherently international in nature, with neither species, habitats nor many of the factors which drive their decline respecting national boundaries. As such there is a clear and ongoing imperative for international cooperation and alignment. The UK, outside of the EU, could take this opportunity to drive up ambition, but risks having less influence on environmental policy development, and becoming increasingly remote from wider thinking and ideas both within the EU and beyond, unless UK governments take pro-active steps to rebuild lines of communication and forums for engagement.

Chapter 8 ‘The impact of UK actions on an international scale’ goes into detail about the UK’s contributions to nature conservation beyond its borders, whether these be, for example, monetary, scientific research, or the role of UK non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In your opinion, do you think the UK is doing enough?

The UK is doing a lot, but by no means enough. Formal financial inputs to international treaties (which we estimate as £2,001,000 in 2019/20) are frankly trivial compared to either the size of the UK government budget in the same year (£842,000,000,000) or indeed the immensity of the issues to be addressed. Whilst both climate change and biodiversity loss have been recognised as ‘crises’ or ‘emergencies’, yet to date, it is hard to see responses from the UK, let alone the wider international community reflecting this, or being much more than complacent ‘business as usual’. And these will have no realistic chance of success.

Following on from the previous question, this book highlights the role and importance of NGOs (and a number of the authors themselves have been or are currently involved with NGOs). Do you think NGOs should have more involvement in environmental policy, both within the UK and on a global scale?

NGOs have a critical role to play in international conservation, both representing ‘civil society’ and also – in many cases – holding considerable technical expertise and knowledge, essential to the effective conservation delivery. Yet the dynamic of relations with governments is interesting! NGOs are not uninterested parties being driven by their own organisational priorities, responsive to their memberships, and typically having developed country perspectives. Their interests can sometimes be limited to a single species (witness the many NGOs concerned with charismatic megafauna such as lions and elephants). In contrast, and especially in democracies, governments have wider responsibilities such as the need to maintain economies, create infrastructure, or alleviate poverty.

The role of NGOs in pushing governments to deliver strong outcomes for the environment is critical and they have a key role, working with government, in practical implementation ‘on the ground’. In the UK, there are typically good relationships between government and NGOs, yet we outline considerable scope for improvement. However, within the UK governments, there can be an attitude that sees environmental NGOs as the problem rather than an essential part of the solution. Which is unnecessary and regrettable.

This book delves into the history of international instruments (such as Agreements, Conventions and legislation), and it is pointed out that fewer new treaties have been made since the early 2000s. Why do you think this is the case?

There are probably two issues at work here. An international landscape of ever proliferating treaties may not be particularly efficient means of engaging the attention of governments. Indeed, one would hope that at some point we see treaties retired following fulfilment of their objectives. Unfortunately, the state of the world is such that we seem far from this eventuality.

It is possible that we already have treaties covering all the relevant issues. However, whilst the ‘big stuff’ (climate change, migratory species, wetlands, trading endangered species) is indeed covered, there are certainly other ‘gaps’ – for example effective regulatory systems for sustainable harvesting of marine resources (to replace the very many completely ineffective fisheries treaties).

Additionally there seems to be an ever-growing culture of legal risk aversion within governments. This, and a retreat to more nationalistic political outlooks in many countries, is not supportive of new treaty-building.

In November, the UK will host the next UN climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow. What do you envisage, or hope, will be the outcome of the conference?

Hoping and envisaging are two very different things! I’ll stick to hoping for now…

It’s human nature to defer difficult decisions: why do today what one can put off till tomorrow? This is especially the case for governments faced with decisions that have difficult political consequences. Essentially the challenge at COP 26 will be to deliver on the aspiration agreed in Paris to hold the global temperature increase to less than 1.5 oC above pre-industrial levels. Unlike the quota-based approach of the earlier Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement aims to build to necessary levels of global emissions reductions from bottom-up – through collective ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDC). After years of deferral of the difficult issue of how to do this, now is finally the time to deliver. Already, there is much diplomatic peer pressure – led especially by UK and USA – to encourage ambitious NDCs. But whether we get to levels that will deliver the Paris Agreement objective remains to be seen. It’s critical that we do as time is running out!

But even if those pledges are made, it will be essential for UK to work with, and support developing countries in particular, in their transition to zero carbon futures – given all the societal issues and political stresses that will arise.

International treaties are sometimes criticised for being ineffective, and this book describes some of their flaws. How valuable have treaties been in nature conservation?

Well, for those involved in any human endeavour, it’s always easy to see how things could be improved, or work better, and international treaties are no different. But despite imperfections, these treaties are critically important in shaping how we do conservation – in particular in establishing collective long-term objectives – goals that stretch beyond the short-termism of national politics.

Yet whilst the legal treaties specify those things that need to be done to deliver their objectives, as important in the long-term is the community of practitioners that gather around a treaty, regularly meeting and working together in order to drive forward its implementation. This includes counter-part government officials in the signatory governments, relevant NGOs, interested academics, and representatives of different but related treaties. All bring something to the table, and it is through their collective support for, say wetland conservation in the case of the Ramsar Convention, that is so important.

This is the first title from NHBS’s new publishing imprint, Biodiversity Press.

International Treaties in Nature Conservation:
A UK Perspective
By: David A Stroud et al.
Paperback | May 2021 | £19.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with James Lowen: Much Ado About Mothing

James Lowen is an award-winning writer whose work is regularly featured in The Telegraph, BBC Wildlife and Nature’s Home, among other publications. He is also an editor, lecturer, consultant and keen photographer.

From hiking up mountains, to checking his garden moth-trap with his daughter, Much Ado About Mothing is a wonderfully written, engaging account of James’ travels in search of Britain’s rarest and most remarkable moths. James has kindly agreed to answer some of our questions about his latest book below.

Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to write Much Ado About Mothing?

I’m a Norfolk-based naturalist and author who has written 12 books, all broadly sitting in the nexus of wildlife, travel and conservation. Two of those books: A Summer of British Wildlife and 52 European Wildlife Weekends, won Travel Guidebook of the Year awards, which was most pleasing and inspired me to both attempt some longer-form writing (Much Ado About Mothing is fundamentally a travel narrative – an exploration of Britain) and take on a more ‘challenging’ topic. And what could be more challenging than championing the very animals (moths) that the general public purports to hate? 

I could readily understand where so many people were coming from in harbouring disdain for moths. For decades, I was also virulently anti-moth, (pre)judging them as uninteresting and usually irritating little brown jobs that remained invisible yet destroyed my suits. However, when a friend showed me a Poplar Hawk-moth, I remember the date precisely: 7 July 2012, my world changed forever.  Wrapped in silver and grizzled with iron filings, this sweetly furry being opened my eyes, brought me to my senses and revolutionised the way that I engage with nature. Over time, I came to appreciate that moths provided a huge variety of incredibly rich tales about ecology and evolution, camouflage and conservation. The more I learned, the more I felt that moths were unduly maligned. So I set out to champion these underdogs through telling their stories in this new book, aiming to challenge people’s preconceptions, correct common misunderstandings and reboot our collective attitudes. 

I really enjoyed reading about you and your daughter’s shared excitement when visiting your moth-trap. How do you think we can best encourage environmental awareness in young people on a broader scale?

First up, my daughter and I came to believe that moths provided surprisingly good ambassadors for natural beauty. This is by dint of their unexpected accessibility (there are probably hundreds of species living covertly around your garden), their unanticipated beauty (many moths ‘out-colour’ our butterflies!) and their welcome placidity (unlike most flighty insects, moths typically sit peaceably, thereby allowing prolonged perusal). To a certain extent, I think the same virtues, when converted into principles, apply to encouraging environmental awareness in youngsters, because there’s no substitute for first-hand experience. Let’s increasingly make wildlife accessible through urban nature reserves: Carlton Marshes on the outskirts of Lowestoft is a good recent example. Let’s showcase the beauty of animals and plants, running events that draw people’s attention to experiences that they would likely otherwise miss. And let’s put particular effort into helping people see non-skittish creatures: a close-up encounter with a ladybird is more likely to achieve a lasting impression than a distant view of a flying bird. 

Your book is filled with extraordinary and surprising facts about moths. Do you have any particular facts or discoveries that you’d like to share with us here?

Gosh, there are so many amazing factual nuggets that it’s hard to pick just a few. For a start, I love moths’ tales of mimicry (clearwings disguise themselves as wasps), camouflage (some moths conceal themselves as desiccated leaves, twigs and even bird poo) and migratory prowess (tiny, fragile creatures flying a thousand-plus miles). There’s wackiness too: china-mark moths, whose caterpillars live underwater; Sandhill Rustic, whose adults can swim underwater; Scarce Silver-lines, which sings from oak trees; various moths that are engaged in an evolutionary arms race with bats; Indian Meal Moth and Wax Moth, whose caterpillars can digest polyethylene and polypropylene (perhaps conceivably hinting at a solution to the global plastics problem?); and even one New World moth whose cells have proved critical for producing the Novavax COVID vaccine.

In terms of personal discoveries, dedicating a year to moths provided a rich vein of opportunities to try and push the boundaries of knowledge, particularly where this helped conservation organisations. Two finds particularly stand out. Helping out on a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust survey, we came across the first adult female Marsh Moth seen in Britain since 1948; in the intervening seventy years, only males of this quixotic species had been seen! Then, within a mile of my Norwich home, I contrived to track down a new site for one of our most threatened and poorly understood moths, Marsh Carpet. As far as I am aware, the three we caught were the only adults seen anywhere in Britain that year and more than anyone had caught in a single night for years. Even better, this set in train a relationship between Butterfly Conservation and the land manager (Environment Agency), which should help protect the moth here. Both discoveries speak volumes about both how much we have to learn about these wonderful animals and how readily even inexperienced and distinctly amateur moth-ers can make tangible contributions to conservation.

Which aspect of documenting the moths did you find the most challenging?

In a year-long quest to see rare and remarkable moths across the whole of Britain, failure constantly whispers its name. It only takes one thing to go wrong, from bad weather, early flight season or late emergence to inept choice of survey sites and elusive species, for the entire pursuit to fail. With relatively inflexible dates to boot, we really were reliant on everything going right on every trip, which is a high-risk strategy when, for example, driving eleven hours to Scotland’s Ardnamurchan Peninsula to look for a particular sun-loving, day-flying moth. I guess the other thing to emphasise is that whereas moth-trapping in your garden makes for gloriously lazy wildlife-watching, simply flick the switch and let the insects come to you, surveying moths in remote places is contrastingly hard work. After a long drive, often on the back of little sleep, you need to lug heavy generators and a fleet of moth traps up steep slopes or across difficult terrain. And then you need to stay alert all night to make sure you don’t miss anything. I didn’t get much sleep that year…  

You mention in your book that climate change is fluctuating in its effect on moths, with some species thriving in the warmer temperatures, while others are under much more pressure. Having finished your book, do you feel hopeful for the future of lepidoptera?

Yes and no. Britain’s moth ‘balance sheet’ is pretty complicated, as a recent report by Butterfly Conservation shows. Since 1900, we’ve gained nearly 140 new colonists, but perhaps fifty species have gone extinct. Others seem likely to follow: roughly one in eight of our larger moths are nationally threatened or near threatened. Four times as many species are enduring long-term declines as long-term increases and that includes previously very common and widespread ‘generalist’ moths such as Garden Tiger and Garden Dart. Most worryingly of all, one-third fewer moths are flying today than fifty years ago.

On balance, that’s a gloomy picture. But there’s hope too. Among several environmental organisations, Butterfly Conservation is doing ever more to save moths, from an initiative to connect populations of Barberry Carpet to intrepid endeavours to safeguard the UK’s only site for New Forest Burnet. This is underpinned by surging engagement with moths among folk interested in nature. During the first COVID lockdown, retailers sold out of moth traps such was the demand for the kit. In 2020, nearly 75% more people submitted records of moths to Devon’s county recorder than the previous year. There’s definitely a growing wave on enthusiasm and passion for moths, and that’s got to be a very good thing. 

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Much Ado About Mothing is a book about people as well as place and moths. One of the things I learned during my travels is that many people are deterred from entering the world of moths by the difficulty of identifying them, ‘all the moths look the same’ was a regular refrain. Some brilliant field guides to moths exist, but there seemed to be a demand to complement them with a book that helped newcomers to the hobby easily put a name to our commoner species. The result is my next book,  Britain’s Moths: A Gateway Guide, which came out in September 2021. It aims to be a ‘gateway’ to both the enchanting world of moths and to those more detailed field guides. I hope it inspires more and more people to discover these amazing animals – and then fall for them, just as I have done.

Much Ado About Mothing
By: James Lowen
Paperback

The New Environmental Land Management scheme

The UK’s departure from the EU offers a number of opportunities for the environment, and in particular for the future of farming in the UK. And so, agricultural policy is undergoing a reform and a new payment scheme, Environmental Land Management (ELM), has been introduced in England. In the latest issue of Conservation Land Management (CLM) Alice Groom, RSPB’s senior policy officer, provides an up to date overview of what we know about ELM so far and the proposed timeline of the seven-year agricultural transition period, and, importantly, highlights the pitfalls and challenges that need to be addressed in order for ELM to be a success. Here you can read a summary of the article.

What is ELM?

Agricultural policy in the UK has previously meant that farmers and landowners receive payments based on the size of farmed land. While agri-environmental schemes have existed, these alone have not been enough to meet their environmental objectives. And so, following the UK’s departure from the EU, the government has introduced the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELM) in England.

This new payment scheme instead pays farmers for delivering public goods – these are ecosystem services that will benefit us all, such as natural flood management and habitat restoration. Defra has said that ELM is a means to meet six of the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan goals, including clean air and water, climate change mitigation, and protection from environmental hazards.

Three-component design

ELM will have three components, and although this design has received support, the finer details are currently lacking. The first, Sustainable Farming Incentive, is envisaged to be the most popular and will provide payments based on environmentally sustainable farming and land management, such as tree and woodland management, integrated pest management and promoting wildlife and biodiversity.

The Local Nature Recovery component is more focused on local-scale nature recovery with the aim to encourage farmers to create and enhance semi-natural habitats, and to use farming methods that keep chemical inputs low. Activities that are likely to receive funding under this component include natural flood management, habitat restoration and species management.

The third component, Landscape Recovery, could provide a means to achieve landscape-scale recovery using wilder approaches to farming. If successful, large expanses of habitat, such as woodland and wetlands, could be restored and large-scale activities such as peatland restoration will help contribute to net-zero emissions targets. Collaboration between landowners is key, and it is still unclear if this component can be achieved across smaller land holdings, or if this is limited to large estates.

Agricultural transition

‘The Agricultural Transition’ is a seven-year transition period in which the previous area-based subsidies will be phased out, and the first ELM National Pilot will begin. The transition begins this year, and the current intention is that ELM will be rolled out in 2024.

Although ELM has great potential to support farmers in a shift towards nature-friendly farming and land management, there is still much that remains a mystery. For instance, Defra is yet to provide information on future regulatory standards, details on how payments will operate, the application process, or what the overall annual budget for ELM will be.

The full version of this article can be found in the Spring 2021 issue, and here Alice Groom takes a closer look at each component to discuss its potential in delivering their environmental goals. Other articles featured in this issue include:

  • Introducing… Beaver Trust
  • Using location-based evidence to prioritise catchment-wide land management
  • St George’s flower bank Local Nature Reserve: thirty years of road verge management by a local community
  • Wet farming in the Great Fen

CLM is published four times a year in March, June, September and December, and is available by subscription only, delivered straight to your door. Subscriptions start from £22 per year. Back issues are also available to purchase individually (subject to availability).

If you are involved in a conservation project and think your experiences could be useful to other practitioners, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested in writing for CLM feel free to contact us – we will be happy to discuss your ideas with you.

Author Interview with Mike Alexander: Skomer Island

Renowned for its incredible and diverse wildlife, it is no wonder that Skomer Island receives thousands of visitors year upon year. Famous for its thriving populations of seabirds, grey seals and its vast swathes of spring flowers, Skomer is a fantastic example of how carefully managed eco-tourism works alongside conservation.

Mike Alexander was Warden of Skomer for ten years, and has had links to the island for over six decades. He is now Chair of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and the Pembrokeshire Islands Conservation Advisory Committee. Illustrated with his own stunning photographs of the flora and fauna, this book is a comprehensive history of the island and its inhabitants.

Could you tell us a bit about your background and where the motivation for your book came from?

I first visited as a schoolboy in 1962, just a couple of years into Skomer’s incarnation as a nature reserve, and it was a day that changed my life forever. The most overwhelming idea that stayed with me from that day was that eventually, whatever it took, I would become warden of Skomer.  I finally fulfilled that long-held childhood dream in the spring of 1976. Following 10 wonderful years on Skomer I moved to North Wales where initially I was responsible for the management of 5 spectacular National Nature Reserves and in 1991, I became responsible for supervising the management of the entire series of NNRs in Wales, a position I held for over twenty years. In 2018 I became the chair of the Pembrokeshire islands conservation advisory committee and so my commitment to Skomer continues.

I had long dreamed of writing a book about Skomer, but in truth had little idea of how I might achieve that goal. Skomer is a cultural landscape shaped over thousands of years by people striving to make a living. I wanted to show how the island has evolved in response to changing human values, attitudes and interventions. I also wanted an opportunity to demonstrate what nature conservation means in practice. Reserves like Skomer are the most powerful advocate for nature that we could possibly have. The island gives visitors an almost magical insight into somewhere that transcends our ordinary world, where one close encounter with a puffin may speak more eloquently for conservation than a thousand words ever could.

Previous to the island becoming an NNR in 1959, you mention Skomer’s agricultural history. Could you tell us here a little about the island’s past?

Skomer’s time as a nature reserve spans barely a moment in its history. People have occupied Skomer for millennia, and archaeologist John Evans has described Skomer as possibly unique in the completeness of its archaeological remains. Present day visitors to the island can clearly pick out faint patterns of the distant past: field systems, lynchets, hut circles and more. Until recently, archaeologists and historians believed that apart from rabbit trapping and livestock grazing, the island had been abandoned after the Iron Age. However, new excavations in 2017 revealed the presence of medieval land clearance and ploughing.

During my ten years living on Skomer I became increasingly interested in the people who had lived there before me and most of all, the 19th century inhabitants who had farmed and made their living on the island. The people of the 19th century left the heaviest footprints as theirs was a time when people imposed their will on the island, shaping the land to meet their needs. This was a period of intense intervention and although it began to fade towards the end of the century, it was a time when people had the most impact on the island, its scenery and vegetation. How long will it be before the Victorian farmers’ footprints fade away? We, the later islanders, have become noninterventionists, and observers of nature’s progress. Ours should be the lightest of all footprints, and so perhaps the impact of the 19th century will, for now, be the most enduring of all human influences.

Recent news of Skomer’s thriving populations of seabirds like the puffin and Manx shearwater offer much hope. What major changes do you think are necessary to ensure species recovery and habitat restoration in Britain?

My generation has grown up with an almost subliminal pessimism about the fate of our wildlife to the point where decline seems inevitable and we can only hope to slow the rate of it. To have seen Skomer thrive throughout its time as a nature reserve is contrary to nearly everything I have grown up to believe, and yet it is important to remember that Skomer once had the potential for so much more. We know from photographs taken around the turn of the last century, that there was a minimum island population of around 100,000 Guillemots: four times the present number. The photographs also show the grassy slopes above the cliffs thick with Puffins, where now they only form a thin fringe. Perhaps these things will not be possible again, but it is a vital reminder never to set our sights too low and to hold on to that vision of what the future could be.

Species and habitat recovery will only happen when our policies and legislation are translated into action.  Good intentions alone will achieve nothing. It is quite ironic that despite the enormous growth in public concern and protest about the fate of our natural environment, governments are failing to provide the essential resources. 

The NNRs, along with all other protected areas, will be a central and essential component of any species and habitat recovery or restoration programme. They are the stepping stones, the vital reservoirs and the crucial resources that will enable landscape scale recovery in Britain.

With restricted movement during the Covid-19 pandemic that many are referring to as the ‘anthropause’, people across the globe have noticed changes to their local wildlife. How has the lack of eco-tourism affected the wildlife on Skomer during this time?

Skomer is an extremely fragile island with hundreds of thousands of seabirds. Puffins and Manx Shearwaters nest in shallow burrows, while the cliffs provide homes for thousands of Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes. As a consequence, all visitors to the island understand that they must keep to the system of marked footpaths at all times. This has made it possible for us to claim with confidence that visitors to Skomer have no impact on the wildlife that they come to enjoy. So apart from overgrown paths, there has been no significant discernible impact.

There are plenty of signs from elsewhere that wildlife has responded positively to the lack of human disturbance.  It may well be that some species will gain a short-term advantage, but I am not convinced that the impact of Covid-19 on wildlife will be anything more than a very minor, and almost irrelevant, hiccup, unless of course we can learn from the experience. We must learn to change our behaviour and realise that we will not survive on this planet if we regard unfettered consumerism as our main purpose in life. 

Do you have any other projects on the horizon you’d like to tell us about?

I will take a break from writing and concentrate on photography.  I was recently elected Chair of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and I am looking forward to devoting much of my time to working for the Trust.

Skomer Island
By: Mike Alexander
Hardback | Due April 2021 | £29.99

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with Mary Colwell: Beak, Tooth and Claw

With the recent return of the white-tailed sea eagle to Britain and the mooted return of the Lynx, living with predators is becoming a much more frequent topic of conversation. In Beak, Tooth and Claw, Mary Colwell explores our past and present relationship with predators in the UK, and considers what it might look like in the future.

Author of Curlew Moon, Mary Colwell is an award-winning conservationist, writer and producer, and has written for the Guardian, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Country Life and many other publications. She has very kindly agreed to answer some of our questions about her latest book.

Could you start by telling us a little bit about your background and how you got into conservation?

I became interested in conservation during my career at the BBC Natural History Unit, when it became clear just how much was going wrong. A lot of my work as a producer was celebrating nature, but it was apparent that the beautiful pictures were covering over a fractured, damaged world. Wild creatures are struggling to make their lives work in our increasingly human-dominated landscapes, and this rich, vibrant planet is thinning out. Over the years the press releases I read, particularly from Ireland, highlighting the decline of curlews were eye-watering. It ate away at me, this relentless destruction, and I decided I had to get more involved. Not so much in the fieldwork and practicality, but in doing what I had been trained to do – tell the stories of the earth and help make the problems accessible and understandable to people like me, non-specialists who care.

Following on from Curlew Moon, what was it that made you decide to write a book about predators?

I was naïve when I first got involved in curlew conservation, I had no idea how enmeshed they are in the biggest conservation issues we face in the 21st century, namely predator control, habitat loss to farming, afforestation and development, climate change, increasing pressure from leisure activities and so on. The predator issue seemed particularly potent in the uplands on grouse moors, but it is a source of contention everywhere. How people view predators is rarely based on science, it is shrouded in cultural attitudes and traditions. I found this interesting, and it also pointed to a way forwards. If conservationists can work with communities within their world view, on the ground projects are far more likely to succeed than trying to impose solutions on people. I don’t have definitive answers, but I explore this in the book.

Carefully managed reintroduction of some of Britain’s predators has already proved hugely beneficial to biodiversity, and may also pose future economic advantages. What lost species would you like to see returned to Britain next?

In Chapter 8 I look at reintroductions, and I think what is happening is a very good way to go. Start with wildcat then scale up. The quiet, efficient regulator of woodlands, the lynx next. If we ever find it possible to introduce wolves, it would be incredible, we would live in a very different country, both the physical landscape of Britain, but also the landscapes of our minds would change. We will be wilder in every sense. It won’t be easy, in fact it is probably not possible given the direction of travel and the density of the human population, but it is tantalising to think about. I’m aware, though, that it is easy to glow with excitement about wolves in the wilds of Britain, but living with them on the doorstep will be a challenge for rural communities.

Opposing views on predators and reintroduction projects seem irreconcilable – do you think there is any way both sides of the argument can find common ground?

We will only welcome big predators back into our lives if we feel secure in their presence. As long as they are perceived as a threat to us, both physically and metaphorically, there will be opposition. The solution is to find ways that will assuage fear and highlight the positive aspects of their presence. And there are many positives as well as issues to face honestly and with understanding. There have been centuries of mis-information and vilifying which can’t be unravelled quickly. This is the long game, the gentle, constant discussion of facts and the erosion of fiction. Taking away fear is not easy, but I hope we get to a place where, although it might feel like a scary and difficult step to take, we will all put our hearts behind a new, wilder world.

What’s your vision for the future of conservation and rewilding in the UK? Are you hopeful or pessimistic?

This is the hardest question of all. The future of conservation and the future of rewilding seem, in some ways, like different topics. The future of conservation relies on the pincer movement of sound environmental policies that make it easier for landowners/developers etc to do the right thing, and citizens wanting to have more nature and helping make it happen. We have to incentivise land use that makes wildlife worth preserving and we have to educate people about nature and our role in the natural world – something that has been largely side-lined over the 20th century. We need to create a more nature-literate society, one where people understand the issues and can make informed decisions. Who knows if the government’s 25-year plan and green vision will play out as we all hope, but it is there and it is welcome and we all have a role to play in enabling it.

Rewilding is part of that vision, but it is a catch-all term that has a variety of meanings. I take it as increasing biodiversity across Britain, rather than simply the idea that we should let nature go wild without any human interference. The way we live in the UK has made pure, unadulterated nature a dream, not a reality. There is nowhere that is wild but everywhere could be wilder. Rewilding for me is doing what needs to be done, area by area, bit by bit, to increase the net amount of nature across the UK.

Am I optimistic? On the whole, yes. My experience in starting Curlew Action gives me hope. We are a tiny charity that is only 18 months old, yet the support we have been given is amazing. ‘Ordinary’ people (no one is ordinary!) have supported us in a simple, clear way – they want to show how much they care for nature, and that has been so heartening. Even if many of us are not skilled in the field, we can all play a part in raising awareness and fund raising for conservation efforts to help wildlife.

Always, my advice is – pick something to love and love it. Love never comes alone, it is accompanied by barrow-loads of responsibility and care – so simply saying “I love nature” is not enough. If you love something you will move heaven and earth for it. I think many people will do that if they feel they have permission, despite not being an “expert”, so yes, I am optimistic.

Do you have any projects in the pipeline you’d like to tell us about?

I am so keen to push through the long awaited plan for a GCSE in Natural History. We are just waiting for a final yes from the Department of Education – once we have that we are up and running. So I shall continue to work away at that. I am starting my next book for Bloomsbury on walking the Camino last winter in between lockdowns – a 500-mile pilgrimage across northern Spain. The natural world was a constant companion, and it got me wondering about our relationship with nature over the 1000 years people have walked this track. I am also now Chair of the newly formed, Defra supported, Curlew Recovery Partnership, a roundtable of 9 organisations and an extensive network charged with turning it around for curlews over the next 10 years. With Curlew Action work and other projects constantly ticking away, life is full and fascinating.

Beak, Tooth and Claw
By: Mary Colwell
Hardback | Published April 2021 | £13.99 £16.99

We have a very limited number of bookplates signed by Mary, available while stocks last.

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Devon Badger Group: Interview with Chair, Jenny Pike

Formed in 2010, the core aim of the Devon Badger Group is to protect badgers and their habitats. Funded by membership, donations and fundraising events around Devon, they run a free 24/7 helpline for sick or injured badgers and other badger-related issues.

We recently had the opportunity to chat with Jenny Pike, Chair of the Devon Badger Group, about the group’s important work, their successes and challenges, and how Covid-19 has affected their lives over the past year.

Firstly, can you give us a brief introduction to the Devon Badger Group and your role within the group?

My name is Jenny Pike and I am Chair of the Devon Badger Group (DBG). In a nutshell, the purpose of the DBG is to protect badgers and their habitat, record their activity, educate and further the public’s understanding of badgers, and to encourage tolerance, appreciation and respect for all wildlife. We also work with the police and RSPCA, and respond to any activities that could be detrimental to the welfare of badgers.

What do you consider to be the main threats to badgers in the UK?

Sadly there are many threats to badgers and, despite gaining legal protection in 1992, badger persecution is on the increase. In England, one of the biggest threats badgers face is the government licenced badger cull. Since the cull began in England in 2013, a total of 140,991 badgers have been killed, 30,345 of which have been in Devon.

Other serious threats are housing developments where, even if setts are protected with appropriate mitigation measures, a significant amount of foraging ground can be lost. New roads can also impact badgers if appropriate badger tunnels are not installed or are installed in the wrong place. Hunts sometimes block badger setts to prevent foxes escaping down them and, as already mentioned, illegal badger persecution is on the rise along with other forms of organised wildlife crime such as dog fighting.

I am sure everyone will have seen many badgers dead on the side of the road. No one knows exactly how many badgers are killed by vehicles each year – one estimate has it at 50,000.

What are your main goals as a group?

Our main aims are to protect badgers, their setts, and their habitats. But we feel that if we can increase the public’s understanding of badgers and dispel some of the myths, people will feel more encouraged to protect them. Sadly, most people we talk to have never seen a live badger. This is why, whenever we are contacted by members of the public who think they have badgers visiting their gardens, we offer to put up a trail camera so they can actually watch visiting badgers go about their business, which is usually looking for earthworms and other invertebrates. This often has a very positive effect and has changed people’s view of badgers.

What would you consider to be your greatest success as a group?

In 2019, through some very generous grants and donations, the DBG was able to fund two members to train to become licenced lay vaccinators. I was lucky enough to be one of them. Since then, we have worked in collaboration with the Somerset Badger Group to vaccinate badgers in Devon and Somerset, which has allowed us to gain valuable experience. We hope this will continue and expand in the future. 

Covid-19 has caused difficulties and presented issues for all of us. How has the pandemic affected the work that the DBG does, and have there been any unforeseen positive effects?

On the positive side, it is possible that less cars on the road in the first lockdown resulted in fewer badgers being killed or injured. Spring is when cubs are still dependent on their mums and when most road casualties occur, and so this would have had a significant effect on badger cub survival rates if mum survived to successfully wean them.

On the negative side, although we were given permission by Devon and Cornwall Police to continue to rescue injured badgers on animal welfare grounds, we were not able to carry out sett surveys, monitor setts which had been targeted previously, or visit homeowners who had contacted us for advice on badger issues. We were also unable to carry out our regular fundraising activities which, in normal circumstances, not only provides much needed funds, but also gives us an important opportunity to engage with the public and answer their questions. This is something I personally have missed a great deal as there is no substitute for face-to-face communication.

Having said that, we have been able to continue our most important work by keeping in regular contact with our committee and members through electronic communication, Zoom and Teams meetings. This has had an unexpected benefit of not only reducing our carbon footprint, but also allowing us to engage with our members across the whole of the county (internet permitting!).

You mention that you sometimes use trail cameras in some of your work – could you tell us a bit more about this?

We use trail cameras extensively in the DBG and they have been invaluable in proving setts are active in cases of sett disturbance and sett blocking. They have also been used to great effect when showing school children the wonders of a shy nocturnal animal they would never usually see. I have been using a number of cameras recently on a beaver enclosure to ensure the badgers and other wildlife are able to move freely in and out (except the beavers of course!). I also have my own trail camera and I still maintain that it was the best Christmas present ever. I use it all the time for monitoring the wildlife in my own garden in Plymouth.

In May of last year, the government announced that they hope to shift away from culling and towards badger vaccination to help in the fight to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in England. What does this mean for the group and will the DBG be involved with badger vaccination programmes?

The Devon Badger Group is opposed to the badger culls but, of course, recognises the distress and hardship bTB causes for farmers, their families and their animals. We sincerely hope that the government honours its commitment to progressing a vaccine which is much more likely to provide real benefits to farmers and their cattle than the current bTB strategy.

Controlling the spread of bTB is a complex issue that will need a raft of measures to tackle, but they must all be backed up by sound scientific evidence. The role badgers play in bTB transmission is still not fully understood: what limited studies have been carried out to determine the prevalence of bTB in badgers have concluded that approximately 4.5% of badgers tested are infected with bTB. It is now accepted that the vast majority of bTB transmission to cattle is from other cattle, but this was previously unclear due to the poor accuracy of the routinely used skin test. This skin test has been found to be around 50-80% accurate, resulting in up to 1 in 5 infected cattle remaining undetected in the herd to pass on the infection.

With this in mind, and the fact that bTB can live in soil and slurry for many months, there is enough doubt on the role badgers play in disease transmission to compel the government to re-evaluate their bTB strategy for the benefit of farmers and the whole farming industry.

We welcome the government’s commitment to replace badger culling with the more humane badger vaccination and we hope to be involved in any future badger vaccination initiatives. We would be very happy to work with and support Defra and other organisations in delivering on this new initiative until a more effective cattle vaccine can be deployed.

It is obvious that you are very passionate about badgers and love them dearly. What is your favourite fact about badgers?     

As large as they are, their main food source is earthworms and they have to delicately pull them out of the ground without snapping them!

How can people help protect badgers and get involved in their local area?

Please keep an eye on your local area, especially if you have any setts near you. If you would like help on identifying signs of badgers, we would be more than happy to help (Covid-19 permitting).

Report any suspicious activity around badger setts to the police and do also let us know. Please also report dead badgers to us – in spring this is important if it is a lactating female with dependent cubs below ground.

Please consider joining the Devon Badger Group. We are a small but active group but have one of the largest and most rural counties in England to cover.

We can be contacted at devonbadgergroup@gmail.com and on our 24/7 helpline number 07710 971988 or I can be contacted direct on 07791 490572.

 

Campaign to ban the use of peat-based composts in the UK

A UK campaign, headed by Professor Dave Goulson, has called upon the government to ban the use of peat in garden compost by the end of 2021.

In 2011, voluntary targets were set by the government with the aim of ending the domestic sale of peat-based composts by the end of 2020. But, in a recent letter to the environment secretary, George Eustice, Goulson explains that these targets have been an ‘abject failure’. The letter, which has been signed by a long list of notable conservationists, scientists and gardeners – including Alan Tichmarsh, Isabella Tree and Kate Bradbury – goes on to suggest that banning peat-based composts before the COP26 climate conference is a vital step in demonstrating the UK government’s dedication to addressing the climate crisis.

Why is peat important?

Globally, peatlands store half a trillion tonnes of carbon; this is twice as much as is stored in the world’s forests. In the UK alone, peatlands hold more than three billion tonnes of carbon although, worryingly, only 20% exist in a natural or near natural state. Peatlands also provide important habitat for many species of plants and animals and play a critical role in reducing flooding.

As well as the extraction of peat for use in the garden trade, these areas are under threat from overgrazing, draining (so that land can be made suitable for farming), and burning of the surface heather, particularly on grouse shooting estates.

Peatlands grow from the slow accumulation of dead plant material in wet terrestrial habitats and take an incredibly long time to form. When the peat is extracted or damaged, the stored carbon that has built up over centuries is released into the atmosphere. Because of this, the UK’s peatlands are now acting as a net carbon source, rather than an environmentally critical store.

Peat extraction in Sharpham, Somerset. Image by Matthew Britton via Flickr.
How can I help?
  • As a gardener and consumer, one of the most important things you can do is to commit to only buying composts that are peat-free. Or, better still, if you have the space, try making your own from kitchen and garden waste. As stated in Goulson’s letter ‘Unearthing this precious store of carbon to use in the garden is needless, given that there are high-quality peat-free alternatives available’. Following a survey conducted by the Wildlife Trusts, only two garden retailers declared an end-date for peat sales: Travis Perkins in 2021 and Wickes by 2025. Other retailers, including B&Q, Asda and Lidl said they were committed to phasing out peat products but gave no date.
  • For anyone purchasing plants from nurseries, the Dogwood Days blog provides a comprehensive list of plant nurseries that are peat-free on site and/or committed to sourcing peat-free plants.
  • Sign the petition to ‘Ban the use of peat in horticulture and all growing media by 2023‘. The deadline for this petition is 6th June 2021, and 10,000 signatures are required to ensure a government response.
  • Follow and share the #PeatFreeApril campaign on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and help to spread the world among your fellow gardeners.
Further reading

An Illustrated Book of Peat (2-Volume Set) The Life and Deaths of Bogs: A New Synthesis
James HC Fenton
March 2021 | Spiralbound
#252901

 

Cover image: ‘Organic Choice all purpose peat free garden compost’ from crinklecrankle.com

 

Nurture for Nature: Interview with Dr. Amir Khan

Dr. Amir Khan is a GP, well-known for his regular appearances on Lorraine and Good Morning Britain. As a lifelong lover of wildlife, he is also ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts and Butterfly Conservation. He is passionate about connection with the natural world as a mutually beneficial practice which can not only improve our mental and physical health, but is also necessary to ensure the conservation and biodiversity of local areas.

From April this year, Dr. Khan is fronting Butterfly Conservation’s Nurture for Nature campaign which aims to get people involved with the wildlife in their gardens and local wild spaces. We recently chatted with him about the campaign as well as his love of the natural world.

Your incredibly popular Instagram and Twitter accounts are full of beautiful images and descriptions of your local wildlife encounters. Have wildlife and conservation always been passions of yours?

I have been a lover of wildlife from an early age, my dad and I used to watch nature documentaries together. He wasn’t well enough to get out of the house so I would tell him about what I had seen in the woods or local park. As I got older, I learned about wildlife gardening and the importance of nature on our health. I am passionate about everyone, from all walks of life, having access to nature and that means conserving it. It has such important wellbeing effects that everyone should get to experience. I experienced the benefits of nature on my mental health during the pandemic, when I would come home from the surgery after visiting my patients in nursing homes; nature helped me during these difficult times.

As an ambassador for Butterfly Conservation you are also going to be fronting their new Nurture for Nature campaign. Can you tell us a bit more about this and what it hopes to achieve?

Butterflies and insects are vital pollinators and we need them in our lives to keep us alive! By understanding that by helping nature we are actually helping ourselves, I am hoping people will see the wider benefit of doing simple things that can encourage some of these wonderful creatures to visit them. We have to remember that, at this time of year, many insects are emerging from a long winter and need areas where they can feed to get them going for the spring and summer months. They will then get the mental and physical benefits that being close to nature provides and our insects get more areas to feed, drink and rest.

Hopefully lots more people will be inspired to get into their gardens this year as a result of the campaign. Do you have plans for your own garden this year?

I am really excited about my garden this year. After what feels like a very long winter, I want my garden to feel like a haven for both myself and the wildlife that visit or live there. I am making sure every corner has something in it to entice wildlife. There is nothing better than a summer’s day in the garden, simply watching the insects going about their business whilst you potter about. And knowing they are feeding off the plants and flowers you planted is a lovely feeling.

We’ve also heard that you’re hoping to get into moth trapping! What is it about moths that interests you?

I absolutely love moths! I think they are the most underrated insects in our gardens. They are vital pollinators but have a bit of a bad reputation, probably down to the fact that many of them are nocturnal so we are just not as familiar with them. I want to show people that moths are just as amazing as butterflies and just as beautiful. By doing some moth trapping this summer I am hoping to catch and showcase some of the gorgeous moths that live right under our noses!

It’s fascinating to read about the link between lifestyle choices and their impacts on mental and physical health. How do you feel that a connection with wildlife and an appreciation for nature fit into this picture?

There is so much proven science behind the wellbeing effects of nature. When we are amongst natural spaces, listening to bird song or spending time immersed in nature, our bodies produce chemicals that make us feel content and happy – we produce less stress hormones which can help reduce blood pressure and heart rate, having an overall calming feeling on our minds and bodies. We need to embrace and encourage this as part of our every day lifestyles. This is why we need to conserve green spaces so that everyone can benefit from them.

Find out more about the Nurture for Nature campaign and sign up for your free gardening and wellness guide on the Butterfly Conservation website.