News

The RSPB has a great page on the do’s and dont’s of feeding your garden birds. Although feeding birds can be an all year round activity, it is of course particularly valuable over winter when food sources are scarce.

The article covers everything from where and when to feed, how to set up your bird feeders for maximum benefit to wildlife, as well as what not to feed birds, and this might not be what you were expecting if you are used to leaving out bread for them (especially in spring), and how to feed them in a way that doesn’t attract other visitors such as rats, which have been known to predate on wild birds.

The Soil Association has published a series of articles on health and sustainability over the festive period.

A small highlight of the articles:

• 10 ways to have a sustainable Christmas
• Eco-Friendly Christmas Trees – Real vs. Fake?
• Sustainable Gift Wrapping and Christmas Decoration Ideas
• What Veg is in Season Right Now?

Sometimes the news can be a bit full on, and full of doom and gloom, especially when global heating and biodiversity are concerned. Positive News magazine is an online and print magazine for rigorous journalism about what’s going right. They report socially relevant and uplifting stories of progress.

Alongside a partnership with the National Forest they have highlighted a selection of articles that are “Positive News for Trees”.

• How farmers are getting creative with tree planting
• How access to woodlands promotes wellbeing
• The race to save Britain’s rarest tree
• 12 projects giving nature a boost

The Beverley Civic Society (An independent, non-political organisation that helps to preserve and promote the area’s heritage and community) is hosting an event: “Humber Forest: Community Forest Tree Planting Scheme – An illustrated talk” by Leah Cave who is the Humber Forest Partnership Manager, ERYC. The event is at 7.30pm on the 14th December at St Mary’s Church Hall.

For more details of the event, see here. Non-members are welcome for an admission fee of £5.

News from the BBC on an influx of a rare visitor to UK shores. The short-eared owls have been appearing along England’s east coast and has sparked interest among bird-watchers. Large numbers of the owls have been spotted at places including the Humber estuary. It is suspected that there’s a shortage of food in their native range which is driving this migration. According to the RSPB, short-eared owls were “of European conservation concern” as their numbers were in moderate decline.

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy is something that MWN have been keeping an eye on for a while. If you haven’t come across LNRS yet, then there’s a great BBC News article here about activity in our local area.

The consultation is still open and East Riding of Yorkshire Council are consulting on the Hull and East Yorkshire local nature recovery strategy (LNRS). Currently the response rate to the survey is well below other regions, and the survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.

MWN would encourate all residents of Molescroft Parish and the local area to review the proposals and comment on them. View the map survey of the ERYC region at this link. View the general survey for the ERYC region at this link.

There is also a webinar from ERYC that you can register to learn more about LNRS.

There’s plenty of shopping days till Christmas, so why not support biodiversity charities and organisations in the run up to the 25th?

Our friends at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have a range of Christmas goods from cards to wrapping solutions, crackers, baubles, 2024 calendars and more.

Plantlife have a wide variety of Christmas merchandise, with every purchase you make, you’re supporting vital work to restore and protect beautiful landscapes and the special wild plants and fungi they’re home to.

If you would prefer to support the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) their Christmas selection is found here. The have species-themed gift guide for unique homeware, books, toys and stocking-fillers and 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK and overseas.

All this month we have been hearing in the media about COP 28 in Dubai. But what is COP? What happens there? And is there anything we can meaningfully do to contribute whilst it is running?

MWN have had a little look for useful resources on understanding COP 28, and how it is organised and run, and what positive actions we can take to support its goals.

The Nature Conservancy has a really good primer and refresher on the paricipants and goals of COP28. Read their take on the meeting here.

Rainforest Alliance has an interview style piece that covers the main themes in a conversational format here.

The policy insitute Chatham House (of the “Chatham House Rule”) has a bit of a deeper dive into the questions that COP28 is going to try to solve here.

But what can you do?

The Church of England has some guidance (that is equally useful to those who are more secular!) that has some really great points. Check out their article here. There are two great solid actions you can take though. A summary of them is shown below:

You can write to your MP

The UK delegation will have a stronger platform to negotiate from if they know that people back in the UK want to see radical change and bold decision making.

You can raise awareness

Try to find a way to talk about this big issue in a way that makes it relatable for the person you are speaking to. For example, if they love beach holidays you could explain about how sea level rise will impact our coasts or if they care about their food, maybe discuss how food production and supply chains are being disrupted by unreliable and more extreme weather.

The Yorkshire Rewilding Network have a page listing a number of books that would make great reading for anyone interested in rewiliding and biodiversity (and these would be great Christmas presents too!). The selection covers books for all ages and all wildlife interests.

This extensive collection of curated books that starts with the pivotal rewilding text “Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life” by George Monbiot to the incredibly beautiful 2023 coffee table classic “The Book of Wilding – A practical guide to rewilding big and small” by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell.

There is also a separate selection of books specifically targeted at younger readers.

As the Guardian headline says this is both “Fascinating and saddening“, because these new species are migrants due to climate change/global heating.

This data was generated in a city farm in Bath, and shows the value of long term monitoring of small spaces by citizen scientists where the sites are harbouring biodiversity at local scales. Added to a bigger picture of species observations collected on e.g. iNaturalist, shows how citizen science can engage with climate change challenges, and have an impact on research.

One of the most heavily mapped areas in Beverley by density of observations is St Mary’s Graveyard, mostly thanks to the effort of Hull Natural History Society and MWN. If you’re ever in St Mary’s Graveyard, or at the other sites we are monitoring, don’t forget to add your observations to iNaturalist, as they will help us continue to monitor change (both improved biodiversity, and sadly the effects of climate change too) over time.