News

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.

Discover how nature-friendly farming is helping many endangered farmland birds and other wildlife, at this online talk with farming and wildlife expert Nicholas Watts.

Farms provide a fantastic and essential habitat for birds and other wildlife. Ambassador for nature-friendly farming Nicholas Watts, will talk us through the reasons why farmland birds have declined dramatically over the last 30 years and how he has successfully increased numbers of some species on his farm. For example, grey partridge, corn bunting and tree sparrows have decreased nationally by around 90%, due primarily to loss of habitat and insects to eat.

The event is hosted by CRT – The Countryside Regeneration Trust which protects, promotes, and regenerates land and all life on it.

Sign up for the online event here.

Learn more about the CRT and their aims here.

The Eden Project has announced a plan to help tackle the biodiversity crisis felt throughout the United Kingdom by unveiling a new company, the Eden Project Wildflower Bank.

The Eden Project Wildflower Bank aims to create wildflower-rich grassland habitats across the UK through the creation of Biodiversity Net Gain Units.

Biodiversity Net Gain Units are a way of measuring an uplift or increase in biodiversity through either habitat creation or enhancement.

To learn more about the Wildflower Bank intiative, you can read more on the Eden Project website.

Some awesome news for younger nature lovers is shared by the RSPB here! The RSPB are launching in November, “Free youth access” to RSPB sites if you are aged 16-24.

From November 6, all you need to do is show a valid photo ID with your age on it when you arrive at the nature reserve. This could be a driving license, a proof of age card or your passport. And that’s it. Simple! And there are some beautiful sites to explore.

Novembers YRN Network webinar is by York resident Rob Stoneman, Director of Landscape Recovery at The Wildlife Trusts with previous experience at Rewilding Europe and at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

The talk will relate some of the work he was doing in Europe back to how it might be applied to Yorkshire. His talk will also include fun stories from his two years at Rewilding Europe and will bring it back to the work of organisations such as the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Sign up at the YRN events page: https://www.yorkshirerewildingnetwork.org.uk/events/

Caring For God’s Acre, the conservation charity for burial grounds across the UK, is a group that MWN interacts with regularly as we try to find ways to collaborate in Molescroft Parish.

Churches have substantial land holdings, including graveyards, and MWN is working with multiple partners to help improve biodiversity in St Mary’s Graveyard. However these sites need to be treated with a great deal and care and consideration for those that are buried there, and those that visit. Mapping these sites therefore serves multiple purposes.

Join Caring for God’s Acre as they explore the importance of mapping these burial grounds in a webinar presented by Tim Viney from Atlantic Geomatics who will provide an overview of the Church of England National Burial Grounds Survey project and will discuss why we need good maps of burial grounds, how they are created and integrated with records, and how they are updated.

A number of news outlets have covered new legislation in Hull that would allow people to grow fruit, vegetables and pollinating plants on disused and unloved council land.

When allotments are scarce and councils don’t want to invest time in upkeep of shared spaced, there’s a real opportunity for community groups to step in and make a difference.

Choose your preferred news source: The Guardian or The Hull Daily Mail or the BBC.

Plantlife have released their “The State of Nature 2023” and is a stark call to action for our disappearing wild plants across the UK.
There are some stark headline figures associated with the report:

• 54% of flowering plants and
• 59% of mosses and liverworts

have declined in distribution across Great Britain since 1970. Also:

• 28% of fungi are threatened with extinction

Obviously this really should be seen as a call to action for immediate steps to halt the decline. Nature restoration projects have been demonstrated to help reverse this in local areas, something that MWN take to heart.