nature - The CA-WN Exchange

nature

A collection of 18 posts

Understanding the Biodiversity Crisis

Understanding the Biodiversity Crisis

It is increasingly recognised that biodiversity loss or the loss of Nature is as existential a threat as the climate crisis. The relationship between Climate and Nature and the importance of the global biosphere in mitigating climate change impacts was first acknowledged at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 26

West Northants Council: Local Nature Recovery Strategy

West Northants Council: Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Roy Hawkesford from Hackleton reports on a Webinar for parish councillors, organised by Ruth Rolls, WNC's Nature Recovery Strategy Officer (Environment, Countryside & Parks, Assets & Environment. The purpose of the meeting was to outline the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) which will go out for consultation soon1.

The Big River Watch May 4-6

The Big River Watch May 4-6

The Big River Watch is back for another exciting weekend of citizen science Our rivers are in trouble. They're struggling under the weight of plastics, sewage, chemicals, and much more, with no river stretches in England or Northern Ireland classified as being in good overall health. But you

St Katherine’s Garden Project

St Katherine’s Garden Project

The Project - April 2024 There is a global biodiversity crisis resulting from the same human activity that is changing our climate and weather. At the Conference of the Parties (COP) 15 for Biodiversity held in Montreal, Canada, in 2023, nations pledged to increase biodiversity by 30% by 2030 in

Biodiversity matters - popcawn April 2024

Biodiversity matters - popcawn April 2024

Save the bees! Save the whales! Save yourselves! We don’t often hear those phrases in quick succession – it’s difficult to see how the loss of sea creatures or insects can affect our lives. But whether we see it or not, we humans are animals and very much part

Nene Rivers Trust

Nene Rivers Trust

Rickileigh Edwards, Project Support Officer at the Nene Rivers Trust, outlines their projects in our area. Introduction to the Nene Rivers Trust Nene Rivers Trust, formerly River Nene Regional Park, is part of the national Rivers Trusts movement across the UK and Ireland. Together we work to mitigate the impacts

Tree Harvest gathered in

Tree Harvest gathered in

What a great morning at Martin Moore Wood harvesting trees! Over 30 people turned up, young and old – some to literally get stuck in and dig up some young trees, others from local Litter Wombles groups filled bags with old plastic tree guards. As well as the Wombles, and CA-WN

Tinder for trees?

Tinder for trees?

CA-WN was introduced to ‘tree harvesting’ at a recent event near Corby organised by a Dutch group, More Trees Now. One of the attendees was CA-WN’s newest Steering Committee member, Mick Lorkins. The idea is to collect – ‘harvest’ – young trees that under normal circumstances wouldn’t survive to adulthood

popcawn - November 2023

popcawn - November 2023

“Climate change and biodiversity loss together pose an existential threat to human survival that warrants an urgent response from everyone” was the opening line from October’s edition of popcawn – CA-WN’s opinion on current events. In that edition we focussed on climate change and the government’s woeful climate

Claim Back Your Space

Claim Back Your Space

Any space can be rewilded by just standing back and letting nature get on with it, and many of our richest wild places were shaped this way. If the soil is nutrient poor this may be a good idea but all too often what you end up with are nettles,

GBGW 2023: Why Measuring Matters and How You Can Help

GBGW 2023: Why Measuring Matters and How You Can Help

We now know that wildlife and biodiversity in the UK is in a great deal of trouble – Clare Slater wrote about this in a recent editorial for CA-WN Exchange, and the BBC Wild Isles series spelled out the scale of the problem in beautifully filmed colour. A point made in

The latest from CA-WN Exchange - June 2023

The latest from CA-WN Exchange - June 2023

Often when I speak to people about the environment, the primary concern seems to be around greenhouse gas emissions and global heating. Indeed, the headlines that the 1.5-degree barrier will be breached soon (albeit temporarily for now) really do hook you into the media articles; it doesn’t take

Watching Plants Creeping Northwards

Watching Plants Creeping Northwards

Brian Laney, one of the Northamptonshire County Recorders of plants, talks of four species that are making their way north due to climate change. In recent years several wild plant species have appeared in the vice county of Northamptonshire which have never been seen in the county before ('vice

The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson

The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson

The Garden Jungle or Gardening to Save The Planet: Professor Goulson is a mine of information about the natural world and a great communicator. There’s a lot of science in this book, but it’s clearly conveyed and easy to absorb. The science sits alongside a lot of practical

Report from the 2022 AGM of the Wildlife Trust BCN

Jane Wood, Chair of CA-WN, has been a member of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire for a few years, and as the Trust was holding its 2022 AGM in Northampton, it was a great opportunity to find out more about what the Trust is doing – “which turned

Creating a meadow area from neglected grassland

Creating a meadow area from neglected grassland

Advice from Dave Musson, based on many years' practical experience. Many UK public amenity areas have suffered over the years from cheap, fast grass cutting, which leaves all cuttings on the ground. These cuttings rot down to benefit existing fast growing grass species to the detriment of weaker grasses

Apples and Orchards, wild and domesticated

Apples and Orchards, wild and domesticated

By Clare Robertson-Marriott To understand current human dependency on globalisation it might be useful to consider the provenance or origin of the things we buy: food items, textiles, cars and so on, and to accelerate the development of endeavours with a local or circular economic focus. We could begin with

Gardening for Butterflies

Gardening for Butterflies

David James, County Butterfly Recorder, looks at what to plant to attract butterflies and moths into our gardens A lot is quite rightly made of our fantastic butterfly sites here in Northamptonshire, and many people come from all over the country to visit our localised butterflies in places such as