SOMERSET WILDLIFE TRUST - FUNGI FORAY - YouTube

Just received the Autumnwatch newsletter from Somerset Wildlife Trust and was pleased to see a link to a short video with local fungi expert Michael Jordan on site in our local Great Breach Wood just up the road from Somerton. We  have a a fungi foray arranged for October 30th in Beer Wood close to High Ham and this video is a good introduction to our event during which we expect  to find a large number of species of fungi. We usually get a good selection.We start the day with an hour or two in Beer Wood followed by a sandwich lunch in the local village hall and a display of our findings with identification provided by local experts.

Autumwatch in Somerset   Watch our fungi film Autumwatch kicks off on Friday, Nov 7 so tune in to BBC2 8.30pm Fridays. To wet your appetite for all things autumnal take a look at our new fungi foray video with nationally renowned expert Michael Jordan as he explores our Great Breach Wood nature reserve.

SOMERSET WILDLIFE TRUST - FUNGI FORAY - YouTube

London Olympic Games 2012.

295 days to London Olympic Games 2012

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328 days to London Paralympics

328 days to go to London Paralympics

Campaign for the Protection of Rural England

There is unprecedented activity by all the major environmental groups, all saying much the same thing, all demanding the Government to think again about its planned changes to planning law.
So accepting a risk of boring my readers I am posting on this reference to the CPRE campaign. You might agree that it is of considerable interest to compare the approach adopted by the environmental groups. Its the sort of topic I could easily have come across in my Open University studies!
So here is the CPRE approach:
Click here to visit their web site.
or use this url.
http://www.cpre.org.uk/magazine/opinion/item/2561-icons-of-england-come-to-the-defence-of-the-countryside

Bill Bryson and friends stand up for the countryside

Led by CPRE President Bill Bryson, 16 major public figures have issued the following joint statement urging the Government to rethink changes to the planning system which threaten the countryside:

"We urge ministers to listen to the deep concerns being expressed by people across the country".

"The NPPF marks a significant relaxation of protection for the majority of our countryside — so-called “ordinary countryside”. It also moves away from a “brownfield first” approach to development that has been in place since 1995."

"In the final stages of the government's public consultation on the draft NPPF, we urge ministers to listen to the deep concerns being expressed by people across the country and make substantial changes that will protect and enhance our extraordinary countryside for generations to come." Bill Bryson President, Campaign to Protect Rural England


I like the reference to the " ordinary countryside"  which happens to fit nicely with views expressed so vividly by Richard Maybe in his books "Nature Cure" and "The Unofficial Countryside" .

Planning reforms in England

As the subject is so important for the future of the natural environment I'm sharing my letter to my MP.

For more background click here:

*******************************************

David Heath MP

House of Commons

London    SW1A 0AA

October 5th 2011

Dear Mr Heath,

I hope you will be able to add my voice to the many others expressing concern about the headlong rush to make damaging changes to our planning laws. Over sixty odd years I’ve seen the pressures on the natural environment grow. Recent progress in creating some protection now appears to be stripped away simply to make life easier for developers. 

I’m using advice from the Wildlife Trusts to seek your help in influencing the Government’s reforms to planning in England. I’m also drawing on my involvement in the conservation of a four acre Local Wildlife Site here in Curry Rivel.

The planning system is vital for securing the long term public interest.  However, I am concerned that the Government’s draft National Planning Policy Framework does not include enough protection for the natural environment and gives too much weight to economic growth. 

I strongly believe the Government needs to make the following changes to its planning policy:

·         Re-instate the importance of the natural environment in national planning policy;

·         Require councils to plan for nature’s recovery in their local area as well as new homes and other development;

·         Give specific planning protection to 40,000 Local Wildlife Sites across England; otherwise these important places for wildlife will be under threat.

I hope you will help change Government policy on this vital issue for the future of our country.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

David German 

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/nppf

Planning reforms in England: local wildlife under threat | The Wildlife Trusts

Click here to read the Wildlife Trusts comments on the Governments planning changes.


Planning reforms in England: local wildlife under threat | The Wildlife Trusts

Somerset Wildlife Trust is doing its bit with the other county organisations to alert the public to the implications of this Government proposed change to the way our planning system works.
I think we need to be very careful about making it so much easier for planning applications to get the go ahead. Planning applications have always been heavily weighted in favour of the developers because they have the financial strength to employ professional people to present their case in the best possible light and then pay for legal help to follow it through.How can you or I stand against such power. We need to support the Wildlife Trusts on this.

New Blog format

If your new to this format then join me in trying it out and I welcome your thoughts and comments. I've tried all the optional arrangement and like this magazine style best.
Maybe by coincidence the viewing figures have shot up today so I'll let it run for a few days to get a longer test run.

It seems that if you are viewing and scanning the items shown you just click on the window to see the whole posting.
Maybe you can revert to the original format.
What ever way you view it the content must remain the important element!

Tim Jackson and "Prosperity without Growth"

Over breakfast this morning I casually picked up and revisited the concluding chapter in Tim Jackson's book, "Prosperity without Growth"
It immediately made me think about all the drama unfolding around the world over the lack of economic growth  and the debt problem. The party conferences are fighting about who is doing most to get the economy going again.
In this brief post I am giving you a link to a talk given by Tim Jackson.
Click here to view the talk.
Its the first time I've seen Tim Jackson speak to an audience and for me its a very thought provoking experience. He does make reference to the natural world just in case your wondering!
I must come back to this topic again soon.

Or use this URL:
http://resolve.sustainablelifestyles.ac.uk/

Simon Barnes and the SPNVS

Two weeks on holiday and back home to try and catch up on the world of wildlife conservation and my Blog. Along with numerous emails and post I received my National Trust magazine today. The opinion feature sounded interesting and it was written by Simon Barnes. He wrote “How to be a bad birdwatcher” which I found an easy book to read and useful for a non bird watcher! He wants to start a new campaign to promote, “the Society for the Preservation of Nothing Very Special” or SPNVS for short. I agree with him that it is important to seek to protect living places and living things before they get special. Special usually means rare or endangered. Our four acre meadow could easily be classified by planners or developers as ordinary. Yet unimproved grasslands are already rare in the countryside and so I aim to become a member of the SPNVS.

If you too would like to join go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk, search for the digital NT magazine Autumn 2011 and Simon Barnes article is on page 15. Or of course you could join the NT as a member.

I was pleased to see how our new pond was getting on and of course it is getting on alright in my absence. The dragon fly nymphs  are still lurking in the murky water which really needs more oxygenating plants. Waterboatman are more numerous than before and a dead reddish dragonfly lies in the water. Water snails seem to be steadily demolishing it.
Walking across the lawn to the pond I noticed a small butterfly ( shown above) which I thought initially was  probably a female Common Blue. Eventually I managed to get close to it and with the help of my trusted book on UK butterflies I am convinced it is a Small Heath. That is the first time I've ever recognised one. The books says they are one of the most common butterflies in the country so I must have been very negligent in not seeing it before.  I am adding a photo of my butterfly and the unfortunate dragon fly and the dragonfly nymph

"Prosperity Without Growth"

 I've read the book that stimulated a friend to write this letter, which he copied to me and I considered it relevent to the nature conservation theme of this Blog so here it is.

 

 

"Prosperity Without Growth"

 

A letter to the "Economist" magazine  written by Dr Michael J. Parr.

 

 

To: the Editor

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      In his 2009 book, Prosperity without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet, Tim Jackson made an extraordinarily compelling case against continued economic growth in developed countries.  Jackson, who is Professor of Sustainable Development (University of Surrey) presents the mounting evidence that continued and increasing consumerism in the major economies is destined for disaster because we live in a finite world.  Common sense tells us growth cannot continue indefinitely, and indeed, Prof. Jackson describes how our recent problems relate to the collapse of the ecosystems sustaining our western economies due to ever-rising consumerism.

 

In his analysis, Jackson outlines how human society can not only survive, but flourish, within the clear limits of our finite Earth.  Obviously, change is essential for our long-term survival on this planet but politicians, the media and governments still continue to promote, discuss and apparently fully accept economic growth as the only way forward.  It seems to me we have this state of affairs because

1)  politicians and governments are too afraid to tackle these critical issues for obvious reasons, and

2)  the general public is simply not aware of the huge and increasing difficulties caused by consumerism and economic growth.

 

At the present time some large businesses, for example IBM and Unilever, are making some of the right noises, but for real change to occur there is a vital need for very open, inclusive acceptance of the problem by populations and governments.

 

Therefore, my call is for Prof. Jackson's thesis to be fully aired and discussed on national TV, radio, the Web and in the press.  Until this is done, we have no hope of a new and necessary system of eco-economics to supersede our present failing growth option.  Could I start the ball rolling by asking economists why many of them appear to have their heads in the sand?  Could they logically explain why Jackson's analysis is flawed, and most importantly, what alternative would they like to propose?

 

Dr Michael J. Parr