4 minute read
Wild News
We've been Making Meadows!
Our team has been hard at work this summer enhancing and creating new wildflower meadows at sites across Birmingham and the Black Country! By baling hay from exisiting speciesrich meadows and spreading it at locations including Stourbridge, Castle Vale, Moseley, Halesowen and Wolverhampton, we hope to see an abundance of new native wildflowers in years to come! Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help us!
Advertisement
A New Flora of Sutton Park
Following almost four years of research, the Birmingham and Black Country Botanical Society, supported by EcoRecord, have been compiling a new book which will highlight the amazing array of flora to be found at Sutton Park. The book will detail the site’s flowering plants, ferns, mosses, fungi, lichen and archaeology, as well as being lavishly illustrated, including aerial drone images specially photographed by Andy Purcell. The book is expected to be published in November 2022 and will cost £20.00, although subscribers to EcoRecord’s mailing list will be able to purchase the book for the special price of £16.50. Email enquiries@ecorecord.org.uk for further information.
Introducing Nextdoor Nature!
We're extremely excited to introduce Nextdoor Nature, a programme designed to bring communities together to help nature flourish where they live and work!
Thanks to £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Nextdoor Nature will provide people across the UK, including those from some of the most disadvantaged areas, with the advice and support they need to help nature on their doorstep, and leave a lasting natural legacy in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. In Birmingham and the Black Country, this will allow us to:
• Work with young people to empower them to develop and deliver their own environmental projects. • Create a programme of training, mentoring and networking opportunities that includes a mix of online events, in-person training and networking sessions, workshops, walks and talks.
• Work with local partners to open up a dialogue with all our young people about the environmental issues where they live. • Set-up a youth forum to ensure that young people’s voices are heard in decision making forums within the
Trust and at local and regional levels, and help them engage with political and business leaders.
Every one of us can make a difference to bring back nature and tackle climate change by taking small actions that add up to big changes. We're excited to support communities to do just this with the launch of Nextdoor Nature!
Our New Strategy Launched
In June, we were joined at the Library of Birmingham by partners, funders, supporters and members for the launch of ‘A Wilder Birmingham and Black County’, our strategy for nature’s recovery 2022-2030. A huge thank you must go to Hogan Lovells, our business partner since January 2020, for their kind sponsorship of the event, as well as a special mention to our 10-year-old Young Ambassador, Shaan Dulay, who gave an inspiring speech which served as a rousing reminder as to why our work for a wilder future is so important.
Our goals Nature is in recovery, with abundant, diverse wildlife across Birmingham and the Black Country People are taking action for nature and the climate across Birmingham and the Black Country We have identified three priority areas for our work:1 2 By 2030 we want to see By 2030 we want to see30% of Birmingham and the Black Country’s landscape managed for the benefit of wildlife. Nature is playing a central and valued role in helping to address local and global problems 3 By 2030 we aim for
at least 1 in 4 people across Birmingham and the Black Country taking action for nature.
A Wilder Birmingham and Black Country: Our Strategy for 2022-2030
Working for nature’s recovery 500 hectares of land to be improved to provide nature-based solutions to the ecological and climate crises.
We will work to protect, restore and connect wilder landscapes where wildlife and people can thrive. We will inspire and engage people to take action for wildlife and enable communities to develop a positive and meaningful connection with their local natural environment.
A Wilder Birmingham and Black Country: Our Strategy for 2022-2030 | bbcwildlife.org.uk | Page 8 We will help nature to help us by restoring and creating habitats that can draw down carbon from the atmosphere, reduce local flooding and pollution, whilst promoting nature-based solutions to help improve our physical and mental wellbeing.
Bright lights and the big city
The University of Birmingham is using radar technology to explore the skies above the city as part of the EPSRCfunded Mapping and Enabling Future Airspace (MEFA) project. New research from the project has highlighted the impacts of fireworks on bird movements in the city. Using a radar overlooking a 5 km area across Birmingham, results show that birds take to the skies in large numbers on days when fireworks are discharged compared with baseline days when the skies are not illuminated by fireworks. These night-time flights are when birds would otherwise be resting, so this is likely to have a detrimental impact on their health. With bird numbers declining globally, this is more evidence of humans’ adverse impacts on wildlife. As the firework season approaches, you can help mitigate the impact on birds by attending community-led events to reduce the number of locations with fireworks as well as the overall number. By attending such events you also help to reduce noise and light pollution and alleviate stress on other wild and domestic animals.
