David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, Catherine Tate, Alison Steadman and Asim Chaudhry join forces with The Wildlife Trusts in a thought-provoking campaign for a #WilderFuture. The UK has become one of the most nature depleted countries in the world so this project aims to motivate people to help put nature into recovery. Here's a little bit more about the campaign and some wildlife appreciation activities...
This animated 'trailer' brings to life the threats that would be faced by Kenneth Grahame's much-loved characters if they were living in Britain today. The Wind in the Willows was written over 100 years ago and since then many of the UK's wild places have been lost, and the plants and animals that depended on them.
The scary facts
*taken from The Wildlife Trust #WilderFuture campaign
- 97% of lowland meadows and the beautiful wildflowers, insects, mammals and birds that they supported have disappeared
- 80% of our beautiful purple heathlands have vanished - with their blaeberries, sand lizards and stunning nocturnal birds, nightjars.
- Ratty, the water vole, is the UK’s most rapidly declining mammal and has been lost from 94% of places where they were once prevalent, and their range is continuing to contract.
- Toad is also finding that times very tough: he has lost nearly 70% of his own kind in the last 30 years alone – and much more than that in the last century.
The campaign aims to develop strong laws that will help nature to recover from the damage that we have done to our rivers, ponds and meadows from over development, by restoring large areas of wildlife habitat, in city and country.
'This country of nature lovers needs to give its wildlife every chance to survive, thrive and expand its range'
'We are losing touch with wildlife. Everything is becoming disconnected'
Sir David Attenborough
It's not too late to bring our wildlife back...
The good news is that it is not too late, but action is needed NOW. You can join the campaign and receive simple actions you can take for nature’s recovery.
We believe that reconnecting with nature and wildlife is integral to the success of this initiative - helping people to appreciate the wildlife around us will inspire and incentivise the motivation to make a change to protect and re-energise our wild environments. To make it quick and easy for everyone to get back to nature we have created a special Nature & Wildlife Conservation section on our website, which is being filled with practical workshops in conservation and nature activities to raise awareness and teach people how to protect our natural environment.
Plus, there's a whole host of other courses that will immerse the participants in nature including Bushcraft & Survival Skills and Outdoors & Rural Skills, which feature everything from Beekeeping and Foraging through to Nature Writing and Photography.
Seasonal recipe: Wild Garlic Pesto
One fantastic way to connect with and appreciate the wildlife around us is to cook with it. Now is the perfect time to forage for wild garlic (also known as ramsons) - it appears in spring in great swathes, carpeting woodland floors and there is no mistaking the smell (of garlic!)
This is a great way to use wild garlic in the kitchen:
Ingredients:
- 100g wild garlic leaves
- 50g parmesan cheese
- 50g of toasted pine nuts or skinned and toasted hazelnuts
- 1tbsp olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
- Thoroughly wash the wild garlic
- Add the wild garlic, parmesan, nuts and olive oil into a blender (or a bowl and use a hand held stick blender)
- Blitz it all together
- Then add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix in
You can add more oil if you would like a thinner consistency, which is great for drizzling on top of soups.
If you enjoyed reading this you might like to read Go Green in 2019 with these environmentally conscious courses >
