So this week, there are two big events coming up in the calendar which are all about giving and making a difference.

Giving Tuesday 
28 November 2023

This was created back in 2012.  The idea is simple:  it’s a day that encourages people to do good.  And today, millions of people join in to give something:  their time, money, their skills, their voice, organising an event, cleaning up a local area – the choice is yours.  You could just even check on an elderly neighbour.  Please find out more and take a look here. 

And there’s lots of information about participating here.  There are plenty of ways to get involved, and they've got logos you can download to help spread the word. 

Global Giving
Global Giving had a match fund taking place on 28 November 2023!  Animals, conservation, ecosystem restoration are all here.

Also, the Snow Leopard Trust has a fundraiser (with a Giving Tuesday donation match to $80,000), as do Polar Bears International.   

The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge 
From mid-day on 28 November to 5 December 2023

The idea behind this one is to donate to one or more of the charities taking part in the Big Give's Christmas Challenge – but the good news is your donation is doubled at no extra cost to you!  The Challenge offers supporters of those charities taking part to double their donations for seven days, so this is a big chance to really make your donation go further.  vBack in 2022, £28.5 million was raised for 1,021 participating charities.  79,658 people donated, some twice.   

One thing you could do is to ask people to donate to a chosen charity for your Christmas gifts, instead of giving you an actual present that you may not want or need.   We do this in our family, rather than acquire more and more stuff we just don’t want or need, we prefer to do something which can be of real help.

The charities taking part in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge are listed here.   They cover all sectors as you can see, but we particularly want to raise the profile of those helping animals and conservation and the environment.

Animal charities participating in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge.

Otters, monkeys, elephants, cats and dogs, deer, water voles, oceans, beavers, bats, badgers, tigers, cheetahs, rhinos, red squirrels, wild cats, butterflies, turtles, orangutans are just some of the animals the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge will help.

Conservation and environment charities participating in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge

Rivers, meadows, trees, forests, hedges and edges, rainforest, small woods are just some of the types of habitats included.  Some of the charities’ appeals may be listed in both the Animals’ and Conservation/Environment sections.

How much do you know about the participating charities?

Whilst you’re browsing through the lists, if there are charities you haven’t heard of, or know very little about, it’s a great opportunity to find out about them – what they do, what their aims are, how they help etc.  Visit their websites too, and increase your knowledge of what’s being done to help and make a difference.

 
Please do something, just one action will make a difference

Even if you don’t donate, please take a look at your local animal charities and see if you can help them in some way or another.  This could be as simple as taking old towels along to them that you don’t need any more.  

Whatever you do, please do something. And remember, every little helps. Thank you for making a difference. 

Grow a tree 2023!

It’s National Tree Week, and a chance to celebrate all things tree!  In 2023, National Tree Week is particularly special because it’s the 50^th anniversary of the “Plant a tree in 73” campaign – and from that event, both the National Tree Week and the Tree Council were born.

We need trees and every year, the Tree Council is in charge of National Tree Week, bringing conservationists, volunteers and tree-lovers to unite and hopefully plant thousands of trees to begin the tree planting season!

The Tree Council has a has a mission to care for our trees and our planet’s future.  It aims to champion trees in everything it does, and to encourage, inspire and persuade people of all ages and backgrounds to value and love trees.

It runs a volunteer Tree Warden scheme, and works to lead and connect organisations, to persuade decision-makers, to influence policy, and deliver local action. 

So this year, the Tree Council wants as many people as possible to have the chance to “Grow a Tree in 2023”, by taking part in an organised tree planting event or having your own National Tree Week Tree Party!

They’ve got lots of ideas, with activities for a tree tea party, for instance – mind you, you can also do the activities on your own.   Here’s the Tree Party Activity Booklet. 

You could simply find your favourite tree and give it a hug to thank it for being a tree!

 You could also think about becoming a volunteerTree Warden! 

It’s also a chance to increase your knowledge of trees and their role

The UK charity the Woodland Trust has information about:

• Why trees matter.
• 6 UK Trees to plant in small gardens for climate change
• How trees fight climate change

Starting on Thursday 2nd November 2023 on Channel 5 at 7pm, there’s a new series of Secret Life of the Forest. 

The secret cameras are back as summer ends, taking in the beauty of Forestry England’s Great Yorkshire Forest and the wonderful wildlife who live there.  Beavers, turtle doves, Exmoor ponies and very rare insect species found only in Yorkshire feature in the habitat there.  It spans over 8000 acres and it’s situated at the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park.

The Forestry Commission bought it in 1921, and as the UK was extremely short of trees after the Second World War (it still is), and Dalby was included in strategic planting schemes.  These now provide us with lots of timber and give homes to wildlife.   400,000 people visit every year.

The cameras cover the beaver  pond, also home to stunning kingfishers - and they are also waiting to capture footage of the pine-marten, too.  Forestry England staff and volunteers care for this beautiful places.  Actor Robert Lindsay is the narrator. 

The new series launches on Thursday 2nd November 2023 at 7pm on Channel 5 – and if you can’t see it, don’t worry, you can catch it on Channel 5 catch up.

Find out more from the Forestry Comission’s website

Find out about volunteering with the Forestry Commission here

By the way, it's worth taking a look at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust which is re committed "to creating a Yorkshire rich in wildlife for everyone. From saving our wildlife and wild places to bringing people closer to nature".   There are lots of ways to get involved and help them, so fly off to their website here to take a look.  

It’s on its way….Planet Earth III!

Wow, on the 22^nd October 2023 at 18:15, Planet Earth III will come onto our screens, with BBC1.  What’s in store?

Well, rhino rambling down a street looking for something to eat in Nepal – to get food, he has to go through a world that’s new to him

“The rules of the game [for wildlife] have changed – to survive in the human world.” Sir David Attenborough

Both people and animals have to learn how to get along if we are to avoid mass extinctions. 

The 8 episodes cover the planet’s habitats, covering Oceans, Forests, Coasts and Deserts. 

We’ll see macaques in Bali, stealing goods from tourists – hats, sunglasses, shoes…. and even smartphones!  And the tourists can have them back in exchange for a piece of fruit – or in the case of smartphones, chocolate…

See the official trailer for BBC's Planet Earth III here.

There are sea lions off the coast of Chile, gorging on fish caught by fleets – the danger being that they may get caught in nets.

The smarter the animal, the more it can adapt.  The orcas have perfected their hunting technique, for example, as have mugger crocodiles who have a camouflage hunting technique.   They can lie in wait for hours, having dug out a waterhole and buried themselves in mud, wriggling to cover themselves in vegetation at the water’s edge.  They lie in wait for deer for hours.

Planet Earth III is available from Hive.co.uk

And watch out for the white wolf, right on the brink of extinction.  The fear is there may not be any to film the next time.

And as we have got smarter and developed new technology, so that can help with filming the most amazing footage.  Drones for instance can go anywhere and show us sights we’ve never seen before.  We can see how animals co-operate with each other.  And we see how people live with wildlife, in places such as Uganda where villagers welcome apes, one villager turning part of her garden over to grow wild as a primate haven. 

Watch out for Planet Earth III on Sunday 22 October on BBC1.  Can’t wait!

7

UPDATE on 18 October 2023:  GREAT NEWS!

The Archers Green Appeal in Hertfordshire has raised the £500,000 it needed to purchase Archers Green! 

This is thanks to donors from supporters and a very generous legacy.   Working together, we can all make a difference!

Now, while you're here, how about taking a look at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust appeal?   They are trying to raise £300,000 to buy 83 acres of farmland and create a new nature reserve that will provide new territory for wildlife.  Find out more here.

Here's the background....

The Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust are trying to raise £500,000 to buy land which has vulnerable habitats.  The 20 acre site is near Welwyn Garden City and it has wildlife such as the water vole, harebell and skylark.  Water voles are the UK’s fastest declining mammals.

The funds are needed to pay back a philanthropic loan which was used to take the site off the market.  At the time, the Trust had to act very fast to save the site and stop it falling into “unsympathetic” hands.

It is vital to protect more land for wildlife and Archers Green flanks a river which is one of only 240 chalk streams in the world – the River Mimram.  The Trust says rivers like this are the UK’s equivalent to tropical rainforest.  It also has grasslands, critical habitat for wildlife. So action had to be taken really fast.

If the funds aren’t raised, it maybe that the site has to go back on the open market.

Find out more about the Appeal

The other key thing about Archers Green is that it sits between the Tewinbury Nature Reserve and Panshager Park.   Wildlife need connected landscapes because these areas enable them to move around and to breed.  So if the funds can be raised, it means that the Trust can ensure the safety of the land for wildlife.

The Trust points out that the areas has already lost crucial wildlife homes and corridors.  76 species went with that loss, leaving 1,446 under the threat of extinction.

What will the funds be used for?

• To pay back the philanthropic loans – this will mean that the site can be taken off the market.
• To cover initial establishment costs such as fencing installation, tree safety, ash die back mitigation, monitoring activities and livestock grazing.  And to cover the management of the site on a daily basis for up to 20 years.

If the funds can’t be raised, it may be that the remaining costs can be met from the financial reserves but this would mean taking key funds away from other nature reserves which also need managing and improving.

We need to save land for wildlife.
Wildlife need us to help them.

Visit the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's website

View the Trust's You Tube videos