» Listings for 2020

1. Don't Mow in May - join Plantlife for this citizen science project

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 4th May 2020

   Good news for those of you who don’t like mowing your lawn and would love a really good reason not to bother. Well, mowing the lawn could attract 10 x the number of bees that you would usually get! Give bees a Super Lawn! Lawns cut every four weeks are being called “super lawns” and it’s reckoned that they attract 4,000 bees a day on average. However, those cut regularly to keep them neat and tidy bring in just an average of 400 bees a day. This is a HUGE difference.  Take part in a citizen science project:  Every Flower Counts! This has all been worked out by charity Plantlife.   They’ve got an Every Flower Counts survey.  Nearly 2,000 households were asked how often they mow their lawns; and then they were asked to count the number of wild flowers in one squared patches. Daisies were most abundant on lawns, followed by white clover and the violet coloured selfheal. Asking those surveyed to count 24 different wildflowers, Plantlife could work out how much nectar the whole garden produced – and how many bees that could support. And that’s where they discovered that one in five lawns called super lawns would entice ten times more bees. Let your lawn grow So Plantlife advise that we keep sections of our lawn long so that we can support wild flowers such as oxeye daisy, field scabious, knapweed and even orchids.   Daisies and white clover are short stemmed wild plants – they produce more flowers if cut back once a month. So some parts of your lawn should have a monthly cut to boost short plants.  And we should all put aside an area for longer grass – what Plantlife call a Mohican haircut! Bees and butterflies need different sorts of flowers.  Combine them, and the lawns in the survey produced 50lb of nectar a day – and that’s enough to support over 2 million honeybees. Count your flowers and report in  So our task is to work out which parts of the lawn to short cut, which to leave long, and then to put the kettle on and settle down with a cuppa and listen to the birdsong!   And one final thing to do.... Count the flowers on your lawn and find out how many bees it can support!  The more flowers in your lawn, and the more types of flowers you've got, the more bees you'll be able to support. Every Flower Counts takes palce from 23rd to 31st May 2020 so let Plantlife know your results! From your results, Plantlife can calculate a National Nectar Index to show how lawns in Britain are helping to feed pollinators.  And they'll show you how you can increase the number of flowers in your lawn!  #NoMowMay

    

2. Wild Koala Day is on 3rd May 2020 - please add your voice to help koalas

   Posted on 8:00am Sunday 3rd May 2020

   It's the 3rd May and that means one thing - it's Wild Koala Day :-) Please visit Koala Corner to see how you can help these adorable animals and meantime, here's a delightful clip from You Tube to enjoy:   Here is the petition mentioned in the clip - if koalas don't have trees, there won't be any koalas, so please sign it and spread the word!  Thank you!# And here are others.  Please, please add your voice.  This koala can't speak up - but you and I certainly can.  Please sign these petitions.  ©Change.org Stop Shenhua Mining Koala Habitat on Gomeroi ancestral lands  Save Koala habitat areas Koalas belong to the world, not just Australia Stop the Wallarah 2 Mine from impacting vital Koala habitat Protect our koalas Thank you :-)  Visit Koala Corner with this website to find more ways you can  help koalas, including 11 Ways to help koalas.

    

3. World Penguin Day on 25 April 2020 - Watch this Q&A with a Penguin Watch Team!

   Posted on 11:00am Friday 24th Apr 2020

   The 25 April is World Penguin Day! The day coincides with the annual northern migration of Adelie penguins.   There are various different species of penguin.  OxfordSparks have their Penguin Watch Team who will be answering a Q&A.  Their researchers monitor penguin colonies across the Southern Ocean, working to disentangle the effects of various threats from things such as climate change and the krill fishing industry.

    

4. The 22nd April is Earth Day

   Posted on 12:00pm Tuesday 21st Apr 2020

   The 22nd April each year is Earth Day. Earth Day is on every day and can be celebrated wherever you are – even in space!  Flood the earth with hope, optimism and action! In 2020, Earth Day is 50 years old.  The theme is Climate Action.  As its website says, Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems which make our world habitable.   If we look at the start of 2020 alone, the Australian bushfires left terrible damage behind them.  Organic Lesson wanted to give an idea of the severity of the crisis, by re-creating the smoke haze in scenic locations around the world and you can see what places like London, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and the Alps would have looked like.   The Earth Day Network works around the world to drive meaningful action for our planet across the following issues Climate Action Science and Education People and Communities Conservation and Restoration Plastic and Pollution So whatever your interests are in earth, you should be able to find a way to get involved.  And Earth Day's website has toolkits you can use to really get out there and change the world and make a difference. Join Earth Day Live 2020 There’s plenty you can do: Add your voice or action to a world map to show your support Organize a digital event for Earth Day or a physical one later - don't forget to register it! Get involved in  Earth Challenge 2020, the world’s largest citizen science effort Find at-home, digital Acts of Green to support a better planet Spread the word on your social network to get friends and family involved Read the news, learn about the campaigns, or download images View the information about Conservation and Restoration here but three actions you can take are: Take action for Conservation and Biodiversity –Sign up for the Biodiversity Beat  Take action for the Canopy Project Be a part of the largest volunteer project in history – the Great Global Cleanup In the coming year, Earth Day Network is aiming to plant 7.8 billion trees — one tree for every person on earth — in honour of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020. Head off to Earth Day 2020 here and see what you can do to make a difference!

    

5. Help Animals Asia rescue three bears on a bile farm - #ThreeBearsRescue

   Posted on 2:00pm Monday 20th Apr 2020

   Animals Asia have had an urgent call about three bears in terrible trouble on a bile farm. They were alerted 2 weeks ago – and they dropped everything, to get ready to rescue as fast as possible.  But travel restrictions put in place because of the coronavirus meant it was not possible (or safe) to go ahead.  Travel restrictions have been lifted now.  The team is ready to go and rescue the three bears.  But Animals Asia need help to do it.  These bears will have bellies to fill, there'll be essential medicines to buy and months of high costs, thanks to the coronavirus.  The bears were found trapped in tiny metal cages, side by side.  There’s limited information about them but Animals Asia say they can be almost certain that they will have serious health issues and will need special, on-going care and treatment for the rest of their lives – which could be 15 years or more. They are asking people to become monthly donors, to help set up these bears on the road to recovery and beyond. Will you help the three bears? Find out more here. Visit Animals Asia’s website here.