River Love…

Today we hosted the launch of Defra’s “Love Your River” campaign on the River Itchen at Winnall Moors nature reserve.

We welcomed Richard Benyon MP, Minister for Fisheries and the Natural Environment who spent 3 hours with the Trust and partner organisations including the Environment Agency, learning first hand about the river and the conservation work being done here.

Choosing the Itchen for the launch of the campaign was highly appropriate.  It is one of only 4 chalk rivers in England designated under European legislation as a Special Area of Conservation.  As well as being exceptionally important for wildlife, the Itchen also supplies drinking water to more than half a million people and businesses in south Hampshire.  Abstraction, pollution, development, climate change and the recent drought conditions are putting this precious resource under more pressure than ever. 

Getting the chance to discuss these pressures with the Minister whilst showcasing the habitat improvements, river restoration, floodplain management and educational work the Trust is doing was extremely valuable.  With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Environment Agency we are transforming the river and its floodplain, developing a wild fishery and engaging and inspiring local people. 

We discussed how important projects like this are for demonstrating the importance of taking a landscape-scale, catchment wide approach to conservation – delivering multiple benefits for wildlife and people (also known as “ecosystem services”).

We highlighted the ongoing pressures to the Itchen from abstraction and pollution; we talked about the plans for 80,000 new homes in south Hampshire and how supplying water for these developments without damaging the river was going to be a real challenge.  The Minister discussed with EA and Southern Water their role in reducing demand for water and promoting water efficiencies. 

Oh, and we saw kingfishers, water voles, wild brown trout, grayling and my first marsh marigolds of the year! 

Read more about the campaign here and here and our work on the Itchen here.

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Reasons to be cheerful?

Most nature conservationists are feeling really depressed right now.  November was a month of doom and gloom.  Mark Avery and Miles King sum things up very well in their blogs, as does Tony Whitbread.  The recent actions of this Government in their desperate bid for growth – from distorting the meaning of sustainable development in planning to the weakening of the habitats regulations – amount to the worst assault on wildlife I have experienced in my 20 years in nature conservation.

What to do?  NGOs must stand firm and stand together – it feels as if we are the “last man standing”.  With the statutory nature conservation bodies emasculated and local authorities paralysed through budget cuts, there is nobody else but the voluntary sector and the Great British Public to stand up for nature.

Let’s not get too downhearted.  People care about nature and their local environment – and this interest is not dampened by the poor state of the economy.  Far from it.  The main nature conservation bodies are seeing their memberships continue to rise.  In the last twelve months the Wildlife Trusts have grown their membership income by an impressive 8.7%.  That’s what I call growth!

Wild Safari Playdays

Locally, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has had one of its best years ever.  Not only did we celebrate our 50th anniversary, our membership grew steadily, we had more children and young people involved in nature activities than ever,  and we had a fantastic year in terms of achievements, for example: 

We doubled our land holding on the Isle of Wight, thanks to generous legacies, donations and support from businesses. 

In Hampshire, we won the prestigious Orvis Wild Trout Trust conservation awards for a major river restoration project on the River Itchen at Winnall Moors. 

We were awarded the Learning outside the Classroom Quality Badge for our environmental education work and record numbers of children took part in Forest School activities and attended our Centres.

Dexters at Noar Hill

Working in partnership with Hampshire Fare we had great support for our new economic venture – selling beef from our Dexter Cattle that graze our nature reserve at Noar Hill in Selborne.

These are just a few of my reasons to be cheerful.  We won’t let Osborne’s crusade to wreck the environment dampen our spirits.  We will fight them and we will show him that the people of Hampshire and the Island care about their natural environment. 

We’ll be working with the other Wildlife Trusts and other NGOs on the Defra review of the Habitats Regulations to ensure that the vital protection for our most precious wildlife sites is not weakened.

If you care, please join us and also why not write to your MP to tell them how important nature is to you.

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