The dipper (Cinclus cinclus) is one of the UK’s most well-known freshwater birds. Despite this they are currently in decline, with stats from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) showing a 30% decline since 1970. They currently hold a UK Amber conservation status, meaning they face a decline and threat of extinction from Europe, but they are not currently threatened with global extinction.
CAUSE OF DECLINE
The main reasons for dipper decline all revolve around pollution. Airborne pollutants from industries can cause acid rain, which falls into rivers causing these to become acidic too – a process known as ‘river acidification’. The dippers’ aquatic prey (primarily insect larvae and freshwater shrimps) struggle to survive in acidic conditions, causing them to decline, leaving less food available for the dippers. Interestingly, recent studies are also examining how poor diets at early life stages may affect birdsong quality, and as dippers are territorial birds who sing all year round, adults may struggle to find mates or defend their territory without this vocal ability, causing further threats to population numbers. Other sources of pollution include agricultural fertilisers, microplastics and sewage waste.
ROLE IN THE ECOSYSTEM
Dippers are one of the main predators of freshwater insects and shrimp, and they are also a prey species for many larger birds. Ensuring the numbers of predators and prey in an ecosystem remain balanced is essential to maintaining equilibrium, or a stable environment. If dipper populations were to significantly decrease, this would have a knock-on effect for many other species, particularly in the freshwater ecosystem. It is also important to mention that dippers can absorb pollutants into their bodies, primarily by eating affected prey from polluted waterways, and the dangerous chemicals can then be passed higher up the food chain to animals that eat the dippers. This is a significant process known as bioaccumulation, where the concentration of toxins increases the higher up the food chain you look. Dippers are also an indicator species for water quality, meaning if you see a dipper in a river then the water quality is likely to be fairly good!
CONSERVATION STATUS
Dippers are a protected species in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which protects many species of wildlife and states that it is an offence to harm, kill or disturb the habitats of these species. Dippers are still a widespread species and can be seen regularly feeding and nesting around many rivers across the UK. According to the Scottish Wildlife Trust, one dipper nesting site has reportedly been used every breeding season for an enormous 123 years!
WHERE CAN I SEE DIPPERS IN THE WILD?
If you are hoping to see a dipper, look out for a plump bird with dark brown body plumage, a white throat, and a short tail. They can typically be seen perching on rocks in freshwater areas, continually bobbing up and down and cocking their tail. You may see them submerged underwater looking for food, without coming to the surface for up to 30 seconds! They are able to see and hunt for their prey in the water as their eyes have transparent eyelids that act as goggles when submerged.
A while ago we asked for submissions for an art and poetry exhibition that would celebrate freshwater, and how much it means to all of us, as well as highlighting the current struggles that the UK’s freshwater ecosystems are facing. We were absolutely blown away by the submissions we received, and empowered by how many of our community care about freshwater issues too.
Chemical cocktail bar
We also exhibited four of the art pieces at our Chemical Cocktail event in London, which was attended by parliamentarians and decision-makers, and aimed to highlight freshwater chemical pollution in the UK and get the issue prioritised. And, as we knew they’d be so great, we also proposed an online exhibition of all of the artwork and poetry that we received (poetry coming soon!).
So, without further adieu…
London exhibition
Claudia Tong – Along the River Thames – Blackfriars
Along the River Thames is a series of sketches on location near the river, unveiling hidden gems in our surroundings, especially fresh water, which is so essential to our lives but is often overlooked. My work shares a nostalgic feeling and visualises our emotional attachment to the freshwater.
This piece was created as part of a series set in a dystopian city called Betoni, which reflects the worst of our own real cities. Freshwater is such an integral part of survival for all organisms and it is awful and infuriating seeing it being destroyed by the greed and ignorance of humans. My hope is that artwork can act as a wake up call for how poorly we are treating all the rivers, so that hopefully one day every river will be appreciated and respected as they should be.
Simply put, freshwater is life – an immensely dynamic & powerful force of life.
Nothing on this planet would exist without water. To allow our finite freshwater resources to be polluted by human activity is a fundamental misunderstanding of our own basic needs for survival. Let alone the countless other species relying on this incredibly precious resource.
Shirley Therese van der Horst – A Big Meal
Freshwater is such an important resource. It is fundamental for life’s survival, and freshwater habitats shelter an enormous amount of wildlife. This is more than enough reason to want to protect them, but for anyone who has sat next to a stream listening to the soothing noise of water over pebbles or has felt the cool, comforting embrace of lake water as they swam, watched the damselflies dance over its surface, we know that it’s importance to us runs deeper. For me, at least, it provides comfort, like the visit of an old friend.
Freshwater exhibition
Aysha ChoudhuryAysha ChoudhuryAlly ZlatarAlly ZlatarAlly ZlatarCatherine PapeCatherine PapeClaudia TongKun FangElla LeppanenEmma PhillipsEmma PhillipsGlesni LewisGemma MackenzieKun FangKun FangLaura ScullRosie RowlandChristie Randall – birds (collage)Christie Randall – dragonfly (collage)Christie Randall – riverClaudia Tong – Along the River Thames – Battersea (watercolour and pen on paper)Claudia Tong – A Splash of Freshwater (ink on paper)Eve Harker – Hardraw Falls and Falling Foss (textiles)Eve Harker – Hardraw Falls and Falling Foss (textiles)Emma Phillips – Lillies (oil on linen)Henrietta MacPhee – Pond Life (Painted and glazed ceramic mounted on wood)Henrietta MacPhee – Pond Life (Painted and glazed ceramic mounted on wood)Kun Fang (Mixed media on canvas)Manuela Amey (film photograph) Rosa Hicks – Atlantic salmonRosie Rowland – Wallop Brook (photograph)Rosie Rowland – Wallop Brook (photograph)Will Wright and Martha Solloway – Coppermill (lino print)Yarm Prep School (ceramic)Ally ZlatarAlicia HaydenAlicia Hayden
Thank you to everyone who sent in their artwork – we can’t wait to run something else like this again very soon!
If you want to learn more about our Not so Freshwater campaign and the chemical crisis in UK rivers, click here.
We asked our community members to share their favourite nature and environmental books with us so we could get some top tips for summer reads, and share it for our wider audience to enjoy too! We ended up with a super diverse list of books – some fiction, some non-fiction, some new, some old – featuring a range of topics, all of which had made some kind of impact on those suggesting them, and even changed some of their behaviour patterns. Books have an amazing ability to change the world, and here’s a list of some of the ones that have changed ours:
Mo Wilde – The Wilderness Cure
I’ve always been a very basic forager – nettles, dandelions, blackberries and wild garlic, and mussels with my Grandad when I was little. Having become very interested in food sovereignty, I have become fascinated with growing food and foraging, and this book took that one step further.
In this book, Mo does a ‘wild food year’ where she only eats foraged food. I’ll be honest, at times it sounds absolutely bleak, but the feeling of completing it, and how she describes feeling, would be been worth the challenging times. I felt so inspired and I know I’ll carry so much of this book with me for the rest of my life.
– Hannah
Garden Jungle – Dave Goulson
I love the way that the book brings the wildlife in your back garden to life and celebrates creatures that don’t get enough love.
Favourite fact from the book: Earwigs have two penises, if they are disturbed during sex, they can snap one off to keep fertilising the female while they make a quick getaway.
– Ellen
Wilding – Isabella Tree
Such a fantastic insight into Britain and it’s changing relationship to nature.
Rewilding is such a hot topic and Wilding is a great addition to the conversation.
– Lucy
Deer Man: Seven Years in the Forest – Geoffroy Delorme
This is my absolute favourite.
It’s a non-fiction book about a man who goes to live with roe deer in the forest and it changes your perspective on the habitats and human impact we have on nature.
– Lucy
Entangled Life – Merlin Sheldrake
I already thought that mushrooms were super cool but reading this book made me realise how much we can learn from mushrooms in how they relate to eachother and other species and the expansiveness and resilience they have.
It’s one of those reads that’s science told in a way of a story or journey almost and I love that as a combo. Also very accessible if you’re not into science too. Plus there’s an adorable picture of a truffle hunting dog!!
– Glesni
Swimming with Seals – Victoria Whitworth
I loved ‘Swimming with Seals’ by Victoria Whitworth which is about swimming in the seas around Orkney. It’s also about connection and community and how the author finds an escape in her swimming from her failing marriage.
There’s a lot of folklore and history in there as well, but most of all it makes you want to go swimming in the cold.
– Christina
Lanny – Max Porter
Lanny by Max Porter is such a beautiful book about an English village and a lost boy, and the Greenman figure of Dead Papa Toothwort. It is a book in which the countryside feels alive and part of the story, and it makes you feel connected to the land.
I read it in a day and everyone I’ve recommended it to loves it as well.
– Christina
English Pastoral – James Rebanks
One of my favourites is English Pastoral by James Rebanks, a view of UK agricultural history, the role that commercial farming has played in depleting biodiversity in the UK and what can be done to reverse that.
A heartbreaking vision of all we have lost that still manages to end with hope for the future. Left me in tears! Happy and sad tears!
– Ella
Have we missed your favourite nature or environmental book off of our list?Drop us a DM on your favourite social media platform so we can add it to our must-read list!
That feels like a very profound question to start off a blog post! I guess I’m a mishmash of lots of different things, I always find it difficult to explain what my jobs are and then to explain that yes, they are real jobs and no, I can’t believe I get to do this stuff either! I’m Co-Director of UK Youth for Nature, arguably one of the best jobs in the world, I get to work with such an amazing team of passionate, creative, nature-loving young people. I’m also a wildlife artist, aspiring natural history author and General Manager of Curlew Action, another incredible non-profit, working to reverse the decline of Curlews and to promote wider natural history education.
How did you get here?
Skipping over the long story of how I fell in love with nature and went to uni to study biology, my career all started with an email. Well actually, lots of emails. I sent one to every wildlife film company in Bristol asking for work experience, of the few who got back to me, a man called Richard Brock was one. I started working part-time for Richard and through that, discovered Mary Colwell and her campaign for a Natural History GCSE. So, drum roll please, I emailed her. Two and a half years later, Mary and I are good friends and colleagues at Curlew Action. UK Youth for Nature came along (through the magical medium of email) when they reached out to Curlew Action for support for their Natural Kingdom: Wild Walls campaign.
I was hooked, and reached out to the then Co-Director, Talia (via messenger pigeon this time), to ask how I could get involved. Side note: at the time I didn’t realise that UKY4N was for 16-35 year olds, I thought it was for U18s, so I remember being really impressed by how sophisticated and experienced her communication was. When a highly competent 28-year-old professional greeted me in our Zoom intro call, I was more than a little embarrassed… (side, side note: having now worked with numerous U18s who would put my communication and professionalism skills to shame, the joke is on me, again). When Matt and Talia decided to step down as Co-Directors last summer, I applied for the role and, as they say, the rest is history!
What is the coolest part of your work?
Honestly, the best bit is the people, I’ve met some of my best friends through UK Youth for Nature and I’m so grateful to Matt and Talia for starting such an amazing community. I’m so honoured to be a part of it as Co-Director. Working in the environmental sector means wearing a lot of different hats, being willing to learn different skills and having an open mindset to taking on new challenges. It is always exciting and always busy, I love it. Through my work I’ve met and worked alongside so many inspiring people doing amazing things. My work has had me giving talks across the UK, running workshops in France, attending the premiere of Wild Isles (in the same room as David Attenborough!), speaking on radio, podcasts, writing for magazines. I love what I do and I’m so grateful to everyone who has been part of my journey so far.
Biggest nature obsession?
Moths! These fascinating little guys don’t get enough love. At uni I developed the slightly weird habit of regularly talking about moths when I was drunk, to the point that my friends started calling me moth girl. I would like to take this moment to formally apologise to all the drunk students who had to listen to all my cool moth facts. I wish I could tell you that I’ve grown out of this habit, but based on a recent drunken night, I definitely have not… In fact, it’s worse (or even better?) because I now do it sober as well.
Any non-nature obsessions?
During the first lockdown in 2020 I picked up a pencil for the first time in years and rediscovered my love of drawing. I even ended up joining the masses who created a lockdown online business! Drawing really helped to keep me sane during what could have been a really lonely and difficult time. Highland cows are my number one favourite thing to draw, their hair creates such great texture and I just love their expressions!
Top tips for a budding environmentalist?
Email everyone! Get involved, reach out to people, you never know where it will take you!
If you’re interested in joining our community of like-minded young environmentalists, you can find out more information here.
The environmental calendar is peppered with special days, days dedicated to species, habitats, even whole ecosystems. Do we really need another day? Shouldn’t we just be celebrating all species, all of the time? Can having a date in the calendar really help a bird that has no idea what ‘World Curlew Day’ means? You can probably tell from the fact that it continues beyond the first paragraph, that in my opinion yes, I it can help them. My older brother had a handwritten note that he had pinned to his cork board saying “something that can be done at any time is never done at all”. It rings true for so many parts of life, including celebrating our wildlife, having special days to celebrate species like the curlew helps to prevent those celebrations from continuously slipping down the to do list to make way for the hum drum of daily life admin. They help to focus our attention, to bring communities and stakeholders together, and to remind us that there is stuff out there worth fighting for.
UKY4N and curlews: what’s the link?
Alongside my role at UK Youth for Nature, I am General Manager of a small charity called Curlew Action, an organisation working to reverse the decline of Curlews and promote wider natural history education. Curlew Action and UKY4N have partnered on several campaigns including Natural Kingdom: Wild Walls and Lines in the Sand.
I’ve worked in curlew conservation for two and a half years now and it is humbling to see the lengths that people will go to protect these birds. For each person, the call of a curlew means something different, for some, they are a meadow or moorland bird, heralding spring with their bubbling calls. For others, haunting curlew cries drift over mudflats and flooded fields, serenading listeners clutching hot flasks of tea in the winter cold. For still others, they are a memory of a childhood wilderness that has fallen silent. World Curlew Day is a day to bring us all together, everyone who has had their soul touched by the eerily beautiful cry of the curlew.
Photo by Tim Melling. Photo by Dirk Perry.
How did it all start?
Mary Colwell, Founder and Director of Curlew Action, started World Curlew Day in 2017 to help draw attention to the threats faced by curlew species around the world. Here in the UK, the Eurasian curlew has declined by 50% in my 25 year lifetime. A combination of high levels of predation, intensive farming and loss of nesting habitat has pushed these once numerous and widespread songsters to one of the most pressing conservation priority species in the UK. The wonderfully named Bristle-thighed curlew, so called because of the long bristle-like feathers on its lower belly, is facing invasive rats that we introduced to their once safe Hawaiian island home. The Far-Eastern curlew is losing vital habitat to coastal development across the Australasian Flyway. The Numenius family is declining across the world. The curlews are telling us that all is not well across our landscapes, if we ignore the urgent message woven into their piping cries, we will lose them, and with them great swathes of the wildlife that they live alongside.
Eurasian curlew by Andy Greggory
Bristle-thighed curlew by Merry Miller
Far-Eastern curlew by unknown
Why today?
The 21st of April is the day that Mary started her 500 mile walk across the UK to find out what is happening to curlews, it is the average egg laying day for Eurasian curlews, it also happens to be the feast day of the patron saint of curlews, St Bueno. There really could be no other day for World Curlew Day. Today, people around the world are celebrating curlews. Curlew Action is holding a special event in the New Forest, an evening of song and conversation with Mary Colwell and singer-songwriter, David Gray. Events are happening in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, in Yorkshire and Bristol; across the world curlew fans are sharing photos, poems, artwork and music to celebrate curlews. I’ve now been involved in three World Curlew Days, each year I end the day exhausted but full of hope. Surely, where there is this much love for a bird, we will not let it disappear, surely, we can turn this around.
Left: Aneeshwar Kunchala, 6
Above: Ellen Labib
Curlew Action art & poetry competition 2021
To find out more about curlews, visit the Curlew Action website.
Summary: Through our latest campaign, Not so Freshwater, we’re calling on the UK government to act now for our freshwater ecosystems, for nature and for our future. Freshwater ecosystems in the UK are internationally important. Of the world’s 210 chalk streams, 170 are in England. The UK’s freshwater network is made up of 200,000km of streams and rivers, plus thousands of ponds, lakes and ditches, forming a cross cross of habitats that support a diverse array of wildlife from dragonflies to water voles. Our freshwater systems should be one of the jewels of our landscape but no rivers in England, Wales or Northern Ireland are considered to be in high ecological health. In Scotland, 92% of rivers do not meet high ecological health.
Artist: Glesni Lewis
Theme: With rivers, lakes and waterways being such a source of inspiration for our community, both artistically and for our environmental activism, we wanted to celebrate how much they mean to us by asking our wider youth (16-35) community to submit artwork and poetry, following the themes of our campaign. They can be celebratory, environmentally-focussed or nostalgic – however you wish to represent your feelings towards these beautiful, crucial ecosystems is up to you!
Online and offline exhibition: You can submit your artwork to ukyouthfornature@gmail.com anytime between now and 8th of May. All artwork will be exhibited on our website and social media, and a selection will also be exhibited at our Chemical Cocktail event in London on 23rd May 2023. This event will bring youth campaigners and policy-makers together, in the hope that we can spread our campaign message far and wide, and achieve our campaign goals. We will have a small exhibition space in the corner for guests to view whilst attending the event.
Your artwork can be painted, drawn, sculpted, or however you wish to let your creative juices flow (pardon the pun!). Please send in a high resolution image of your artwork so that we can show it in its full glory. Poetry can be sent in as a word document, or alternatively, an image of the paper it was written on can be submitted. There is no limit to the number of pieces you can submit, but if you submit multiple we may not be able to exhibit all of your pieces.
The power of changing the landscape has been held in too few hands for too long, the People’s Plan for Nature has given agency back to the people. 100 people from across the UK came together to take part in the People’s Assembly for Nature. They have worked to develop a plan and a set of recommendations for change on behalf of the UK public. This ground-breaking project has been powered by the WWF, RSPB and National Trust and is a unique collaboration with the public to protect and restore nature in the UK.
Across four weekends, two in-person and two online, the Assembly met and heard from experts and practitioners from different sectors to help them understand the state of nature in the UK and what could be done to save it. All talks and resources from the Assembly can be viewed here. UK Youth for Nature was invited to observe some of the sessions:
How we farm and what this means for nature:
This session covered a wide range of topics focused on the impacts of different farming methods on our environment. Sue Pritchard from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission started by discussing the history of farming, as we’ve moved from subsistence farming to more intense agricultural practices, with the development of technology. Soil scientist Professor Pete Smith then spoke about the implications of farming for our soil quality and the trickle down effects for our biodiversity. To pull it all together, Martin Lines from the Nature Friendly Farming Network spoke about practical solutions farmers can implement to help the wildlife that shares our countryside, while maintaining agricultural productivity.
Diets and supply chains:
This session covered a range of topics around how we source and farm our food, and the impact this has on the environment. One presentation was from a nature-friendly farmer, Mark Lea from Green Acres Farm, on how he is implementing organic methods such as natural fertilisers into his food production. This was followed by Anna Turrell, the Sustainability Director from Tesco, discussing how large supermarkets can reduce their environmental impacts from their position at the other end of the supply chains. These were just a couple of examples of the diverse range of speakers helping to answer key questions surrounding the success of nature-friendly diets in the UK.
Photo by Archie Mathison
The final weekend took place in the centre of Birmingham on the 4-6th of February. One of our Co-Directors, Ellen, went along to observe and to talk with other environmental NGOs about how we can move into the next stage now that the People’s Plan for Nature has been pulled together.
Final weekend in Birmingham
“It was genuinely one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had in my career. There was a real sense that this was a powerful moment in history that has so much potential to create positive change. Nothing like this has ever been done before and when all the working groups came together at the end of the day to read out the first draft of the People’s Plan there were more than a few people in tears.
During the day I had the opportunity to hear about the process of picking the 100 people who formed the Assembly. A huge amount of thought went into making the group as representative as possible. I’ve been to quite a few environmental conferences and I’ve never seen so much diversity, it was amazing, this is what it should look like. There were people from a range of different socio-economic backgrounds, different races, cultures, 16 year olds working with people in their 90s. What was so special was that everyone wanted to hear other people’s views and opinions, there was no sense that one person was better or more knowledgeable than the next, everyone felt like they were part of something bigger and that their voice mattered.”
“Communicated messages around saving the planet have been done in one way for so long, this is something different.” – Nadeem Perera, founder of Flock Together
“I am so excited about the People’s Plan for Nature, I really feel that this is something different. We’re not going to save nature unless everyone is involved and everyone feels that they have agency to act and speak up. We cannot let this plan become just another report, but from the energy and passion I saw in that room, I’m sure it won’t. This is a really exciting time for UK nature and I’m really looking forward to UK Youth for Nature helping to spread the message and push for change.” – Ellen
UK Youth for Nature will continue to support the People’s Plan for Nature. To find out more about our campaigns visit our campaigns page.
2022 was one of the biggest years for nature in some time. Internationally, the UN held its global nature conference, putting in place a new 2030 deal to save nature. But for UK Youth for Nature too, 2022 was the most important year in our 3-year history.
In October 2022, Matt and Talia handed over their Co-Director roles to Ellen and Roisin – a momentous occasion for both of them. For some context on who on Earth we are and why we’re writing this, well:
Matt founded UK Youth for Nature in April 2019. There were plenty of youth-led climate campaigning organisations. But no organisation existed empowering the UK’s young people to raise their voices to governments and politicians about the loss of nature. So, as little more than a humble WhatsApp group to start with, UK Youth for Nature (UKY4N) was born.
Talia then came along in March 2020 looking for something (anything!) that wasn’t totally pandemic-related and entirely about nature. It took one 4-hour strategy call to sink her teeth in and never let go.
Matt Williams
Talia Goldman
Handing over the leadership to Ellen and Roisin was an incredibly exciting moment – if a little heartbreaking. Heartbreaking because it’s always sad to say goodbye to something you love, even if you choose it. We’ve been through a lot together over the 3 years leading and working with UKY4N. Exciting because finding two new Co-Directors, as well as a Head of Communications and Head of Campaigns, to hand over to, means that there is so much more to come; a clear signal that we’re here to stay and here to have impact.
Of course we’d say it – but there is huge potential for UKY4N. Movement building can take time, but the dedication of the young people who are joining UKY4N and staying shows that our expectations aren’t unrealistic. UKY4N is filling a gaping hole in the youth nature space calling for political action to address the nature crisis.
Our goal has always been to build a movement that reaches beyond the confines of a tweet. That’s why creative forms of campaigning have always been essential to anything that we do. We knew that we needed to find different ways for politicians and the general public alike to engage with our campaigns – that worked actively and passively with people’s imaginations to help them to engage. UKY4N has shown time and time again that we’re a creative powerhouse – one that multiple NGOs and other organisations have supported as a result (and taken on our ideas). Be that through our social media assets and digital guides to working with your local council, rewilding, or even building your own bug hotel – to our UK-wide mural campaign Natural Kingdom: Wild Walls, our giant sand drawing Lines in the Sand. This is a huge, ongoing area for potential as UKY4N moves forward.
Eurasian Curlew wall – Belfast
Lines in the Sand drawing – Scarborough
Beavers wall – Nottingham
Looking to the future of UKY4N there is so much that excites us. The possibility for real-world policy change is embedded into an upcoming water campaign. And the team remains as creative-minded as ever.
One of Talia’s proudest moments was the completion of the final wildlife mural we painted in Glasgow right before COP26. This was the 8th mural that we brought to reality as part of our Natural Kingdom: Wild Wallscampaign. It was the culmination of nearly a year’s work and demonstrated the unbelievable dedication and pure skill of our organising team. No one in the team had done anything like this before and yet… We managed to source the funding for every wall through a variety of means, worked with multiple organisations, individuals, and councils on the ground, co-designed the mural with local, mostly young, artists, and managed all the logistics of their creation – all whilst in full time employment or education. It’s such a point of pride because it started as an idea to paint 1 mural and transformed into 8 – all at the will and drive of the team. And this led to an additional 8 created in partnership with the Grantham Institute for Climate Change Research and Octopus Energy. We still get emails asking for our help creating new murals.
Glasgow wall
It’s impossible not to just write an endless list of things that UKY4N achieved since launching in 2019 and becoming Co-Directors in 2020. We’ve also had some tough times together – failed applications to the Arts Council, long nights in the early days where Aura, Joe, Bred and the of two of us were dealing with unexpected obstacles and working out new strategies for campaigning and everything in between.
But even where it’s been hard, the good has been overwhelming.
Since Matt founded UKY4N in 2019, we have gone from a few organising team members, a WhatsApp group, and a small mailing list, to over 4000 followers on social media with a thriving organising team, a growing network, and a huge internal overhaul where we moved over to Slack.
Whilst we had initial support from WWF and RSPB when Matt founded UKY4N, we’re now well-known amongst multiple organisations, individuals, councils, and political representatives. We have had media coverage in the UK and the EU, including in major publications such as The Guardian centrefold and global pictures of the day for The Guardian and The Times with our sand drawing. We’ve spoken on the radio, sat on multiple panels with national and European organisations, run events, and participated in the creation of the YOUNGOs COY16 at COP26. We took the next step forward in creating a movement that lasts by officially incorporating, winning an important grant from the European Climate Foundation to continue our work over the next year, going through a whole rebrand run by our own team members, and establishing our first Board.
UKY4N has achieved so much already that we’ve been incredibly proud to be a part of – but this was only just the beginning. This is no doubt a movement at the cusp of creating real, long-lasting change. The energy, enthusiasm, intelligence, and sheer determination of our organising team and wider network will be testament to that.
Thank you to everyone, past and present, who we worked with – to those who gave 10 hours week and 10 minutes, to the late night planning and early conversations, to the meetings squeezed into work days and weekends, to the ceaseless creativity and inability to say ‘no’ to ideas, to the barrages of WhatsApps and Zooms that always ran over, to the disagreements and eurekas.
Now over to you, Ellen, Roisin, Joe, Hannah, and the rest of this brilliant team to help the UK’s nature thrive once more.
UKY4N team at Scarborough beach
If you’re a young person in the UK who is passionate about nature and the environment and want to join a community of like-minded people to save the planet with, please get in touch!
Natural Kingdom: Wild Walls are a series of wildlife and nature murals in cities and towns across the UK. These murals represent our collective concern about the loss of wildlife and climate change in the UK, and internationally. Working with communities, young people, partners, and artists up and down the country we will be highlighting the importance of nature, especially for fighting climate change. The murals will be created between now and the end of September and will be accompanied by lots of political and community activity in the run up to COP26 .
If you’re lucky enough to be looking out to beautiful Cardigan Bay from Aberystwyth on a peaceful morning, you might just be able to catch a glimpse of a sleek, dark grey, curved dorsal fin. Or hear a faint clicking sound as you see a streamlined body surfing the waves – what could it be? You’re in the presence of a playful and sociable bottlenose dolphin!
Found throughout the world and the UK but frequenting Aberystwyth through Cardigan Bay, common bottlenose dolphins help keep our oceans healthy – which is crucial to having a healthy planet. They do this by eating animals like fish and squid, maintaining the balance in the food chain. Due to anthropogenic factors, the beautiful bottlenose dolphin faces several threats. As a trusting and playful animal, bottlenose dolphins often get caught in fishing gear and our continual exploitation of our waters means commercial fishing for other species is a threat to bottlenose dolphins. While seeing a bottlenose dolphin from a boat might be a wonderful experience for humans, boat traffic and water pollution can disrupt these creatures’ natural habitat and affect their sense of orientation. Unfortunately, our impact on the planet means the bottlenose dolphin has to be on high alert.
So why should we care and what makes these dolphins so special? The bottlenose dolphins found in British waters are the biggest of their kind and from Aberystwyth looking out to Cardigan Bay is one of the best places to see them! Their size helps them cope and thrive in the cold temperature of the waters – they can live up to 50 years! Common bottlenose dolphins are social animals and love to live in groups – you call these groups pods. Another characteristic of these creatures are the different types of vocalisations they use to keep in contact. Just within the population found in Cardigan Bay, we can hear a variation in the type of whistles used to communicate. As well as whistling, bottlenose dolphins make clicking sounds so they can use echolocation to find prey or scope out their surroundings. These animals have extremely complex language systems – what do you think they’d say if we could understand?
And how can you spot a bottlenose dolphin? The name might give you a hint – these dolphins have a short and bottle-shaped beak as well as light/dark grey bodies with a lighter underbelly. Around 60% of the dolphin population in Cardigan Bay has a distinct mark on their fin, making it easier to recognize them! Otherwise look out for these animals taking part in some activities. Bottlenose dolphins love to have fun – they’ve been known to surf on waves, jump out of the water and slap their tails! They’re also speedy swimmers – being able to reach speeds of 18 miles an hour.
After a long day of exerting so much effort, the bottlenose dolphin rests by alternating which side of their body sleeps – a type of sleep called unihemispheric sleep. A true testament to how magnificent these creatures are, they only rest one side of the body at a time so they can maintain consciousness on the other side to carry out activities like breathing or swimming very steadily. Tomorrow their day of play, hunting and communication starts again!
How are we helping, and how you can too:
Common bottlenose dolphins are at risk in our changing climate and through our exploitation of the ocean. To help, you can:
Visit the mural, take a picture, draw it, post it online and celebrate its beauty!
Get in touch with your local MP or councillor, write them a letter, and tell them why protecting and restoring nature is so important! We can help you get started here
When thinking about animals which use the marine environment, birds might not be the first to come to mind. However, the UK is responsible for globally important numbers of birds which use our shores and seas in some way. As part of UK Youth for Nature’s oceans campaign, I’ll be journeying from our coastlines, into territorial waters, and finally beyond to the high seas, to show how birds rely on these environments as well as the threats they face.
For this first post, I’ll be looking into the species which live along our shores. With over 31,000 kilometres of coastline, there is plenty of habitat available for our coastal birds, and they are alive with activity all year round.
Seabird Cities
The coastlines of the UK are the perfect home for seabirds, where they jostle for space amongst our rugged cliffs and islands every spring and summer. These seabird cities are some of our most spectacular natural wonders, with places like the Farne Islands, Skomer Island, or the Isle of May being hugely popular wildlife attractions. It’s not hard to see why, as we are graced with a great variety of seabird species, some of which breed here in internationally important numbers. For example, the UK hosts 90% of the world’s population of Manx shearwater, a secretive seabird which returns to its underground burrows at night and migrates to South America and back each year. A few of the other species which breed here include the clownish Atlantic puffin, prehistoric looking European shags which sport iridescent plumage and snazzy head crests in the breeding season, dapper black and white razorbills, European storm-petrels which dance across the waves in stormy weather, and the bruisers of the skies, the great skuas. Seabirds in the UK are largely protected at their colonies, with many of our most important sites being free from human disturbance and free of invasive predators which can decimate their populations. However, this does not mean they are not threatened, with many of our seabird species in decline as a result of climate change and overfishing in our waters, issues I will delve into deeper next time.
In recent decades some of our seabird species, such as the herring gull and the kittiwake, have increasingly begun to nest in our cities, swapping the rocky cliffs for concrete ones. These are in fact two species which are declining alarmingly, both being Red listed in the UK as species of the highest conservation priority. Gulls receive a lot of bad press, which is often just scaremongering to grab attention, and we need to learn to be able to live amongst them.
Beach Nesters
Whilst many of us are aware of our seabird cities and the birds which breed there, there are a number of bird species which nest on our beaches, where they regularly come into close contact with humans. Species such as ringed plovers, oystercatchers, and little terns make small scrapes in sand or gravel, where they lay their eggs. These can often be very hard to see, and so it is important to take great care when walking on the beach. Beach nesting birds are also very vulnerable to disturbance, using precious energy trying to fend of threats. Dogs off their leads are one of the major sources of disturbance, so by placing dogs on leads where birds are nesting, you can do a great deal to give these birds a helping hand.
There are a number of sites around the UK where beach nesting birds receive 24hr protection during the breeding season in order to ensure them the best chance of success, with dedicated wardens educating the public to decrease disturbance and to ward off predators such as foxes, badgers or domestic cats. Some threats are harder to deal with however, with climate change leading to rising sea levels and increased stormy weather, threatening to wash these beach colonies away.
Wintering Birds
The seabird cities and other coastal breeding sites go quiet at the end of the summer, with many birds heading out to sea or migrating to other shores to wait out the winter. Our coastlines now become important for a different reason, with hundreds of thousands of birds using our shores during these months as stopping off points on their migrations, using our coastal salt marshes and intertidal landscapes of sand and mud as feeding stations to refuel before continuing on their journeys. Many of them decide to stay for the whole winter, with birds from the Arctic and Scandinavia joining our resident birds which migrate to the coast from their inland breeding sites. One of our most important wintering sites, the Wash estuary in East Anglia, hosts up to 400,000 of these birds in the winter, and is internationally important for species such as curlew, redshank, knot and dunlin. Human development is threatening some of these crucial coastal areas, which can also provide natural defences for flooding caused by climate change.
As you may now be aware, the extensive UK coastline is home to a huge number of bird species which use our shores in many different ways. Next time I’ll be looking at how the fate of many of these birds is tied directly to the health of our territorial waters, where they are facing numerous threats.
