Month 2 - Members Update and Progress Report

It has been a busy month, as emphasis has moved from "spreading the word" to starting action towards our goals.

Only a small amount of networking has been conducted this month, but even so our membership has now crossed the 200 site mark; way beyond expectations, considering the original plan was to attract 500 sites over a 12 to 18 month period. Some truly wonderful sites have joined the network and I look forward to working with them all.

We are almost half way towards the 500 member site mark, where we will appoint a patron, trustees and become a nationally recognised body.

Our aims now are to:

1. Map and strengthen local wildlife networks around member sites, and prepare to engage their local communities. We shall be working closely with the Local Records Centres (LRC's).
2. Obtain species lists and identify "at risk" species for member sites.
3. Raise awareness of wildlife events taking place on member sites, in order to increase the level of participation and volunteering.
4. Raise the profile of MMNN, so that we can start sending our message to the media and central government, regarding the State of Nature and how we feel that our decline in wildlife can be halted.
5. Agree a surveying plan for 2014, to create more trend data on member sites with the national wildlife organisations.


The following developments are working towards these aims:

Local Wildlife Networks

Local networks of recorders, wildlife experts, nature clubs and societies, friendly societies, volunteer groups and other interest groups will be mapped to cover  the following areas of the UK, around member sites:

Bournemouth
Bracknell Forest, Berkshire
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
Greater London: Croydon, Greenford and Tower Hamlets areas
Leicester City, including Blaby, Oadby and Wigston
Lichfield/Barton-under-Needwood area Staffs
Macclesfield, Cheshire
Redditch, Worcestershire
Solihull, West Midlands
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Walsall/Brownhills, West Midlands
Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Areas will be added, as new members join the network.

Once mapped, the local networks will be engaged, so as to provide greater support for member sites and their LRC's. A directory of local schools and places of worship will also be compiled for future engagement and fund-raising activities

Site Wildlife Records

Our policy is to minimise "red tape", and make information requests as easy as possible (our simple "Welcome" Forms for new members have been warmly received!!). Over the next few weeks I shall be contacting members, in order to obtain site species lists, and indications as to whether each species is stable, on the increase, decrease or has an unknown status.

I shall also be asking for details of species which are known to be subject to heaviest decline or are under threat of loss from the site. The Local Wildlife Network and national organisations can then be engaged, in order to consider action plans, where they have not already been implemented.

MMNN has the ambitious aim of PREVENTING the loss of any IDENTIFIED species from member sites. Site profiles can be highlighted to the local wildlife network to increase the level and areas of recording.

Member Events

Awareness and participation are key to switching on the public. To this end MMNN will "spread the word" regarding events on member sites. The new "Twitter feed" on this site has already proved to be an excellent way to help with this.

If members have any events planned, please e-mail full details to smestowsighting@gmail.com .We will then cover the event on this site and ask local wildlife "bloggers" to mention it.

Once the local networks have been mapped, we can add further strength to this awareness initiative.

Surveying

Once I have received all species data from members, I shall be working with their Local Wildlife Networks and the National Wildlife Organisations, in order to design a programme of surveys for 2014.

There will be particular emphasis in obtaining more information on "at risk" species. By coordinating surveying across member Local Ecological Networks, we will gain more clues as to why a particular species is in decline.

Council's need more coordinated and repeated survey work from local experts and volunteers, so that they can monitor progress towards their biodiversity goals.

The Newly created Local Wildlife Sites (LWS's), also require more support from volunteers and the Local Wildlife Network in order to protect the site and build a bank of data for the newly designated green spaces, that are important to the Local Ecological Network.

There is much work to be done in this area.

Raising the Profile of the Moving Mountains Nature Network

I have started planning an event for Spring 2014, which will demonstrate the power of MMNN.

I shall be walking from Wolverhampton to an area of central Birmingham, via a member site, which is requiring support from it's local network and community, in order to protect the diverse range of species and habitats that occur there.

There will be "BioBlitz" events and fund-raising, involving local schools and groups, at the start, stop-off and finishing venues, and the local wildlife networks will also be involved.

The local and national media will be invited to cover and attend the event, and this will provide a voice for our cause.

Believe it or not, I have logged every comment and issue raised by members, biodiversity officers, rangers, bloggers, "patchers" and other interested individuals since MMNN was launched on 13th August 2013. These will be added to and converted into a draft document, available to members, before release, that will tackle EVERY issue that has been raised.

When I said MOVE MOUNTAINS, I meant "MOVE MOUNTAINS"!!!

The event will demonstrate how together, communities, Councils, volunteers and the local wildlife network can deliver powerful messages and also demonstrate a unity in the battle to halt the decline of the UK's marvelous wildlife.

Finally a word to those non-members who are aware of the Moving Mountains Nature Network, and either manage or record the wildlife that live on their parks, LNR's, LWS's, "patches" or other sites of importance to nature -  join MMNN today. Become a "guardian" for your much-loved areas, give it greater protection and help us to halt the decline of wildlife in the UK.

Joining is free and easy!! Just register your interest by sending an e-mail to smestowsightings@gmail.com and include your name and details of the sites under your control, or where you watch and record wildlife.

You will be sent a simple "Welcome" form to complete that registers your sites with the network.

Together, we really can make a difference!!

Cheshire, Berkshire and Leicestershire Lead the Way

Just a brief update to say THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Our membership now stands at 125 sites.

For everyone out there who has followed and shared this initiative so far, THANK YOU.

For those that have, or are in the process of joining - together, we really can move mountains for nature.

Special mention has to go to the "bloggers" and "birders" of Cheshire who are banging the drum for this network. These committed volunteers have an intimate knowledge of the State of Wildlife on their local patches, and this can now be utilised through MMNN to halt the decline of species and help the U.K meet it's biodiversity targets.

Special mention, also to council officers in Berkshire and Leicestershire, who have seen MMNN as a way to help meet targets for the protection of biodiversity in their local communities.

Coordinated surveying that breathes life into old data sets and creates new trend data for assessing performance will add to the efficient use of council resources, but will also provide more status and distribution data to the national wildlife organisations that are working so hard to protect and halt the decline in the U.K's wildlife.

Contact from Canada raises hope for sister sites to rise in other countries, so that we can join hands in a peaceful and protective way.

I have started work on local initiatives, involving raising awareness of our cause, through schools.

MMNN has risen and now lets see where this exciting journey takes us all.

Month 1: Progress Report

New Dawn Rising: Sunrise over Smestow Valley LNR

A month has passed and time to reflect and plan for the next stage of the MMNN initiative.

The green area between Oxley and Wightwick, in Wolverhampton has been made famous to conservationists across the UK thanks to the ground-breaking treatise "The Endless Village", which in the 1970's had used it as an example of how a linear park could survive and flourish within a conurbation (the study led to the formation of the first Urban Wildlife Group and helped create the other "green corridor" nature reserves up and down the country). (Reference to Angus Dickie's "Smestow Valley Bird Group 1988-2013")

It is quite fitting, therefore, that the members of the former Smestow Valley Bird Group have served to reignite my passion for wildlife, and put the valley back on the map, as providing the launchpad for MMNN.

After months of planning, the launch of the network on 13th August 2013 filled me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there was the prospect of a dream coming true. My father's prophecy, that I may be able to change the world for the better, felt like it may actually become a reality. On the other hand, despite my appetite and enthusiasm, there lay negative thoughts that the network would fail to attract support or interest from the outset.

As I write this update, my heart is filled with hope. So many people have taken time to understand this initiative, and respond in a positive manner, because of their open-mindedness, commitment and passion for wildlife.

Customer service staff provided vital support in sign-posting and redirecting mail to those actively involved with biodiversity management. Thank you.

"Patch" watchers have joined the network and promoted it so that their intimate knowledge of their local wildlife sites, is shared in order to discover just why wildlife has vanished at such an alarming rate. Thank you.

Council biodiversity officers have provided in-depth information, constructive comment and support for the network. Any fears that MMNN would be just another data collector have been allayed, as it has become seen that the network will serve to coordinate and repeat surveys so as to breathe life into old data sets and promote the creation of trend data for status and distribution that allows evaluation of whether biodiversity  targets are being met at both site and national level. Thank you.

The other concern: that MMNN is repeating the work carried out by the national wildlife organisations, has been removed. The network will actually support these organisations by increasing the uptake of their surveys, and by working towards more coordinated data work in the future that provides them with more trend information to assist future assessments of the State of Nature. Also by working with the "Third Element" through education and media coverage, MMNN will inevitably lead to an increase in the membership for all wildlife organisations.

MMNN: It's role in the U.K. (click to enlarge)

Indeed the national organisations are now showing interest and support for the network. In particular the forward thinking and caring approach of Plant Life and the Woodland Trust has led to the sharing of information, which has been initiated as this progress report is issued. Thank you to their officers for taking the time to follow and understand my cause.

My last thank you will go to the great man himself. As a child I was limited to the greenbelt and old mining works around Norton Canes in Staffordshire, but it was Sir David Attenborough that inflamed the desire for conservation and the protection of this beautiful world's wildlife.

With the commencement of surveys for The State of Nature partners, scheduled to start at member sites from 1st January 2014, my focus is now on membership so that we can obtain official recognition.

You really can make a difference and help discover why the nation's wildlife is vanishing, by sharing your knowledge of your "patches", reserves, parks and other sites of importance to wildlife.

The Great Briton: An impression in concrete at Brandon Marsh Wildlife Trust Reserve
 in Coventry, to add to the millions of impressions he has made in our hearts.

If you support the cause, then please join today and thank you as always for your interest in the MMNN initiative.

Progress Report and Update

A week has passed and it's time to reflect and update members and recipients of the project information:

To members:

Thank you for returning your Welcome forms. The reaction from bio-diversity officers and green space managers across the country has certainly given this project the thumbs up, so what was an idea is now a robust and expanding network. I did not honestly think I would be reporting this after just one week.

This means that I can now go back to all of the national wildlife organisations, behind the ground-breaking STATE OF NATURE report. 

For each organisation I shall be offering the network as a source for distributing and increasing the uptake of their National Surveys.

I shall also be obtaining information from these organisations as to which habitats, species and other areas (for example data on historical woodland management events) we need more information on, so that we can help them with their work

I shall be obtaining information from biodiversity officers, as to what help we can provide in terms of filling gaps in records, and creation of standardized repeat surveys.

I shall also in due course be requesting information from the archives of member sites. Don't worry, this will be in simple form and for the non-resourced bloggers and patch watchers on our network, it can be submitted on-line so there are no costs involved.

Thank you to all our membership for adopting this initiative so swiftly.

To those who have received Welcome Forms:

Please send them back as soon as possible. Any queries please do not hesitate to e-mail me.Where multiple sites are managed, blogged or watched, please submit a separate form for each site.

You will be warmly welcomed to the network and your involvement really will make a difference to the state of nature in the U.K and will help to meet bio-diversity management objectives.

To those who have received details introducing the Moving Mountains Nature Network:

Thank you to all the customer service teams across the country. To have relayed the information or sign-posted me so swiftly is a great credit to you all. Thank you.

If you have received the information and support this project, please email me with details of your sites or contacts and I will issue your welcome forms. I have amended my own objectives as a result of the initial response to this initiative. It would be great now, if we can reach a membership of 500 by the time the national wildlife organisations have informed me as to how this network can specifically help them.

Please spread the word. With your help, we really can make a difference.

Thank you for taking the time to go through my submission.

For those who have yet to receive information regarding the Moving Mountains Nature Network:

I would estimate that I have only circularized, perhaps 3% of the U.K's points of contact in regard to our green spaces so far, and an even smaller amount of bloggers and patch-watchers, which really does show the potential for this network.

If you have stumbled across this site or heard about the project on the grape-vine, all information regarding the network is here, including how to join in.

With the exception of one individual, who sadly purports to cover the area where I watched wildlife as a child, all responses have been either positive or constructive, but in all cases it has been gratefully received.

Thank you all, you give so much light to a new dawn.

Beyond Expectations!!!

15th August 2013

Two days into the project and the response has been simply fantastic!!

I sent a small batch of generic e-mails to local councils to test the water. I have been overwhelmed.

Firstly: those dreaded "thank you for your e-mail...we will respond in ....days"!! Well guess what? Most councils have responded well within their target time. Not only that but customer services had in most cases got my e-mail straight to the desk of those responsible for managing Parks, reserves and bio-diversity.

Furthermore I have had so much positive feedback and constructive comment.

This is an ambitious project, but already I am compiling a list of key people which are helping turn this dream into reality.

The friendly caring attitude shown by Natural England and the concern that Council's are showing with regard to the recording and protection of nature at their sites has been extraordinary.

And now the Midlands birding and nature network is rising to show their support.

Thank you to all of you that have taken time to understand and support this project. I shall make every effort to ensure that your interest has been for a successful and effective cause.

The Project Begins

13th August 2013

After months of development, today the project has finally got off the ground.

Every organisation that helped to create The State of Nature Report has been contacted, and with the kind assistance provided by Natural England from the outset, a clear method for contacting prospective members of the network has been devised.

The plan now is to reach the target of 500 members as soon as possible, so that co-ordinated nature recording and surveys can commence, in order to assist future reports on the U.K's state of nature.

Once we reach 500 members an organisation, patron or trustee will be appointed to manage fund-raising and education through schools.

If you regularly watch and record wildlife on your local "patch" please join the network now so that we can move quickly towards a common goal.

Thank you