Page 13 - Wildlife News Dec 2017

Common seal, wneLoilawrdtgesli/safnteneUtdrwKui-sswssutisde.es:
Isle of Coll. (alex
Time to plan ahead
mustard)
In turbulent times wildlife can bring great
ViafsrEniotndmbjocbahyoWromowoiunotsn.teroedetrrhgtn2he.e0uewN1kW7as/tpfiauliudlnreabldifllefiWceTaaorttruuilodsrtnesss. solace. World politics spins around us at an
unprecedented pace, but even in winter
“Dear Theresa, Please will there is joy and beauty to be found in
you be a friend of the sea?” nature. It may take more determination to
get out of the house as the days draw in,
It’s a fair question – especially coming from the next but there will certainly be a Wildlife Trust nature reserve
generation. This summer, 1,500 junior members sent very close to you and perhaps a Wildlife Trust café with
friendship bracelets to Theresa May asking her to be a welcoming people and a fabulous view.
friend of the sea. Some of them handed the 100-metre- For some people it is very hard to get to see wildlife, but
long petition in to Downing Street in August, with a we believe that no-one should be deprived of that
message to the Prime Minister to complete the network of opportunity. We have projects up and down the UK helping
Marine Protected Areas around the UK. to break down the barriers to people’s contact with the
natural world.
Your support is helping us do this, and also means we
can stand up for wildlife so that it can thrive in town and
country and at sea. And recently we have had some great
successes across the Wildlife Trust movement: saving Lodge
Hill’s nightingales from housing development in Kent;
bringing beavers back to Scotland, Kent and the West
Country; and ensuring more kids than ever have a chance to
take part in forest schools.
Everything we do is much easier to achieve if we have
the certainty of strong legal protection for our most
precious wildlife sites and tight rules about pollution. As the
UK leaves the European Union, we need to make sure we
retain high levels of protection and set the right direction
for farming and fisheries. It is a big ask, and even then it
won’t be enough. We will need new ambition if the country
is going to look and feel and sound as we would all love it to
in 25 years’ time. We will need a new Act of Parliament that
provides the framework for restoring our damaged
ecosystems, bringing wildlife into our towns and cities, and
allowing an abundance of wildlife to return to our seas.
Please support our campaign for a new Environment Act.

Jedae, Joshua and Jenayde about to knock at No. 10. Stephanie Hilborne OBE
Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts
@stephhilborne

If your family or friends share your interest in wildlife please
encourage them to join their nearest Wildlife Trust. There are 47
Wildlife Trusts across the UK with more than 800,000 members.
We are the largest UK voluntary organisation dedicated to
conserving all the UK’s habitats and species.
For links to all Wildlife Trusts go to wildlifetrusts.org

twitter @wildlifetrusts
facebook.com/wildlifetrusts

Wildlife news / December 2017 13