nature and climate, history and heritage, music and musings, cricket and crafts, comms and campaigns director National Trust, chair Avon Needs Trees. Views mine
“Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”. There are now thousands and thousands of Bristolians here. “We are many, they are few”. Not wrong!
The hawthorn blossom this year is the frothiest and most flamboyant I can remember. (Or is it just that I notice it more and more every year?) How is it where you are?
The so-called Wild Isles ‘6th episode’ is about to drop on BBC iPlayer- as soon as the 5th finishes this evening. Hats off to Sir David for telling it exactly as it is.
Saving Our Wild Isles is David Attenborough’s most political show yet - New Statesman
Standing ovation at BBC Wild Isles premiere this evening. Not surprising. Jaw dropping extracts from TV series kicking off 12 March. But oh my goodness the power of common purpose in the room. Once in a generation opportunity to switch the UK back to nature recovery? Yes.
C’mon
@Wickes
- this product contains 50% peat. That’s 50% one of the very best carbon stores this planet has. And you’re literally ok with digging it up and selling it.
To the visionaries who decided to save swathes of UK coastline for everyone to enjoy, inalienably. To those who’ve bequeathed stretches since. To the rangers who look after the footpaths, the gates, the stiles, the wildlife habitats. To the
@nationaltrust
. Thank you.
Good people of the world from the good people of Bristol. This is us. Now. Show haters that we are the many and they are the few. RT this if you want to help drown out racism, intolerance, discrimination. Peace, love and unity.
Doubling down:
@nationaltrust
won’t stop speaking out for
#nature
when criticised for being too political. It’s our core purpose to promote care for nature.
National Trust boss vows to keep speaking out despite concern of politicisation at charity
Absolutely heartbreaking. One of my all time favourite trees. A mighty sentinel ash. I played under its canopy as a wee lad, drank cider by it as a teenager, marvelled at its vastness as a tree lover. Did it really have to come down
@BristolCouncil
? Was it really unsafe?
Written in law in 1907, “promoting the permanent preservation” of places of beauty and nature is the charitable purpose of
@nationaltrust
. So when this is threatened by the slowing down of measures to arrest climate change, we will speak out.
Motivated “by concern that the environmental vandalism in Plymouth might be repeated in Bristol”,
@AvonNeedsTrees
and others are asking for Tree Protection Orders to be placed on all trees on the Bristol Zoo site “with immediate effect”
Eco groups including
@nationaltrust
threaten mass action if policies ditched, reports
@adamvaughan_uk
in today’s Times. “It is courage and leadership that we need now.”
Some much needed good news. Tiny trees of hope are springing up, grown from material recovered from the felled Sycamore Gap tree, carefully nurtured at
@nationaltrust
Plant Conservation Centre.
Sycamore Gap: New life springs from rescued tree
Wow.
#WildIsles
. What a first episode of this landmark TV series. As Sir David Attenborough says, “Never has there been a more important time to invest in our own wildlife.” Inspired to help? Visit and together let’s reverse harms to nature. Please RT 🙏🏻
As a comms person, there are few better sights than a ‘clean sweep’ in the media - when a story your team has worked long and hard on gets picked up by all major broadcast, print and online media. Very well done
@nationaltrust
external comms and land + nature folks!!
Tonight at The Business of Nature event
@DeborahMeaden
says Wild Isles has woken the nation up to nature, but it needs the same kind of focus as climate change if business is going to put it back on the path to recovery. And we can’t wait for government.
#SaveOurWildIsles
With thanks to the excellent Matt Georges for flagging this… at 1:30 today, the British electricity network was being powered by 97.5% fossil fuel-free sources, primarily solar and wind. The highest he’s ever seen. So good to receive some positive climate change news! ☀️💨⚡️👏🏻
Does anyone know what this beautiful creature is? If found it flat on its back, unmoving, on the pavement outside our house. I gave it a tiny drop of sugary water and now it seems full of life.
After publishing an opinion piece at the weekend exhorting people to rejoin
@nationaltrust
to “save” our charity “from wokery” and containing a number of highly misleading assertions, here is our response to
@Telegraph
#heritage
#facts
An absolute privilege to walk today with
@Haroon_Mota
and
@Muslim_Hikers
at
@nationaltrust
Ilham in the Peak District National park. Very muddy but very lucky with the weather! Ramadan Mubarak ☪️
This evening’s
#SaveOurWildIsles
event was everything we hoped. Massive turnout. Powerful speakers. A sense of real urgency. A thread….
Firstly great to see three parties trying to out-nature one another. The gloves were off.
Yes, but how about banning peat in garden compost now, not in 2030
@DefraGovUK
@theresecoffey
? Why ignore IPPC and
@antonioguterres
“clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector” last week?
It’s here! It’s the People’s Plan for Nature and it’s too powerful to ignore. 100 people representing the whole of the UK came up with this plan. It calls for systemic changes to put us on the path to nature renewal. Add your support here and please RT
The National Trust's plan to save Britain's rarest habitat: the Celtic rainforest. “…temperate rainforests are some of our most atmospheric and charismatic woodlands”. Don’t you just know it
@guyshrubsole
🌳🙂
@NTWales
fforest law
Beyond excited to meet The Old Man
@NTCalkeAbbey
this morning, who is well over 1000 years old and hosts up to 350 kinds of beetle in his nooks and crannies.
#trees
Using artificial intelligence,
@nationaltrust
ground-breaking research into lost orchards found there’s half as many today in England and Wales as in 1900. This loss is nature’s loss. So let’s bring blossom back.
#PlantATree
#BlossomWatch
1. New farm payments must keep the same level of commitment to reward farmers for public goods, from cleaner rivers to healthier soils and protecting our cultural heritage
Last weekend for People’s Assembly for Nature. The first of its kind: 110 people reflecting diversity of UK deciding on a people’s plan for nature. Independent, objective, candid, passionate, powerful. Can’t wait to see what the plan looks like when it’s published in March.
Breaking news:
@nationaltrust
DG says that 6 years from the legal deadline to halt nature loss, the UK is still one of the most nature-depleted countries. But if the next government acts “promptly and energetically” that decline could be reversed.
Wonderful Alexander the Great exhibition
@britishlibrary
. But so many exhibits impossible or very difficult to see properly from a wheelchair. The tilting of some items makes a huge difference to
#accessibility
. Please can you advise on your policy. Would you be open to feedback?
Save Our Wild Isles:
@wwf_uk
,
@Natures_Voice
and the
@nationaltrust
working in lockstep on a huge UK nature campaign for the first time. Why? Because UK nature is in such crisis. It’s time to start reversing the harms: see to get involved, and please RT!
2. New investment zones must not create grey zones devoid of nature or historic character in which people have no say about the development that impacts them
My mum just knitted these socks - climate change socks? 19th century temperatures at the toe, 21st century ankles? Also she knitted them for a very old friend who can’t afford his heating bills. I may be overthinking these socks but they are fine socks.
@ASPoliceHorses
They were amazing. I asked permission to take this photo. Incredible creatures. And riders. Thank you for your service during a very troubling evening.
Back in Bath… for the
@nationaltrust
AGM! This is the exact place I started my comms career 27 years ago and also the exact spot I met my wife Corinne. (On a fag break.)
This is important. Yes, the outcomes.
But also how they were achieved.
@nationaltrust
voting processes are robust and overseen by
@CivicaUK
, a leading independent electoral services organisation. Allegations of rigging are simply untrue.
5. Government should listen and collaborate: with the public, as well as conservation charities, farming groups, businesses and others who can inform decision making on their proposals
Very proud to work for a charity that looks after places like this, along with a further 780 miles of UK coastline
@nationaltrust
@NTSouthWest
Here in Westminster for a unique event - business, citizens (People’s Assembly for Nature) and politicians coming together to hold ourselves and one another to account - with
#SaveOurWildIsles
campaign running for 6 months, good enough progress on nature recovery? In a word, no.
The floods this week have had serious impacts at many
@nationaltrust
properties including
@AveburyNT
. Conscious they’ve taken a much more direct toll on many people’s homes and lives. So much we all need to do to prepare and adapt.
Sycamore Gap tree stump today. Sprouting new growth in lots of different places. Perhaps it will be a sycamore grove in a handful of years?
#ResilientNature
Without stronger protections for all trees – not just the most ancient and beautiful – this heritage is at risk...
@WoodlandTrust
is calling for legal protection for all the country’s most important trees, something akin to listed building status.
Extreme weather 'biggest threat' to UK heritage.
@nationaltrust
says climate change is "the single biggest threat" facing its 28,500 historic homes, 250,000 hectares of land and 780 miles of coastline.
The Publow Oak today
@OaksofSweden
- still looking majestic without its leaves. Don’t know whether you take recommendations for tree of the day
@campbellclaret
? Tempted to enter it for tree of the year
@WoodlandTrust
.
Signs of life and regrowth have been spotted on the stump of the Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian’s Wall. “To see signs of life, just 10 months on, is astonishing,” says general manager Andrew Poad.
An absolute honour to host
@Haroon_Mota
@tayshan62
and
@katmachin
at today’s
@nationaltrust
comms and marketing conference. We have a long way to go if we are to tackle unequal access to nature, but you inspired a big room of people today and gave us so many invaluable steers. 🙏🏻
How do you do justice to a place on Twitter when you have 20 photos as good as this? If you haven’t been to
@nationaltrust
Castlefield Viaduct, you’re in for such a treat.
Rhossili Bay named one of the best beaches in the world 🏖️😇👏🏻
The judges said: “it’s kept pristine under the watchful eye of
@nationaltrust
” - take a bow
@NTWales
Castlefield Viaduct: lino cut from a photo I took last year. Apart from getting in a right old mess with the inks, really enjoying doing this. A huge thank you to
@ANGELACHARDING
for her guidance and for encouraging me to get some decent tools!
Pleased to see
@thetimes
published our letter rebutting misleading Thunderer article. The so-called culture wars can be so wearing, particularly when those waging them are prepared to take liberties with facts and truths
Today at
@nationaltrust
Coleshill. What a place. Home of a pioneering river restoration scheme (mid 80s). Massive woodland creation scheme. New scrapes for wildlife and creation of big new wildflower meadows. Soon home to a brand new Heritage and Rural Skills Centre. 🎉
Planted 40 trees yesterday including these four very special saplings - babies grown from acorns I gathered 18 months ago from the nearby Publow Oak. One for each member of my family. From tiny acorns…
Two turtle doves? Hopefully a lot more than that, after
@nationaltrust
buys new land next to site we’ve looked after for almost 125 years.
Christmas present for dwindling turtle doves as the National Trust expands a nature reserve for them to nest in
A milestone amongst milestones.
@NaturalEngland
and everyone involved should be very proud. What’s your favourite stretch of coastal path
@TonyJuniper
@MarianSpain
? Mine is north Cornwall, particularly Bude to Tintagel.
A huge thank you to everyone who has helped
@AvonNeedsTrees
plant around 16,000 trees at Great Avon Wood over the last handful of months. In all weathers! A phenomenal achievement.
Shocking report. But this is how to preempt a reactionary backlash: “…as much as the word may have been weaponized in recent years… we consider… that being ‘woke’ or doing ‘woke work’ simply means being alive to injustice.” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
As we head into a weekend with heat warnings and a tinder dry countryside, please spread the message from the
#CountrysideCode
and help prevent wildfires:
“No fires please. You’re welcome to have a picnic but please don’t have a barbecue.”
"sentinel tree" - a tree of great age, rare form or unusual position, that has 'kept watch' for many years
Sycamore Gap tree
@RobGMacfarlane
your wise and beautiful words keep running through my mind
😔
So good to see this defence of
@NaturalEngland
from
@GeorgeMonbiot
- he’s absolutely spot on. It’s just doing its job.
To understand the right’s climate backlash, look no further than its monstering of Natural England | The Guardian
A huge shout out to Rebecca Watson, Grace Taylor and the whole team
@CharlecoteNT
@NTmidlands
for dealing with the floods this week - including pumping out the basement of the house. Heroic
#ClimateAction
#Teamwork
and smiling in the face of adversity.
BBC’s Wild Isles – stunning, scintillating. But we are one of the 10% most nature-depleted countries in the world. And according to our new
@YouGov
poll, only 5% of the public get this. It’s time to act, to save our wild isles. Join the movement at Pls RT.
If you wanted to get the full picture of what
@RestoreTrustNT
is up to, look no further than
@BrianCathcart
from
@BylineTimes
’ excellent account here…
The Right-Wing Bid to Capture the National Trust Exposed – Byline Times
@nationaltrust
In saying this, the National Trust is remaining true to its charitable purpose, as defined in its 1907 Act - promoting the permanent preservation of lands of beauty… animal and plant life. Entirely in line with its charitable purpose. Climate change is the biggest risk to this.
Blurring seasons. The hottest year on record. “Baseline changes” to our weather. What does it mean for nature here in the UK? Chaos. The response?
@nationaltrust
is making 10,000s hectares of land better for nature and more resilient to climate impacts.
Hot off the presses!
@nationaltrust
DG
@HilaryMcGrady
…
Campaigning for nature, beauty and heritage | National Trust
“I want to be clear that this isn’t about politics, it’s about standing up for the things we were set up to care about.”
My mum has spent 35 years creating this garden. Looks more stunning every year. The dogs, who join me for this 360 degree circuit, are blissfully happy here.
The wildflower walk used to be our cricket pitch. Many a cover drive deposited into the neighbouring field.