Feature - issue #3
What if the biggest barrier to saving our planet is simply that we have stopped noticing nature? A creative approach to conservation, based on research into the link between nature and wellbeing, delves into how much wild connections matter for us.
Surveying the population of little whirlpool ramshorn snails (Anisus vorticulus).
The 5mm snails can only be found in Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve, West Sussex, UK.
The man gushes with invigorating optimism over the phone: “This one has such an emotive, galactic quality,” he enthuses. “And the particles shine like stars in dark water.” We are discussing microscopic snails - one of many obscure, delightful, and almost extinct tiny British animals - and how to save them. James Harding-Morris, a spokesman for England’s £7.7m Back from the Brink conservation project – developed by Natural England and a consortium of conservation charities - has the job of bringing people closer to nature in a bid to make the world fall in love with rarities like this and help save them. And like most of the fascinating and often unknown wildlife that he is working with, barely anyone has heard of the charm to be found in a little whirlpool ramshorn snail.
Back From The Brink
A little whirlpool ramshorn snail (Anisus vorticulus).
Surveying the population of little whirlpool ramshorn snails (Anisus vorticulus).
The 5mm snails can only be found in Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve, West Sussex, UK.
Developing spawn of the natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita) in a dune slack pond, Ainsdale Nature Reserve, Merseyside, UK.
Rough Bank nature reserve, a site of special scientific interest, is a flower-rich limestone grassland reserve in Gloucestershire, UK.
Prostrate perennial knawel (Scleranthus perennis spp. prostratus) in flower. This species is globally restricted to the Breckland area of Norfolk and Suffolk, UK. It thrives in the sandy, nutrient-poor soils and climate of the Breckland heaths but it is unable to compete with more vigorous plants such as grasses.
Getting creative while learning about the Little Whirlpool Ramshorn Snail.
Drawing from nature in Cornwall, learning about flowers, in particular - the Lesser Butterfly Orchid;
Processing cyanotypes in the sun on the dunes.
Completed cyanotypes after a day out in the dunes.
Field Cricket (Gryllus campestris) nymph being translocated to a new site in Surrey.
Field Cricket (Gryllus campestris) nymph being translocated to a new site in Surrey.
Volunteers learning and helping at a project on the Sefton coast.
Banners made to celebrate the species found in and around ancient trees.
Detail of fissured wood of an ancient oak tree, Moccas Park National Nature Reserve, Herefordshire, UK.
Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) growing on the dune system at Ainsdale Nature Reserve, Merseyside, UK. The grass protects the dunes from erosion, and helps create a suitable habitat for sand lizards and the northern dune tiger beetle.
