The People's Walk for Wildlife

[Neil Hulme]

The People's Walk for Wildlife - Hyde Park, 22 September 2018

It was a privilege to take part in Chris Packham's The People's Walk for Wildlife in London yesterday, which started with many inspirational speeches, particularly those from youngsters. For me, Bella Lack (15) https://twitter.com/BellaLack/status/10 ... 5036891136 was the brightest of many stars.

It was great to see such a strong presence of Butterfly Conservation people, including quite a few from UKB. The peaceful march through London, to the loud tune of bird song played by many of the 10,000 participants, ended with more speeches, before a 200-point manifesto for wildlife was presented to Downing Street.

Shockingly, the main stream media universally claimed the size of the march to be just 'hundreds'; such inaccurate reporting of numbers (much backtracking overnight) hasn't been seen since the US Presidential inauguration! Even worse, neither the BBC nor ITV bothered to cover the event, which rather highlights the difficulties in raising wider awareness of the plight of British wildlife.

This seems like a good opportunity to emphasise the value of all the work done by our own volunteers (BC and many partner organisations), as a new work party season begins. I'd also like to thank the immense generosity of all those who bid for lots at the BC 50th Anniversary dinner at Eltham Palace the evening before, where c.£12,000 was raised for the cause. And thank you to every one of our members, all of whom contribute to our work.

BWs, Neil

[CallumMac]

Very well said, Neil. I must admit that decided not to make the journey down from York, as it is rather long and expensive. Having seen on Twitter yesterday where some others travelled from to be there, I feel a bit ashamed of that decision in hindsight! But it was truly heartwarming to see my Twitter timeline absolutely flooded with messages of positivity and hope for the future of Britain's wildlife!

On a strongly-related note, many on the forum will have already come across the People's Manifesto for Wildlife, curated by Chris Packham, Rob MacFarlane and Patrick Barkham. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to give it a read - https://www.chrispackham.co.uk/a-people ... r-wildlife. You may not agree with everything that's said, or every proposal made, but hopefully you will find it interesting. As butterfly enthusiasts, a few sections in particular might resonate.

For me, that was 'Pesticides' and 'Food and Farming'. It was notable that, amongst all the positive messages surrounding the walk yesterday, there were critical voices as well from two defined groups. The first is predictable, and if you know you'll know. The second, though, was farmers. I think we have a real challenge ahead to bridge the apparent gap between conservation and agriculture. Clearly, a very large proportion of our countryside is owned and worked by farmers, and very many farmers do value wildlife on their farms. But it appears that, even though it may very well be true, they feel alienated and blamed by the rhetoric that "intensive farming and pesticide use are responsible for the declines in Britain's wildlife". And they are under intense pressure to remain profitable in the face of budget supermarkets and increased importing. And they often hear the opinion - including in the manifesto - that the best way to restore wildlife to the countryside is to stop farming it altogether... which I don't imagine makes them very sympathetic to the goals of those expressing that opinion!

I wonder: how can we (as people who spend a lot of time out in the countryside!) engage with farmers and help them to see that the actions they take in the future, starting today can be positive for nature? Clearly the Knepp Estate is one fantastic example to follow, though there are many others. My own belief is that it's entirely possible to carry out landscape-scale conservation in the UK without ending agriculture, or even hugely reducing yields; but only with the buy-in of the farmers!

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Neil and Callum,

I had a family emergency and missed both the BC 50th Anniversary dinner and The People's Walk for Wildlife, but was at the latter "in spirit". Despite the awful weather yesterday, it was great to see so many like-minded people braving the elements to make a point. And shame on the BBC and ITV for not covering the event (well done Sky, who did), as well as some of the mainstream press (The Guardian being the notable exception).

Cheers,

- Pete

[David M]

Sad to say I knew nothing of this event either before or after. Certainly the 'after' part was down to the press - I watch BBC News 24 religiously and didn't hear a dickie-bird.

[Mark Tutton]

I spent a soggy day there yesterday and managed to encourage my wife and daughter too - I had been in two minds but glad I made the effort. What encouraged me most was the number of young people that Chris Packham et al had managed to enthuse especially Bella Lack as Neil said quite inspiring. Disappointed, but not surprised, by the lack of terrestrial coverage but again Sky News were to be applauded.
There are some murmurings about a repeat next year and it seems Twitter was the preferred social media #PeoplesWalkForWilife actually trended at No1 for a while, so I guess this will be the space to watch in the future.
I would agree that the farming community needs to be handed an olive branch and I think the manifesto has some elements that begins this process - it is really worth a read and is only a first draft - and as the website says There are also obvious ‘missing ministries’ . . . it is presented as a first draft, in hope and expectation of response.
https://www.chrispackham.co.uk/a-people ... r-wildlife
If it happens again I will be there hoping that it makes a difference as doing nothing is not an option.
Mark