The People's Walk for Wildlife
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 8:58 am
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
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