Our Activities

Eynsham's own Green Man captured on celluloid by Anne Gingell.

 

What we do:

Networks: The Nature Recovery Network (NRN) is a Network of People, self-organised to enable and facilitate the many interests and activities that give rise to the second network in the parish: a Nature Recovery Network. By connecting one network with the other we have a comprehensive 'bottom-up' network of people and projects, where the collective knowledge and focussed energy of the all members of the community can make a significant contribution to reversing the catastrophic decline in biodiversity that is evident all around us, both within our gardens, streets, villages, parishes, and more widely.

NRN Website is the critical piece of infrastructure that will allow us to function efficiently as a flat, self-organising network devoted to Nature Recovery on our own doorsteps. These are topics that exist or are still in various stages of development by the NRN Webinistas. Wouldn't it be nice if they all came to fruition?

Surveys of parish environments over Space and Time. One critical concept of the NRN is to look before we leap - to understand what we have before we make interventions. It is important for us to observe closely and record what short- and long-term changes result from the informed, 'best-practice' interventions we do choose to make. Surveying is also the way in which we begin to look at our surroundings with renewed 20/20 vision, thus becoming more aware of what we have now, what we have lost, and develop visions of what we might yet have. . The surveys include, for example, small mammals, birds, reptiles, wildflowers, veteran trees, freshwater habitats, soil and water quality.

Databases and maps that collate and display the results of the surveys and other sources of data will help us to build up a comprehensive and readily accessible picture of the state of nature in our gardens, streets, neighbourhoods, villages and parishes.

WIKInrn is planned as a reference resource with topics and content created by, edited by, added to, and refined progressively by NRN members as new facts and figures are acquired, collated, checked, and presented in flawless prose with fabulous illustrations from our community photographers and artists. 

Activities are a key means whereby we increase the mosaic of habitats and add significant biodiversity gains. These activities are carried out by interest groups that self-organise to engage in various activities, for example, building and installing bird boxes, collecting and propagating wildflowers and trees of local provenance, tree planting, willow weaving, fungi forays, pond creation, hedge planting, creating refuges for small mammals, reptiles, amphibia, and insects, and other invertebrates, or even sometimes doing nowt and leaving Nature be.

Workshops for skills, e.g., plant identification, bird identification, butterfly identification, how to make quantitative surveys of plants and animals, how to graft and prune fruit trees, cultivate wildflowers in the back garden, scythe, create a pond, grow and weave willow, etc.

Forums that allow exchange of information about any subject relating to biodiversity that members choose to discuss. Here common interests can be identified, discovering who knows how, or what, or who, and sharing - and caring too.

Groups that allow members to meet with members that have common passions and interests, whether it be birding, plant-hunting, fungi foraying, or Morris dancing under veteran trees.

Support for bottom-up initiatives that increase biodiversity gains locally. You don't have to be an expert, or know how, you just have to think of the good idea and feed it into the network through one of the channels -e.g. Forum, Q&A, Ask a Neighbour etc. Magic will likely happen.

A Young Persons' Guide to Biodiversity: providing opportunities at all levels to evoke and nurture the innate curiosity of young people about their natural world and to provide a vehicle whereby they can actively pursue their own solutions to mitigate their concerns about the precarious state of nature they have inherited.

Keynote articles to provide background information relating to biodiversity creation and conservation, as well as general interest articles, e.g. the exposés of the myths and legends of managing aspects of our natural environment, urban and rural, and articles with up-to-date guidance and advice on 'best practice' to achieve a desired outcome.

Q&A Node to give rapid and informed responses to questions relating to the where, who, what, how, and why of biodiversity.

Art projects in their widest sense relating to being with the natural world, i.e. music, movement, voice, painting, poetry, pottery, photography, sculpture, graphic design, and many more.

Lectures and seminars about all aspects of biodiversity by invited experts, enthusiasts, and cognoscenti. 

eStore to sell books, pamphlets, art, and all manner of exciting and interesting 'Biodiversity stuff' for (almost) no money, but all profits fed back to the NRN infrastructure and activities.

Trips down Memory Lane to celebrate and document the many events and activities devoted to nature recovery by many people in the parish over the decades.

Advising official bodies e.g. councils at all levels, on management of green resources, means of creating of a mosaic of habitats, and strategies for conservation and renewal of biodiversity.

Collaborating with NGOs, Trusts, and conservation organisations.

Fundraising to support nature recovery efforts within the network.

Promoting the concept and practice of a local, bottom-up, self-organising network engaged in increasing biodiversity, which is one of the most pressing existential issues of our age, no exaggeration.. 

Communicating all aspects of the activities of the NRN by neighbour-to-neighbour, farmer to townie, group-to-group, parish-to-parish conversations, where everything from advice to actions, tips to tricks, zoom to zoology can be shared, peer-to-peer by 'knowledge exchange' rather than the traditional top-down 'knowledge transfer'. 

Laments transform to Life? Can we as a Network of People be a catalyst that transforms our lament for Nature into renewed Life in Nature through a Network of Nature Recovery?

Join in and lets all go for it together!