- Living Nature
- Natural Phenomena
- Energy Conservation
- Dark Skies
Living Nature
A good Conservation Site is the BTCV one. BTCV Home Site and BTCV Handbooks (on-line guides that are excellent). In our Parish, the Tree Warden’s work is supported by this organisation - you can find out more here.
Medway and Swale Estuary Partnership has many resources and images of this region.
The Kent and Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC) is relatively new but potentially very important source of data on the natural world in our region.
Kent Wildlife Trust and Swale in Bloom provide a guidance wildlife in your gardens. Garden awards are made in September. Find out more from David and Sallie Shaw (436055).
British Trust for Ornithology - a very good resource on long term surveys
The RSPB run a series of events and features throughout the year that help gardeners keep in tune with their visitors. Examples: Where have all the birds gone? The Water shortage hurts wildlife. There have been outbreaks of salmonella that destroy whole flocks of sparrows and other songbirds - this is the time to make sure you are cleaning the areas you feed your birds to makes sure facaes and birdfood are not left in the same places.
RSPB Reserves in our area include Elmley Marshes (Sheppey), Nor Marsh and Motney Hill (Gillingham), and Blean Woods (toward Canterbury)
NatureCameras Site supports birdbox diaries (and supplied the equipment used by the Society’s own Birdbox diary). In 2005 the diary relates to a Great Tit.
Gardening with Hedgehogs: Two very useful resources to help improve the lot of our hedgehogs - British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Hogwatch (a website dedicated to checking whether our hedgehogs are in decline - please take part in their survey saying whether you did).
Buglife, The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is the first organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, and we are actively engaged in saving Britain's rarest bugs, slugs, snails, bees, wasps, ants, spiders, beetles and many more fascinating invertebrates.
Kent Landscape Information System (K-LIS) lets you zoom into any area of Kent and see what the wildlife habitats, geology and soils, aerial photos and landscapes and much more. A fascinating new resource for all kinds of groups - naturalist, farmers, and so many more. Well worth a visit.
www.Bioimages.org.uk provides a rich source of images to help you identify plants
Gardening with the minimum fuss and effort??? Well you could start here at the award winning “Carry on Gardening” website
Expert plant tips from the experts of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Reduce the use of chemicals in gardening with Henry Doubleday Research
Botanical Society of the British Isles is a major resource on our plant life
Plantlife - the wild plant charity. Plantlife International is a charity dedicated exclusively to conserving all forms of plant life in their natural habitats, in the UK, Europe and across the world..
Joint Nature Conservation Committee produces authoritative research on the state of the UK’s natural habitat, such as the Vascular Plant Red Data List (download from their website)
Kent Bat Group - Find ideas on how we can build up our local population of bats
Natural phenomena
Phenology - The study of recurring natural phenomena, like climate change.
Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Environment - jargon-free key to understanding environmental issues. Supports children and adult learning.
Conservation International (Charity) - a fascinating guide to understanding biodiversity
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is a place to look at the bigger picture
NASA’s photographs from space - Images of volcanoes, glaciers, hurricanes, and loads more
The Met Office - a comprehensive site that educates
Energy conservation
Household Energy Efficiency Report - Household energy use accounts for more than a quarter of all energy used in the UK, but the typical household wastes around a third of that energy each year. Read this PDF from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.
Burning Wood: Which woods burn best, and a few poems that make the same point!
Energy Saving Trust - Providing expert and impartial advice and information as well as grants to encourage the more efficient use of energy in our homes and vehicles across the UK.
Solar Century - A leading solar photovoltaics (PV) company. Solar PV generates electricity directly from light, whatever the weather. Learn from this site and use Google to find others to compare. The cost of these systems mean that using this has to be a lifestyle choice - the payback period is a very long one - look out for grants.
Creative Environmental Networks - Creative Environmental Networks is a not for profit organisation delivering a range of services to engage householders, businesses and communities in environmental and social improvement.
DECC’s Renewable Energy Pages - new Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Thinking about installing a turbine? Here are a couple of interesting links.
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