Pamela Abbott joins Natural Cambridgeshire as Partnership Director

Natural Cambridgeshire has appointed Pamela Abbott as its new Partnership Director. Pamela will lead the charity’s work to double nature across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire from September.

Pamela has a long career in nature conservation and extensive knowledge of the conservation agenda of the county. She was previously Chair of the Cambridge Conservation Forum and Chief Executive of Norfolk Wildlife Trust. She is also a hands-on conservationist with a passion for practical conservation action and, as chair of Citizen Zoo, has been closely involved in helping the large marsh grasshopper return to its native haunts in East Anglia: https://www.citizenzoo.org/our-work/hop-of-hope

She will bring additional skills, experience and capacity to Natural Cambridgeshire’s efforts to take forward the doubling nature agenda across the county and to put nature at the heart of the collective agenda. Her appointment will help the charity’s partners to create new habitats for nature, improve public health, support sustainable growth and community cohesion and offering people greater access the nature. She will work closely with Helen Dye, the charity’s Partnership Co-ordinator.

Richard Astle, chair of Natural Cambridgeshire, said, “I am delighted that Pamela will be joining us and leading our work to help nature recover. Cambridgeshire has one of the most depleted natural environments in the country, but there is now a strong consensus and determination to reverse the decline of so many iconic species and create new places for wildlife to thrive. That will not only benefit wildlife, but also local people who can look forward to more and better opportunities to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.  It will also benefit business and investment too – as we know how important it is for sustainable businesses to be part of a strong local environment.”

Pamela said, “It’s a privilege to join Natural Cambridgeshire at such an exciting point in the journey towards the goal of doubling nature across the county.  Connecting people with nature at all scales from nurturing individual actions, partnering in community projects and collaborating to deliver landscape scale partnerships has always been at the heart of my way of working. I look forward to building collaborations with communities and land managers across the county to create, expand, improve and connect habitats for wildlife.”

Her appointment has been made possible through revenue funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

CPCA Board approve business cases and funds for Doubling Nature!

Further to in principle budgets being agreed at their meeting in January, the CPCA Board at their reconvened meeting on 27 June approved business cases that will enable significant gains to be made for Doubling Nature across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Over £1.3 million was awarded to Natural Cambridgeshire and partners for measures that will enable the acceleration and delivery of sustainable nature projects across our nature-depleted county. This includes a £1m fund for nature that it is hoped will incentivise and attract further investment in large landscape-scale natural capital projects and small parish level community projects that will benefit people and nature in our county, as well as mitigate climate change; £210,000 of revenue funding that will enable Natural Cambridgeshire to expand its capacity to support the delivery of the above; and £125,000 awarded to partner organisation, BCN Wildlife Trust for metrics, which will enable ecology baseline setting and monitoring.

Chair of Natural Cambridgeshire, Richard Astle said:

“We are delighted that resources have been identified to accelerate Doubling Nature in all districts and communities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Our county is one of the most nature poor counties in the country, yet is distinct and important for its agriculture and food production, as well as the presence of one of the world’s leading universities.

We launched the Doubling Nature vision in 2019, and have been campaigning hard to put nature at the heart of decision-making across the county since then. With thanks to Mayor Nik Johnson for his bold commitment to climate and the environment, the leaders of our local authorities that make up the CPCA Board, and to the CPCA team we can now turn that vision into a reality, and look forward to working with all of our partners, local authorities, farmers and landowners, communities and investors to make that a reality”.

Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said:

“Natural Cambridgeshire have given the Combined Authority a unique opportunity to support residents and communities in their efforts to support nature conservation and expansion.

They are already doing fantastic work to involve local people as well as large influential organisations in protecting and enhancing natural spaces and our biodiversity. I am pleased that the Combined Authority is funding the much-needed work to grow the abundance of natural spaces in Cambridgeshire, which has currently one of the smallest areas of land managed for nature of any county in the UK relative to size.”

The Doubling Nature vision document can be found here.

The areas of our six priority landscapes that will be targeted for investment can be found here.

For further information please email info@naturalcambridgeshire.org.uk.

We are hiring!

In 2019 Natural Cambridgeshire launched its ambition to Double Nature across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to deliver a greatly enhanced environment where nature and people thrive and businesses prosper.  That ambition has now been taken up as a policy objective by the Combined Authority and has the support of the local authorities across the area. We now want to boost the delivery of this ambition by recruiting a Partnership Director to take forward this work.

The Combined Authority for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has recently agreed a budget of £70,000 a year for three years to support the work of the partnership. It has also agreed a £1 million investment in a Doubling Nature fund, designed to accelerate the delivery of nature recovery. This investment is conditional on the identification of an additional £2 million in matched funding from public and private sources.

This additional funding allows Natural Cambridgeshire to recruit a Partnership Director (part-time and flexible working options considered) on a three-year contract. This individual will lead our partnership work, recognising that their leadership role is to help create the strategic framework and the relationships within which the partner organisations can deliver the doubling nature agenda and that Natural Cambridgeshire itself is not a delivery body.

Salary: £42,000 to £50,000 a year pro-rata

Location: Home-based or within the office of one of the Natural Cambridgeshire Partners

Start date: June 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter

Application process: CVs with a covering letter explaining why you feel you are suitable for this role (no more than 2 sides of A4) should be sent to Richard Astle, Chair of Natural Cambridgeshire no later than 12 pm on Tuesday, 7th June.

Further details on how to apply, including a job description and person specification, can be found here.

Cambridgeshire Young Farmers learn about nature friendly farming

On Sunday 3rd April 2022, Martin Lines, UK Chair, Nature Friendly Farming Network, joined by Sarah Palmer from the National Federation of Young Farmers, hosted a visit of the Cambridgeshire Federation of Young Farmers at Martin’s farm, Papley Grove Farm, near Eltisely, St Neots. Over 20 young farmers, ranging from ages 11 to 26 joined Cambridgeshire County Councillors, Elisa Meschini (deputy lead) and Phillipa Slatter, Helen Dye of Natural Cambridgeshire and other guests to enjoy a presentation and talk by Sarah and Martin, followed by a farm walk.

The event was a great opportunity to discuss future farming policy and opportunities with the next generation who are choosing careers in the agricultural sector. By walking around the farm and looking at the machinery Martin uses, there was learning and discussion about how to develop farming systems that deliver solutions for the climate and nature crisis. While Martin admitted that he wasn’t taught about ‘creepy crawlies‘ at agricultural college, he emphasised how the farming community needs to work closely together with, ‘those who understand bugs, beetles and wildlife’, to ensure crops, soil and land remain healthy, and reliance on pesticides and artificial fertilisers is reduced.

Recognising how the move towards farming where nature, food production and running a business all need to work in tandem, and how this means effectively learning a new language, The Prince’s Countryside Fund have produced a useful jargon free glossary of terms.

The Cambridge Nature Network receives a boost!

The Cambridge Nature Network, one of six priority landscape projects identified by Natural Cambridgeshire, has received a boost with an award of £425,000 from Natural England’s Nature Recovery Programme. The aim of the Network is to halt the decline in biodiversity across Cambridge and the surrounding countryside, to improve climate resilience and enable nature to recover, while benefiting public wellbeing and the economy.

The grant, which will pay for 18 projects to strengthen the network in and around Cambridge city, is being managed by local charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future. Chief Executive, James Littlewood, speaking to the benefits of working together towards a shared vision, says:

“Each of these projects will create new or better habitats for nature, and they range from converting 150 acres of farmland in the Gog Magog Hills, to expanding country parks and nature reserves, to small projects on school grounds in the city. The range of organisations and people involved in these projects is inspiring. As well as Natural England it includes local charities, local councils, community groups, local landowners, schools, contractors and individual people helping to plant trees and sow seeds.”

In addition to the Cambridge Nature Network, Natural Cambridgeshire’s priority landscapes include the Nene Valley, John Clare Countryside, the Connected Fens, the Great Ouse Valley and the West Cambridgeshire Hundreds.

More information about the Cambridge Nature Network can be found on the website of Cambridge Past Present and Future here.

Report finds government policy falls short of addressing nature decline

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) in its report published on 30 June 2021 found that existing Government policy and targets are inadequate to address plummeting biodiversity loss. This is made worse by nature policy not being joined up across Government, nor is nature protection consistently factored into policy-making.

The report highlights the need for urgent action to deal with the nature crisis and calls on Government to:

  • introduce statutory interim targets – met by every Government department – to ensure that its proposed species abundance target is met to halt the decline of nature by 2030.
  • implement a preferred approach to data management and monitoring, to strengthen a consistent evidence base on the UK’s natural capital. The data should inform decision-making in Government far more substantially than at present.
  • provide a comprehensive, consistent, and time-bound record of funding for the 25 Year Environment Plan.
  • explain how and when it will move to embed environmental net gain in the planning system, including a call to strengthen local authority capacity and enforcement mechanisms to deliver biodiversity net gain.

The report also identifies the need to address soil health and picks up on Dieter Helm’s latest thinking on carbon net gain, more information about which can be found here.

While the report recognises that policies such as those outlined in the 25 Year Environment Strategy and the Environment Bill are a welcome start, in their current form they do not represent the transformative change required to bend the curve of biodiversity loss. The report calls for action to be stepped up in scale, ambition, pace, and detail.

Natural Cambridgeshire, working with partners, remains committed to delivering the Doubling Nature vision for Cambridgeshire including implementing measures for biodiversity monitoring, attracting inward investment, supporting policy implementation and engaging communities in nature recovery.

The EAC is a select committee of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. The remit of the committee is to examine how government departments’ policies and programmes affect both the environment and sustainable development.

A full copy of the report can be found here.

Nature is thriving in John Clare Countryside!

The Langdyke Countryside Trust, which has a leading role in nature recovery in John Clare Countryside near Peterborough, reports a surge in interest from local residents and volunteers in its recently published 2020 Annual Review.

Despite covid, during 2020 the charity adapted to the change in circumstances and transferred much activity online, attracting speakers such as Harriet Mead, Carry Akroyd, Brian Eversham and Frances Pryor, who both helped to provide social connection at a time of social isolation, and to promote the work of the trust and the value of connecting with nature.

The richness of the trust’s reserves was amply reflected in the appearance of a new colony of the very scarce Man orchid and of several new invertebrate species at Swaddywell Pit, including a wonderful Clifden Nonpareil moth in September. Vergette Wood Meadow too produced new sightings of key species such as four-spotted moth and marbled white butterfly.

During the summer and early autumn, management plans for the trust’s reserves were refreshed, with a new framework put in place for working with contractors to deliver the major tasks on each reserve. And in July 2020 Peterborough City Council unanimously endorsed the trust’s vision.

Looking ahead over the next five years, the trust aspires to: double its membership; enhance existing reserves including their contribution to the wider landscape; significantly increase the area of land it manages for nature; drive forward the John Clare Countryside project; and to continue to engage and inspire its members through nature, the poetry of John Clare, art and photography.

A full copy of the report can be found on the Langdyke Countryside Trust’s website here.

Report outlines pathways for nature recovery in and around Cambridge city

A new report prepared by the Wildlife Trust and Cambridge Past Present and Future, highlights the best opportunities to create new habitats and large-scale natural green spaces in and around the city of Cambridge for the benefit of people and nature.

A Nature Recovery Network is a joined-up system of places important for wild plants and animals, on land and at sea. It allows plants, animals, seeds, nutrients and water to move from place to place and enables the natural world to adapt to change. It provides plants and animals with places to live, feed and breed.

The Cambridge Nature Network consists of individual nature parks, nature reserves and farm habitats, linked together by nature-friendly farmland and wildlife-rich towns and villages. The network is based around the remaining fragments of high-quality wildlife habitats, and opportunities for enlarging and linking these high value habitats have been identified in discussion with environmental charities, farmers, colleges and other landowners.

The Cambridge Nature Network is one of six landscape-scale priority areas identified by Natural Cambridgeshire, and the report sets out how Cambridge can make its contribution to the shared ambition of “Doubling Nature” for Cambridgeshire.

Copies of the full and summary reports can be found here.

The environment tops the agenda in Cambridgeshire

Steps towards achieving the Doubling Nature vision for Cambridgeshire got closer last week when Cambridgeshire County Council’s new Joint Administration signed a Joint Administration Agreement to run the council, which put the environment, sustainability and the climate crisis as number one out of eight local priorities.

The agreement was signed by the leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Independent Groups at Shire Hall in Cambridge on Friday 14 May. The document includes a policy framework, protocols for working arrangements between the groups, and a new committee structure.

Natural Cambridgeshire welcomes the prioritisation of the environment and climate change measures, and looks forward to working with the County Council’s new Joint Administration to keep nature at the heart of the agenda.

A copy of the full Joint Administration Agreement can be found here.

Study shows impact UK habitats can have in taking carbon out of the atmosphere

Researchers from Natural England have developed a picture of the impact that different UK habitats can have in taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Findings that are particularly relevant to Cambridgeshire include:

• Peatlands are the largest carbon stores. When in a healthy condition they soak up carbon slowly but can go on doing so indefinitely. Carbon held in the deep peat soils of fens hold eight times as much carbon as the equivalent area of tropical rainforest.

• Orchards and hedgerows are effective at storing significant amounts of carbon but generally cover a smaller area than other habitats and are cut regularly, limiting the amount of carbon gain. Their sensitive management, however, can increase carbon storage whilst providing benefits for wildlife and our cultural heritage.

• Woodlands have high rates of carbon sequestration – depending on the species, age and location. New native woodlands can support biodiversity at the same time as taking up carbon. Old woodlands can become substantial carbon stores, with a hectare of native woodland sequestering the equivalent CO2 each year as flying London to Rome 13 times.

Natural Cambridgeshire is actively working with partners across the county to facilitate a joined-up approach to environmental management, and to ensure that we are well positioned to influence and benefit from government policy and other local schemes that enable people and nature to thrive.

A full copy of the report can be found on Natural England’s website here.