We are pleased to announce that Marden Wildlife Group has won the NBN Group Award for 2021, in recognition of all of our efforts to record what wildlife we have in Marden. Below is the quote from the NBN website.
Marden Wildlife, (from Kent), is the winner of the NBN Group Award 2021.
Marden Wildlife only came into being in January 2020. Previously its members had been surveying insects and ringing/surveying birds for five years for two local famers and producing annual reports.
The group is fortunate in having members with significant expertise, for example, appropriately licensed to handle dormice and Schedule 1 birds, relevant postgraduate qualifications, the practical experience to advise on most taxa, and a National Nature Reserve warden.
It is hard to overstate how profoundly Marden Wildlife has influenced the area. Recording by group members on farms – encompassing all taxa – is enthusing more farmers to take positive action to increase biodiversity on their land, with an ambitious network of new Countryside Stewardship agreements in place, aiming to deliver landscape-scale enhancements.
Louise Carpenter, representing Marden Wildlife – winner of the NBN Group Award 2021 – says:
“It has been a revelation discovering, not just the species we had no idea were sharing our village with us, but the interest being shown by ordinary people in what’s around them in their gardens and in the plants and animals they find on walks around the locality.
“Although plants and birds have been recorded for some time, the additional interest and expertise of local people recruited during the COVID lockdown is raising the importance of biological recording among enthusiasts and landowners alike. If something unexpected is found, we now have someone in the group who can usually identify it, someone to photograph it, and a volunteer who will ensure it gets put on the record.
“From a spider in the bath or a garden creepy-crawly, to a nationally rare sedge or fungus, an obscure moth or critically endangered bird, all are celebrated on our Facebook page. More importantly, our records feed into the conservation work of local farmers and complement the work of government bodies and NGOs who support them.
“Beginners and experts alike, age seven to seventy plus, enthuse and learn from each other. In the current crisis of biodiversity loss fed by ignorance and corporate greed, we are shining a light on what our community stands to lose.”
