Useful Websites and Reports

... an expanding list of some of our favourites ...

WILDLIFE

 

  • Wiltshire Wildlife Trust - loads to explore and see -  website  and  blog
     

BATS

  • Bat Conservation Trust website - bat facts,  how to help, etc.

BEES

BIRDS

  • British Trust for Ornithology - website
  • Hawk and Owl Trust website 
  • RSPB - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - fantastic website packed with resources, guides, activities and much more.
  • Songbird Survival a new charity - lots of info and projects - see their scientific research projects which aim to influence conservation, Songbird A-Z, etc.
  • Swift Conservation - organisation's website provides guides, advice, news, resources and ideas - "find out here all about these amazing birds, why they matter, and how you can help them".

BUGS

  • Bee, Beetle or Bug?  An Introduction to Insect Morphology! - get more familiar with the different insect groups with these informative and accessible infographics highlighting each insect group’s key features - from the Field Studies Council
  • Buglife - Help Buglife save the small things that run the planet! - website


BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS

HEDEHOGS

  • Hedgehog Street Campaign - making make sure the hedgehog, the UK’s only spiny mammal, remains a common and familiar part of British life :-)  Great website includes the big heldgehog map where you can see how many hedgehogs have been sighted in your area.
  • British Hedgehog Preservation Society - website

MAMMALS

See the range of plants and wildlife in Colerne that have been recorded and added to the NBN Atlas online database to date (lists with map)

NATURE

 

  • Lots of free downloadable resources for kiddies and adults from The Wildlife Trusts, including ID guides, scavenger hunts, outdoor activities, art activities, activity packs, mini projects, etc.
  • Starting a Nature-Friendly Allotment - from The Soil Association. Handy guide from preparing your plot, working out your soil type and deciding what to plant.
  • Plantlife – the global voice for wild plants and fungi - website
  • The Woodland Trust - website
  • Protecting and celebrating forests - The Soil Association
  • The State of Nature Reports  "The Most comprehensive report on the UK’s current biodiversity", published in 2023.  State of Nature uses the latest and best data from biological monitoring and recording schemes, collated by the incredible work of thousands of skilled people, most of whom are volunteers, to provide a benchmark for the status of our wildlife."  England: summary (pdf)  &  web page. UK:  full report (pdf)  &  infographic (pdf)
  • Wiltshire's Nature Recovery Strategy (NRS).  Download strategy (pdf). This maps where important habitats can be conserved, restored and connected, and which are the most important areas to funnel effort and funding in order to support nature recovery across the landscape. It aims to achieve increased multiple environmental benefits that nature brings to people, such as: clean air and water, reduced flood risk and socio-economic benefits such tourism or green prescribing.
  • View the online map of Wiltshire's NRS Strategically Significant Habitat Networks; and the Mapping Wiltshire’s Local Nature Recovery page provides a great overview and pictures of the maps.
    Additionally lots of interesting info about all the different habitats in the Wiltshire LNR Strategy in their Priorities and Measures section, including the species that thrive in the habitat areas.

WATERWAYS

 

 

BIODIVERSITY

 

  • The Wiltshire Chalk Partnership - website - helping protect, augment and enhance the Wiltshire Chalk landscape to create a thriving and resilient landscape that will support biodiversity as our climate changes.
  • Living Planet Report 2024 - Building a Nature-Positive Society report by the WWF and ZSL. A health-check for the planet – the report includes the Living Planet Index, which tracks how species populations have fared around the world over a 50-year period. Together with other indicators, the index helps us to understand more about the state of the natural world. The report analyses how the nature and climate crisis is putting extreme pressure on ecosystems and the planet. Published ahead of the key UN COP16 biodiversity and COP29 climate conferences, the report underlines the urgent need for the world to meet global goals on nature, climate and sustainable development by 2030.
  • Biodiversity Toolkit for Nature - excellent document packed full of information and resources from the European Commission (2020).
  • Also see hundreds of interesting Biodiversity articles are published in 'The Conversation' - "academic rigour, journalistic flair"!

 

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
 

  • Wiltshire Climate Alliance - WCA website.  Lots of projects, events or online meetings you can join.  They also list details of the National Emergency Briefing, and the People's National Emergency Briefing film.
  • Live Sustainably - how to be a conscious consumer (Friends of the Earth)
  • Green & Eco-Friendly - tips & products (Green-EcoFriend)
  • 50 ways to Go Green - simple ways to go green (Green-EcoFriend)
  • Things You Can Do About Climate Change: make a difference! (The Wildlife Trusts)
  • We Are Avon -  grassroots movement is striving to provide healthy and affordable food resilience for this region whilst also regenerating the communities, lands and waters of the Avon catchment area.  an emerging  web of active producers, farms, organizations and diverse communities - collaborating to build better local food systems for all. We Are Avon's ... website and blog.
  • Pesticide Action Network UK - charity focusing on promoting safe and sustainable alternatives to hazardous pesticides, and tackling the problems caused by pesticides - PAN-UK ebsite and key issues page
  • Environment information and resources from the UK National Association for Environmental Education (NAEE)  - supporting teachers and learners across the UK.
  • What is the Triple Planetary Crisis? - United Nations Climate Change
  • Act Now! - the App for living sustainably in the modern world - United Nations ACTNOW Campaign.  "Help Take Care of Our Planet! Every one of us can make a difference"

REPORTS

  • UK WWF report -  What's in store for the planet: the impact of the UK's shopping baskets on climate change and nature published by the UK World Wildlife Fund in Dec 2025.  

  • An IPCC report - Report on Climate Change -  launched 2023 (IPCC is the scientific body that advises the UN on rising temperatures). Contains an important summary of six key pieces of research completed over the past five years. The scientists say technology is providing solutions but the climate forecast is worsening. Headline statements.

  • UNEP 2023 report - Turning off the (plastic) Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy - proposes a systems change to address the causes of plastic pollution, starting by reducing problematic and unnecessary plastic use, redesigning the system, products and their packaging and combining these with a market transformation towards circularity in plastics.