Its an easy thing to be patriotic, I’m an Englishman, hatched and reared among the chalk horses of the Wiltshire countryside, and that for me is, as they say, where the heart is.
Now living in North Wales, the same fondness the locals have for their homeland is evident, and understandably so, the mountains and moorland in the North and the Western coast are....well, they’re stunning. Though the only thing that truly divides us is an imaginary line running from the north to the south, a line that only we obey....wildlife has no such boundaries.
Futurescapes, for those of you who haven’t yet heard, is RSPBs answer to conservation implementation beyond boundaries, beyond the protected areas and is part of something known as “landscape scale conservation”. Here in Wales we currently have 3 Futurescapes; Gwent Levels Futurescape on the fringes of the Severn estuary, 3 Rivers Futurescape around the mouths of the rivers Tywi, Taf and Gwendraeth and the North Wales Moors Futurescape, an area of upland stretching from Blaenau Ffestiniog in the west to Wrexham in the east, a land mass that’s roughly 5% of Wales.
There’s now an increasing team of staff in Wales working as part of the Futurescapes programme and I will soon be taking on the role of Conservation Officer for the North Wales Moors. Working across an area of 2,000km2 its clear that partnership working will be integral, luckily RSPB Cymru has been working in the North Wales Moors for over 40 years! We will continue to work with local land owners and farmers and develop partnerships with local organisations and businesses to ensure wildlife conservation can co-exist with upland and lowland farming businesses, sustainable forestry as well as economic and social benefits. We’ve all been playing with jigsaw pieces in the past, now its time to start joining them altogether, the work we and so many others have been doing,
It’s certainly an exciting time for nature conservation and to a certain extent unchartered; I for one can’t wait for the limitless adventures that lie ahead!
Os hoffech wybod mwy am Tirwedd y Dyfodol yn eich ardal chi dilynwch y ddolen www.rspb.org.uk/futurescapes/ a lawrlwytho eich llyfryn rhanbarthol.
If you’d like to know more about Futurescapes near you please follow this link www.rspb.org.uk/futurescapes/ and download your regional booklet.