The meeting was held at Whisby Education Centre, which is set within the beautiful views of Whisby Nature Park (pictured above). Once barren and lifeless, the landscape is now abounded with wildlife.
Although a grey-skied day, the meeting was far from grey. The purpose of the Conservation Strategy Team meetings are to gather together the Conservation Officers and Trustees within the Lincolnshire district to present updates on the conservation work currently happening. It provides a great opportunity for face-to-face discussion and to ensure everyone is up to date.
The meeting began with a welcome and moved straight into the decisions and actions from the last meeting in June. Sian and I followed on by presenting our joint project on creating a Marine Net Gain pipeline in the southern North Sea. Our pipeline and recommendations for designing this piece of policy were met with great discussion in the room, where lots of questions were asked. The room collectively built off our ideas and discussed how we can look further into the future where marine biodiversity gain is concerned.
I then presented my individual project, showing my findings so far on my review of the global approach of CCS (carbon capture storage), followed by Sian, who presented her project reviewing the marine implications of blue and green hydrogen. If you’d like a recap on the ins and outs of Sian and I’s projects, take a look at blog week 12.
After a comfort break, Conservation Officers Aidan and Fiona presented the work they’re currently undertaking. This included Fiona’s extensive work using UKHabs in Lincolnshire, which is a new, comprehensive approach to classifying habitats under UK Habitat Classification, and some of Aiden’s great work on pond restoration in the county.
Following on from this, Tammy, Head of Conservation, presented an update on the Conservation Strategy work programme. It is an incredibly exciting time to be apart of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, as there are a host of huge projects underway in the area currently, creating huge environmental gains. To read more about the current conservation projects in Lincolnshire, click on the link below.
https://www.lincstrust.org.uk/what-we-do/conservation-projects
One exciting project is the Bourne North Fen Project, where 50 ha of farmland is being restored to Lincolnshire’s lost peat-fenland, becoming a home for a wide variety of wildlife. It aims to link up important nature reserves, create a multi-purpose wetland which will store water for agriculture and improve water quality for consumers, and underpins a local eco-tourism economy. The plan will boost Lincolnshire’s endangered fenland habitats by 30%! We had some great updates on this.
Project Update
As an update to our projects, we have just submitted our first draft report for quality checks to the partners within our internship (Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, The Crown Estate, Natural England and Ørsted). In the meantime, while we wait for feedback, we’ll continue working on the projects ready for the final presentations on the 30th November.
The meeting was another great experience, with a great backdrop of Whisby Nature Park. Thanks to Tammy for letting us present.
Jasmine