biodiversity links

February 3, 2008

Biodiversity Wildlife and Wildlife Gardening links

Wildlife in general - frogs, bats, butterflies Biodiversity sites Wildlife Organisations Wildlife Photography Phenology Biological Control for Gardens Composting and recycling Global Warming - Ecological footprints Organic and Biodynamic Gardening Allotment websites Wildlife Gardening links CBD, CITES, Cultivated Plant Conservation
Wildlife in general - frogs, bats, butterflies................
www.wildlifeforever.net Excellent site, beautifully designed, detailing a diary of a truly wildlife garden.
When to Watch Wildlife - month by month guide to what wildlife you can see in Britain.
www.english-country-garden.com A new website detailing everything in this persons garden - very professionally done and nice photographs.
www.froglife.org Everything you need to know about frog conservation.
Buglife - a national invertebrate conservation organisation, planning to organise a national bumblebee survey in 2007.
www.devonbadgerwatch.co.uk Excellent site linked to the BBC web cam on badgers.
www.bats.org.uk Everything you need to know about bats, identification, advice and lots more.
English Butterfly Garden - excellent site about butterflies in a small private garden.
Butterfly Conservation - members complete an annual garden butterfly survey.
www.butterflygarden.co.uk - to identify and appreciate butterflies in your garden.
UK Moths - on-line identification guide to the moths of Britain and Ireland, with over a thousand pictures.
www.birdfood.co.uk Need bird food and advice on feeding birds - this is the site.
British Garden Birds - topical and full of information.
www.owlpages.com Information about owls - literally everything!
www.wildflowerlinks.co.uk Wildflowerlinks directory is to make it easy to discover relevant UK wildflower related sites.
www.naturenotes.co.uk - Richard Burton's garden observations - he is a natural history writer, see his interesting article in the Garden, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society vol. 128 part 11 Nov. 2003.
www.nhm.ac.uk from the Natural History Museum is a postcode search for wild plants growing in the area you choose.
www.wildflowers.co.uk - British Wildflower Plants (01603 716615).
A guide to lichens on twigs - an easy identification key to these fascinating living organisms.
Plantlife - is the only charity working solely to protect Britain’s wild flowers and plants, fungi and lichens, and the habitats in which they are found.
National Wildflower Centre - promoting new wildflower habitats through creative conservation.
breathing places - making spaces for nature - a project put forward by the BBC to inspire everyone to create and care for green places.
Bumblebee Conservation Trust - to increase public awareness as to the decreasing numbers in bumblebee numbers and what you can do to help.
Guide to Bee-Friendly Gardens - Urban Bee Gardens - Information presented in this website was developed through the bee lab of Dr. Gordon Frankie of the University of California - Berkeley and Davis. It will be updated yearly. Excellent.
The Ecological Database of the British Isles consists of data on over 1770 species of higher plants that occur in the British Isles, together with the bibliography of sources.
Campaigning for change - useful information on a number of conservation and biodiversity issues in the UK.
Back Garden Moths - designed to encourage the awareness of UK moths.
Biodiversity sites
www.naturenet.net - Biodiversity in the United Kingdom.
www.ukbap.org.uk - an excellent UK Biodiversity website.
Biodiversity and Biological collections - an amazing collection of links of interest to systematists - a gateway for taxonomists and information on biodiversity.
NBII - National Biological Information Infrastructure - Biodiversity links.
Natural Selection - UK's gateway to high quality Internet resources relating to the Natural World.
The RHS's commitment to biodiversity and they have teamed up with the Wildlife Trust to give us Wild about Gardens. This has an interesting questionnaire to see how Wildlife friendly your garden is and advice on how to improve matters.
Biodiversity - measuring the variety of nature & selecting priority areas for conservation.
Biodiversity Hotspots (CI) - the most remarkable places on earth are the most threatened, this site gives details of the worlds biodiversity hotspots.
CONABIO (Mexico) - biodiversity in that area (Spanish).
Economics of biodiversity leading on-line resource for biodiversity economists.
Global Biodiversity Forum - is an open and independent mechanism to encourage analysis, dialogue and partnership on key ecological, economic, social and institutional issues related to biodiversity.
INBIO (Costa Rica) - biodiversity site concerning Costa Rica.
Arnold Arboretum's website, South Central China and Tibet: Hotspot of Diversity - an invaluable resource providing information on Joseph Rock's expedition.
Conservation International - Founded in 1987, Conservation International (CI) is an innovative leader in global biodiversity conservation. Their scientists, economists, communicators, educators, and other professionals work with hundreds of partners to identify and overcome threats to biodiversity. Interesting carbon calculator and Al Gore .
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Wildlife Organisations
www.naturenet.net - UK Nature and Wildlife Organisations.
www.naturenet.net - UK Countryside and Nature Conservation web site - a wide range of wildlife issues covered here.
www.floralocale.org - Restoring and protecting wild life communities - an excellent site high lighting very succinctly problems in promoting good practice in the use and sourcing of native flora for all projects that have wildlife in mind.
www.plantlife.org.uk - Plantlife International is the UK's leading charity dedicated to the conservation of wild plants in their natural habitats.
British Trust for Ornithology - BTO. The British Trust for Ornithology promotes bird conservation through volunteer-based surveys.
RSPB - The RSPB is a UK charity working to secure a healthy environment for birds and other wildlife, helping to create a better world for us all.
The Waterways Trust - The Waterways Trust is a national charity which works with others to promote greater public enjoyment of our inland waterways.
The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust - The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is the UK’s only specialist wetland conservation charity with a national network of wetland visitor centres. WWT is a world leader in the protection of ducks, geese, swans and flamingos and the wetlands they inhabit.
The Wildlife Trusts - There are 47 local Wildlife Trusts across the whole of the UK, the Isle of Man & Alderney. We are working for an environment rich in wildlife for everyone.
The Woodland Trust - The Woodland Trust is the UK's leading conservation charity dedicated to the protection of our native woodland heritage.
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Wildlife and Macro Photography
www.wildlifephoto.net Lucid Images Wildlife Photography - wonderful and includes an essential must for all web site designers - A Photographer's Guide to Web Site Design - fantastic!
www.nagele.co.uk Excellent site for digital art and creative stock photography.
New York Institute of Photography - online photography courses.
Digital Outback Photo - essential e-books and advice in the real world about DSLR's - how to live with them now that Fuji Velvia is discontinued!
Kodak - The DLC is a collection of information, tips and techniques on Digital Imaging..
Tessa Traeger - one of the best advertising photographers and her own close-up style.
Derek St Romaine is one of the UK's leading horticultural and gardening photographers. In 2001 he was voted Garden Photographer of the Year and again in November 2003 at the annual Garden Writers Guild awards at the Savoy he scooped the top prize for photography.
Andrea Jones - one of the world's leading plant and garden photographers with a superb new book of her inspirational images - 'Plantworlds' - ed. Mark Fletcher Publ. Damiani Editore, Bologna, Italy.
Nigelsflowerpower - a new website specialising in plant macrophotography and horticultural pictures.
Beautiful Britain - How to set up a camera inside a bird box.
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Phenology
Phenology - the study of timing of natural seasonal events. Keeping track of natures calendar is fun and easy and anyone can be a recorder. Help the Woodland Trust and the UK Phenology Network understand more about how plants and animals respond to climate change. Also of interest is an event run jointly between the RHS on its Bicentennial Year and the Darwin Centre Live Space. This will be linked to the web throughout the whole event showing a live broadcast of the proceedings on the 16th of March. The topics discussed will be " Does Science offer an exciting opportunity to improve and enrich gardening? and Do Scientists hold the key to solutions that might salvage our gardens, embattled by climate change, pests and diseases?". You can then post your own comments on the outcomes of the exchange onto the electronic bulletin board as a follow up to the event. A special Science Exchange web page will also be open from January on the RHS website. Llansadwrn (Anglesey) Weather and Garden gives phenological records on a lot of wildlife in Anglesey - an amazing site full of information on Donald Perkins' garden and Anglesey weather over a number of years.
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*Biological Control for Gardens*
The Green Gardener - specialists in Biological control including Nemaslug, Nemasys and ladybirds.
The Organic Gardening Catalogue - wide range of eco-friendly traps for pests.
Just Green - biological control for slugs and more.
Wiggly Wigglers - wide range of interesting extras for your eco-friendly garden.
Agralan - buy your ladybird larvae here.
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Organic, Biodynamic, Guerrilla and Medicinal Gardening
AboutOrganics - a must-see for anyone concerned about the environment or how the food they eat is grown, this site lists a mass of information to help you go organic with advice and links to UK retailers.
A national database of horse-manure suppliers is to be launched, thanks to biodynamic gardeners in Cornwall.
The Biodynamic Agricultural Association - The Association exists in order to support, promote and develop the biodynamic approach to farming, gardening and forestry. This unique form of organic husbandry is inspired by the research of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) and is founded on a holistic and spiritual understanding of nature and the human being.
Demeter - Demeter certified food comes from biodynamic farming
Maria Thun's Biodynamic Sowing calendar
Lunar Calendar in 19cm x 59cm (8inch x 23inch) poster format showing the moon phase for every day of the year.
The Soil Association - the UK's main organic certification body.
How to Improve Your Soil - excellent overview on this subject.
Plants for a future - Plants For A Future is a resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses. They practice vegan-organic permaculture with emphasis on creating an ecologically sustainable environment based largely on perennial plants. This web site is a very comprehensive resource on these topics.
Organic Plants - vegetables, salads, herbs, strawberries and ornamentals (Delfland Nurseries Ltd.).
Garden Organic - Garden Organic is the working name of HDRA, the national charity for organic growing.
Organic Pest Control - list of pests and acceptable methods of organic control.
No Dig Gardens - clean, green and chemical free.
SafeLawns.org - a broad-based coalition of non- and for-profit organizations committed to educating society about the benefits of organic lawn care and gardening, and affecting a quantum change in consumer and industry behaviour (American).
Growing Success - is the company that has at its core the ethos to develop ecological and environmentally sound solutions for pest control in the home and garden.
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Composting, Recycling, Green Roofs, Solar Power
How to make compost - advice from the experts - HYDRA.
Promoting composting in your community - for the individual and the community.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme - explains how you should look after that compost heap and more than that it is to help improve Britain's record on recycling.
Peat free alternatives - a site which provides horticulture with peat free alternatives.
The importance of peat - facts about this valuable resource.
Water recycling with plants - new trails at Imperial College London have started for a household water recycling system that utilises aquatic plants to treat water.
Green Roofs - popular in Scandinavian countries - provided your roof is strong enough, a green roof is the perfect eco-friendly architectural accessory.
Guerrilla Gardening Community - The Community is the live hub of GuerrillaGardening.org, a place where guerrillas from around the world are beginning to meet, plot and get planting - site also lists links to similar around the World.
Cymorth Compost Aid Project - is a local scheme formed to provide home composting practical advice to Gwynedd residents.
Daily Dump - an excellent Indian site that explains why we should compost and how. Wonderful containers - Kambha - who will market this in the UK? The Daily Dump is even on You Tube!
Vericomposting - no garden, no room, no excuse!
DIY Solar Power - could this system be used in the garden?
Global Warming - Ecological footprints - natural world and human values
Climate Change 2007 - Climate change impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability - Summary for Policy Makers.
Gardening in a changing climate - The impacts of a changing climate are now firmly at the top of the scientific, political and environmental agendas. But while the big global problems of climate change are addressed in the corridors of power, what are the ramifications for UK horticulture and gardening? The R.H.S. gives advice and the latest information in relation to how we will garden in the near future.
The Real Climate Censorship.
How to make your business 'carbon neutral' so that your presence on Earth doesn't add too much to global warming.
The EarthDay site is full of useful material, including an 'ecological footprint' quiz.
The Earth and Sky Radio Series - a non-profit organisation dedicated to science education and journalism in the 21st century.
Global Warming - Union of Concerned Scientists - interesting information.
Chesapeake Climate Action Group - shows that some Americans really do care - interesting site.
Flood Maps - shows what happens when global warming really clicks in!
Allotment websites
National Allotment Week - to advance the education of the public at large, in allotment and recreational gardening, protection and improvement of the natural environment.
Department for Communities and Local Government - oversees allotments - also offers useful advice on everything from getting on waiting lists to what happens if your local council decides to sell your plots for development.
nsalg.org.uk
allotments-uk.com - This directory lists Allotment sites that will help you to find, manage and get the best from your allotment. It also lists allotment related sites.
Wildlife Gardening links
Space for Nature - UK website on gardens and wildlife.
Wildflower Seeds - good source.
Wildflower Plugs - best way to establish a wildflower lawn.
Where the wild things are - garden of wildlife enthusiast Marc Carlton - a very important website with a great deal of information.
Naturescape - encourage wildlife to your garden.
Wildflower catalogue of plants, bulbs and seed from cultivated stock.
Ryton Organic Gardens - often run workshops on maintenance of willow, weaving and general basics.
Wildlife Gardening with Jenny Steel - Jenny is an author who gives courses in wildlife gardening - another excellent resource.
English Nature's wildlife gardening pages - lots of information and a range of downloadable leaflets.
'Wild About Gardens' - a site set up jointly by the Wildlife Trusts and the RHS.
Wild about gardening - good overview and advice on wildlife gardening.
Pests and diseases
Box Blight - controlling Cylindrocladium buxicola - perhaps!! and Plantsprayers for fungicides available to the amateur.
New guidelines on dealing with the notoriously invasive Japanese Knotweed.

"A garden is an awful responsibility. You never know what you may be aiding to grow in it." Charles Dudley Warner.


'Gardening is one of those happy arts in which there is always some not quite certain change, to look forward to and to be anxious about' - Jane Loudon, The Ladies Country Companion.