Action Countryside

Action Countryside presents articles and papers that directly discuss issues impacting our countryside now. The NGO Educational Trust is pleased to present a range of resources from like-minded organisations for the educational benefit of our readers. The resources  are designed to generate discussion about the issues affecting our countryside, the tensions between opposing factors such as species recovery and crop yield and the extraordinary lengths some people are going to in order to save some of our endangered species.

Resource Overview

·  Assessing Hydropower - Micro-hydropower generators are providing much needed electricity to rural communities, but at what cost to the migrating salmon?

·  Reversing Fortunes - The Ratcheugh Partridge Project has seen a remarkable comeback in grey partridge and other farmland birds, but was all the effort worth it?

·  Fighting for the Black Grouse - Black Grouse remained threatened in England due to their severely contracted range, so how is new work helping these spectacular birds?

·  Making the most of the Margins - Can improved field margin management lead to increased wildlife and more productive yields?

·  Scribbling Larks - Life is hard for the endangered Yellowhammer, can conservationists help this species with Stewardship funded supplementary winter feeding?

·  Silent Dawn - A combination of habitat management and predator control is the key to saving our songbirds

·  Wales's crisis of conservation - The uplands of Wales once supported the most productive grouse moors in the UK as well as abundant populations of other birds. What happened?

·  SGA Year of the Wader - The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has seized the initiative on conservation by declaring 2014 the SGA Year of the Wader. The move will highlight the environmental benefits of traditional grouse moor management and make a strong case for licensed predator control.

·  A Question of Balance - Predation is obviously a normal and essential part of a 'balanced' ecosystem. But does Britain have a balanced ecosystem?

NATIONAL CURRICULUM LINKS:

KS4 Biology: Ecology -Communities within ecosystems, Biodiversity, Maintaining biodiversity, Farming technologies, Selective breeding

KS4 Physics: Energy and electricity

KS4 Geography: Ecosystems

KS4 Design & Technology: Product design