Stay local and check for info before travelling this weekend, urge major nature groups
With fair weather expected this weekend and restrictions in England relaxed, people will be keen to get outside and into nature.
Major nature charities are urging the public to consider four things before travelling to beauty spots or nature sites. The Woodland Trust, Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, National Trust and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust are encouraging people to:
- Stay local
- Check whether sites are open for visitors before travel
- Observe social distancing
- Respect the Countryside Code
To help prevent overcrowding at popular beauty spots, the charities are urging people to stay local and to walk and cycle where possible. Staying local will stop sites from being overwhelmed with visitors – minimising disruption for local communities and helping people to observe social distancing.
The charities are asking that people check that sites they plan to visit are open before they travel. While staff and volunteers have worked hard to reopen reserves and parkland in a short space of time, not all sites and facilities are yet accessible. In line with government guidance, visitor centres and cafes remain closed.
Where sites are open, the charities encourage visitors to observe social distancing and, with reports of ground-nesting birds and rare species nesting on or near busy paths, to take care of their surroundings and follow the Countryside Code.
The charities join several heads of National Parks from across the UK urging people to exercise locally. Last Sunday the prime minister announced a relaxation of rules on travel for outdoor exercise in England. The rules for England are now different from those in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said:
“Access to nature has given comfort to millions of people during the lockdown, and is critical for our physical and mental wellbeing. But, The Wildlife Trusts are urging people to stay local this weekend. Our visitor and education centres remain closed, and some nature reserves and car parks too, so we’d encourage people to check our websites before leaving home to avoid disappointment and overcrowding.
With our workforce on the ground seriously depleted at the moment, having been forced to take the difficult decision to furlough staff, we hope that visitors to our nature reserves take care to maintain social distance and limit disturbance to wildlife. May is a great time to enjoy wildlife, so do get out there, but please stay local and stay safe.”
Darren Moorcroft, CEO, Woodland Trust said:
“We have seen the importance that our woods have played as places to exercise and how much they mean to people. All our woods are open and have been throughout the pandemic to local communities within walking distance. Some of our car parks mainly at larger more popular sites are closed where a lack of social distancing, and the volume of people driving to our sites, was impacting on surrounding communities and causing traffic problems.
The Prime Minister’s statement on 10 May permitted unlimited exercise and the use of a car to travel to the countryside to do so. However, the Woodland Trust has sites in all four countries in the UK and current situations and advice is slightly different. Going forward in England we need to ensure that our sites are safe and ready for us to reopen those car parks and welcome back increased visitors. These decisions will be made on an individual site basis and will take into consideration the safety of doing so, the impact on local communities, and will continue to follow government advice. We ask people to be patient with us whilst we carry out these activities.In line with the advice from devolved governments our woods in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are open for local visitors only. Please do not drive to visit a wood or meet with people outside your household. We ask people across the UK to please continue to maintain social distancing and take any litter home with you.”
Emma Marsh, Director, RSPB England, said:
“Since the prime minister’s announcement, we have been consulting with governments, members, employees, and volunteers on how and when to reopen our sites. While we are champing at the bit to get our nature reserves back up and running, our main priority is to do this safely for visitors and the incredible nature people come to enjoy.
As we are taking a gradual and phased approach, our reserves remain closed for now. We ask everyone to bear with us in these difficult times and check our websites for updates. Please consider staying local, but if you are intending to visit the countryside, be cautious and consider avoiding busy places at peak times. Please remember also that the countryside is a working environment, so don’t put the people who live there at increased risk. And of course, be aware that this is the peak bird breeding season, so keep dogs under close control and be aware especially of ground-nesting birds.”
ENDS
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Beccy Speight’s rather good message to RSPB members also included this:
“We also have to make sure the wildlife that calls our sites home are ready to receive attention after a couple of months completely on their own. With reports of rare species nesting on and near busy paths, it’s going to take us some time to make sure they are safe too.”
It’s an important point, presumably relevant beyond RSPB reserves. I hope, for example, it’s been possible to identify and protect new tern nesting sites.
“With reports of rare species nesting on and near busy paths …”
… because the paths weren’t busy. Shouldn’t the paths remain untrod until September – or are path-nesting birds less important than those in hedges?
I think it was grossly irresponsible of the government to have said people can travel unlimited distances to visit beauty spots. Many of these sites are primarily nature reserves, their car parks have been closed, they rely on volunteers, and volunteering has been been suspended. Meaning that large numbers of visitors could descend on vulnerable sites, with no proper car parking, where the staff are no longer present and are working from home, and where the usual volunteer workforce is not present.
It’s good that these NGOs are putting out this advice, but I fear many of the public will not hear it as a limited amount of people regular check or are even aware of these NGOs.
This is an especial problem because there is some much warmer weather coming along after this cold spell, which will further exacerbate the problem.
Its not the case that beauty spots are primarily nature reserves, unless you can quote empirical evidence?
So the great English public is not capable of behaving in a responsible fashion? Seems to me people want a Nanny State where everyone is told what they can and can’t do rather than a State which provides clear advice to follow. Perhaps its time to treat people as adults and take appropriate action against those that fail to do so, rather than assuming a superior position whereby everyone apart from the person making the pronouncement is deemed to be an idiot?
Its clear that the lock down has to be eased, excess deaths as a result are calculated in the region of 20,000 plus, the cure is becoming more deadly than the supposed cure.
I often find it useful to read what people have actually said before criticising. SteB does not say “that beauty spots are primarily nature reserves” but rather “many of these sites are primarily nature reserves”. That’s actually a rather different thing. You then criticise SteB for providing no empirical evidence to support an assertion that wasn’t made, whilst not producing any empirical evidence yourself to support your contrary assertion which some might characterise as being a bit rich. The rest of your comment is predominantly rhetorical and of course your opinion is valid, however I for one do not agree with your sentiment.