"Look at it this way"

  From today, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are now called 'National Landscapes'. This is another change which will impact on many printed resources / textbooks / websites and resources that are under construction which focus on landscape management. This site has a nice interactive map of the 46 areas but currently has the old name. Check the website for more details. Welcome to National Landscapes – a new chapter in the story of designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in England and Wales. Find out more at https://t.co/LZpHYAkvmq 1/5 pic.twitter.com/j4XIkjV0v5 — National Landscapes Association (@NatLandAssoc) November 22, 2023 Some nice graphics on the Twitter feed - check the thread today to kick start the new association and name.  From the site: The new name reflects their national importance: the vital contribution they make to protect the nation from the threats of climate change, nature depletion and the wellbeing crisis, whilst also creatin...

Thanks to Ben King for the lead to this book which has been published online. When I used to teach the Soils and Hydrology Unit of the old Cambridge 'A' level back in the day this would have been perfect. This sort of complexity has been lost from many modern specifications, but for those who want to see why soil matters, this is a good read. It explores the role of natural flood management, and the importance of the topsoil and good soil health in maintaining a healthy drainage. Great for higher level students in particular. Click here to read online. It's produced by the East Devon Catchment Partnership

I spent a pleasant few hours earlier today in the valley of the Gaywood River , just east of King's Lynn with colleagues from UEA and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. We were involved in testing out an augmented reality solution for allowing visitors to a place to find out more about the nature's benefits / ecosystem services in that area. Sarah Taigel has created, and is trialling an application called VesAR which stands for Visualising Ecosystem Services using Augmented Reality. It uses an app called LAYAR , which I have previously experimented with.  Holding the phone or tablet up at particular locations reveals 'hotspots' floating in the camera view, which contain more information about what the visitor is looking at. (See the image below) Ecosystem services are split into three types: Regulating Provisioning Cultural Essentially, a landscape like the river catchment we walked through provides three types of benefits, e.g. a regulating benefit w...