Thanks to funding raised by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, we’ve just received a £1m award. This great news means we can connect more people with nature and show them how powerful it can be for wellbeing.
The closer people feel to nature, the more likely they are to act to save it, and that’s why it’s important that everyone, whoever they are, can get close to it. But some people face more barriers to accessing nature than others, and this is where the funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery helps.
The partnership will help the RSPB build People Power for Nature. It includes:
Nature prescriptions in Cardiff and the West Midlands
Connecting young people to nature in Manchester
Engaging people in Glasgow
Creating species volunteer networks in Scotland and Wales
Urban trials of Big Garden Birdwatch
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In Cardiff and Birmingham, thanks to the players, the RSPB will be able to work with healthcare professionals to enable more people to access the health and wellbeing benefits of nature. Nature prescriptions are a way for healthcare professionals to prescribe nature to patients and clients, for example by listening to birdsong, watching a sunset, or walking outdoors.
Both the Cardiff and the West Midlands projects target communities that face barriers connecting with nature, deprived areas, as everyone, wherever they live, can benefit from nature. The Cardiff project will be the first nature prescriptions project in Wales.
During a previous trial of nature prescriptions in Scotland, 74% of the patients said they really benefited from the programme, so we hope that the residents of Cardiff and the West Midlands will too.
People in Greater Manchester will have the opportunity to take part in volunteering, creative activities and an ongoing events programme, all with a focus on the iconic, but endangered, Swift. The work will focus on empowering young people to collaborate with planners, developers and other communities to create more nature in the city.
In Glasgow, with the support of the players, funding will go towards our work focusing on engaging areas in the North of the city with nature. We will work with a diverse range of groups such as Maryhill Women’s Centre, Maryhill Integration Network (a refugee and asylum seekers’ organisation), Interfaith Glasgow and Visibility Scotland.
We’re also creating activities especially for Glasgow residents at RSPB Lochwinnoch, a nature reserve just 43 km (20 miles) away from Glasgow – a perfect wetland escape from the city.
In Scotland and Wales, well create a network of species volunteers. These volunteers work with farmers to engage them about nature and increase the areas on their land that are managed with nature in mind.
Our aim is for the volunteers and farmers to record wildlife surveys covering 22,000 hectares of land, increasing the amount that is farmed in a nature friendly way. This scheme is likely to create around 200 new volunteering opportunities.
We’d love it if more people living in urban areas could take part in Big Garden Birdwatch. This funding will help us to spread the word to two urban communities, so that more people can have a straightforward way to get closer to the birds in their garden or local park.
“We know that wildlife is fundamental to our wellbeing - you only need to witness a child spotting their first butterfly to realise this. And in towns, cities and communities across the length and breadth of the UK, nature rich green spaces give adults and children the space to improve our physical and mental health. From the clean air we breathe, to the animals we spot, to the parks we jog in – we know that when wildlife wins, so do we.
“Helping people to feel the benefits that nature brings and giving them the opportunity to connect with it in new ways, has never been more important. I’d like to say a huge thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their generosity and support. Together, through this funding, we will work to protect our precious wildlife and inspire people to become lifelong nature lovers.”
We’d like to thank the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery for their support in making these projects possible.
