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Nature table campaign press releases

All About You online 15.01.2008

Read the latest Nature Table press releases here

24 hours of urban wildlife on the longest day of the year

Country Living magazine's summer solstice guide to BBQ bats, butterflies in the gutters & streetlight stag beetles

Wednesday 18 June 2008.

Mice in the underground, fox cubs on railway lines, streetlight stag beetles and squirrels scavenging in the rubbish bins.... You don't need to leave town to connect with nature this summer solstice.

With the summer solstice (longest day of the year) falling on 20 June this year instead of the 21st, Country Living magazine and Jordans Cereals have also broken with tradition by focusing this year's guide on urban areas, in an effort to help city dwellers make the most of this once-a-year chance to see the longest daily wildlife spectacle.

The summer solstice occurs when the sun is furthest from the celestial equator in the northern hemisphere, marking the longest day of each year. Every year, people from across the country gather at places such as Avebury and Stonehenge to celebrate the coming of summer.

But for many urbanites, fuel shortages, rising public transport costs and carbon emission concerns means foregoing a trip to the countryside this year.

Country Living and Jordans Cereals' round-the-clock urban guide means that city dwellers need only step out their front door to appreciate the abundance of British wildlife on offer.

This includes the dawn chorus of pigeons in public squares, bats swooping on backyard barbeques, foxes and squirrels raiding rubbish bins, and swifts nesting in nearby tall buildings.

Susy Smith, editor, Country Living magazine, says: "You don't have to go miles to get back to nature - in fact, if you live in urban or suburban areas your wildlife viewing opportunities are even better - birds and animals tend to be more approachable, being used to living in close proximity to humans. Towns and cities are warmer than the countryside and streetlights allow day-time creatures to be out feeding for longer."

Country Living magazine launched the Bring Back the Nature Table campaign, sponsored by Jordan's Cereals, earlier this year to reconnect children with nature. The campaign is calling for parents to encourage their children to play in the countryside, parks and fields, and for all UK primary schools to set up classroom nature tables.

Country Living magazine's summer solstice guide to urban wildlife

Sunrise and sunset times on 20 June 2008

City	Sunrise	Sunset
London	4.42am	21.21pm
Birmingham	4.43am	21.32pm
Manchester	4.40am	21.40pm
Edinburgh	4.26am	22.02pm

Source: BBC weather

Sunrise:

There are around 90 species of breeding bird in Greater London alone (BTO). Listen out for noisy back-garden favourites such as blackbirds, robins, song thrushes and chaffinches.

Half an hour after dawn look up into the skies to see swallows and house martins swooping the skies for insects - they feed lower in the sky in the early morning.

Fill up the bird feeder with niger seed for goldfinches and peanuts for greenfinches and blue tits

Top up a shallow bird bath (an upturned dustbin lid is ideal) and sit in a deckchair with a bird book and binoculars to ID them as they arrive.

Keep an ear open for fledglings fresh from the nest calling to their parents in the undergrowth. Baby blackbirds might look abandoned but their parents will be nearby.

High noon:

Look for some Buddleia, a tall straggly plant with lilac flower spikes that grows anywhere it can - on waste ground, piles of rubble, in roof gutters - it is known as the butterfly bush because it attracts red admirals, peacocks and small tortoiseshells.

Late afternoon:

When the sun is beginning to cool down check out a pond for froglets and toadlets sunning themselves on a flat stone and stunning dragonflies hovering over the water.

Early evening:

Noisy, energetic fox cubs, impatient for the cover of dusk often emerge to play and cause havoc. Keep quiet and still near the vixen's earth, often found on the side of a railway line, a patch of wasteland or by a stand of trees in a park.

Dusk:

Swifts love to nest in the tall buildings in town and this is the best time to look out for their long narrow wings and torpedo-shaped bodies

Having an evening barbecue? Bats often swoop out from roost sites in the eaves of older buildings. You might also hear hedgehogs shuffling around in the shrubbery in search of slugs and a fox on the hunt to feed its family

After dark:

House sparrows extend their working day by catching moths attracted to street lamps. Robins work the longest hours in the country being one of the earliest risers and the last to disappear to roost in the evening.

Stand under a street light late at night to see stag beetles which crash heavily into them falling to the ground, giving you a close-up view of their vicious looking jaws.

Get a bright desk lamp and focus it on a white sheet spread outside so you can see moths as they flutter in.

Top tip: Colour the lens of your torch with a red felt-tip pen. Humans can see well in red light but animals can't so won't realise they are being illuminated.

For more information, interviews and images, please contact:

Jane Wynyard
PR & Communications Manager
National Magazine Company
Phone: 020 7943 5211
Mobile: 07872 836722
Email: jane.wynyard@natmags.co.uk

Country Living Magazine campaign highlights dangers of isolating children from natural world

Wednesday, February 13 2008.

Country Living Magazine has today launched a campaign in the wake of alarming research that shows UK children are losing touch with the natural environment, a loss that could damage their wellbeing and the future of the countryside.

The Bring Back the Nature Table campaign, sponsored by Jordans Cereals, is designed to reconnect children with nature by encouraging all UK schools to set up nature tables. Nature tables, complete with sticky buds, catkins and pussy willow, were once common in primary school classrooms.

Country Living Magazine says the loss of nature tables is just the tip of the iceberg and more needs to be done to raise awareness of health and societal costs of children's isolation from the natural world.

According to research recently conducted by the magazine, less than half (45%) of all UK parents and grandparents surveyed took their children out for a regular walk. And few (48%) actually took the time to stop and look at wildflowers or insects with their children. 31% of those parents and grandparents surveyed said their children wouldn't even know what pussy willow was.

The magazine has also enlisted the expertise of GP and strategic health advisor for Natural England, Dr William Bird, who says children have lost so much contact with the natural environment that they are more familiar with cartoon characters than British wildlife.

"Getting out into green spaces is absolutely vital for children, for their mental state and wellbeing," says Dr Bird. "We have an innate connection with the natural environment and this means that nature has the ability to recharge us. But over the years, nature has been squeezed out of school timetables and parents and grandparents have stopped taking children on nature walks in parks, fields and woodland. I think the Bring Back the Nature Table campaign is really important in helping children re-connect with this beneficial health boost."

Dr Bird says research has shown that green spaces can even help ease aggression and prevent bullying in the playground.

"Studies have actually shown that green spaces can boost a child's concentration and calm them down. On an asphalt playground, it will be the biggest and loudest child that dominates," says Dr Bird. "But if you let children play around trees and bushes, they will congregate around the more creative one - the one who's catching tadpoles or building a den."

Country Living Magazine's editor, Susy Smith says, "Country Living Magazine is concerned by the increasing number of today's children who are missing out on the benefits that nature provides to their health and mental wellbeing. We hope the Bring Back the Nature Table campaign will help children to reconnect with nature and not only reach their full potential, but also help safeguard the countryside for future generations."

Bill Jordans, founder of Jordans Cereals and Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, who was greatly influenced by nature as a child, says, "Growing up at our family flour mill in the heart of rural Bedfordshire, I saw first hand the damage that intensive arable farming had done. At Jordans we started selling organic cereal in the early 1970s and put specific wildlife-friendly farming practices at the heart of our company in the mid 1980s. My hope now is that by encouraging children to engage with the natural world they will do a much better job of looking after our countryside in the future than my generation has done in the past!"

As part of the campaign, Country Living Magazine is also holding a competition for Best School Nature Table (open to primary and junior schools throughout the UK) and Best Home Nature Project. The magazine has also dedicated 30 March as the official ‘Bring Back the Nature Table Day', which will include guided walks throughout the country and a free field guide with the April issue of Country Living Magazine.

The campaign, which is also supported by environmental education charity, the Field Studies Council, will be promoted at the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington, London from 12 - 16 March. Bill Jordan will also give a talk about the campaign during the fair.

Country Living has also set up its own office nature table complete with webcam which can be viewed at http://www.allaboutyou.com/country/country-living-nature-table-campaign/special

For more information, interviews and images, please contact:

Jane Wynyard
PR & Communications Manager
National Magazine Company
Phone: 020 7943 5211
Mobile: 07872 836722
Email: jane.wynyard@natmags.co.uk

Country Living Magazine signs Jordans for unique campaign to reconnect children with nature

Wednesday February 13 2008

Country Living magazine has signed a sponsorship deal with Jordans Cereals for a unique, multi-platformed campaign to raise awareness about the health and societal costs of isolating children from the natural world.

Launched in the March issue of Country Living magazine, the Bring Back the Nature Table campaign includes editorial features, print advertisements, cover mounts, ‘live' online support, an event and PR support.

Country Living magazine launched the Bring Back the Nature Table campaign in the wake of alarming research that shows UK children are losing touch with the natural environment, a loss that could damage their wellbeing and the future of the countryside.

Results from a survey recently conducted by the magazine show that less than half (45%) of the 1200 parents and grandparents surveyed, take their children out for a regular walk. And few (48%) actually take the time to stop and look at wildflowers or insects with their children and only 31% of those parents and grandparents said their children would even know what pussy willow was.

The campaign is calling for all UK schools to adopt nature tables in classrooms and will also be supported by a competition, an official day in honour of the nature table and guided walks. Nature tables, complete with sticky buds, catkins and pussy willow, were once common in primary school classrooms but have since disappeared. As part of the campaign, Country Living has set up its own office nature table, complete with webcam, which can be viewed on www.allaboutyou.com/country/country-living-nature-table-campaign/special

The magazine is also holding a competition for Best School Nature Table (open to primary and junior schools throughout the UK) and Best Home Nature Project. The magazine designated 30 March as the official ‘Bring Back the Nature Table Day', which included guided walks throughout the country and a free field guide with the April issue of Country Living Magazine.

The campaign, which is also supported by environmental education charity, the Field Studies Council, will also be promoted at the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington, London from 12 - 16 March. Bill Jordan, the founder of Jordans Cereals and Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, will give a talk about the campaign during the fair.

Country Living magazine editor, Susy Smith says: "We are delighted that Jordans has agreed to sponsor the Nature Table campaign. This is a project dear to the magazine's heart and Jordans is the perfect fit because of its commitment to Britain's natural heritage through its sustainable sourcing, conservation programme and Pensthorpe nature reserve. Bill Jordan was also influenced by the countryside as a child and we are honoured that he has personally put his weight behind the campaign."

Bill Jordans, founder of Jordans Cereals says, "Growing up at our family flour mill in the heart of rural Bedfordshire, I saw first hand the damage that intensive arable farming had done. At Jordans we started selling organic cereal in the early 1970s and put specific wildlife-friendly farming practices at the heart of our company in the mid 1980s. My hope now is that by encouraging children to engage with the natural world they will do a much better job of looking after our countryside in the future than my generation has done in the past!"

For more information, interviews and images, please contact

Jane Wynyard
PR & Communications Manager
National Magazine Company
Phone: 020 7943 5211
Mobile: 07872 836722
Email: jane.wynyard@natmags.co.uk