Old School Garden

A festive rattle through some of the plants associated with Christmas – some of which, but decidedly not all, grow in the North York Moors…

Sam Witham – Conservation Student Intern

Common hollyIlex aquifolium

Christmassy fact: Holly is well known as a festive winter decoration. The Romans sent holly branches with presents during the December festival of Saturnalia.

Other facts: ‘Holm’ is an old name for holly and is seen in place names such as Holmwood and Holmsdale.

UK Habitat: Woodland and hedgerows – it is commonly found as an understorey tree or shrub in oak and beech woods.

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Common ivy Hedera Helix

Christmassy fact: Traditionally ivy is associated with holly (hence the song) and used in festive winter decorations.

Other facts: Ivy can be mistaken for two different species as the juvenile leaves look totally different to the adult ones. In…

By Jamie Everitt

What links these four things together? Perhaps one of my favourite objects in the Norfolk Collections Centre, the enigmatic silk press. Let us find out how.

Norwich was once the most important cloth manufacturing town in Britain. Daniel Defoe, visiting in 1723, claimed that there were 120,000 textiles workers employed there. Although this was probably an exaggeration, there is no doubt that textiles were the backbone of the city’s trade for centuries.

In medieval times Norwich was renowned for its worsteds, a fine fabric made from combed wool. The name derives from the village of Worstead about 12 miles north of the city which, along with nearby Aylsham and North Walsham, first developed the trade in the 12th century. Carefully selected wools were prepared with a wool comb, a fearsome-looking instrument which had to be heated before use.

A wool comb from the collection of the Museum…

By Katrin Glatzel, Originally posted on Agrilinks.org, Dec 10th 2015

As the International Year of Soils comes to an end, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been passed and COP21 is wrapping up in Paris, it is time to reflect on the role soils can play in future development agendas.

The decision made at the Rio+20 conference to develop a set of SDGs and the agreement “to strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world in the context of sustainable development” created momentum to discuss the role soils play in the global sustainable development agenda. It also initiated discussions concerning the need to develop clear soil and land indicators, necessary implementation mechanisms, supporting governance instruments, and the role of public participation.

This is now, at least partially, reflected and anchored in SDG goal #15, “Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.” Furthermore, the…

Kate Bailey – Conservation Graduate Trainee

As winter approaches, avian visitors arrive from the north and east to spend winter in the British Isles where the climate is milder and food is more abundant. These visiting birds will then leave our shores to head for their breeding grounds in springtime.

Two well-known and widespread winter visitors to the North York Moors, and across the UK, are the winter thrushes – Redwing and Fieldfare. Flocks are a well-known sight in our British countryside with hundreds of birds arriving each year looking for food.

Redwings Turdus iliacus

Redwings tend to arrive from Iceland and Scandinavia to winter in the UK before heading south to breed come springtime. Although a very small number have been known to breed in the far north of Scotland. These small thrushes are dark brown above and white below, with a black-streaked breast and orange-red flanks and underwing. The…

Originally posted on: 4th December 2015, Grantham Institute 

As we mark World Soil Day, and with COP21 well into its first week, Dr Katrin Glatzel of Agriculture for Impacttakes a look at how good soil and land management practices can help us achieve important climate and development goals.  

Soil matters. The decision made at the Rio+20 conference to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the agreement ‘to strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development’ gave momentum to discussions on the role of soils in the global sustainable development agenda. This is now, at least partially, reflected and anchored in SDG goal #15, ‘Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.’

In addition to this, earlier this year the French Government launched its “4 per 1000” initiative, aimed at making…

One of the buildings often found next to a Roman forum is the basilica. It served as a place where people could meet. Basilicas had no statues of Roman gods and had beautiful light that came in through windows near the roof, so they were a favorite gathering place for early Christians.

The plan of the basilica was later adopted for the construction of important churches. Lisbon has an elegant basilica at Estrela, built in 1790 by Queen  Maria I.

Few people seem to know that one can climb the stairs to the roof of the Estrela basilica and enjoy in peaceful silence breathtaking views of the city. It is a perfect place to meet Lisbon.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Agriculture, being a significant contributor to climate change, will no doubt be on the agenda at COP21 discussions being held in Paris at the moment. Despite being a noted omission from UNFCCC negotiations to date, it is a sector which can’t be ignored if we are to halt climate change. Recent research found that while emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) were dropping in terms of their contribution to overall emissions (29% of man-made emissions in the 1990s to 21% in 2010), emissions from agriculture are growing at around 1% per year. Yet there is a lack of public awareness of the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from farming. In a global survey by Chatham House less than a third of people surveyed thought that meat and dairy production significantly contributed to climate change, despite it having a larger carbon footprint than the…