“Nature is the national wealth service”: says Natural England Chair, Tony Juniper, as he calls for new approach in a major report. He goes on to say benefits provided by nature make it vital to national prosperity.

The post National Wealth Service first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Follow this link to read more about:

Nature Towns & Cities

Natural England press release on Nature Towns & Cities

The post Nature Towns & Cities first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Fay Pisani, Project Development Manager – Three Harbours, said the following:

I’m enormously grateful to all of you for supporting the work of the partnership to get us to this milestone and I’m confident it will pave the way for accelerated action, greater cohesion and ultimately more wins for nature. Please feel free to share this with colleagues and wider stakeholders. It can be found on our webpage which is hosted by Solent Forum (gratitude to you).

Although this is a milestone we have been working towards for some time, this doesn’t meant we’ve been twiddling our thumbs. There’s plenty of movement on the high-level plan and I’ll give you a brief update on what’s been going on:

• Langstone Harbour Board have agreed to the development of a Masterplan that will draw together and enhance existing partner plans to restore the natural assets in the harbour. It will also catalyse a flagship project that redefines the identity of the harbour around its green and blue credentials.
• We are working with Southern Water to develop landscape recovery options for improved resilience against climate change and sea level rise across the Manhood Peninsula to inform future projects. This work will also refine a specific project that will improve connectivity and create wetland habitat around and between Pagham and Medmerry
• The Farming Group has been progressing discussions regarding a trial of the nutrient leaching tool which would support farmers in reducing nutrient emissions from their land. Farmers from the Manhood Farmers’ Cluster Group are interested in taking part in a trial of the scheme which is currently being reviewed nationally.
• As part of the CHaPRoN/Three Harbours Water Quality Group, we are developing a water quality monitoring programme focussed on nutrients. This is essential to understanding what is impacting our water quality and to inform interventions. It aims to standardise water quality data gathering so that all partners who collect data on water quality can align and the data becomes more comparable and provides a richer picture. Southern Water are hoping to support this with a research project that will contribute to the design of the programme.
• We have commissioned a baseline survey of seagrass at Medmerry after finding colonies had naturally established (11 years since the managed realignment). The survey was conducted a couple of weekends ago by Fathom Ecology and we are awaiting the report, but this will inform measures to protect and restore seagrass and may also help us to better understand the conditions under which it thrives.
• RSPB are investigating opportunities for the Beneficial use of Dredged Sediment in Langstone Harbour and hope to have a report in the coming months that will inform future projects to create saltmarsh friendly habitat.
• We will be supporting the project management of the delivery of the Downs to the Sea Ferry Pool Wetlands project at Pagham Harbour which will begin delivery in 2025.
• On the programme side, we have started to develop the Integrated Recovery Plan which will bring together all partner projects so we can all see in one view what all partners have planned. This will be mapped against themes of work and geographically, and will support greater cohesion across the partnership, prioritisation of activities, reduce duplication and should help us in matching funding to projects – basically making us more effective as a whole. I’m hoping to hold a workshop on this before the end of the year, so stay tuned.
• And finally, we are in the process of establishing an Executive Board to which the partnership would be accountable. We hope this board will be able to leverage greater traction and progress on the strategy. They will meet for the first time in the coming months.

The post Three Harbours Strategy first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

The report gathered the lived experiences of people who use blue space to improve their health and wellbeing as well as those living with barriers to accessing blue space and its benefits. By understanding the challenges and opportunities for improved access, experience and engagement with the water environment, the aim is to help more people gain from its benefits. This paper sets out the findings from eight themed workshops that captured the lived experiences and perspectives of frequent and infrequent blue space users as well as experts in the areas of blue space, health and inequalities.

Follow this link to find out more and to read Blue Space Forum Report

The post Blue Space Forum Report first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Did you know that moths migrate as well as birds? Autumn is a great time to set a moth trap – there is a good chance of catching species that have migrated from the continent as well as our resident moths. Join RSPB Pagham for a brew and chance to encounter these fascinating insects. There are over 2500 species of moth in the UK and they come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Some have the most incredible camouflage, while others are brighter and bolder than butterflies. We’ll be introducing you to some of these marvellous creatures when we open our trap and there will be opportunities for photographs too.

Sign up for Moths and Coffee, and many other RSPB events at Pagham Harbour in the coming weeks.

The post Moths and Coffee! first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Part of Culture Spark, an art project administered by Chichester District Council, visitors to RSPB Medmerry are invited to take photos at a fixed photo point overlooking the Medmerry breach, and uploading them to an online storage facility through which they can be  observed and downloaded.

The objective of Culture Spark is to create an online observatory of the ever changing face of the Medmerry Breach. The additional advantage is that this citizen science project is also charting the change in the Medmerry foreshore for use by coastal managers, the RSPB, and coastal change scientists.

Follow this link to access the images taken at the Medmerry Breach photo point

The post Medmerry Breach Photo Point first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Follow this link to read the .gov.uk press release about Tougher regulations as data shows water companies underperforming

The post Tougher Regs for Water Companies first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Follow this link to read the study into fibreglass in mussels and oysters in Chichester Harbour.

The post Fibreglass Chichester Oysters and Mussels first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

The post Cefas Climate Change Report first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.

Follow this link to read this report and others on the Reports section of the Sussex Kelp Recovery website

The post Sussex Kelp Recovery first appeared on Manhood Peninsula Partnership.