Welcome to Conservation Communication

If you are interested in learning and further understanding the countryside, its wildlife, country communities, farms and farmers, conservation works or those working and managing the land, then this is the place for you. Through our wonderful array of guest writers, we hope to bring you interesting articles spanning all of the above topics!

Where it all began!

Conservation Communication may be our brand now, but it has sprung up from four years of events held in the uplands. These events are the Why Moorlands Matter and more lately, Why Lowlands Matter events. Feeling an itch to do something to help British wildlife, our founder set about the challenge of getting those who maybe disagree about how our countryside and wildlife should be managed to actually meet, spend time together and talk. By borrowing houses on remote moorland and more recently lowland locations and inviting people to come and stay for 24 hours at no cost, he has managed to provide a safe and relaxed space for people to share enjoyment of our wildlife together while getting to know each other. Such events have proven both successful and productive. As one of our guests commented…

“There’s something about ‘living together’ with others, albeit for a brief moment, that fosters a desire to understand differing viewpoints, far more than can be achieved in a mere meeting. For some reason, passing somebody the butter, or saying goodnight rather than goodbye puts you in the mood to feel more open to others’ views while giving the confidence to share one’s own.”

What we hope to achieve…

To bring together people from different walks of life and mindsets for harmonising an inclusive approach for protecting Britain’s landscapes, wildlife and communities…

We are often asked what we achieve with our events and the good news is we can achieve success in many different ways. Introductions between people from which good things evolve, decision makers having a greater understanding of the uplands and/or lowlands and their communities, addressing myths about wildlife and what it requires to survive and flourish.

However, if any of our guests return home and enter into a discussion about such matters, they will now be able to say ‘well actually… I have been, and seen it with my own eyes and …’, that is itself an achievement compared to them not knowing

The Next Chapter

Over the years we hope that each guest has gained something from their visit and meeting other guests. While that was one of our objectives, the greatest beneficiaries of listening to the countless conversations was ourselves and learning how others see the countryside and why. We have realised that we in the countryside have an acute case of ‘curse of expertise’ or ‘expert’s curse’… a condition or cognitive bias that occurs when a person who has specialised knowledge assumes that others share in that knowledge. To take a very simple example – we have all seen signs in the countryside saying ‘dogs on leads’ but rarely is there a full explanation which, if there was, might help walkers feel willing to obey! Equally, there is any number of unsung heroes doing amazing work for the good of our wildlife and landscapes. They do not belong to any organisation which may or may not have featured on television but simply get on with achieving great things because they love what they do and the species they do it for.

In summary, through our Substack portal, our socials, our films and our events (and one day soon our Podcasts) we hope to share the countryside in a way that narrows the gap of understanding as well as highlights the massive amount of good work done by unsung heroes to help our countryside thrive and survive.