BASC has highlighted the collaborative work carried out to conserve and protect precious upland habitat to 80 cross-party MPs to mark the start of the grouse shooting season this week.
An e-newsletter focusing on BASC’s Let’s Learn Moor initiative – which this year took 1,400 schoolchildren to the moors of northern England to learn all about the uplands, the unique species that live there and the custodians who protect and conserve it – was sent to MPs with moorland in or near their constituencies.
Sophie Hutchinson, BASC’s political affairs manager, said collaborative efforts to connect children to our unique moorland were hugely important, as was getting the message across to MPs.
She said: “Let’s Learn Moor provides the opportunity for children to engage with the special habitats and species found on moorland.
“From sponge-like mosses, to insect-eating plants and ground-nesting birds like the iconic curlew or hunting merlin, Let’s Learn Moor ensures children begin to understand the special qualities of our moorlands.
“They learn about how it is managed and how local communities, gamekeepers, farmers and conservation organisations can work collaboratively to connect children to this rare and protected habitat.
“It is so important that the next generation is involved and that MPs are aware of the excellent work carried out by the custodians of the uplands and by the groups which are working together to introduce the next generation to the benefits of moorland management and the excellent knock-on impacts that extend far beyond the uplands.”