Monday, 19 May 2025

The Juno Project - sharing justice - citizenship & democracy

 



Juno Enterprise Charitable Association was established in Autumn 1984 & was up and running, delivering benefits by 1985. We went on to become a registered charity, charity number: 1169031.In Autumn 2024 we celebrated 40 years of achievements. During that time we gained funding from the National Lottery. We were delighted to deliver our programme: "Out to Learn" with our Juno Enterprise Learning Community. 
The "Out to Learn" programme was a huge, popular success 



(Above: learning about natural and cultural heritage, South Yorkshire)

After celebrating our 40th anniversary, it was acknowledged that so much had been achieved and sustained over such a long period and that all of our objectives had been met. With this in mind, the decision was taken to dissolve the charity and wind up the organisation. 

However, having worked closely with two partners, Dawn Chorus Educational Initiative CIC & First Peace Chaplaincy on a co-operative partnership called Triple Helix, the chance was offered to acknowledge the historical contribution that had been made by Juno Enterprise Charitable Association, by naming a legacy project delivered by First Peace Chaplaincy:

The Chaplaincy’s "Juno Project". We understand that co-operation assists implementation of strong standards. It encourages responsive flexibility; clear, simple achievable & creative concepts; moral, ethical & meaningful action creates healthy outcomes; local enjoyment & worth. First Peace Chaplaincy Learning Community Networks engage, nurture, motivate, enable, encourage and support learning, increase in thoughtful, mindful & compassionate attitudes; multi level community connections & potential. 
Assisting the understanding of democracy and governance in our Community Support Programme & it fosters skills for participation in decisions that affect communities & impact on our lives & economy. We encourage accessible local democracy, encouraging collective responsibility, to help assure that the basic means of life, growth & development are available for all. 
First Peace Chaplaincy works within communities, discussing & exploring how their own resources & destinies can be ethically secured; fostering the understanding that life resources, such as water, needed by plants, animals & humans, should be affordable, accessible to all, uncontaminated & sustainably managed.
The Chaplaincy delivers learning in organic plant based food growing, seed saving & propagation, pollination, composting and soil management. We encourage the development and sharing of innovative low technology solutions by networking information & cooperates with indigenous communities in specified international locations, respecting their right to seek inclusion in international agreements among nations, thus giving them a voice; indigenous people must be on an equal footing with other people & nations. The Chaplaincy Eco-spirituality programme offers and publicise opportunities & support for all, helping people meet their needs & fulfil their ethical aspirations, showing that enterprise is rooted in & responsible to communities & future generations. Cindy Bamford children’s activity leader thanked us for supporting Woodborough Preschool: “The children are really happy learning and having fun in their natural environment “. 
The Chaplaincy offers participation, learning resources, assemblies, deliberations, communication, forums & experience with the potential to increase self determination. Benefits include increase in thoughtful, mindful & compassionate attitudes; opportunity; multi level community connections & potential, for example at the start of Michaelmas Term 2024, our Communities of Interest Learning Groups and Community Learning Groups discussed plans and expectations for the Democracy and Governance Programme, debating concepts of inclusion & involvement, transparency & truth, pluralism & neoliberalism, freedom of speech & the rise of the far right, systems & accountability.
In the course of nurturing learning in environmental protection, the Juno Project also encompass animal welfare, community development, citizenship and democracy, human rights and well-being.



People ask what inspired the name, it derives from the Goddess Juno who is associated with women’s enterprise, regeneration & peacocks. Peacocks appear in the Juno Project logo, below, with Juno, Cupid (social engagement) & Silvanus (the environment, nature) .The motto: “Educate to Rejuvenate: to aid & benefit our communities” is from concepts associated with Juno: iuvare, “to aid, benefit”, iuvenescendo, “to rejuvenate" . Below: Percy Peacock is our project mascot. Peacocks pulled the chariot of Juno.




Above: 1st. Peace Chaplaincy Interfaith & Eco Spirituality Ministry logo.

1st. Peace Chaplaincy Interfaith & Eco Spirituality Ministry: The Ministry, benefits communities of co-operation,  encouraging an increase in thoughtful, mindful and compassionate attitudes; opportunity; multi level community connection and potential. First Peace Chaplaincy Interfaith & Eco Spirituality Ministry,  celebrated 40 years of service to the Anglo American community in 2022. First Peace Chaplaincy, having been established for over 40 year, published a 40 year report in 2024.
In 1982 Chief Frank Chilcote, a Crow Medicine Man, who had set up the XAT Society and Prison-Ashram project (based in Seattle) & The Anglo American Support Society for Native American Prisoners (based in Camelford), both asked the founder, to set up a UK interfaith chaplaincy supporting Native American prisoners. XAT felt that a chaplaincy in the UK, a country without the death penalty, could bring a different perspective to that of groups working in the USA. First Peace Chaplaincy is proud of the organisations ministry for death row prisoners.
The Chaplaincy took its name from Black Elks famous lines: “The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the centre of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its centre is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
The reach of First Peace Chaplaincy has been expanded: now work in the wider communities of interest wherever the needed is evident. The chaplaincy ministers to people who are unable to attend the usual spiritual community activities, by being present or in a position to communicate. The Ministry listens, responds and offers appropriate care and general ministry. They empower users to nurture there own spiritual coping strategies. As well as spiritual ministry, the chaplaincy delivers moral and religious education, pastoral support, community and cultural activities and compassionate and humanitarian projects. They work with the spirit whatever the faith.
The Chaplaincy is committed to co-operation in the diverse society in which we all live, offering understanding of citizenship and democracy as well as exploring:
1.Interfaith dialogue between people of different religious traditions and by sharing goals of understanding the varied traditions and web of world religions. One way of doing this is to learning about the histories & beliefs of others, whilst celebrating our own named festivals.
2. Multifaith affinity with aspects of the group of beliefs and range of philosophy that follow: Pagan, Heathen, 1st. Nations, African Animism, Celtic & Saxon Christian, Spiritualism.
The Chaplaincy offers expertise in spiritual ecology & wider well being programmes, alongside traditional ministry, worship & mysticism. We have found ourselves more in demand than ever, as people report feeling anxious about the social & political turmoil, fighting & war around the world & lack of action on climate change, nature loss, human & animal suffering.
Mission Points:
1.The Chaplaincy will provide a writing ministry for First Nations in the USA ( first facilitated in co-operation with the Anglo-American prison support association UK & XAT Medicine Society in the USA
2.The Chaplaincy will provide a writing ministry & justice campaign for animal rights, environmental campaigners & political prisoners in the UK
3.The chaplaincy raises awareness of Eco-spirituality within communities of interest. Our Eco-spirituality ministry supports those with anxiety from climate, nature & biodiversity collapse, through prayer, practical actions, education, spiritual practice & the healing of relationships with nature.
4.The Ministry seeks to heal the heart of people and communities & enhance life therein & encourage well balanced free will & well being & within communities, people, the animal kingdom & all of nature, ministering to each soul & divine spirit & fostering thoughtful, mindful, compassionate attitudes, connections & potential. Names & issues can be submitted for our Lyfjaberg healing book.
5.The Chaplaincy supports social justice, animal & environmental welfare & works to create co-operation & understanding through interfaith projects & multi-faith inclusion; working with the spirit whatever the faith: pagan, heathen, US 1st. Nation & African animism, Celtic & Saxon Christian, Spiritualism…the web of world religions.
6.The Ministry uses prayer, spiritual, magical & psychic mysteries & works with nature & the divine to create positive change & display gratitude, joy & nurture & enhance all life.7.The Chaplaincy maintains it’s liminal position, it’s awareness of spirit, it’s willingness to learn & act responsibly. We work with other chaplaincies, ministries & circles that harmonise with our own. At First Peace Chaplaincy, Tuesday mornings, 10:30-11:30 is Spiritual Ecology Hour.
The Chaplaincy volunteers choose from the topics: 1.Prayer. 2.Small practical actions. 3. Earth healing Path walking. 4. Nature & well being visualisation. 5. Magical Battle of Middle Earth. 6. Positive spiritual ecology affirmations. 7. Building awareness of how spiritual principles can influence our approach to thinking about & engaging in ecological matters. 8.How best to support animist or divine concepts when perceiving & speaking about ecology. 9. Talk in the community, about the sacred value of Earth 10. Mindfully & thoughtfully reading an item of relevance to nature and spirituality. 11. Small Circles Group is our group to support those working with children. Below children exploring the natural environment at Clumber Park.
































Above: family activities. Since 1985 we have developed a range of educational resources & learning opportunities for children on a range of issues: animal welfare, wellbeing, the arts, cultural and natural heritage often helping parents, toddlers and pre-school children to explore nature together, to support our eco-spirituality and wellbeing work. We constantly update & expand our learning resources for Key Stages: 1, 2 & 3.

We recently helped with shelter building and story telling activities for preschool children, brewing up hot chocolate, hammering with wooden mallets, tying ropes, telling stories, practicing communication and teamwork skills and getting lots of fresh air.

At Easter 2024, on a visit to Spern Head, children were able to see billions of browntail moth caterpillars, barn owls, curlews, stilts & mute swans.


 







Above: colour and texture in nature.

Learning mechanisms used in our programmes:
• Through improving learning pathways & people's learning experience.
• Through engagement & involvement.
• Through inspiring people (for example, to get involved with food growing).
• Through skills support.
• Through engaging teachers & educators.

Children learn about art in the landscape. The Chaplaincy has unprecedented experience in the following areas, that we strive to embed into our programme delivery:

Wider key skills and basic skills.

Outdoor and forest experience learning.

Arts education, creative and heritage learning.




















"What is this?" Child's found object, family walking session April 2013.

These activities seem to help people to value the same natural features as do wildlife. By protecting such areas for biodiversity in a wild state, are we not ensuring space in which our children can exercise through physically play, a place to develop social skills and mental agility?

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Wild places can sustain psychological resilience and wellbeing.

We believe that children & young people are the most important resource in our society & we strive to enable them to make a positive contribution.

Below: Andrea Wright Preschool Manager.

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“Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.” –  Barack Obama

Children taking part in Earth Day action and learning about responsibilities and sustainability.

Below: toddler looking for ladybirds in an old tree.











At First Peace Chaplaincy we encourage a supportive, nurturing culture, which builds early learning principles and practices based on the real world, to give meaningful, relevant experience. This can lead to positive life long learning patterns, improved confidence and self-direction. We believe that most youngsters want to be respected and trusted and want to co-operate in contributing to the community, in a responsible and sustainable way. We aim to build children's confidence & encourage mentors to experiment with approaches to learning which are filled with vitality & creativity. We use positive affirmations with the children as they create effective self-regulation and give the tools to persevere during troubled or stressful situations, boosting self-esteem and helping create positive mental attitude, thinking and outlook. We encourage Trust Nurturing and PACE parenting, where playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy are key. This Opens communication, helping children to experience being listened to in a safe place. Children then start to explore, discover and learn.


Above: exploring.

We aim to: raise awareness of the vital role played by families in raising levels of attainment. Develop opportunities for parents, carers & guardians to support children and special needs family members: for example as part of our community awareness and well being work: we arranged an event where mental health service users and young people with learning difficulties visited the office of the Nottinghamshire Crime and Police Commissioner.

Work with families in receipt of pupil premium, including adoptive families and forces families. We also integrate these activities with initiatives for those who feel lonely and isolated in our communities. This often leads to intergenerational cooperation and sharing.

Foster involvement and hands on seasonal creative learning activities, which promote an understanding of the power of nature & horticulture; the arts & heritage. this help children to transform their understanding of the world and their communities. One example is our popular annual photographic competitions.

Encourage family access to intergenerational activities, events and play-learning games, to develop compassionate and creative thinking, social responsibility, healthy eating & mental wellbeing, basic skills, understanding of & skills in animal welfare, environmental and social responsibility. For example: community, family and children's cooking sessions are popular.

Below: angel, Laxton Church.









We understand that creative and arts activities, stimulate learning and creativity in all academic areas. The arts develop neural systems such as motor skills and emotional balance, aesthetic awareness, cultural awareness, social harmony and appreciation of diversity. Helping children to understand cultural heritage and history, builds self-esteem and pride in place & community. Children who are read stories and who are taught to listen to music become good listeners: in lessons, in relationships, in social care roles and may become more empathetic and compassionate. 2012 saw a 30% contraction in arts funding in the UK, this makes our work even more vital and worthy of support.

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We deliver landscape conservation and skills development & promoting outdoor education for all ages. We are working hard to help bees and pollinating insects. Our Moth-Watch Challenge had good community participation and turned up many colourful species such as the Poplar Hawk Moth.

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Below: "discovering the peg" used to mark the strips in the medieval strip farming still practiced at Laxton.











Below: green spaces are important for children.









Our community engagement for all ages, in just one week, helped children's groups to: celebrate heritage festivals, take part in garden bird watching, countryside ID & pond adventures. 

Our community project on ammonites model making for children and our family kitchen food preserving project, has been important to our communities in lockdown, stimulating the documentation of the memories of participants. First Peace Chaplaincy set up fifteen virtual learning community event forums during lockdown, to promote thinking and awareness on a range of topics. We will maintain this type of engagement as part of our ongoing programme delivery.

In contrast to the virtual world, our real world  learning activity outings are popular & range from consideration of medieval stonework in Tickhill, South Yorkshire, to architectural furniture in Grantham & cooperation with SEND Nottingham, who work with hard to reach children and young people in an inner city area. We have been in demand in the community, to support cross-curricular immersive learning: developing compassion, cultural experience, creativity, academic potential, social skills & outdoor learning possibilities. We have developed resources to support elective home education groups. Activities directly link to Key Stages of the National Curriculum. In one project, our volunteers helping children to check insect hotels, comparing designs to find out the preference of specific species for various designs.

We have endeavoured to advance understanding of
  • welfare, well-being, quality of life, happiness and enjoyment.
  • equality, equity & ethical communities; social, environmental & economic welfare
  • the arts and cultural heritage, including sustainable ceramics research.
  • landscape and natural heritage.
  • wildlife and animal welfare.
  • responsible, compassionate and sustainable lifestyles .
  • climate change and eco-philosophy. 










Animal welfare and ethics

                                    


 







Wildlife & Animal Welfare:

This programme complements our natural heritage; climate change & sustainability work & underpins the compassionate, ethical, cooperative & educational culture that we seek to foster. To promote welfare for all creatures. To offer volunteering & training opportunities & infrastructure support to partners.  To complement our learning programmes, especial the healthy plant-based diet & lifestyles unit in our well being programme & the international equity unit within our international cooperation programme.

Promoting bioethics & challenging speciesism: For thirty five years First Peace Chaplaincy Eco-spirituality mission has delivered community learning activities that have been cutting edge and trail blazing. Biodiversity, animal welfare, climate change, sustainability, wildlife, landscape conservation and habitats, heritage culture and wellbeing all remain key work streams. Since we started our work, parts society have moved on to embrace the vital importance of climate change, biodiversity and veganism, which are now main stream rather than marginal issues. We believe that climate survival and speciesism are crosscutting issues. In these areas we are long established as expert educators and project delivery agents.

Our wildlife friendly organic heritage trials garden, has a much loved worm hotel, the worms have an excellent, comfortable, predator free home with as much food as they can eat. In exchange they provide us with rich compost and liquid fertilizer. Earth worms benefit the planet, making our soil healthy and increasing the capacity for rain water to be stored at root level. Pesticides, compaction from heavy machinery, lack of bio-matter and other modern farming practices have led to a steep decline in earth worms. 42% of UK farmland surveyed was deficient in earth worms. It is not just farming; many golf courses eradicate worms with chemicals to prevent spoiling of the greens. Some experts warn that not only does our planet have a crisis in pollinating insects (such as bees) and earthworms (both essential to food production) but that all insects and invertebrates, given current rates of decline, could vanish within 100 years. This would lead a total ecosystems collapse.  We had a huge response to our simple online survey asking people if they pick up worms from paths and move them to a place of safety; it is heartening to know that so many people care about earth worms!

We set up a virtual learning community event during lockdown, aimed at anglers, individuals and community wildlife groups, to increase awareness that fish feel pain. We have also stimulated community based discussion to try to help stop shrink-wrapped live packaged lobsters being sold in supermarkets to be bought to boil alive. Education, beneficial activity and involvement are vital to fight climate change and biodiversity decline. We support many eco-conscious and animal rights campaigns and create peaceful pathways for members of the community to become involved in creating social and environmental justice and making the positive change that they wish to see in the world.








Above: mental health service users enjoying pond dipping in a First Peace Chaplaincy Eco-spirituality & wellbeing event. Our biodiversity activities include a strong commitment to “social prescribing” & good pond management experience & members have offered advice to landowners interested in conservation. This is vital because, in the twentieth century the UK countryside has lost half of its ponds.  Pond Conservation estimate that of the remaining ponds, 80% are in poor state. Agri-pollution has played a huge part in damaging these ponds & the associated wildlife. Pond dipping makes a great community activity, led by a responsible conservationist, and helps us to realise just how important ponds are. Your could consult your Local Biodiversity Action Group website and look at the Habitat Action Plan for ponds in your area.

Other activities recorded the historical and cultural heritage value of ponds, and lakes to our local communities in areas such as Dark Lane in Calverton.

First Peace Chaplaincy was keen to offer support during lock down. We set up a virtual learning community event during lockdown for individuals and wildlife community groups, promoting awareness of the dangers of moving spawn, frogs or plants from a natural pond or between garden ponds. Transmission of pest plants and diseases can follow. It is better to create in your garden or field corner, lush hiding places as frogs don’t actually live in ponds but will visit supportive habitats on your site. DO NOT move frogspawn or tadpoles from pond to pond or site to site, it can transfer & spread a virus around the country that kills frogs. The deadly frog disease is spreading across Britain with 80% of frogs killed in some areas. People taking spawn from ponds to new places are spreading it. Frogs can develop skin ulcers, sores and can bleed and die due to the devastating ranavirus.

Below: access to nature can teach that habitats are vital to wildlife and people.








This Green Woodpecker was a recent rescue, by a member of our community, it was cared for after being hit by a car. We are pleased to report that after being checked out by the Cedars Animal Sanctuary by Wendy & Phil, the Green Woodpecker has recovered well and has been released in the Burton Dumbles area.  Wendy said: "it has done well, woodpeckers usually get so stressed". Our volunteer, Andrew said "When I released it, it knew where it was, it seemed pleased to be home, it fly in a great arc around the meadow & up into the top of the tree where it sat calling"













During the snowy weather, lots of people ask us for advice on feeding garden birds, including many parents seeking to get children interested; it is important to feed & put out water for birds. In the spring people seek advice on baby birds who have fallen from nests. We only hand rear birds, such as the nestling below, as a last resource, mother birds knows best how to look after chicks.




In May 2015, a community member scooped up young great tit fledglings, who had become soaked in the storm and were stranded in a puddle in the dark . Overnight the young birds were dried out & released next morning. Check out our Facebook page for more news like this and to get tips on caring for wildlife, like this wood-pigeon who needed attention. 









We have specific expertise in rodentology & have completed training in the care of rodents teeth. Do you like this cheeky wee fellow.

We are seeing lots of support and demand for our wildlife and animal welfare work. We work through direct intervention and by raising awareness of good practice and animal welfare issues through contact with communities, children and family activities, support for volunteers and businesses, information networking and digital inclusion. 

The welfare of farm animals is of great concern and we offer educational advice and activities, on compassionate & plant based healthy eating.

Our Kosy-Kitchen project was set up to celebrate the millennium (in 2000) and nurture a plant based vegan diet, promote health and compassion. Our resources on Pinterest are well accessed & popular We initiate animal care and welfare activities. We encourage moral, ethical thinking towards animals, challenge speciesism and explore bioethics. We actively oppose all cruelty. We challenge animal abuse, including vivisection, as we do racism, bullying and exclusion. We champion the concept of a world where all animals can live freely, in peace and lead dignified and naturally fulfilled lives.

In the wild, chickens spend their days pecking at the ground for food and dustbathing. In factory farming chickens do not have the opportunity to live natural lives. Most people are now aware of the terrible suffering of battery hens. In addition, the males from egg-laying hens (who being male do not produce eggs) are culled whether the egg farm is free range or battery. The few short hours of a male chick’s life are ended in a gas chamber or they are minced up alive. Chickens reared for meat are called ‘broiler’ chickens. ‘broiler sheds’ can hold 40,000-50,000 birds. Crowding and machinery noise offers little opportunity to rest. Bred to grow fast, and with just 670cm per bird, they can be more crowded than caged egg-laying hens. This unnatural rapid growth, enormously strain their skeletons, often causing leg deformities that can prevent them from reaching food and water. Other health problems are documented and burns to the chickens’ legs are common, from ammonia in the excrement on the shed floor. Antibiotic-laced food is needed to keep them alive. It is said that six per cent of all chickens reared for meat (50 million per year) die in broiler sheds. Most chickens reared for meat are slaughtered at just six weeks old, having lived just a tiny fraction of their natural lifespan of around six years. At First Peace Chaplaincy, we support initiatives that work to rescue chickens and other poultry and improve the lives of these widely abused birds.









Above: rescue chickens, well cared for and living natural lives.

The beautiful picture of the much-loved pony, below, was sent to us by our supporter Niki Senior from Norfolk, who runs an animal welfare programme.


Above, rescued, re-homed and good companions. Look out for volunteers on the leaflet stalls in your community. Shawn one of our supporters, a priest in Norfolk, after seeing our hedgehog house building & hibernation resource, sent us the picture below, that she took, saying: "Fancy doing a hedgehog workshop here in Norfolk?" We are updating forty learning resource packs, including our hedgehog pack; they will be available soon.



















Above: One of our over wintering hedgehogs.

In July 2016 we installed a new observation and recovery pen, it is occupied at the moment by a friendly young wood pigeon who was picked up after a RTA

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Above: our Calverton cat project has two work strands, the care of large numbers of homeless cats and a safe antifreeze campaign following the death of 22 cats from antifreeze poisoning in Calverton. Compassion for animals is fostered.



















Willows, water & the moon - spiritual-ecology chaplaincy - First Peace Chaplaincy



 


The Landscape, Natural Heritage & Eco-spiritualitynot only deal with our spiritual and mental relationships but also our relationships with & anxieties for climate and nature and interests in flora, fauna & heritage landscape. Our projects aim to increase understanding of & conservation of the natural environment, heritage landscapes, habitats, special trees & heritage horticulture involving traditional orchards &  organic, wildlife gardening with heirloom seed. We invite communities to link people with landscapes, in, for example, the Dumble communities of Nottinghamshire, especially those who do not usually access the countryside or traditional cultural or spiritual events. Our outdoor learning activities increase pleasure & safeguard natural heritage & target species. We put into action Habitat Action Plans & Species Action Plans & enrich biodiversity, to improve our countryside’s natural and historical heritage for the community.









Insects: Our community members monitor biodiversity - how many different species live in an ecosystem. They make butterfly counts and record moths, lady birds, shieldbugs, dragonflies, bees and spiders, beetles and other insects on an ongoing basis. But in national insect week we share our findings with our supporters. "A single teaspoon of the Cruiser SB pesticide is enough to deliver a lethal dose to 1.25 billion bees." Ecosystems are failing. The "insect apocalypse" sees insect numbers in England declining rapidly with 65% fewer insects recorded in 2021 than in 2004. Farming methods, councils cutting verges, inappropriate development & gardens that are wildlife deserts, lead to loss of biodiversity. Other wildlife flora & fauna & food production for humans is threatened & Climate Emergency increased. Fewer bees & other pollinating insects obviously lead to shrinking crops. Already, fruit growers in UK are seeing less yield and lower-quality produce because of loss of insects. Scientists warn that further loss could have significant impacts.  In 2024 all of our partners, supporters, friends & volunteers are reporting a silent summer, with an unimaginable drop in insect numbers.  Emergency legislation is required. Photographs shown here are by volunteers and supporters. Below: spider by our supporter Christina.



 











Monitoring takes place across our communities.





























Our records have been submitted to Nottinghamshire Geological and Biological Records Office for many years. Our in house, specially designed volunteer species monitoring form has been in use on specified sites since the 1970's and provide a valuable data set. We check back to historical records on some of our sites, using: "A Flora of Nottinghamshire". Our volunteers are interested in linking in with East Midlands iSpot based at Nottingham University. Monitoring biodiversity has many benefits. Monitoring population sizes of protected species in conservation areas gives outlines the success of

conservation practice. Monitoring invasive species and infectious organisms, such as Varroa mite, can trigger corrective action. This is vital as biodiversity is being lost at national and international level. A number of species have become extinct in the UK in recent years.
The two photographs below are by our friend Gaina:

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Warren Priest is looking for help in identifying 400 species of beautiful moths. Warren photographed the moths in Sikkim Province India. A link to Warren's photographs can be found in our links section. If you can help, please contact us in the first instance.

Making dead-wood piles for insect habitats, is always a popular activity with our volunteers.


Our community members made daily photographic records of this tree bumblebee colony in the run-up to National Insect week 2013, posting it on twitter at the start of the week. It was a great way to engage interest.

In her book "The Earth Path" by Starhawk, she reflects: "The number of insect species will tell you something about the amount of life energy on this spot".










We planted native pollen & nectar plants. The nations starving bees can not fend of virus attack and are weak in the face of agri-chemical poisoning. Our publicity campaigns during National Insect Week ask supporters to plant for bees & butterflies and be organic gardeners.










Remember to plant for night pollinators. Whilst plants such as annual poached egg plant, Limnanthes douglasii (which can grow in poorly drained clay soils) is great by day, Matthiola longipetala, known as night-scented stock or evening stock, is a species of ornamental plant that is brilliant and attractive in the evening.

Ivy is one of our most valuable wildlife plants and our only evergreen native climbing shrub. Given this, it is one of the species that we have chosen to target in our educational work. The only ivy native to the UK is Hedera helix. Only Hedera Helix has the full wildlife value as it bears flowers and berries which many of the cultivars do not. It has distinct juvenile and adult growth forms. It tolerates low light levels and a range of soils, favouring woodland where it provides good ground cover. In winter it benefits insects and small mammals by providing a foraging area for ground feeding birds such as thrushes and dunnocks. The dense vertical cover provides an ideal shelter and roost site for birds and bats such as the pipistrelle. Many species of bird such as wren, dunnock, blackbird and spotted flycatcher nest in ivy covered walls or trees. Several moth species depend on ivy as a larval food-plant and caterpillars of species such as the swallow-tailed moth, the old lady and the willow beauty can often be found feeding on the leaves. The holly blue butterfly is dependent on ivy as a food plant for its second generation caterpillars. Many species of butterfly (including Red admiral), moth, hoverfly, green bottle, wasp and bee are attracted to fuel up for hibernation at the flowers. It provides a very rich late summer to autumn nectar food, when other nectar sources are scarce; indeed queen wasps depend on these December flowers. The berries are an important food source for birds, including blackbirds, woodpigeons, collared doves, robins and blackcaps as well as small mammals such as wood mice. Comma, Painted Lady, small tortoiseshell and brimstone butterflies hibernate in ivy.

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Ivy is not parasitic and draws sustenance through its earth roots, using the fibber fingers only to cling to non living, non vascular vertical bark surfaces. Indeed ivy becomes self supporting and can often retain its upright bush form after the death and decay of a tree, hence extending the valuable habitat. Ivy wood is strong yet flexible and has a forking characteristic; it has traditionally been used to make pitch forks. The plant has a range of folk uses. Ivy only climbs relatively mature trees and does not cause many problems. People often think that it is taking over a tree; however what is happening is that the tree may be old or have a fungal infection that is to blame for its reduced canopy and the ivy is taking advantage to fill the void and provide a new wildlife habitat. The spread of the plant in the crown of the tree can deprive the leaves in the tree canopy of sunlight. In the case of a dead or dying tree, it is possible that the wind could catch ivy and cause break out but more often ivy protects tree trunks by dissipating wind. In such cases strategic trimming of the ivy foliage can help (it is not all trimmed at once but the impact to wildlife is spread by rotating the areas trimmed over a number of years) but cutting the ivy stem is pointless, it will not reduce the foliage but will be unsightly and useless to wildlife. This work should be a last resort: avoid trimming during flowering and fruiting (berries stay on the bush between November and April), avoid bird nesting season (March-July) and get a professional bat survey as bat roosts are protected by law.


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Willow, water & the moon: Willow pollards on the Dover Beck recorded by our community, 2010.









It is interesting to follow the landscape changes, as the becks & rivers run from the dumble valleys to the flat flood planes of the river Trent where, in places, riverine tree fauna has been lost to agricultural development.

Mapping the willows helps us to understand the importance of linear habitats. Rivers (& hedges, see our project,” understanding & using hedgerows” looking at everything from food & dye stuffs to surveying & encouraging sustainable management) can be link-corridors for species, reduce fragmentation & islandisation of habitats; so important in the face of climate change & development pressures. We all enjoy reserves but they can be wildlife ghettos if isolated. Vibrant character landscapes at landscape level are essential.

Dumbles differ from other river valley forms, the shape of the base is distinct, probably being formed by ice rather than water. They subsequently offer a route for becks, issuing from springs, along the hollow, valleys. The becks can cut small islands & changing paths in the steep-sided clay ravines with hanging ancient woodland. Here we find hazel, elder, ash, oak, blackthorn, hawthorn, alder, maple, crab apple, damson, bullace, dogwood, guelder rose & poplars, whilst all along the becks we find sallow, osier & hybrid willows whose roots prevent river bank erosion as the species colonizes. Willow seeds float off, needing to germinate within a few days in damp soil. Twigs break off & are carried down stream where they root easily.



Above: the great ancient willow pollards on the Dover Beck have been recorded by our volunteers since 2012. Below: new willow pollard made 2015.





















Above: willow wood piles, following pollarding.

Crack willows (distinguished by a coarse toothed leaf edge, brittle twigs & grey bark) & white willows (high in natural “aspirin” salicin beneath the bark) often hybridise; an example being the cricket bat willow - so difficult to grow commercially due to watermarking.

Mature & ancient pollards can have huge knobbly girths.  

Willows recorded by our community: above on the Cocker Beck 2013 and below on the Dover Beck 2014.











The silvery moon sheen leaves of white willow build up in the narrow crowned species & with the deeply fissured bark, help these trees to form mini nature reserves, with aphids, leaf beetles, gall wasps, weevils & sawflies on the leaves & long tailed tits calling from the tops of the pollards.

Crack willows split easily. Cracks contain soft, disintegrating wood chips, ideal for cozy, secret nest sites. While storm torn branches falling across dumble banks, make natural bridges from which we can watch the wake of water voles & twitching plants as they make for the bank-side burrows.

Smaller sallow willows, known by the popular pussy willows & rounder leaves, are also keen to hybridise. They are happy on high dumble banks & on drier open bank sides, eg: bushy common sallow/grey willow & wrinkle leaved round-eared willow, likes the acid sandy soil near to Gunthorpe. Sallows have had many uses. The early nectar was of use to beekeepers. Willow has often been cut for fodder in droughts; this is how goat willow was named. Sallows are one of the oldest tree species in the UK, so have had much time to hybridise…hence the many local forms. Below: Trent side willow stands.





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The hybrids were often preferred for specific uses: from prehistoric times they have been used for wattles & basketry. They were used for tax receipt tallies (a split withy joined exactly, each party retained one half as proof. Parliament burned down when the “willow archives” were cleared to make way for modern systems, too many tallies were thrown onto the furnace at once), artists' charcoal, harness traces & plant propagation: willows give off root promoting hormones in water, slips were put into containers with plant cuttings.
Since 2004, our community has been recording willow pollards in the Dover Beck & Cocker Beck valleys & across the dumbles of Nottinghamshire, propagating plants from traditional East Midland basket willow varieties, such as the Basford Yellow Willow.
In the dumble wet ditches, rivers and streams, our volunteers record water shrews, water voles, narrow-leaved water plantain, kingfisher, winter cress, water crowfoot and burnet; in more open stretches near the Trent we can see grey heron & oyster catchers, egret and even glossy ibis and divers ...what do you see?

In the spring, native willow pollen is a very important sources of protein for eight species of bumblebee as well as butterflies, moths and other insects. Please don't cut back native willows. Leave plenty of willows for wildlife, such as queen bumblebees coming out of hibernation. Allowing native willows to grow will provide sustainable, long-term nectar for pollinating insects. Pussy Willow is the primary spring pollen and nectar source when little else is available. Willows grow fast (even on poor land) are easily and cheaply raised from cuttings and supply nectar and carbon capture in a few years. Native willows offer early pollen protein that can help rebuild our wild insect populations and improve pollination in wild plants and food crops; 20% of UK cropland bears insect pollinated crops, including apples, plums, pears, linseed, buckwheat and oilseed rape. The Chaplaincy has been raising this specific point, through 2024 and into 2025, with our Community Learning Groups & Communities of Interest Learning Groups as part of our project: Citizens Collective Action For Rewilding.

The River Trent at Hoveringham.






















Pictured here, Hardraw Waterfall, Wensleydale contrasts with the gentle waters of the Dover & Cocker Beck valley; which give rise to many springs such as the Calverton Burnor Pool (haunted by a white lady who may be a memory of Bona Dea) and Kean well (with its Iron Age & Mediaeval history) or those of Lambley Dumbles. The Dover & Cocker Beck Valley & the Nottinghamshire Dumbles have many old willows, as can be seen in Hoveringham & Woodborough. In Burton Joyce we have Willow Wong, a wong being an Anglo-Saxon strip of land. The name willow comes from the Saxon “welig”.

Below: the Cocker Beck at Lowdham & clouds of sky blue chicory on the Cocker & Dover Becks.



























Many of the willows that our community is recording are pollards. The trees are pollarded to reduce the weight, preventing the tree from cracking should branches be caught up in fast flowing river water or to produce osier or withy wands for basketry.

Before the NHS, willows were used to treat headache, rheumatism & diarrhoea, often in potions made by old village women this was one of the reasons the willow gained it’s name “witch tree” but also because it was said that sitting under a tree induced visions & because “willie wains” (a type of magical wand) was made from them. Also, to knock on wood for luck originated in people knocking on willow trees for luck.

The river Trent, Staffordshire.











Many people have a fondness for the willow from the title of the book “Wind in the Willows”. Willows give name to Barnaby in the Willows, where they grow along the anciently named River Witham. Pictures below of the Witham taken by our volunteers in September 2014, when recording water voles; the "ratty" of "Wind in the Willows". The Witham mainly flows through Lincolnshire, one section sheltering one of the last viable UK colonies of White Clawed Crayfish. The tidal Witham was navigated in the Iron Age & marked an important Roman junction. The Witham Shield & Fiskerton Boat, housed in Lincoln & the British Museums appear in our heritage activities.


























Willow appears in Chinese legend & in the Bible as the “weeping” willow…by the rivers of Babylon. But willows have many more associations. A willow tree was central the Rumanian Gypsy festival of Green George; when willow was used to bless the water, food plants & animals. The Greek Orpheus carried a willow branch to indicate eloquence & is depicted at Delphi with next to a willow tree. Persephone had her willow grove, whilst Hecate, a goddess of moon & willow, watched over grave yards planted with willows. The willow has its own faerie, Heliconian, the ancient priestess Helice sought help from these tree spirits for her water magic. The “Day of the Willow” brings rain & was part of the feast of Tabernacle, an association derived from stories of Antha & the Greek Athena. The Sumerian Goddess Belili was associated with willows, springs & the moon, her one time consort Bel is now associated with Beltane. 

St Swithin’s Day takes place on the 15th of July, is perhaps a good day to pay our respects and gratitude to the waters of the world. Water can sustain or destroy and should be treated with respect, kept pure and free from contamination and we should question if our societies should allow profit to be made from life sustaining water that is needed by and should be shared with all life.

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Above, the popular Beck Hole.

Psalm 23.2  "You find me in quiet pools"

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Whitsuntide and the White Goddesses: in the winter you could think this hawthorn bush dead. It stands in Winkburn, near Southwell, not far from the knights Hospitaller church of St John of Jerusalem, a church built on Saxon foundations and with an early Norman tower and Nave. At Whitsuntide, the seemingly dead wood it is all May blossom. In the Christian calendar Whitsuntide is Pentecost, so it is fitting that the tree stands near the Hospitaller's church.  The week following Whit Sunday used to be a holiday for medieval farm workers, to mark the start of summer, when the white blossom is out. At this holiday girls used to dress in white & Whit fairs took place in some parts of the country, with country dancing, these were called Whitsun Ales. Whit Monday the day after Whitsun, remained a holiday in Britain until 1971. Both the festival and the hawthorn bush in May have become associated with the white goddesses.  On May Day or Beltane, it was said that witches could transform themselves into hawthorn trees. Nimue, Merlins perhaps sister, goddess & queen of witches, trapped Merlin in the thorns of a hawthorn tree. Todays druids & wiccans sometimes hang cloutties or ribbons in hawthorn trees, to ask for wishes or healing, but many green witches ask that this is not done for fear of littering not only the physical but also the magical area around the tree.


Below, group of service users on a First Peace Chaplaincy facilitated educational visit to Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve; in an area showing the woodland-heathland mosaic.











Native Wildflowers: The United Nations states that climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, mainly caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels.

Through our climate change work, links with partners in East Africa, India & Pakistan.

In addition, we have been helping people to find good learning tools in the public domain. For example: we had a good response in our learning communities to a video & graphics by Julia Steinberger: "Struggle for survival", from the ISC 2021 Summer School – Cognitive Challenges of Climate Change. Students understood the need for sustainable food production, vegan diet, protecting water, land and biodiversity, using clean fuels, pollution control, limited air travel, and importance of climate activism.

98% of flower rich meadows have been destroyed with most livestock farms growing “improved grassland” often branded “green concrete” by naturalists for its poor biodiversity. One in six woodland flowers are threatened with extinction. In fact one in five UK wildflowers is under threat of extinction, Plant Life estimates that each county looses one species every two years. Verges offer three times more grassland than farmed pasture but they are often sadly, contaminated by salt and heavy metals and are over managed, with destructive and costly mowing regimes. Wildflowers contribute to scientific and medical research with some UK native wildflowers contain compounds that can be used in drugs to treat diseases. For example, foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) contain chemicals used to treat heart conditions. If we were to lose wildflower species, we could lose potential new medicines.

In addition, we would encourage "no mow May" to be expanded to "no mow summer". In a ratio based on summer test averages, taken in 2023: uncut grass keapt the ground at 19.5°C but grass cut at 10cm keapt the ground temperature at only 24.5°C. In contrast, bare ground was hot, at 40°C.

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At First Peace Chaplaincy we have a huge data base of wild flower & tree records for the East midlands. The extent of climate change, habitat loss, water loss, drying and pollution, herbicide, fungicide, pesticide, soil loss and soil structure destruction and miss management can be traced through our records. We check our records against the earliest available records in each of our operational areas, using Biological and Geological Record Centres data sets and sources such as the Flora of Nottinghamshire by Richard Crewdson Leaver Howitt and Brenda Margaret Howitt.

"The Golden Ass" by Apuleius, is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. A wonderful description is given of a goddess rising from the sea: "crowned with an intricate chaplet, woven of every kind of flower" She states: "I am Nature the Universal Mother".










The Chaplaincy Eco-spirituality programme encourages natural regeneration and propagates a wide range of wild plants and flowers and open pollinated heritage vegetables, obtained from ethically sourced parent plants.

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We offer resources on organic community gardening, composting and soils, open pollinated and heritage plants, food growing and seed saving, traditional orchards, garden bee and butterfly and wildlife habitats.

Have you thought about growing a mini meadow in your garden or in a container? Children will love to count and draw the visiting bees, butterflies and other insects. You will attract more if you create a bee nesting box or leave uncultivated wild areas for habitat.
















The virtuous circle: in order for us to continue to enjoy wildlife, protection is needed for habitats and our magical natural places, the more people have responsible access to and learn about nature the more they will treasure these places and demand protection. Biodiversity Metric 4.0 was published by Natural England early in 2023, along with an updated version of the Small Sites Metric.  It is a biodiversity accounting tool that can be used for the purposes of calculating biodiversity net gain. DEFRA's biodiversity metric consultation states that they anticipate Biodiversity Metric 4.0 and the Small Sites Metric will constitute the basis of the future statutory biodiversity metric when mandatory biodiversity net gain is commenced. The habitat based approach indicates value to wildlife by assessing habitats and the impact that development, or a change in land management, will have on the biodiversity value of a site. But such assessments consider the condition of each habitat parcel and whether the sites are in locations identified as local nature priorities, these considerations obviously protect some sites whilst disadvantaging others.

Monitoring wild plant species by our volunteers in the East Midlands is fun because the region has such diverse habitat types.

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.

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At First Peace Chaplaincy eco-spirituality project, we believe that society should take pressure off nature, promote natural regeneration, biodiversity, veganism, adoption and lower population, in order to protect habitats, water and soil. People are calling for to ban chemicals in land management, along with heavy plant, hedge flailing and agri/forests. Natural places are precious and finite, the earth can not sustain destructive development.

Cultural and spiritual experiences impact on conservation work, attitudes and views of nature. Spiritual perspectives influence concepts of nature, this varies depending on depth of belief and spiritual and religious diversity. Environmental experiences, especially within culturally protected landscapes, can lead to shared values or collective conflict. deeply held community values within traditional societies or more individual beliefs within, for example paganism, or secular situations give rise to a huge range of varying values. Both communal and individual values can benefit conservation. Thinking about ecosystems can throw up additional values to those of biodiversity concern or physical wellbeing, these may be material or non material, intellectual, spiritual or transcendental. Connections to nature and ecopsychology can benefit from acknowledging the diversity of life & nurturing wider respect for life and the spiritual practices of others.

Communities may value the natural and cultural and spiritual aspects of places. From Stone Henge to the Dakota Badlands, sacred spaces and the flora and forna within them have spiritual meaning for some visitors. people may seek healing or benefit from enhanced well-being through contact with a site or experience individual profound responses and tangible and intangible reactions. It could be argued that all natural sites are sacred, such a stance has the capacity to support nature conservation.

Environmental ethics, human wellbeing and moral significance should be considered in conservation. However, urgent environmental issues lead to these considerations being overlooked in emergency situations. We seek to build these now, into general response mechanisms, ahead of such urgent situations. Robust responses can reassure, give inner peace and give harmony to the soul. 

Peter Owen Jones is an Anglican vicar, one of his many books: "conversations With Nature", has been described as "a cross species conversation." In it he describes his direct encounters with nature. He talks of healing and peace, saying: " each breath you take is receiving" and "We learn to hear the voices of the mountains, the rivers, the sky, of silence." We cam meditate on these words and try to put them into practice as we walk the earth.

Water and food security needs sustainable planning. Human animal and plant diseases spread globally. The seas are endangered, the planets ecosystems are polluted and carbon sinks depleted. That is why we emphasise our Vegan Kozy Kitchen & Organic Trials Garden projects. The desert fathers offered examples of simple prayerful life, today the Daniel diet is popular, where faith sustains fasting and diet. The planet has a growing human population and dwindling resources. Waste reduction brings welfare benefits, equitable food and water systems, sharing and redistribution should be part of spiritual life. Soil and seed diversity must be protected.

Below: a community member recorded a good mix of species in this ancient hedge in Paplewick