We hear from Sally Bunce, seal protection officer at Teesside about the collapse of the local marine ecosystem which many believe is due to dredging to service an offshore wind project, and Isobel Morris, Senior Policy Officer for Energy at the RSPB about how the UK can prioritise nature during an energy crisis. We also hear some very good nature news from Charlie Zakss of Suffolk Wildlife Trusts and have a chat with Jim Haywood for Animal, Vegetable, Mineral – what incredible creature did Darwin find in the rigging of the Beagle?
Our guests:
Sally Bunce is a 53-year old mum and former police officer who moved to the northeast coast 4 years ago. In this time she has worked as lifeboat crew, a marine mammal medic, sea champion for Marine Conservation society and a school’s education lead for Yorkshire Seal Group. Most notably over the past 12 months she has dedicated her life to uncovering the cause of the mass marine die offs in her locality.
An environmentalist at heart, Charlie loves walking with her partner, daughter and dog in the countryside. She has been a Wild Learning Officer for Suffolk Wildlife Trust for 9 years, working mainly in an outreach capacity with schools and communities which are looking to learn more about nature and how they can help it. She also teaches Forest Schools and works with children who thrive in an alternative school provision, helping them feel the healing benefits of the outdoors through activities surrounded by nature. Charlie has recently been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work around Martlesham Wilds, Suffolk’s brand-new nature reserve. While they are focusing on raising funds to secure the purchase at present, Charlie is working with local communities to harness their power to take action for nature, where they live. Her greatest passion is enthusing others about how wonderful nature and wildlife are, in the hope that if they love it they will feel the need to act to save it.
Isobel Morris is Senior Policy Officer for Energy at the RSPB, with a focus on onshore renewables. At RSPB she looks at how the UK can create a Net Zero energy supply while minimising harmful impacts on nature. She is an alumna of the Alfa Fellowship, on which she specialised in environmental issues. She previously worked on solar, energy storage and electricity markets policy for a renewable energy trade association. She started her career in community engagement in the planning industry.