Wetlands are important

With World Wetlands Day approaching on 2^nd Feb we are particularly proud of our Wetlands Nature Reserve at the Millennium Country Park. Not only has it brought many species back to the area after years of absence, but it’s a pretty nice place to walk around!

Wetlands are a pretty underrated type of landscape in the UK so the WetlandLIFE project are about to embark on a big project to see how people feel about their favourite wetlands, using their photos, sketches and words to show the changes in seasons and general beauty of British wetlands.

Find out more below…

"The WetlandLIFE project is running until 2019 and is a collaboration between the Universities of Greenwich, Brighton, Bristol and Cranfield along with Public Health England and Forest Research.

As part of the project we are exploring the importance of wetlands to human health and wellbeing. The WetlandLIFE project is looking to talk to individuals and organisations who use and enjoy wetlands for leisure or business pursuits and we’d like to talk to those who use the Millennium Country Park and/or Priory Country Park.

If you have an hour or so to spare then we would love to talk to you. There are three ways you can help:

• The first is a group meeting to be held locally in February – to talk about the history of Priory Country Park and Millennium Country Park, to understand what’s happening to these sites now and what may impact on them in the coming few years.
• Later we’ll be conducting one to one interviews, giving people the chance to discuss in more detail what these wetlands mean to them.
• Lastly, everyone is invited to participate in a ‘wetlands year’ group diary, where we ask you to send photos, sketches, blogs, sound recordings – or whatever takes your fancy - to try and capture what these spaces mean to you as the seasons change in these beautiful landscapes.

To get involved, or to find out more (with no obligation), please contact Dr Mary Gearey, Research Fellow, School of Environment and Technology, University of Brighton on 01273 642380 or send her an email.