Increasing our understanding of the nature that lives within our communities can bring a multitude of benefits. Mapping the biodiversity within our parishes helps us see what we have and can also help us identify where improvements might be needed.  Andy Millar from Natural England has been working with WildEast to do just that - as he explains here:

A new project designed to use mapping as a focal point for community based nature recovery is underway in the Suffolk Village of Risby. The aim of the six month project is to see what nature the village has - what has been lost - and identify areas for improvement. Sophie Flux has been co-ordinating efforts on the ground and explains her role within the project.

Here at WildEast we believe inspirational storytelling plays a pivotal role in encouraging individuals and communities to engage in nature recovery. The illustrated wallscapes that adorn our brand new Education Centre capture the impacts of agricultural fishing and land management practices on the wildlife and soils of East Anglia. In her first article for WildEast creator Jane Fitzgerald White tells the story behind the images.

WildEast's first ever festival ROAR brought together pledgees from across the region to celebrate nature recovery. From the very young - to the ever young - our amazing pledgees turned up en masse to share their stories and learn from an incredible range of speakers. Our very own education lead Kate Jackson was also there to bring the natural world to life with her inspiring interactive sessions - as she explains here.

There's not much the WildEast's Dr Sarah Taigel doesn't know about maps. She has spent the past 25 years working to refine and simplify how landscape scale nature recovery can be mapped at a local level. For the pledgees of WildEast this means mapping (for the first time) the nature recovery happening in our own villages and how this can be increased and connected.

 Two weeks before the first lockdown WildEast Pledgee Daisy Greenwell moved her young family from Hackney into a cottage on a sprawling 45 acre plot on the banks of the River Deben. Despite growing up in Suffolk - Daisy had spent the past decade living in nature depleted urban environments - first at university and then in London working as a journalist for The Times. In this honest and inspiring account Daisy explains the transformative effects that nature recovery has had on the whole family.

WildEast Founder Hugh Somerleyton has been the driving force behind our first ever festival - ROAR - so a huge thank you from all of us for being such a wonderful host. The week-long event brought together a rich and varied collection of academics and pledgees that included farmers, smallholders, gardeners and landscape architects. Celebrations like this are a vital part of how this movement of 'people for nature' will grow and flourish - and we cannot wait to welcome you all for round two.

 WildEast's first ever festival ROAR went off with a bang at the start of the month with a packed week of events, talks and panel discussions. It gave pledgees and supporters the opportunity to come together and learn more about nature recovery. A central component was a panel discussion hosted by WildEast's Laura Hampton - that brought together a selection of WildEast's exemplar pledgees - including the wonderful Sophie Flux who has written this blog.

The Big Green Internet Project is on track to have planted over 150,000 trees and hedgerow whips by the end of this winter. This extraordinary achievement is the brainchild of Mike Whadham - who wants to see Epping Forest connected to the sea with a contiguous line of green. His dream is to see the disparate pockets of woodland connected up so that wildlife can move uninterrupted across the Essex landscape - as he explains here.