National Nature Reserves - for inspiration and celebration!

By Mike Downey, Principal Officer for National Nature Reserves

This week is a really exciting week in the calendar for England's National Nature Reserves (NNRs). Monday 20^th May marked the start of National Nature Reserves Week 2024, an annual celebration of our most important places for nature.

It also saw the newest NNR declared at Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood near Leicester, which also happens simultaneously to be the oldest NNR in England, containing some of the most ancient fossils on Earth dating back over half a billion years!

I have the great pleasure of leading Natural England's work to ensure that National Nature Reserves can be experienced and enjoyed by as many people as possible. Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood NNR is a shining example of this, serving diverse communities around Leicester and beyond, enabling them to connect with and be inspired by nature and to reap all of the health and wellbeing benefits that can bring.

I have a personal and deep-seated attachment to National Nature Reserves having grown up a stone's throw from Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR on the Merseyside coast, an amazing reserve that I went on to have the privilege of managing for a number of years. Having been inspired myself by NNRs into a lifetime career in conservation, I'm keen to see everyone having the opportunity to share in the incredible experiences that NNRs have to offer.

The concept of a National Nature Reserves Week was born two years ago following the success of our Festival of NNRs in 2022. Natural England, working together with our NNR partnership, has a strong desire to deliver more on the ambition to connect people with nature, and this year's NNR Week has shaped up to do this through a fantastic programme of events and engagement activities right across the country.

NNR Week runs through to 31^st May, and our theme for this year is 'National Nature Reserves for everyone'. Our aim is to make NNR Week more inclusive by providing a greater range of opportunities for people to connect with nature in different and surprising ways, and in turn for those connections to hopefully inspire deeper connection still, as well as positive action for nature.

The programme of over 100 events on offer this year is as diverse as the sites themselves. You can 'Meet the Machines' at Wyre Forest NNR in Worcestershire, or 'Discover Stone Age Life' at Bradgate Park; there's a Women's Photography Workshop at RSPB's Ham Wall reserve in the Somerset Wetlands NNR, and 'A Trip to the Movies' at Chobham Common NNR in Surrey; or how about a 'Rainforest Discovery Day' at East Dartmoor Woods and Heaths, or 'Breathwork in the Forest' at Hatfield Forest NNR in Essex?

Being creative with the events we offer to the public, to enable people to connect with nature in different ways and through different lenses, is an essential way for our NNRs to reach out beyond our traditional audiences and inspire more people to seek the benefits of nature and to get involved.

Many reserves are also working closely with a range of fantastic local community partners, such as B:friend Doncaster to provide nature connection experiences for people living with loneliness and social isolation, and Mablethorpe's Men in Sheds who will be helping to build bird boxes for the Lincolnshire Coronation Coast NNR.

The eagle-eyed reader will have spotted that NNR Week runs for much more than a week! That's because we're being greedy. We're being greedy because I believe that National Nature Reserves deserve to be celebrated for the inspiration that they offer, and that the public deserve as much opportunity as possible to experience the joy and wonder and excitement of connecting with NNRs.

You can discover more about National Nature Reserves Week by visiting www.NNRweek.com, or keep in touch with all that is going on by following the hashtag #NNRweek - and who knows, hopefully you can find your inspiration at a National Nature Reserve near you.