1.
Ramsar Convention
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The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands and it is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971. The most recent COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, cOP13 will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018. The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,231 Ramsar Sites in March 2016 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres. The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom with 170, the Ramsar Sites Information Service is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar Site. As of 2016 there are 18 Transboundary Ramsar Sites, as of 2016 there are 15 Ramsar Regional Initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other known as International Organization Partners. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the Conference of the Parties and as members of the Scientific. Conference of the Parties Conference of the Parties is the Conventions governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty and this ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee The Standing Committee is the executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one, the Secretariat The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention’s activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, the 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity, in 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries
2.
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
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St Ives is a market town and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. St Ives lies approximately 5 miles east of Huntingdon and 12 miles north-west of the city of Cambridge, St Ives is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England. Previously called Slepe, its name was changed to St Ives after the body, claimed to be that of a Persian bishop, in 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, St Ives was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire, the name of the settlement was written as Slepe in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at St Ives, the rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £20. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place, there is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time, estimates range from 3.5 to 5.0 people per household. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of St Ives in 1086 is that it was within the range of 224 and 320 people. The Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than a land area. The survey records that there were 29,5 ploughlands at St Ives in 1086. In addition to the land, there was 60 acres of meadows and 1,892 acres of woodland at St Ives. The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland and it was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars, by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a land and other assets. While this was two shillings in the pound the amount did vary, for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manor at St Ives the total tax assessed was twenty geld, by 1086 there were two churches and two priests at St Ives. For the past 1,000 years it has been home to some of the biggest markets in the country, and in the century it was an important entrepôt. Built on the banks of the wide River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and Ely, St Ives has a chapel on its bridge
3.
Norfolk
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Norfolk /ˈnɔːrfək/ is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. With an area of 2,074 square miles and a population of 859,400, of the countys population, 40% live in four major built up areas, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn and Thetford. The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, the area is not a National Park although it is marketed as such. It has similar status to a park, and is protected by the Broads Authority. Norfolk was settled in times, with camps along the higher land in the west. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD, the Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the county, situated on the east coast, Norfolk was vulnerable to invasions from Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and forts were built to defend against the Angles and Saxons. Norfolk, Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, the influence of the Early English settlers can be seen in the many place names ending in -ton and -ham. Endings such as -by and -thorpe are also common, indicating Danish place names, in the 9th century the region came under attack. In the centuries before the Norman Conquest the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have high, by the time of the Domesday Book survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the British Isles. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable agriculture, the economy was in decline by the time of the Black Death, which dramatically reduced the population in 1349. During the English Civil War Norfolk was largely Parliamentarian, the economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the Industrial Revolution Norfolk developed little industry except in Norwich which was an addition to the railway network. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation, during the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and oilseed rape. Norfolks low-lying land and easily eroded cliffs, many of which are chalk and clay, make it vulnerable to the sea, the low-lying section of coast between Kelling and Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk is currently managed by the Environment Agency to protect the Broads from sea flooding
4.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
5.
March, Cambridgeshire
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March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely which was an administrative county from 1889 to 1965. It is now the centre of Fenland District Council. The town grew by becoming an important railway centre, like many Fenland towns, March was once an island surrounded by marshes. It occupied the second largest island in the Great Level, as the land drained, the town grew and prospered as a trading and religious centre. It was also a port before, in more recent times, a market town. March is situated on the banks of the old course of the navigable River Nene, modern March lies on the course of the Fen Causeway, a Roman road, and there is evidence of Roman settlements in the area. Before the draining of the fens, March was effectively an island in the marshy fens and it was formed from two settlements, Merche and Mercheford, separated by a canal. The town probably owes its origin to the ford on the old course of the River Nene, at one time shipping on the River Nene provided the basis of the towns trade, but this declined with the coming of the railways in the 19th century. A single arch bridge was built over the River Nene towards the end of the town in 1850. High Street, which is the thoroughfare, is continued over the bridge to Broad Street on the north side of the Nene. A Local Board of Health was formed in 1851, under Act 14 and 15 Vict. c,10, but by the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894 the town became governed by an Urban District Council of 12 members. Gas lighting was provided by the March Gas and Coke Co, the Wisbech Water Works Company, under a provisional order obtained in 1884, supplied the town with water, which was brought through mains pipes from Wisbech,10 miles away. HM Prison Whitemoor, opened in 1991, lies slightly to the northwest of the town, Whitemoor is a maximum security prison for nearly 500 men in Category A and B. With a long history of trading, in the reign of Elizabeth I, in 1566 eight boats, capable of carrying one, one and a half, or two cartloads, were used in the coal and grain trades. A certain amount of traffic in coal and other commodities, carried in barges, was observed by Dugdale in 1657, Local tradesmens tokens of 1669, and a silver shilling token of 1811, have been noted. Originally a market appears to have held near the original town centre. A Market Cross points towards the existence of an early market and this site was very near St Wendredas Church
6.
Ely, Cambridgeshire
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Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England,14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. Æthelthryth founded an abbey at Ely in 673, the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders and was rebuilt by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, construction of the cathedral was started in 1083 by a Norman abbot, Simeon. Building continued until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation, the cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott. As the seat of a diocese, Ely has long considered a city, in 1974. Ely is built on a 23-square-mile Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet, is the highest land in the fens. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the city, a former Kimmeridge Clay quarry, and one of the United Kingdoms best remaining examples of medieval ridge, the economy of the region is mainly agricultural. The city had been the centre of pottery production for more than 700 years. A Roman road, Akeman Street, passes through the city, Little direct evidence of Roman occupation in Ely exists, although there are nearby Roman settlements such as those at Little Thetford and Stretham. A coach route, known to have existed in 1753 between Ely and Cambridge, was improved in 1769 as a turnpike, the present day A10 closely follows this route, a southwestern bypass of the city was built in 1986. The Kings School is a boarding school which was granted a royal charter in 1541 by Henry VIII. Henry I granted the first annual Fair, Saint Audreys seven-day event, to the abbot and convent on 10 October 1189, present day annual events include the Eel Festival in May, established in 2004, and a fireworks display in Ely Park, first staged in 1974. The city of Ely has been twinned with Denmarks oldest town, Ribe, Ely City Football Club was formed in 1885. Roswell Pits are a palaeontologically significant Site of Special Scientific Interest one mile northeast of the city, the Jurassic Kimmeridge Clays were quarried in the 19th and 20th centuries for the production of pottery and for maintenance of river embankments. Many specimens of ammonites, belemnites and bivalves were found during quarrying, there is some scattered evidence of Late Mesolithic to Bronze Age activity in Ely such as Neolithic flint tools, a Bronze Age axe and spearhead. There is slightly denser Iron Age and Roman activity with some evidence of at least seasonal occupation. For example, a farmstead, of the late Iron Age to early Roman period, was discovered at West Fen Road. There was a Roman settlement, including a tile kiln built over an earlier Iron Age settlement, in Little Thetford, the origin and meaning of Elys name have always been regarded as obscure by place-name scholars, and are still disputed. The earliest record of the name is in the Latin text of Bedes Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and this is apparently not a Latin name, and subsequent Latin texts nearly all used the forms Elia, Eli, or Heli with inorganic H-
7.
Chatteris
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Chatteris /ˈtʃætɛrɪs/ is a civil parish and one of four market towns in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency, the parish of Chatteris is large, covering 6,099 hectares, and for much of its history was a raised island in the low-lying wetland of the Fens. Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the town has evidence of settlement from the Neolithic period, following the draining of the Fens, beginning in the 17th century and completed in the 19th century, the towns economy has been based on agriculture and related industry. Due to its proximity to Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough, the town has emerged as a commuter town, the town had a population of 10,453 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011. The town was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Cetriz and Cateriz, saxon evidence is less well preserved, although in 679, Hunna, the chaplain to Æthelthryth of Ely built a hermitage on Honey Hill. More apocryphically, Chatteris is reputed to have been the last refuge of Boudica as she fled from the Romans, the miraculous story of the first known parishioner of the town, Bricstan, is documented in the Historia Ecclesiastica by the Chronicler Orderic Vitalis. According to the legend, Bricstan was a free tenant from the town who had joined the monastery at Ely Cathedral in 1115 to begin training as a monk. However, he was accused of theft and imprisoned in London, the legend recounts that one night he had a vision of Saint Etheldreda coming towards him, and as if by a miracle, his heavy chains fell from him and he was shackled no longer. When he awoke from his dream, he discovered that this was indeed true and he was free of his chains. The wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, heard of the miracle, throughout its existence, the abbey was comparatively poor compared to other foundations, due to a lack of royal patronage and a consequent lack of tithe estates. A range of the buildings survived as part of a mansion known as Park House. A large portion of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1310, which destroyed the nunnery. Later fires in 1706 and 1864 destroyed most medieval and Georgian architecture, however, many of the pasture fields on the outskirts of the town have evidence of ridge and furrow farming practices, although these are under threat by current building proposals. Several of the buildings of the town show evidence of the Dutch architectural style. Chatteris is a town and has possessed this designation since 1834, although an earlier market existed in the town. A small market is held every Friday. Following the Beeching Axe, Chatteris railway station, formerly on the St. Ives extension of the Great Eastern Railway was closed in March 1967, the town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency, with the incumbent MP being the Conservative Stephen Barclay. The constituency is now considered a safe Conservative seat, although the Liberal MP Clement Freud held the seat from 1973 to 1987, the town is locally governed by Cambridgeshire County Council, Fenland District Council and Chatteris Town Council, each performing separate functions
8.
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
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The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded as the Plumage League in 1889 by Emily Williamson, the RSPB has over 1300 employees,18,000 volunteers and more than 1 million members, making it the largest wildlife conservation charity in Europe. The RSPB has many groups and maintains 200 nature reserves. The group gained popularity and eventually amalgamated with the Fur and Feather League in Croydon to form the Society for the Protection of Birds, the Society gained its Royal Charter in 1904. At the time that the Society was founded in Britain, similar societies were founded in other European countries. In 1961, the society acquired The Lodge in Sandy, Bedfordshire as its new headquarters, today, the RSPB works with both the civil service and the Government to advise Government policies on conservation and environmentalism. It is one of several organisations that determine the conservation status list for all birds found in the UK. The RSPB maintains over 200 reserves throughout the United Kingdom, covering a range of habitats, from estuaries. The reserves often have bird hides provided for birdwatchers and many provide visitor centres, the RSPB confers awards, including the Presidents Award, for volunteers who make a notable contribution to the work of the society. The RSPB say, The RSPB Medal is the Societys most prestigious award and it is presented to an individual in recognition of wild bird protection and countryside conservation. It is usually awarded annually to one or occasionally two people, Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903. The title changed to Bird Notes in 1947, in the 1950s, there were four copies per year. Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years, for example, volume XXV, number one was dated Winter 1951, and number eight in the same volume was dated Autumn 1953. From the mid-1950s, many of the covers were by Charles Tunnicliffe, from January 1964, publication increased to six per year. Volumes again covered two years, so vol,30, covering 1962–63, therefore included nine issues, ending with the Winter 1963–64 edition instead of eight. The final edition, vol.31 no,12, was published in late 1965. Miss M. G. Davies, BA, MBOU John Clegg Jeremy Boswell Bird Notes successor Birds replaced it immediately, with volume 1, issues were published quarterly, numbered so that a new volume started every other year. The Autumn 2013 edition, dated August–October 2013, being vol.25 no, Birds had eleven credited editors during its 47-year,199 edition run
9.
Eurasian teal
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The Eurasian teal or common teal is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range. The bird gives its name to the colour teal. It is a highly gregarious duck outside the season and can form large flocks. It is commonly found in sheltered wetlands and feeds on seeds, the North American green-winged teal was formerly considered a subspecies of A. crecca. The Eurasian teal is the smallest extant dabbling duck at 20–30 cm length and with a weight of 340 g in drake and 320 g in hens. The wings are 17. 5–20.4 cm long, yielding a wingspan of 53–59 cm, the bill measures 3. 2–4 cm in length, and the tarsus 2. 8–3.4 cm. From a distance, the drakes in nuptial plumage appear grey, with a head, a yellowish behind. Their head and upper neck is chestnut, with a wide and iridescent dark green patch of half-moon- or teardrop-shape that starts immediately before the eye and arcs to the upper hindneck. The patch is bordered with thin lines, and a single line of that colour extends from the patchs forward end. The breast is buff with small brown spots. The center of the belly is white, and the rest of the plumage is mostly white with thin and dense blackish vermiculations. The outer scapular feathers are white, with a border to the outer vanes. The underwing is whitish, with grey remiges, dense dark spotting on the inner coverts, the tail and tail coverts are black, with a bright yellowish-buff triangular patch in the center of the coverts at each side. In non-breeding plumage, the looks more like the hen, it is more uniform in colour, with a dark head. The hen itself is yellowish-brown, somewhat darker on wings and back and it has a dark greyish-brown upper head, hindneck, eyestripe and feather pattern. The pattern is dense short streaks on the head and neck, the wings are coloured similar to the drakes, but with brown instead of grey upperwing coverts that have less wide tips, and wider tips of the speculum feathers. The hens rectrices have yellowish-white tips, the midbelly is whitish with dark streaking
10.
Northern pintail
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The pintail or northern pintail is a duck with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its range to the equator. Unusually for a bird with such a range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eatons pintail is considered to be a separate species. This is a duck, and the males long central tail feathers give rise to the species English. Both sexes have blue-grey bills and grey legs and feet, the drake is more striking, having a thin white stripe running from the back of its chocolate-coloured head down its neck to its mostly white undercarriage. The drake also has attractive grey, brown, and black patterning on its back, the hens plumage is more subtle and subdued, with drab brown feathers similar to those of other female dabbling ducks. Hens make a coarse quack and the drakes a flute-like whistle, the northern pintail is a bird of open wetlands which nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It feeds by dabbling for plant food and adds small invertebrates to its diet during the nesting season and it is highly gregarious when not breeding, forming large mixed flocks with other species of duck. This ducks population is affected by predators, parasites and avian diseases, human activities, such as agriculture, hunting and fishing, have also had a significant impact on numbers. Nevertheless, owed to the range and large population of this species. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Anas acuta, within the large dabbling duck genus Anas, the northern pintails closest relatives are other pintails, such as the yellow-billed pintail and Eatons pintail. The pintails are sometimes separated in the genus Dafila, an arrangement supported by morphological, molecular, the famous British ornithologist Sir Peter Scott gave this name to his daughter, the artist Dafila Scott. Eatons pintail has two subspecies, A. e. eatoni of Kerguelen Islands, and A. e. drygalskyi of Crozet Islands, sexual dimorphism is much less marked in the southern pintails, with the males breeding appearance being similar to the female plumage. Unusually for a species such a large range, northern pintail has no geographical subspecies if Eatons pintail is treated as a separate species. A claimed extinct subspecies from Manra Island, Tristrams pintail, A. a. modesta, the northern pintail is a fairly large duck with a wing chord of 23. 6–28.2 cm and wingspan of 80–95 cm. The male is 59–76 cm in length and weighs 450–1,360 g, and therefore is larger than the female. The northern pintail broadly overlaps in size with the mallard, but is more slender, elongated and gracile, with a relatively longer neck. The unmistakable breeding plumaged male has a head and white breast with a white stripe extending up the side of the neck
11.
Northern shoveler
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The northern shoveler, or northern shoveller in British English, sometimes known simply as the shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It is a vagrant to Australia. In North America, it breeds along the edge of Hudson Bay and west of this body of water, and as far south as the Great Lakes west to Colorado, Nevada. The Northern shoveler is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies, the conservation status of this bird is Least Concern. This species was described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name, the scientific name is derived from Latin Anas duck, and clypeata, shield-bearing. No living subspecies are accepted today, fossil bones of a very similar duck have been found in Early Pleistocene deposits at Dursunlu, Turkey. This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill, the breeding drake has an iridescent dark green head, white breast and chestnut belly and flanks. In flight, pale blue forewing feathers are revealed, separated from the green speculum by a white border, in early fall the male will have a white crescent on each side of the face. In non-breeding plumage, the drake resembles the female and they are 48 cm long and have a wingspan of 76 cm with a weight of 600 g. Northern shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and they use their highly specialized bill to forage for aquatic invertebrates – a carnivorous diet. This adaptation, more specialized in shovelers, gives them an advantage over other puddle ducks, thus, mud-bottomed marshes rich in invertebrate life are their habitat of choices. The shoveler prefers to nest in areas away from open water. Their nest is a depression on the ground, lined with plant material. Hens typically lay about nine eggs, the drakes are very territorial during breeding season and will defend their territory and partners from competing males. Drakes also engage in courtship behaviors, both on the water and in the air, it is not uncommon for a dozen or more males to pursue a single hen. Despite their stout appearance, shovelers are nimble fliers and this is a fairly quiet species. The male has a call, whereas the female has a Mallard-like quack. This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation and it breeds in wide areas across Eurasia, western North America and the Great Lakes region of the United States
