Libby rides 1,700 miles to Lincolnshire’s Nature Reserves
When she became part-time last year, Professor Libby John, Dean of Sustainability, set herself a challenge to cycle from her home to all 93 Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Reserves, hoping to find out more about nature in Lincolnshire and raise some money to support nature recovery. She has now completed that challenge, cycling almost 1,700 miles across Lincolnshire, from the Wash to the Humber, Stamford to the coast, in weather including glorious sunshine, snow, rain, hail and gale-force winds (progress reported on Instagram @libbyjohn47).
Her final trip, to Gibraltar Point, is on Saturday 31 August. She has had amazing experiences, seeing wonderful reserves full of nature but also meeting many dedicated staff and volunteers of the Trust who look after and support nature on their reserves.
Although much of Lincolnshire is nature-depleted, highlights for Libby included seeing how nature can recover when given a chance, exemplified by the crane families she saw at Willow Tree Fen (arable fields just 15 years ago), being kept awake at night by booming bitterns on the Humber shores and seeing wonderful diverse plant communities buzzing with pollinators in restored meadows. She was struck by the intimate relationship between nature and human history on a visit to the Woodhall Spa Airfield Reserve, coinciding with the annual memorial event for the Dambusters 617 Squadron who were based there. It is now an incredible space for nature. She saw how people’s day-to-day historical activities created the habitats nature now enjoys in old quarries and pits, coppiced woodlands, decoy woods, turbaries and hay meadows, and in travelling the length and breadth of Lincolnshire was continually awed by the beauty and variety of our huge county.
If, like her, you are keen to see more nature in Lincolnshire please consider a donation to her JustGiving account which goes directly to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Nature Recovery Fund. Donations can be made here: www.justgiving.com/page/libby-john-1710701838730.
Story submitted by Libby John
ljohn@lincoln.ac.uk