Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow

Flora and fauna are disappearing from Britain's countryside at such an alarming rate, that scientists fear for the future. A major census of native birds, butterflies and plants has shown that numbers have plunged by up to 71% in the last few decades; this is the strongest evidence yet of man's encroachment on natural habitat and the devastating effects of intensive farming. If this decline is prolonged, the world approaches catastrophic levels of extinction and one species is responsible - US.

The destruction of ancient woodland, loss of grassland and wetland, pollution from transport and industry, use of fertilisers and herbicides, house-building and the concomitant warming climate are all to blame, upsetting a natural balance established over hundreds of millenia.

HST seeks to raise awareness, especially in children of local communities, that by caring for the environment at home, a world of difference can be made. Recent projects include planting 2000 indigenous trees in habitat near Henley-in-Arden and transforming dense coppice into a nature trail at a local primary school.

Our raison d'etre takes us into the classroom where a short video is shown, followed by a workshop concerning all aspects of habitat and the animals that depend upon it. For those of you who wish to join us, it is an hour well spent! We do our best to be sensitive in approach because a youngster's window on the natural world is often their own back yard and, for those children fortunate enough to have one, an untidy patch of wilderness where a host of incredible life-forms survive. For a curious child encouraged to go with nature rather than against it, a wealth of wonder exists in a small pile of logs, an upturned plant pot and a sprinkle of wild flowers.