GrantScape, the national environmental grant-making charity based here in Bedfordshire, is launching a special grant programme to support nature right here in our county! GrantScape has £100,000 to give out for local conservation projects. Grants are available to not-for-profit groups, charities, local authorities and town and parish councils. Check out the GrantScape website for more information. Or download the fund announcement and criteria right here. The deadline is Sept 8 so get your bids in!

BedsLife has just finalised 3 new habitat action plans, with a fourth on the way! Updated plans for lowland heathland, lowland acid grassland, mixed deciduous woodland and wood-pasture and parkland are ready - or almost. We're getting close to finishing our BAP review! If you'd like to see how we're getting along with all of our county action plans, check out the Biodiversity Action Recording System (BARS).

Rammamere Heath, Maulden Grasslands photos by Phil Irving; Marston Thrift photo by John Comont, Woburn Park photo by Chris Smallwood

The Nude Ewe project is selling wool spun from Bedfordshire's own conservation grazing flocks. Proceeds go towards the Wildlife Trust's grazing programme.

By munching the bramble, shrubs and other rough vegetation, grazing flocks maintain our meadow and heathland habitats. Without these natural lawnmowers our beautiful grassy hills and fields would turn to scrub.

So support our meadows: visit The Nude Ewe website and knit up your own piece of Bedfordshire!

Every year a bumblebee colony starts from a single queen that hibernated over winter. In late summer the colony dies leaving only the queen, and the cycle starts again...

The buff-tailed bumblebee - or large earth bumblebee -  Bombus terrestris is found all over Europe. It is distinguished by its white rump and two yellow body stripes. These bees live in underground nests often built in abandoned mouse burrows. Unlike most bumblebees, which mate with several males, B. terrestris queens are believed to mate with only one.

The red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius is often found in gardens and chalky grasslands. Its black body and red rump make it easy to identify. The queen of this species emerges later in spring than other species, often building a nest under a stone. Sometimes she will take over an old nest rather than starting a new one from scratch.

Although this bee will buzz around the head of an intruder that gets too close to the nest, it will usually only sting if the nest is actually endangered.

The common carder bee Bombus pascuorum is our most common brown bee. It is also our longest living bee, surviving into October each year. It nests at or just below ground level. The nest itself is made from vegetation which the bees 'card' or 'comb' from plants, hence the species' common name.

Photos: top - Isidro Vila Verde;

middle - Barney Livingston; bottom - 'Rachel'

'bio' = 'life'

'diversity' = 'variety'

So biodiversity = the variety of life on earth: all the different species, habitats, ecosystems and genes that make up the natural world. Every creature - including humans - depends on others for survival. That's why biodiversity is so important!

To find out more check out the DaVersity Code and watch Robert Penguin and Sophie Minnow try to solve a murder at the Natural History Museum!

This year the Association of Zoos & Aquariums is leading a major campaign to address the alarming extinction of amphibians around the world. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) estimates that at least 1/3 of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction. The Year of the Frog campaign is aiming to raise public awareness and funding for amphibian conservation projects.

For information on the Year of the Frog campaign and how you can help, visit www.2008yearofthefrog.org.

'It's not easy being green'

- Kermit the Frog

What does this mean? It means that we - along with hundreds of agencies in Europe and around the world - are working hard to conserve and enhance our local habitats and species. It's a big job and we can't do it alone. Find out what you can do to help us out!