Press Releases

Biodiversity is life; Biodiversity is our life.

Activities at National Museum Cardiff, which include live reptiles and bats, a wildlife garden survey, watching peregrines live on the nest-cam, will help visitors discover the importance of conserving and using life on earth in a sustainable way.

Following last year’s successful International Year of Biodiversity 2010, organisations in Wales from charities to museums and local groups have joined forces again this year to continue to raise awareness of the need to protect biodiversity in Wales and safeguard the amazing diversity of life on our planet.

Biodiversity regulates our air and water supply, recycles nutrients to provide fertile soil, pollinates our fruit trees and crops and provides us with food, medicines, fuels and building materials. We all rely on biodiversity. It’s vital we understand how it works, in order to make the right decisions on how to sustain it.

• The Wales Biodiversity Partnership will be on hand throughout the day to explain what exactly biodiversity is.

• Cardiff Council will be asking visitors to get involved in the Cardiff Biodiversity Partnership's Garden Wildlife survey, which aims to discover all about the hidden wildlife in Cardiff. Get involved by telling them all about the wildlife you see in your garden.

• The Gwent Amphibian and Reptile Group will be promoting the conservation of all native species of amphibian and reptiles and their habitats, including some wild snakes!

• Meet Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’s scientists. Find out about the research they do and the new species they have discovered. See some of the Museum’s natural history specimens and find out why we keep so many. Try the bird quiz.

• Take part in a nature quiz, woodlice and mealworm game and learn more about wildlife conservation with Eco-explore Community Interest Group

• Witness live bats and find out more about the conservation of bats and their habitats with The Valleys Bat Group

• Find out more about why biodiversity is our life support system with The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and pick up one of their popular booklets before they all go!

• RSPB Cymru will be on hand showing people the peregrines nesting on City Hall Clock Tower via telescopes and the nest-cam.

Dr Deborah Spillards from National Museum Cardiff, said,

"Following last year’s successful International Year of Biodiversity, I am delighted that environmental organisations in Wales including the Museum are continuing to work together to remind us all why we should take biodiversity seriously. On Saturday at National Museum Cardiff we can discover more about Wales’ rich biodiversity and what each of us can do to help locally."