At the Spring meeting at Bancyfelin on 13^th April, Isabel Macho and Andrew Martin from the CMG Steering Group spoke on why we would like to know more about the land that CMG members collectively own and/or manage. 

The last time a comprehensive land survey was carried out over the whole of Wales was the Phase 1 Habitat Survey done in the 1980s and 90s.  Since then, we don’t have comprehensive data on what has changed. There will have been lots of changes caused by building development, climate change, changes or reduction in management due to underfunding of public bodies, tree planting schemes, air and river pollution – the list goes on.

Most CMG members are small-scale landowners. Their land is mostly off the agricultural radar – farming censuses and monitoring schemes will not apply.  But there are many reasons why our members’ sites may have a significant role to play in the effort to tackle the nature emergency that we are facing. We need to try to link habitats that are increasingly rare in the countryside so that species can get to them from another biodiversity-friendly patch – we can only do this if we know where they are, and how they are managed. 

CMG uses a membership system called Membermojo because it makes it easier for the steering group (all volunteers) to keep track of subscriptions, contact details of members, etc.  But it also enables us to compile a database of information about the land our members own/manage. It’s completely optional whether or not members give us this information. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.  But for the reasons stated above, it will enable us to make a more significant contribution to conservation if you do.

The data you enter cannot be seen by anyone other than you and the three system administrators on the Steering Group: Colin Law (Treasurer), Laura Moss (Big Meadow Search Coordinator), and Andrew Martin (Chairman).  The system is compliant with the current data protection rules.  When we use any of the data you provide, it will be anonymised so that it will not identify you or your property. If we do need to use information on its location (for example in establishing connectivity with other sites) we will not do so without asking for your permission.

To access your data on the database, go to: https://membermojo.co.uk/cmg

And you will see a screen like this (this is Andrew’s page):

Click on the “Your Membership” button at the top of the screen, and you will get a page like this (Andrew’s is redacted to remove certain information):  

Under “Options”, click on the “View or Edit” button to the right of “My Details”: and you will get to this page with various drop-down menus and guidance on how to fill it in. 

You can then save any changes you have made.

We may add more fields to the database in future.  For example, we are planning to try out a system of seed harvesting from donor sites to provide seeds to increase diversity at receptor sites, so we will need to identify such sites.  If and when we add new fields to the database, we will tell all the members so they can, if they wish, add this extra information.

Thank you for reading.