Many thanks for your welcome - look forward to joining in from time to time - until then, something in the ethos of WAB ...
SPRINGWATCH Festival 08, Sussex
Glorious weather meant a good turn out today for the annual Springwatch festival in Brighton. Lots of exhibitions and stalls from various eco- orientated organisations with good representation from the RSPB, Sussex Wildlife Trust, SeaLife, The Badger Trust etc and the stall on which I was working, the Sussex Ornithological Society. Myself and four other SOS members had a very busy day talking to festival visitors about the birds of Sussex. We had bird photo quizzes which went down extremely well with all age groups. Young children in particular loved sticking velcro backed photos of birds onto photos of different habitats. Most adults and young people had some experience of birds in their own garden but little or no knowledge of common birds/more unusual birds that didn't frequent their gardens. A photo of a male male Ruff drew the most stunned looks from adults, many thinking it was some foreign exotic! However, it was the photo of a Bearded Tit that people were most drawn to and which children could find most easily among the Tit illustrations in Collins. Toddlers seemed particularly drawn to Owls, recognising the genus immediately (perhaps because this is often a bird that features in children's story books). Children of non-bird watching parents on the whole frequently demonstrated a better knowledge of different species than their parents, which seemed to be largely attributed to nature and science field trips with their respective schools, with many saying their schools had 'nature' areas in their grounds with bird feeders. A testament too, to the many partnership projects between wildlife organisations and schools.
An exhausting (not least because I was up in the wee small hours Richard
) but wonderful and informative day for all participants.