During August 2021 we were invited to visit the Royal Society of Protection of Birds’ (RSPB) conservation area in Leighton Moss in the North West.
We took 20-25 asylum seekers and refugees, including families and individuals, to the RSPB nature reserve at Leighton Moss. It was an amazing day and everyone really enjoyed themselves.
Making it accessible
We were greeted by Jarrod Sneyd, the Site Manager at Leighton Moss Nature Reserve. He gave us a fabulous tour of the grounds and a really engaging talk. Knowing that our asylum seekers and refugees came from across the globe, Jarrod made the experience engaging and fun, and appropriate for those who only had a little understanding of English and probably had little confidence, as well as those who had far better English.
Jarrod explained that the site was really important for conservation and went onto explain that the habitat of reedbeds is really important for bitterns as they rely on reedbeds to live in. Reedbeds are rare and the reserve at Leighton Moss is the largest reedbed in the north west of England.
Jarrod also talked about other kinds of birds, engaging the audience in such a way that the audience were thrilled at the outing. They got involved in pond-dipping and talked about wildlife, pondlife and Jarrod explained the English words for the different types of insects they found.
A birds-eye view
Because the reedbeds and the conservation thereof are so important, Jarrod spent time explaining why. To get a ‘birds-eye’ view, a trip up the observation tower was the order of the day. It was interesting to consider how best to describe a reedbed, in order that the term could be easily understood by everyone.
Before it was time to go, the group sat and enjoyed a picnic and listened to a talk about volunteering opportunities with the RSPB in the future.
And what for the future?
The day was so successful, that we’re hoping to organise another conservation day to help with the conservation of the reedbeds in due course. Hopefully, another event held later in the year will help the group see the environment during a different season, and give them a glimpse of how things change with the seasons.
The team at CoS have built a great rapport with the local RSPB team and we’re hoping that the partnership will reap rewards for both in the coming months and years.
A big thank you to Jarrod for your exceptional talk and tour 🙂
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash