We have a guest blog this week from Carol Waller, one of our Date with Nature volunteers, last week she volunteered for the first time at a Date With Nature event in Verulamium Park, St Albans;
“My role involved talking to visitors about the herons in the park and helping them use our telescopes. The first pair of herons nested in the park in 1990 and since then numbers have gradually increased. Fortunately the birds do not seem to be unduly disturbed by the presence of humans. Located in St Albans city centre, Verulamium Park attracts a wide variety of visitors whether they are joggers, dog walkers, tourists or family groups.
Eager to spread the RSPB message we parked our trailer by the lake and set up our telescopes. As well as observing the herons through our telescopes, visitors could view images from a webcam on a screen in our trailer.
The level of interest was truly heartening even on a chilly Saturday in February. This event has been running for some years so some of our visitors had been coming year-on-year, others had no idea who we were or what we were doing.
This is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and spread the RSPB message to a wider audience than we would usually get at our reserves.
The event is running Wednesday to Sunday until the end of April so visitors can follow the progress of the heron chicks from hatching to fledging.”
Want to Volunteer? Ask me!