This is a guest blog from Stephanie Lawrence, the Greater Thames Futurescape Community Engagement Officer:
During an evening of celebrations aboard Light Vessel 21 (pictured right) last week, we announced the winners of The BIG Picture: Greater Thames Photography Competition. Over the past few months we have spoken to thousands of people about what makes the Greater Thames special, and we received hundreds of competition entries showcasing fantastic wildlife and landscapes from all around the Greater Thames, from Whitstable, to the South Bank, to Clacton-on-Sea! Thank you to everyone who shared their pictures with us, and we certainly didn’t envy the judges who had to pick the winners!
All this week, we invited the public aboard Light Vessel 21 to celebrate nature with us. As well as the chance to view The BIG Picture: The Exhibition, families joined us to discover how they can give nature a home in the Greater Thames. The exhibition has proved very popular with Medway residents, who have marvelled at the beauty of this diverse landscape and the incredible wildlife spectacles within it.
We have also been talking about the threats this special place faces, such as the proposed Thames Estuary Airport (see our Director of Conservation’s blog about this last week). What has really surprised me most (and has really touched me) are the strong feelings children have about this campaign. A few of them have written messages to the UK Aviation Commission to express their opinions. Imogen, aged 10, from Rochester wrote:
“Dear people of the government,
Please do not build an airport! Please do not build an airport! Nature will be ruined, habitats crushed and animals hurt. When us children grow up, nature will not be here for people to enjoy. We will not be able to see the animals I love so much.
Yours sincerely, Imogen, Rochester”
I’d like to finish this blog piece with a quote from the winner of the Young Photographer category, Benedict Green, aged 15 from East London. Ben shared his comments on his winning photo with an audience at the ceremony:
“My winning picture was taken at Two Tree Island, which is probably my favourite place in the world at the moment. It was quite unexpected actually, I went there at the end of a day out birding somewhere else in Essex and I didn’t see much for the day, and then I came there and got within a few feet of the waders and it was so amazing really, seeing them in a place - it’s an amazing place to be obviously because with flats in the background, you know you’d imagine it as being so densely human - that there’s so much wildlife there and, as you can see, it is right on your doorstep and I really wanted to capture that.
....Being here today, seeing all these people who are so enthusiastic is reminding me that there’s so many people who still do care about nature, so thank you very much for that.”
The photographs will next be displayed at RSPB Northward Hill 13th – 15th June. Email Stephanie.Lawrence@rspb.org.uk for details.
Tell the Aviation Commission how amazing the Thames is through our easy online action:
www.rspb.org.uk/noestuaryairport
#jeThames #NoEstuaryAirport