Kathryn Rossati
How far will you go for nature? Sponsored 5km run? A cake sale? How about writing a poem every week for a year...? Well, that’s exactly what Isle of Wight author, Kathryn Roassati, decided to do. Kathryn is an author of children's and young adult books, but this challenge might be her biggest yet in which she has taken on writing a poem about nature each week for an entire year. Amazingly, she is doing all of this to raise funds for the RSPB.
RSPB Garston Wood Nature Reserve, Dorset – Luke Phillips (rspb-images.com)
On her Just Giving page, where people can donate to the project, she states, "As an autistic person, I'm often overwhelmed by daily life, and the only place where I truly feel I can relax and be myself is in nature - away from traffic and the scream of sirens, away from societal stresses and expectations, where I can connect with other forms of life and simply sit and be fascinated, without feeling judged."
"For anyone who has ever stopped to watch a bird dart overhead, or has seen wild rabbits at play, or stood under the branches of an oak while soaking up the scent of the earth after it's been raining -- I imagine you know that feeling of utter peace that rarely greets you otherwise. So, it's only natural that I want to protect, and indeed, see flourish, the UK's wildlife. And because I struggle with working with other people, the more traditional forms of helping out (volunteering, attending events, giving talks etc) weren't an option for me. That's why I chose to fundraise via writing. Writing is my passion, and when I realised that I could use it to help protect what I love most dearly, I knew I had to do it. Thus #52weeksofnaturepoetry was born."
Kathryn started the project in November 2020, and it will run until November 2021. The weekly poems are uploaded to her blog, Treeshallow Musings, for readers to enjoy at their leisure. Along with fundraising, she also hopes the project will inspire others to take joy in nature and investigate ways to create more wildlife friendly environments.
You can read more about Kathryn's project at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/52weeksofnaturepoetry, or you can visit her website at www.kathrynrossati.co.uk.
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For more on reserves, visit our Reserves A-Z and head over to our Bird A-Z for identification and behaviour information. Email: natureshome@rspb.org.uk