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All this week we are celebrating the amazing milestone of 25,000 children in Scotland starting their own wild adventure in just two years through our partnership with Aldi. Here Sally Nicholson, a Schools’ Outreach Volunteer in Glasgow, tells us about one of her favourite Connections to Nature sessions.

An outstanding visit


My name is Sally and I have been a volunteer with the RSPB Scotland since September 2017. This year I have had the privilege of helping with the South and West Regional Office’s Aldi School Outreach programme. A particular school visit that stands out is Clober Primary School in Milngavie.

We spent three full days at the school, thanks to the invitation from Mrs Anderson the Head Teacher and Mrs Greer, who coordinated the visit. We delivered two sessions: ‘Habitat Explorer’; and ‘Giving Nature a Home’ to P1 to P7 classes, who were thrilled to see RSPB Scotland as many of them were already members!

In both sessions, the pupils were encouraged to explore the habitat around their school to discover places where mini beasts, birds and small animals could live and flourish. The school had already planted a wild garden in the grounds and set aside an area in the playground for nature, so there was a lot to discover!

When asked what they enjoyed most about the day, the resounding reply from each class was ‘getting to go outside!’ The pupils thoroughly enjoyed exploring the grounds looking for mini beasts and were delighted to discover places that could be homes for hedgehogs and toads. During the session, some of the pupils even started to build additional Bug Hotels when they found sticks and large stones, which they have pledged to monitor and send us photographs of future inhabitants!

The school has an Eco Committee, with representatives from each class and at the end of every session, the pupils were encouraged to suggest one thing they could recommend for future action. ‘More food for the bird feeders, a pond and a bird bath’ were some of the recommendations. We’re looking forward to returning to the school in the spring to see the fruits of their labours.

Find out more about the project and the Connection to Nature sessions here: www.rspb.org.uk/aldi

You can read the other blogs from the last three days here, here and here.