Uwe Stoneman, Site Manager at RSPB Loch Leven Nature Reserve (formerly Vane Farm), tells us about a friendly takeover.
Under new management
It’s been an exciting day for us on the reserve! Not only did we launch our brand new name: RSPB Loch Leven nature reserve, we also welcomed a fantastic class of P7 students from nearby Portmoak primary school. These students spent the morning trying their hand at running a nature reserve and impressed staff and visitors alike with their knowledge, hard work and dedication.
In a bid to show them more about life on a nature reserve, each child was given the chance to takeover an important role, applying to be either a warden, information officer, retail assistant or cafe assistant.
The wardens planted snow drops and conducted the morning bird count while the tour guides, designed and carried out two very engaging & informative guided tours. The cafe assistants baked and sold delicious custom cupcakes in the newly re-furbished cafe and the retail assistants built lovely, hand crafted nestboxes and sold them in the new-look shop on the reserve.
It was a real privilege to work with the students and our staff and visitors were most impressed with all that they achieved. We hope that their experiences in the classroom and on the reserve will inspire them to pursue conservation in the future.
Outdoor learning is an important part of life at RSPB Loch Leven and we are celebrating 45 years of field teaching this year. Having the Portmoak P7s on site was a great way to mark the milestone and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the new look RSPB Loch Leven in the coming years.
Find out more about the reserve, field teaching and our exciting family events on the website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochleven/