Conwy Wildlife Explorers have been raising money to help the RSPB's Rockhopper penguin appeal. Rockhopper penguins live mainly in the south Atlantic Ocean and their numbers have been dropping - less than one tenth of what it was in the 1950s. The reason for this isn't clear and so the RSPB want to investigate. The money that we raise will go towards buying gadgets like data loggers and satellite tags that will be used to track the birds to find out what is going on. Hopefully then work will start to stop the decline of this fantastic looking bird. It's name comes from the way it jumps over rocks and stones at the seashore !
Here's what Peter Jenkins age 8 had to say about our fundraising effort:
"Today we did a sponsored bird race around the reserve.
That’s a bird spotting race where you are supposed to spot as many birds as you can in 1 hour 20 mins! We spotted 38 birds! The other team got 38 but they cheated, they counted the penguin they were carrying so we said they had 37. Altogether we spotted 48 different bird species.
My favourite bird that I spotted was a buzzard. It was gliding across the estuary and it was the best because it was the biggest.
We have taken home a sponsorship form to raise money for Rock hopper penguins and that is what we have been doing today."