Many of you may already be wishfully thinking of the summer ahead during these long winter nights. To be honest, it’s no different for us working at the reserve or in the Brecks!
We are already thinking ahead to the up and coming busy spring and summer months. One aim we are particularly keen to achieve is to get more children connecting with nature. The RSPB already does a fantastic job at getting more children and young adults inspired by all things wild. We run the world’s biggest children's membership club (Wildlife Explorers) and our teenage members (RSPB Phoenix) write their own magazines. We also got into schools and run brilliant activities for schools and families on our reserves across the UK. However, we want to see even more children connecting with the natural world, and we’re working on more ways to do this at Lakenheath Fen!
On a walk around the Brandon Fen family trail last Tuesday, we were looking for ways for families to be able to connect with nature on their walk around the trail. We were also looking for ways to ensure that families learn something about the reserve and having fun while they do that! In the Brecks area of the Brandon Fen family trail, we are looking at taking families through a journey through in time to discover the bizarre but brilliant Brecks landscape. This includes from includes from looking for pre-historic footprints, finding out about the miniature but mighty Brecks plants and learning about those top herbivores in the Brecks: the rabbits! Brandon Fen is also a fantastic trail to see the stark contrast between the Brecks and Fens landscape. It is also a great place to imagine how our ancestors from long ago utilised both of these landscapes. In the future, we are looking to recreate some of those scenes.
Last but not least, for those who are brave enough, we might also be asking for you to take part in a bare foot walk to find out what we mean by one foot in the Fens and one in the Brecks!
Here is a photo of one of our sculptures that was installed by the pond dipping platform last year. Hopefully, as a result of this meeting, there will be more fun things like this in Brandon Fen in the not too distant future:
Image credit: Ali Blaney