With our 50 year anniversary just around the corner we’ve been doing some digging around the RSPB Scotland Loch Leven archives and have found some brilliant photos of our various nature education programmes including these ones of our former field teachers , Bridget Gray, in action.
Then....
And now...
As we’ve just been nominated for the “best conservation charity for families” award it’s a good time to reflect on what we do here. Since RSPB Scotland Loch Leven was established in 1967 we’ve had focus on education and a constant flow of schools visiting with children of all ages to appreciate the changing seasons, learn about the wildlife living with us here and what we can do to give nature a home. In just the past 10 years we’ve had almost 40,000 school children take part in our schools on reserves programme. Over the full fifty years the numbers will be in the hundreds of thousands and many of these kids are now adults visiting with their families.
Getting stuck in a food web....
If you’ve not had the chance to visit yet there’s plenty to do with the kids; you can build a den in our forest school area and delve into the depths of the ponds with a pond dipping kit to discover what lives beneath the surface. Our seasonal nature bingo keeps the little ones entertained and there’s always an arty activity in the cafe while you enjoy the smaller bites kids menu. We have explorer backpacks with all you need to discover the wildlife of the reserve and we have long and short walks to suit the size of your legs and a natural play area to burn off any extra energy. If you are looking for something a little more structured we also run family events all year such as our monthly pre-school nature tots group, family bushcraft and Big Wild Sleepout.
Creating a strong connection to nature is one of the core principles of RSPB and we’ll soon be offering CPD training for teachers at RSPB Scotland Loch Leven, watch this space for upcoming dates or get in touch for more information.
If you’d like to up our chances of winning the Family Traveller Awards ‘Best conservation charity for families’ category, just click the link to vote.
Thanks for all your support!
Photo credits: pictures of Bridget Gray (unknown photographer), “now” - Helen Patience (rspb-images.com), "food web" Craig Leitch, "bushcraft" Helen Patience (rspb-images.com.