Education and lifelong learning

We know that introducing children to nature at an early age can help shape attitudes for life. The Wildlife Trusts want everyone to be aware of and to enjoy their natural surroundings. Our work involves maintaining and encouraging a wide range of native species in Wales – biodiversity, as we call it. But the job doesn’t end there – we need people to understand what we are doing, and why.

We can spread the message by encouraging people of all ages to get involved – in our conservation work, through the educational projects we run with local schools, and by giving children an insight into nature through Wildlife Watch – the junior branch of the Wildlife Trusts. Each year, 15,000 young people in Wales get involved in some kind of Wildlife Watch activity. The emphasis is on learning about nature through enjoyment, and we frequently find that young Wildlife Watch members stay with their local Trust, becoming valuable and enthusiastic volunteers in many cases.

Our Wildlife Trusts have been involved in developing numerous bilingual educational projects in conjunction with schools and community groups. There are plans to extend across Wales some of the successful pilot schemes which have been trialled in individual trust areas.

Lifelong learning

Learning never stops, of course. The Welsh Wildlife Trusts have almost 1,000 regular volunteers who relish the chance to master new skills and challenges. Each Trust organises a programme of work parties to tackle practical conservation tasks, from brushcutting and hedgelaying to pond-clearance and habitat survey work.

Time devoted by volunteers has an additional value, too – its monetary worth can be costed and included in applications for grants requiring match-funding.

Volunteers really are the life-blood of the Trusts. And it’s not just physical, outdoor work that they carry out. Their talents are immensely varied - some bringing legal, secretarial, marketing, teaching, photographic, or technological skills to Trust offices and visitor centres, or helping out on Trust stands at agricultural shows.