england – Page 12 – Georgia Locock

Day in London : Our Environment Our Future

Posted on November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 by Georgia Locock

Most people visiting London for the day would perhaps go sightseeing or to see a West End musical but yesterday I went to discuss a project about getting young people involved with nature and the environment.

We caught the train from our local station at 9:00 and arrived in London just after 11. We then caught the tube to the Park Green station and walked through Green Park to the building where the conference was being held. I managed to get a few photos whilst walking through Green Park and it nice to see people enjoying the green spaces within London, not just the built up areas. There was some unusual wildlife here though, for instants a turkey! Along with lots and lots of grey squirrels, gulls and pigeons.

When we finally arrived, after stopping about every few foot steps to take photos, and the conference began I got to learn more about this exciting new project which is all about getting young people (aged 11-24) involved with nature and improving their local environment. It will take the form of a portfolio made up of around 30 individual projects across the UK. The Big Lottery Fund plans to invest £30 million across the UK to support these projects. The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is the leading consortium which has been chosen by The Big Lottery Fund. Other members of the consortium include Centre for Sustainable Energy, Community Service Volunteers, Field Studies Council, Plunkett Foundation, The Conservation Volunteers, vInspired and Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

Our Environment Our Future is all about young people shaping their local environment and acquiring new skills for the future. Outcomes of this £30 million investment include:

Make a significant change in the quality of our urban and rural environments.
Increase the ability of young people to improve places that are important to them and to influence the attitudes and decisions that shape their neighbourhoods and communities.
Catalyse change led by young people, by investing in both the direct improvement of the environment and the development of young people.

The Wildlife Trust, along with the other 7 members of the consortium, are now managing the portfolio investment and along with The Big Lottery Fund are working to identify and asses individual portfolio projects. They are now calling for expressions of interest from potential portfolio projects. If you are interested in applying to lead a project as part of the portfolio click here or if you’d like more information click here. You have until 5pm on the 17th of December to submit your Expression of Interest form.

Overall it was a great day for me as I feel very passionately about getting young people involved with nature as they are the future. I also enjoyed meeting 8 other young people from the other members of the consortium as they all feel passionate about the environment in different ways. After the conference we also had some time to go and see the poppies at The Tower of London. They had already started dismantling them but they still looked fantastic.

My Autumnwatch Experience!

Posted on October 30, 2014November 1, 2014 by Georgia Locock

Yesterday I visited the RSPB reserve, Leighton Moss, for the first time. But this wasn’t to have a look around the wonderful site and look at the wildlife, it was to feature on BBC Autumnwatch Extra. Although I did have some time to look around I didn’t see very much as there were lots of people about but I will be going back to visit again in the near future!

We caught our first train to Leighton Moss at 7.35am and after a few hours of travelling and delayed trains we eventually arrived at 12. Straight away I had a chat with the producer and the presenter of the Autumnwatch Extra show, Brett Westwood. I also got to chat to Michaela Strachan and Nick Baker.

After lunch we went for a walk around the reserve then did some filming with one of the presenters, Lindsay Chapman, where I spoke more about the practical side of using trail cameras and compared my set ups to the ones at Leighton Moss. It was great fun and I really enjoyed myself!

Later on we went to Lilian’s hide ready for the Extra show. It was very exciting, especially when they were counting down to going live! When I was on I spoke about my passion for trail camming and how brilliant it is. I also spoke through some of my favorite clips explaining what was going on and how I managed to get the footage. Unfortunately I only had 2o minutes but I could of gone on for hours speaking about my trail camera set ups, what I’ve managed to film and the behavior.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stop for Unsprung but we were allowed to have a look around the studio and watch one of the rehearsals which I thoroughly enjoyed! It was brilliant and I really did have one of the best days ever due to it being a fantastic reserve and everyone being such friendly and enthusiastic people! I really did enjoy the experience and it was so inspiring too!

You can watch my part on Extra by following this link and skipping to the 1:58:00 mark – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0299myp/autumnwatch-extra-2014-4-day-two-part-two

Here are some photos from the day.

Save Hopwas Wood, Staffordshire!

Posted on October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 by Georgia Locock

Yesterday morning I found out about proposed plans to turn one of my local patches into a quarry. I regularly visit the ancient woodland as it isn’t far from where I live. I’ve visited it for as long as I can remember, for example walking through the woods on a number of occasions and taking photos of the wonderful wildlife. I was very upset when I found out this news and decided that I wanted to do something about it.

After hours of research I decided to create an online petition as I hadn’t found any others. My petition is targeted at the local Council as they are currently discussing the plans and a verdict will be released on the 5th of December.

Along with many others Hopwas Wood, also known as Hopwas Hayes Wood, is one of my favorite outdoor spaces. It consists of approximately 385 acres of ancient woodland which date back to the doomsday book.

The area is listed by the SPNR as a large ‘primeval forest’ and ‘a good place for plants which frequent woody places’ as well as birds and insects. It is also important for a number of protected species such as otter and grass snake.

Here’s a link to the petition I have set up. I would be extremely grateful if you could sign and share – https://www.change.org/p/staffordshire-county-council-save-hopwas-wood-staffordshire

Mammals go exploring!

Posted on October 19, 2014November 1, 2014 by Georgia Locock

Once a month I go to a local Wildlife Watch meeting at the National Memorial Arboretum. As I’m quite a bit older then the other kids I act more as a leader within the group. Yesterdays session was about all about various mammals which are present at the Arboretum. A local mammal expert, Derek Crawley, set 39 traps out the night before then we went to collect them during the session and to see what mammals had been trapped over night.

Yesterday the trapping was to show the children a close up of different species but this method is often used to monitor the numbers of various mammals. The traps were set up at roughly ten feet apart beneath an unused grassy area. When we found a trap which was closed we opened it up to see what had been caught. We then examined the mammal, looked to see if it was male or female then let it go. It was brilliant to see the species close up. We managed to catch seven wood mice, a bank vole and a field vole. Here are some photos I took.

Something else I found out yesterday was the mammal tracking phone app. This is to record different mammals in the UK so more can be found out about whereabouts they are and numbers. You can follow this link to download the app for your apple or android phone – http://www.brc.ac.uk/mammal_tracker/