We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted in the Octavia Hill Awards 2014 ‘Wild Organisation’ category. It is now down to a public vote to decide the winner. Please show your support for our work with young people by voting here.
The Octavia Hill Awards are organised by the National Trust, the Wild Network and BBC Countryfile Magazine and celebrate people who work to protect and enhance green spaces for wildlife and local communities.
“This year, the Octavia Hill Awards are looking for heroes who have helped children and young adults connect with the outdoors and wildlife – passing on their own experience, enthusiasm and love of nature. We want to celebrate the people who have made a real difference to the youngsters around them – helping to inspire a life-long love of the outdoors and wildlife.
The Wild Organisation award is for a group or organisation, large or small, that have championed the importance of reconnecting children with nature. Voting closes midday Sunday 31st August.” (taken from the Countryfile website)
Why should you vote for us?
Froglife is a conservation organisation whose work is instrumental to the conservation and protection of native amphibians and reptiles. Over its time, the organisation has initiated a whole host of regional and national projects and has been highly successful in its attempts to reconnect children with nature. Most notably, through its Green Pathway project, funded by the BBC Children in Need, Froglife provides young disadvantaged people with opportunities that inspire and empower them to partake in positive wildlife orientated activities. Their work “clearly demonstrates that it is championing the importance of reconnecting children with nature, and moreover they are focusing on those children and young people that wouldn’t normally access these opportunities because of social, cultural or financial barriers”, says a nominator.
For more information about our Learning Projects please click here
We need your vote so please show your support by voting here
Wednesday involved spray-painting practice for a mural at Olive Branch then strawberry picking with another boy at the Green Backyard.
Thursday, out on the butterfly survey again. This time the weather was really good so we saw literately hundreds of butterflies! Then we were out for a snake hunt again and I finally saw my first adder, at last! And there were two of them, both hiding under the same mat, what a cool thing to see.
The methods of the study were as follows: between May and January of the following year, tadpole development at the field site was monitored by randomly collecting tadpoles and taking them back to the laboratory to be measured and their stage of development was noted. If an individual had not started metamorphosis by November it was considered to be over-wintering as a larva. Water temperature was continuously logged for the duration of the study. This data was used to calculate the mean fortnightly temperature. For the laboratory study, the tanks where kept at mean fortnightly temperatures and they had either a high or low food availability scenario. The tadpole’s development and condition were also recorded.
The study confirmed that tadpoles do over-winter at the study site. At the site, shortly after hatching the larvae began to form two distinct development groups. One group consisted of waves of individuals that grew on and then metamorphosed. The second, smaller, group continued to grow but did not metamorphose and this decision to over-winter as tadpoles was carried out very early in their development.