Get out there and feel the dirt!
Froglife’s Green Pathways scheme empowers vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to take part in positive activities linked to wildlife and conservation in their local community. Following in the footsteps of the Peterborough team, who have been delivering a fantastic programme for several years now, the Glasgow Green Pathways team are now busy developing activities and partnerships in order to make this exciting project have as much impact on the lives of young people in the city as possible.
Over the course of a young person’s engagement with this project, we aim to improve their confidence and social skills and work on any behaviour issues they may have. We signpost them to additional help and support, relevant to their wants and needs, and help them enjoy and learn about the natural world alongside gaining new practical skills. They get the opportunity to show what they can really achieve in a different environment.
This project rests on a mass of scientific research that suggests that being outdoors and in particular connecting with nature, has a huge positive effect. It helps physical and mental health, learning, behaviour and social skills for people of all ages and abilities. For some people, their reaction to our indoor based society is extreme and although they may not know the reason, take them to a wild space and you can see them relax and open up.
What is on offer?
Glasgow Green Pathways work outside of school hours, during evenings weekends and school holidays, with different youth groups and clubs, community groups and after school clubs in Glasgow. We tailor projects and activities to best suit the needs of each group and the green space we’ll be working on.
We can also deliver a number of sessions during school hours to young people with additional support needs or who attend SEN schools in Glasgow. Get in touch to find out more!
Sessions may include;
Long-term projects
Young people plan, carry out and showcase a project which benefits wildlife and people in a local nature reserve, community garden or park. Projects might include:
- Planting a wildlife or bog garden
- Creating hibernacula (amphibian refuges)
- Creating bird boxes and bird feeders
- Restoring or creating a pond
- Creating a wildlife mural for a community garden
One-off sessions
Consisting of holiday and after-school sessions for young people interested in practical outdoor activities, going on visits to different locations and joining in conservation tasks. There is also scope to develop sessions for family groups.
Activities could include:
- Pond dipping
- Creating a pond, bog garden or minipond
- Wildlife surveys
- Making animal homes
- Den building
- Clay modelling
Outreach
For whole community youth clubs or youth groups in deprived areas, Froglife can visit and deliver interactive sessions with a wildlife theme.
- Wildlife identification and life-cycle
- Outdoor games
- Conservation of amphibians and reptiles
- Practical sessions using the school grounds or local green spaces, including pond dipping and site maintenance
Who can get involved?
Our main target audience is young people aged 10-15 years, with scope to work to a lesser degree with other age groups who are considered vulnerable or disadvantaged in some way. For example, they may:
• Live in a deprived area
• Not attend mainstream school
• Lack confidence
• Have limited access to the outdoors
• Have learning difficulties
• Have behaviour issues
• Be involved in alcohol or drugs
• Be causing trouble inside or outside school
• Have mental health problems
• Be a young carer
How much does it cost?
It’s free! And we may be able to offer help to overcome barriers such as transport and outdoor clothing. Sometimes, the young people themselves fund-raise towards the cost of the project.
Project Updates…
We’re currently booking groups, families and individuals in for sessions for the new school term (August 2019) onwards. If you’d like to talk to the Glasgow Green Pathways project about sessions for your group, community green space, club or just to ask any questions please use the contact details at the bottom of this page and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Some 2019 highlights….so far!
Young people from Quarriers Opt-In went pond dipping during June 2019 at a wildlife garden and found some fabulous newts! Both efts and adults as well as some Large Red Damselflies that enjoyed resting on our net…
We’re proud to say that one of our more recently created ponds (2016) now has common darters breeding there! We caught the female on camera but the male was patrolling and hard to picture. This year we also found some Common Blue butterflies (as well as about 50 Six-spot Burnet moths…in one day!) at a local park’s wildflower meadow with a group of young people, lots of small toadlets during a nature walk and a fabulously proportioned diving beetle larvae during some pond dipping! During the project we’re keen to spot any and all wildlife and make space for everything in our local greenspaces…what benefits an invertebrate species also benefits our amphibians.
SNH Outdoor Learning In Nature Project – Springburn Partnership
Froglife are currently working in partnership with Springburn Academy and Springburn Gardens Allotments Association to deliver a programme of habitat work to improve the site for wildlife, in particular the amphibian species which reside nearby with young people from the Academy.
Throughout the project students from Springburn Academy will visit Local Nature Reserves and greenspaces, as well as the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. This project will run until the end of July 2020.
This project is supported by Scottish Natural Heritage.
Froglife would like to thank our funders for their support of the Glasgow Green Pathways project;
We would also like to thank The Hedley Foundation, Glasgow Credit Union and the Mickel Fund for their support of the project as well.
Contact
Louise Smith – Learning Officer, Glasgow Green Pathways
0141 339 0737
07985 566 381
For information on Froglife’s other education projects, click here.