Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Wildlife Watch - information for adults!

What is Wildlife Watch?

The aim of Wildlife Watch is to encourage children to engage in their environment and the issues affecting it. There are five principles which underpin all Watch activity:  

Increase understanding of our natural environment
Foster awareness and feeling for the world we live in
Encourage a caring attitude to wildlife and participation in conservation
Create factual, informal, fun ways to investigate our surroundings
Ensure that young peoples environmental concerns, ideas and opinions are recognised and developed.

Wildlife Watch Groups

Across the UK thousands of volunteers are dedicated to running Wildlife Watch groups. Watch groups give children the opportunity to discover local wildlife and get stuck into various practical activities such as wildlife surveys, pond dipping and bat detecting. Playing in a natural environment has been shown to improve children’s concentration, social and mental development, and physical and mental health.

All groups operate within a monitored framework of child welfare and safety and all Watch leaders undergo a thorough recruitment process to check their suitability to work with young people.

Projects

When the opportunity arises we use an investigative approach to explore a topic in more depth, using relevant, simple-to-do methods. By examining natural history and broader environmental issues in this way, Wildlife Watch projects enable children to participate in genuine conservation research and awareness raising.

Our past projects include:

• Water Volewatch – a search for water voles, much loved as Ratty in Wind in the Willows but now rare in the UK.

• Treewatch –trees and tree products in our homes, gardens and streets

• Frogwatch - a survey linking frog spawning and development to patterns in global warming

• Riverwatch - using innovative tools and techniques to monitor local stream pollution

How can my child/children become members?

If you are already a member of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust then your children will automatically become members; to get them involved in all the activities on offer just contact your local group by clicking HERE!

What do children receive?

A membership pack full of creative and engaging resources, including:

• A membership card and badge

• 'Ready for Action' guide to wildlife watching

• Watchword (three times a year), our lively magazine packed with features on UK wildlife and the environment news, events and competitions.

• Wildlife Extra (three times a year), which focuses on specific wildlife topics opens into a poster; on the back are loads of activity ideas and cartoons.

Members can even email the Wildlife Trusts based at Newark to help out on the Watchword editorial team.

How do I contact my local Watch group?

To find your nearest group just click HERE!

I am a teacher how can my school get involved?

Your school can become Wildlife Watch members and receive all the Watch publications. These can enable you to work with children helping them investigate and appreciate their local environment.

The Watch package may support classroom study, or be used as the foundation for informed activities run through local youth groups, country parks or schools.

School membership costs £30 per year; visit the membership page for more information.

Check out the Wildlife Trusts website for Wildlife Watch: www.wildlifewatch.org.uk