Meet the Nature Park regional team: North West
Welcome to our new series where we meet the regional teams working on the National Education Nature Park!
Our regional officers work in locations across England, helping spread the word about the Nature Park and supporting schools in their region on their Nature Park journey. In this blog we meet Jenny Lobo, the Senior Programme Officer for the North West.
What excites you about the Nature Park programme?
"The Nature Park map! I think it’s really exciting to see the number of schools joining the Nature Park programme and getting outside to explore their school site more on a daily basis. I’m really excited about young people recording the biodiversity they are seeing on site and adding this to the national database and then seeing the impact the changes they are making to their school sites are having in their school, local area and across the country!"
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"I’m really looking forward to hearing what schools discover about their school sites which they didn’t know before! Is there a secret family of birds nesting in the hedge by the entrance, is there blossom on the trees which no-one’s noticed before or a damp part of school which is a theme park for slugs!"
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"Worms are great for our soil and play an important role if you have a compost bin – but did you know that worms don’t like eating onion skins or oranges?! I love seeing worms in the garden but I don’t like picking them up!"
What is the most interesting, unique or fun thing you've seen in school grounds?
"I love a green wall for the benefits it can have for people, nature and making our local areas more resilient to climate change. For example green walls can cool surrounding air temperatures between 0.5 and 4.1°C, and indoor temperatures up to 4.8°C. I always feel relaxed when I’m looking at one and am amazed at the biodiversity that is living in it! There are a couple of schools in Greater Manchester that I’ve visited who have a green wall and I love the patterns and planting they have put in their green walls to make them both visually appealing and good for local biodiversity."
Meet the other Nature Park regional teams
- North East
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- East Midlands and West Midlands
- London
- East of England
- South East and South West (coming Winter 2024)
Contact your regional team
To get in contact with your regional team please email us at [email protected]