Meet the Nature Park regional teams: East and West Midlands
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 Becky Lawrence, the Senior Programme Officer for the East Midlands, Martin Harrison, the senior Programme Officer for the West Midlands and Eleanor Hervieu, Programme Officer for the West Midlands.
What excites you about the Nature Park programme?
"Seeing the joy on children’s faces when they discover something new or of interest to them outside."
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"Revisiting some of the schools once their interventions are in place and established and seeing the difference they have made to the biodiversity within their grounds and hearing how the pupils engage with it."
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"I love hedgehogs, I think they are really underrated. They have such unique characteristics, like no other UK native wildlife and yet we have the opportunity to see them in our gardens. We can all easily play a part to help increase numbers given their significant decline in recent years!"
What is the most interesting, unique or fun thing you've seen in school grounds?
"A trellis for climbing plants made out of bike wheels with the spokes providing the perfect support for the plants to climb up."
Martin Harrison, Senior Programme Officer for the West Midlands
What has been your highlight so far with the Nature Park?
"The first Nature Park intervention , a pond at a great nature based nursery in Birmingham."
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"More schools, getting involved, more interventions and working with some great partner organisations."
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"All 13 UK native reptile and amphibian species, grass snakes maybe my favourite, can be upto 1.5m in length, play dead and give off an awful smell when threatened."
What is the most interesting, unique or fun thing you've seen in school grounds?
"One of the nurseries I support has a peregrine nesting on the building roof, I have not seen it, but the practitioners have seen it in their outdoor space early in the morning when doing their safety checks."
Eleanor Hervieu, Programme Officer for the West Midlands
What has been your highlight so far with the Nature Park?
"Seeing the difference our activities have when testing them with the children - I work a lot with Early Years Foundation Stage and seeing them develop a sense of awe and wonder about nature is amazing. It's also great to see schools start to develop a sense of agency about their grounds through the Nature Park, creating a home for nature as well as young people!"
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"Seeing the changes made to school grounds which will enrich generations of children for years to come. It's amazing to think a young person will be enjoying a tree we planted years down the line."
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"That's a tough one... it has to be between beavers and red kites. They are both amazing, majestic creatures, and I think we are so lucky that they call our little part of the world home! I once went to visit a red kite conservation centre and it was a great experience seeing these endangered creatures back doing what they do best - soaring in the clouds!"
Meet the other Nature Park regional teams
- North West
- North East
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- 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]