Meet the Nature Park regional team: London
© The Trustees of The Natural History Museum, London
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 Emma Woodhouse and Rachel Smith, the Senior Programme Officer and Programme Officer for London.
Emma Woodhouse, Senior Programme Officer for London
What excites you about the Nature Park programme?
"I love the fact that the Nature Park programme puts change-making in the hands of young people. It’s amazing to see the creativity, passion and skills of young people up and down the country, exploring, understanding and changing their school site to make it more biodiverse and work together for the planet. I recently spoke to some students who were bursting with pride at the number of different things they’d done in their school!"
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"I’m so excited to see the national map grow with as many different schools, colleges and nurseries as possible and to see more and more amazing things happening up and down the country! I'm also looking forward to seeing the impacts that the changes will have across the school, not just on biodiversity, but also on wellbeing."
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"That’s a tough question! I think my favourite would have to be hedgehogs. They are incredibly cute! My fun fact would be that we didn’t have an official name for hedgehog babies (hoglets), until the 1990s! Plant-wise it would have to be a type of tree. One particular type is hard to pick but my favourite tree of all time is the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. I absolutely love the story of Robin Hood, so that was a must-visit for me as a child!"
Rachel Smith, Programme Officer for London
What excites you about the Nature Park programme?
"This is such an exciting programme as it is fast paced and combines my passions of horticulture and education! I particularly like the Hidden Nature Challenge as it is simple way to first engage with nature. Sometimes it can be daunting to engage with nature as it is so vast and varied. The Nature Park allows young people to take stewardship and get involved which is epic! "
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"Working with young people! Seeing the children engage and take a pivotal role in enhancing grey to green is something I am really looking forward to. It is so interesting working with children and young people as they bring so much, from creativity to bewilderment, a sense of fun and above all energy! I also love doing a before and after comparison photo of an area- I'm looking forward to seeing progress and being part of a positive change. "
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"Being part of the London team- as with being in any city- it is fantastic to see nature find a way. It is also lovely to think 'what wildlife lives there?' when you have a fleeting glimpse of an area from a train. I of course love seeing wildlife, but also…. trees! London was once a forest and to think that some trees in London were planted hundreds of years ago and have been home to a range of wildlife and are still standing in my lifetime- I get goosebumps. Owls in the time of Queen Victoria could have perched on the same branch as a pigeon I see on my commute! Fun fact, the oldest tree in London is the Totteridge Yew, suggested to be near 2000 years old! "
The Nature Park London team is supported by the Mayor of London through a community science rewilding grant.
Meet the other Nature Park regional teams
- North West
- North East
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- East and West Midlands
- 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]