30 Days Wild - Day 27 - 27 June 2015

30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday

Day 27 - Going to the Festival of Nature in Bath

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at The Festival of Nature, Bath
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at The Festival of Nature, Bath
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

There were a lot less stands than at the Bristol Festival but it was lovely to catch up with people.  I had a long chat with Matt Collis from the Avon Wildlife Trust about Camp Avalon. I had asked him to get involved but he was away for his birthday last weekend but was really interested to know how it went.

I also got talking to a Asian girl called Natasha who was dual heritage, Mauritias/English.  She had done a Zoology degree and was telling us that all her Asian relatives were telling her to do a more 'useful' science ;-). She was talking about bees and I told her about my blog post about it a few weeks ago which she said she would look out.  Dad was also finding out about Bee Lines (Bee Corridors) as he is now on the Parish Council in Compton Martin and wanted to do what he could to help create Bee Corridors through our parish.

It was lovely to speak to the Greenpeace and Badger Group people again, they are my friends now and I always feel inspired when I talk to them.

I also found out about Splatter Spotter based at Cardiff University, who want everyone to let them know about any roadkill they see.   If you see anything, let them know about it @projectsplatter or www.projectsplatter.co.uk but if you see an otter or bird of prey, then they need the body to do an autopsy. They said I could watch an otter autopsy which would be sad but cool.  

Notify Splatter Spotter of any roadkill you see

I also learnt more about things not to put down the toilet/sink and was given a gunk pot to collect cooking oil into, cool it down and then make a fat ball for the birds.

Always collect your kitchen oil, cool it and dispose of it in the bin (not in the sink)

We didn't have much time but got chatting to a project to get rid of alien Cray Fish, so will write a blog about that.  The main thing to know is not to do any removal yourself, as you might make it worse.

As we were leaving I met Bethany Squires, who organises the Festival of Nature.  It was good to meet her as we had been chatting about how to get more teenagers and ethnic minorities at the 2016 Festival.

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly

Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig 

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She is looking forward to going Mountain Gorilla Trekking in East Africa in the summer and watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter