Camp Avalon 19-21 July 2019 Flyer

Black2Nature

Camp Avalon 2019 

Fri 19 - Sun 21 July 2019

Camp Avalon 2017
Photograph copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig 

A nature weekend for teenagers aged 12 to 18 to enjoy 
Having fun outside in nature 
Trying new things like camping 
Making new friends 


How to Book

Text or phone Helena on 07798818772 or e-mail campavalonuk@gmail.com

£20 per child with free places offered

Free transport from Bristol

Food all halal or veggie

Location - Paddington Farm, Glastonbury

Young People supervised at all times by DBS checked adults

About the Author

Young environmentalist and birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig 
Copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 17-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes posts about birding, conservation and environmental issues from around the world. 

Camp Avalon and Camp Chew are the ideas of Mya-Rose Craig, who also organised the first events in 2015. She is organising the 2017 camp with the organisation she has formed Black2Nature and hopes to attract more young birders and inner-city teenagers.

She has been involved in the UK organisation of the Youth Strikes encouraging young people from around the world to not go to school once a month and protest instead demanding immediate action to prevent climate breakdown. This is an interview in New Statesman.

She was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also 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.

She organised four nature camps for children and teenagers since 2015 and is helping to run four more in 2019. She also organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans two more in 2019. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Visible Minority Ethnic people and is President. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. 

She has given over 50 talks, speaking at conferences such as being on a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas on Sustainability and the Future of Cities. She is a Minister in Chris Packham's Manifesto for Nature in 2018 and spoke in front of 10,000 people at the Walk for Nature. She has also appeared on TV and radio and is particularly proud of being in Silent Roars, a short film which was part of Listen to Britain 2017 https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-silent-roars-2017-online.

She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. She was also listed as one of Bristol's BME top 100 powerlist.

She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. She became the youngest person to see 5000 birds in 2019 age 16 and is looking forward to visiting Brazil birding in 2019 and hopes to see half the birds in the world there. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter. If you would like to contact Mya-Rose about her work, please e-mail helenabcraig@hotmail.co.uk.

Camp Avalon 2016 - Invitation to attend

Friday 15 July 2016 to Sunday 17 July 2016

Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, March 2015

Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig

In June 2015, I organised Camp Avalon,  which attracted lots of young teenagers to the Somerset Levels, to spend the weekend birding and getting involved with nature.  It included keen birders and people who had never been to the countryside or camped.  Share the Camp Avalon Blog http://bit.ly/1Q7ktfV

These are the links to my blog posts about last year's camp.

Camp Avalon - Friday Night

http://bit.ly/1PpG6tC

Camp Avalon Friday night

Camp Avalon Friday night

Camp Avalon Friday night

Camp Avalon - Saturday

http://bit.ly/21m0TVD

Camp Avalon Saturday

Camp Avalon Saturday

Camp Avalon - Sunday

http://bit.ly/1jueBlC

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Camp Avalon Sunday

Friday 15 July 2016 to Sunday 17 July 2016

This is a camp for young birders and is also suitable for those who have no experience of nature at all.  We hope to have a number of teenagers coming from inner city Bristol who have no experience of birds and nature and have never camped.  We have plenty to help to ensure that both groups are catered for and that one can inspire the other.

Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, March 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig 

Come to a camping weekend on the Somerset Levels for young birders between the ages of 12 to 18 and at secondary school or 6th form.   Please contact us if you are a little bit younger and still wish to come.


You may be accompanied by an adult if you wish but you do not need one with you,  CRB checked adults will be with the teenagers at all times.

Based on the ABA Camp Colorado and Camp Avocet in the USA (ABA Young Birder Camps), where 40 young birders each summer experience a week of new birds, people and learning.  The idea that those with experience share it with young birders.  The USA camp is relatively expensive and is for a week compared with what we are trying to do here at Camp Avalon. 

Ham Wall RSPB Reserve, Somerset Levels, March 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig 

Camp Avalon – Programme

This is a sample programme based on the one for 2015 with improvements. The programme will be finalised after feedback from those attending.  At the moment, Mike Dilger from The One Show and Ben Hoare from BBC Wildlife Magazine are hoping to attend. So please get in touch with your ideas for the camp.

Friday 15th July 2016

All activities dependent on weather

6.00 pm – 7.30 pm (CS)

Set up tents & time to socialize

7.30 pm – 8.30 pm (CS)

Dinner cooked on fires at campsite

9.00 pm – 10.30 pm (MD)

Looking for Nightjar on the Mendips

Led by Chris Craig, Avon and Somerset, British and world birder

Saturday 16th July 2016

7.00 am – 7.30 am (CS) Breakfast at campsite

8.00 am - 11.00 am (AMC)

Bird ringing demonstration at Avalon Marshes Centre

Mike Bailey Chair of Chew Valley Ringing Station and BTO ringing trainer (with Chris Craig assisting)

11.00 am – 11.30 am (AMC)

Refreshment break

Avalon Marshes Centre

11.30 am – 12.00 pm (AMC)

An introduction to Bird Ringing, how to get involved and how it benefits conservation

Mike Bailey Chair of Chew Valley Ringing Station and BTO ringing trainer 

12.00 am - 12.30 pm (AMC or SHCP)

How to keep and submit good records and understanding fieldcraft (for the keen young birder)

Brian Gibbs, Somerset County Recorder or

Bio Blitzing at Shapwick Heath (optional for beginners)

Mike Urwin, RoAM

12.30 pm – 1.30 pm (AMC)

Lunch

Avalon Marshes Centre

1.30 am – 3.30 pm (AMC)

Bird Photography
James Packer, Chris Griffin and Brian Gibbs, Somerset County Recorder and bird photographer and

James Packer, who writes the blog The Somerset Birder and is a Somerset birder and bird photographer 

3.30 pm – 4.00 pm (AMC)

Refreshment break

Avalon Marshes Centre

4.00 pm – 4.30 pm (AMC)

Born to Bird, a talk focusing on how those with ethnic minority heritage can connect with birds and animals from those places

Mya-Rose Craig (age 14)

5.00 pm – 7.30 pm (CS)

Downtime and dinner cooked on fires at campsite

8.00 pm – 9.30 pm (HW)

Evening Bittern walk at Ham Wall.  Meet at SHCP.
Led by Chris & Helena Craig

Sunday 17th July 2016

7.00 am – 7.30 am (CS) Breakfast at campsite

8.00 am - 10.45 am (SH & HW)

Birding at Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall, searching for Great White Egret, Bittern and lots of other great birds.  Meet at SHCP. 

Led by Julian Thomas, Somerset birder, British and day lister and world birder (with Chris Griffin assisting)

11.00 am – 11.30 am (AMC)

Refreshment break

Avalon Marshes Centre

11.30 am – 12.00 am (AMC)

An introduction to world birding and volunteering with conservation projects abroad

Andy Mears, World birder, Oriental Bird Club active Member and one of only a few birders to have accomplished the huge feat of seeing all the Pittas of the World 

12.00 pm – 1.00 pm (AMC)

Lunch

Avalon Marshes Centre

1.00 pm – 3.00 pm (AMC)

Sketching for birders

John Gale, acclaimed bird illustrator for ID publications around the world as well as a bird artist

3.00 pm – 3.30 pm (AMC)

Refreshment break

Avalon Marshes Centre

3.30 pm – 4.00 pm (AMC)

Close and looking forward to Camp Avalon 2017 (30 June -2 July 2017)

Mya-Rose Craig, Young Birder

4.00 pm Finish 

Key to locations

AMC – Avalon Marshes Centre, Shapwick Road, Westhay, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 9TT, telephone 01458 860556

CS – The Isle of Avalon Touring Caravan Park, Godney Road, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 9AF, telephone 01458 833618

HW - Ham Wall RSPB Reserve, park in the new Ham Wall Car Park if open or Shapwick Heath Car Park opposite, Ashcott Road, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 9SX

MP – Stockhill Woods, Priddy, Mendips, Somerset BA5 3BE (drive through Wells and then follow A39 towards Bristol and Bath, turn left onto Priddy Road and at the crossroads (with the Hunters Rest on the corner) turn right, the woods are on your right and park in the pull-in before the car park).

SHCP – Shapwick Heath NNR English Nature Car Park, Ashcott Road, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 9SX (bio blitzing on the Discovery Trail off the car park)

Bittern, Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, March 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig

Cost

£20.00 per person including carers, excluding camping costs (£16 per night for two people or much less in provided shared tents). 

Grants

There will be a limited number of grants available to those young people (and a parent if they are under 16 years old) from an inner city area who have little or no experience of engaging with nature and whose family are receiving means tested benefits. Camp Avalon recognises that there are almost no young birders from black or ethnic minority backgrounds and so hope that these grants will encourage disadvantaged young people to be able to attend.  All equipment needed will also be loaned for the weekend.

Thank you to Opticron for the load of five pair of compact binoculars to this project.

Transport

Free transport is available to and from Bristol train or coach station. The camp site is a 10 minute drive to Ashcott Corner car park. 

Thank you to Avalon Marshes Centre for their support and to the birders who have offered their time in order to pass on their knowledge to young birders. Please get in touch if you would like to get involved by e-mailing campavalonuk@gmail.com.

Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, March 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig 

How to Book

E-mail campavalonuk@gmail.com with your name, age, if an adult would like to come with you and any dietary requirements or post a comment on the Camp Avalon blog.

Hudsonian Godwit, Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, April 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig

Grass Snake, Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels, April 2015
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig

About the writer

Camp Avalon is the idea of Mya-Rose Craig, who also organised the event in 2015.  She is organising the 2016 camp and hopes to attract more young birders and inner city teenagers.

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, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, 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 loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. 

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also 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

Camp Avalon - Articles in SOS and Avalon Marshes Newsletters

Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

In June 2015 I organised and ran a camp for young birders and encouraged five ethnic minority teenage boys to come, which is something not even the big conservation NGO's have managed. Camp Avalon took place on the Somerset Levels, based at The Avalon Marshes Centre.

As well as everything else, we did some fantastic birding on the Levels.  We saw Great White Egret, Bearded Tit, Cuckoo and Bittern.


In September, The Somerset Ornithological Society (SOS) published an article in their Newsletter, The Bittern, about Camp Avalon. Julian Thomas and Brian Gibbs, the Somerset County Recorder, both SOS members helped during the weekend. The link to the newsletter is The Bittern but the article is below.

Hamza Khandker age 16, Bird Sketching Workshop, Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

The Bittern - Welcome

Hello again!

An eternal question for all county ornithological societies is ‘Where are the next generation of birdwatchers coming from?’ Looking around the table at SOS committee meetings, it’s immediately obvious that the average age is higher than any of us would like (personally, I suspect, as well as looking to the future of the Society). Any initiative which encourages young birders is therefore definitely a good thing. So it is great to carry a report in this issue of the inaugural Camp Avalon, to which several SOS members gave their time, and which appears to have been a great success. It is the brainchild of Mya-Rose Craig (aka Birdgirl), who you may know from the BBC4 documentary Twitchers: A Very British Obsession. Now a few years older, though still only 13, Mya has not only built up an impressive world list, but also takes nature conservation (both here and abroad) and getting young people interested in birdwatching and all other aspects of nature very seriously indeed. Sounds good to me.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon 2015

Mya-Rose Craig reports on a new birding camp for young people In February, I was looking longingly at the details of Camp Colorado and Camp Avocet organised by the American Birding Association (ABA) for teenage birders. The idea is that over a week away on camp, young birders learn from experienced, well-known ones as well as making new friends and most of all enjoying themselves. 

Camp Colorado, USA

There was nothing here aimed just at teenagers and so I decided to organise a camp, Camp Avalon. Mum and Dad [Helena and Chris Craig] said they would help and I felt sure that some Somerset birders would help too. However, it would be just for a weekend and cheap, so that it was accessible. The Avalon Marshes Centre agreed that we could use their site for free, I found a campsite nearby, and lots of birders with a wide range of skills and experience agreed to give their time unpaid. I then read an article by David Lindo in ABA Magazine, where he talked about ‘opening the door’ to nature to inner city or ethnic minority teenagers. Camp Avalon needed to be inclusive. I talked to people in Bristol and tried to overcome the barriers to these young people connecting with nature or coming on a camp like this. 

David Lindo, 'The Urban Birder'

The camp was over the weekend of 19–21 June and we had 14 attend, including keen young birders Ben Bond, Dan Burrows, Tom and Mia Carpendale, Tom Gale, Aiden Gregory, Lewis Mitchell, Thomas Weston and myself. Also five black or Asian teenage boys from Central Bristol came, none of whom had ever camped. 

On the Friday evening, we met up at the campsite, helped get all the tents up and cooked dinner. Moni-e (pronounced mon-e-a) was the first person I had met from St Paul's and was amazing. He luckily took over cooking from Mum and so we got to eat before going out mothing at Shapwick Heath with Bill Urwin. A few people were scared of moths but bravely stuck around. 

Moni-ee Blackwood age 15, Nabil Khandker age 15 and Rashan Salman McCormack age 14
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

On Saturday, we all started early with a walk on Ham Wall RSPB reserve with brilliant Somerset birders Julian Thomas and Chris Griffin. It was fantastic to see so many species including 2 Marsh Harriers, 2 Bitterns, Cuckoo heard, and 2 Bearded Tits seen by Thomas. Back at the centre, we had sessions on world birding and conservation from Andy Mears, keeping good records and fieldcraft from Somerset Recorder Brian Gibbs, photography from Chris Griffin, Brian Gibbs and James Packer, sketching birds from artist John Gale, and after dinner Nightjars at Stockhill with Chris Craig, which were only seen by a few because of the breeze. 

Julian Thomas, Rashan Salman McCormack age 14, Moni-ee Blackwood age 15 and Chris Griffin
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

On Sunday morning, we started the day with Mike Bailey, Chris Craig and myself giving a ringing demonstration, with Mike then giving a presentation. Everyone was really interested in this session and I hope that those from the city will never forget holding a bird in their hands and letting it go. One of the loudest boys was scared of holding the birds but still had a go. After lunch, I gave a talk on World Shorebirds Day and saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper followed by a really instructive bird ID walk on Shapwick Heath with Keith Vinicombe. 

Mia Carpendale age 12, Ringing, Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

I had an amazing weekend along with all the young birders, but I hope everyone got something out of it that they will never forget. Thank you to all who helped. 

Next year Camp Avalon will take place on 8–10 July and hopefully we will be able to make it bigger and better with lots more people helping with sessions as well as behind the scenes.

Dan Burrows Age 12, Ringing, Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

The Avalon Marshes Newsletter also published an article about Camp Avalon in their Apr-Jun 15 Newsletter:

We were joined on our biobliz by a group of teenagers organised by Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl on a young people's birding and wildlife weekend called Camp Avalon. Camping at a local campsite and using the Avalon Marshes Centre as a base, as well as joining us for some of our activities, the children took part in sessions on bird recording and fieldcraft, bird ringing, photography, wildlife sketching and listened to talks on world birding and conservation.

The camp was attended by a wide range of teenagers from some of our Young Wardens who are experienced birders and mothers to teenagers from inner city Bristol who had never visited the countryside before. The event was a great success and we were very proud to support them and welcome new visitors to Shapwick.

Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

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, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, 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 loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and is looking forward to watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. 

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol 2015 Ambassadors. She has also 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