Camp Avalon - Hamza

Camp Avalon 2015 had 5 ethnic minority boys attend from central Bristol.  This is about one of them.

Hamza was 16 years old and had just finished his GCSE's when he came to Camp Avalon 2015.

He had never camped before and never attended anything that was related to nature or the outdoors.  He is from central Bristol and does not know any ethnic minority people into nature.

He enjoyed the weekend and event said that he might attend again in 2017.  It was challenging for him at times, as it was hard to know how to find nature interesting. However, over the weekend the people helping on the camp did manage to capture his imagination.  

Hamza one from the right

Hamza

Hamza

Hamza on the far left

Hamza on the far right

The weekend was not easy for Hamza, but he did get involved in nature and could see how it could be interesting. He was really interested in the flight speed of a Peregrine, particularly when it was compared to a Formula One racing car.  He particularly enjoyed the ringing (banding), wildlife photography and bird sketching.

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

Making Nest boxes with Cubs and Scouts

You might think that making nest boxes in sessions at Cubs and Scouts might not make much difference beyond the actual boxes that get put up.  You'd be completely wrong.

Chew Stoke Cubs with Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

We made 15 boxes in Cubs and 10 boxes on Scouts which were spread between the member's primary schools and our comprehensive, Chew Valley School, who put them up in wildlife club.

However, the sessions themselves were practical and enjoyable but at the same time, they did a bird quiz naming birds, listened to a talk about Antarctica where apart from penguins and seals, I talked about my key message, "fight to stop anyone who wants to do anything to damage Antarctica".  Afterwards, lots of them contacted me asking me to post a video I mentioned of a Leopard Seal skinning a penguin.

Both groups were going on to do the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch at the end of January and a nature badge and environmental badge, as well as checking on the nest boxes to see if they are being used and next year whether they need to be cleaned out.

Each of the local primary schools had a nest box and Chew Valley had 16 nest boxes. This is the link to the Chew Valley Gazette article about the project which is on page 46 http://bit.ly/25DqdpY and this was an article on the school website about the boxes http://bit.ly/1W1KSQj

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, 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 - Sun 21 Jun 15, Bird ID Workshop

Camp Avalon, Bird ID workshop
Photographs taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, Bird ID workshop
Photographs taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon - A camp for young birders and inner city teenagers

After lunch, I gave a short talk before we had a quick review of the weekend before going out on a bird ID session on Shapwick Heath with Keith Vinicombe. There were no waders to look at but Keith was full of ID information and bird stories.

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

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Keith Vinicombe and Camp Avalon Attendees, Shapwick Heath, Somerset
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon Attendees, Shapwick Heath, Somerset
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, Bird ID workshop
Photographs taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, Bird ID workshop
Photographs taken by and copyright Helena Craig

It had been the best weekend ever, making lots of friends my own age, but I was exhausted.

Next year, Camp Avalon is on 8/9/10 July 2016 and I hope to make it bigger and better.  Next Generation Birders have said they would like to get involved and I hope other organisations will get involved too.  If you would like to come, whether you are already into birds or not, e-mail me at campavalonuk@gmail.co.uk.

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

Camp Avalon - 21 Jun 15, Birdgirl's Born to Bird Talk

Camp Avalon - A camp for young birders and inner city teenagers

First we had a morning of ringing demonstrations and then a talk from Mike Bailey about ringing and the BTO.

After lunch, I gave a talk about world birding, saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and World Shorebirds Day as their Ambassador.  

Camp Avalon, Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig's Born to Bird talk

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig's Born to Bird talk

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig's Born to Bird talk

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 12 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

Camp Avalon - 21 Jun 15, Ringing

Camp Avalon - A camp for young birders and inner city teenagers

Everyone took down their tents and headed to the Avalon Marshes Centre for breakfast and a ringing demonstration given by me, my dad Chris Craig and my trainer Mike Bailey from Chew Valley Ringing Centre.  Everyone seemed interested, although one of the loudest boys from Bristol was afraid of holding a bird but did overcome his fear and have a go at holding a few in the end.

Mike then gave us all a talk about ringing and the BTO.

A Camp Avalon attendee holding a Goldfinch, Avalon Marshes Centre, Somerset

Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Camp Avalon, ringing workshop

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

I had put my camera trap up the night before, we there seemed to be tracks on the grass.  I had put lots of food down to attract birds and animals.  So in the morning, we got everyone together and played the recording and it was really exciting to see four badgers feeding on the peanuts. We were all buzzing after watching that and it was a real highlight of the weekend.

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

Camp Avalon - 20 Jun 15, Looking for Nightjar

Camp Avalon - A camp for young birders and inner city teenagers

Camp Avalon Attendees

Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Helena Craig

After our meal at the campsite, we travelled to Stockhill looking for Nightjar on the Mendips.  It was a little breezy and so although we heard the Nightjar churring, only a few people saw them.  It's a shame as it would have been a new bird for some people there.

It was quite hard for the inner city boys to stay quiet but they managed really well and found being out in such an open place late at night spooky.

Although it was a shame not to see Nightjar well,at least it's something we can try again for next year.

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Camp Avalon, looking for Nightjar
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, 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