Embracing Autumn in the Brecks
Our quick guide for enjoying autumn to the fullest in the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks. More
The majority of this project involves working closely with schools to enable young students to build a relationship with an important habitat and nature reserve near them. Part of the project has also been about building the confidence of teachers and group leaders to take children out for the day to different reserves and workshops, such as in the half-day teacher training session delivered by Norfolk Wildlife Trust to 9 primary school teachers in January.
However, Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) has chosen to concentrate on harder to reach communities of adults who may not otherwise be able to, or feel confident in, accessing nature reserves on their own.
So, on the 4th of August, the team at Lackford Lakes partnered with Suffolk Refugee Support (SRS) to run a group workshop for 14 Ukrainian refugees who live in and around Bury St Edmunds.
Because of this partnership, SWT were able to improve accessibility of information by translating the advert for the event into Ukrainian and promote the opportunity to individuals SRS had already built relationships with.
This session largely focused on aquatic invertebrates and also a short walk around the reserve to for some bird ID. The session ended with a dragonfly related craft activity which enabled further conversation about accessing local reserves and nature, the benefits of the outdoors and actions for nature at home. We also had lots of positive verbal feedback from attendees including around how they felt glad to discover outdoor spaces that are free for them to visit, how they enjoy being outside in a beautiful place in nature for the day, how relaxing it had been and how they’d learnt lots of interesting things. Many said they planned to come back and to bring friends and family. One lady was also considering the idea of volunteering and said she would let us know later on if she had decided to do so.
SRS staff said they felt more confident delivering similar sessions as a result of the day and said:
“It was fantastic to see our Ukrainian guests, younger and older, enjoy each other’s company and the Suffolk scenery. They also thoroughly enjoyed the activities that were set up, especially the pond dipping and using the binoculars. It was great to see the various species, wildlife and habitat.”
