Our 3rd day of the Young Leaders course started with a few activities about conservation tasks. During this, we focused on how we ourselves would try and lead/manage anything related to nature - whether the project/campaign was small or large scale - which showed how important it was to have other people involved in anything you decide to do. For example, Alfie's theoretical project on Swift boxes would have needed funding but it would be difficult to find the support - we found that sometimes the slightly daft suggestions might not be as daft as we first think! From this we learnt how it might be good to think outside the box for whatever we do in the future, as the most obvious ideas might not be the most productive.
The second session was something very new to all of us, since we were all relatively young (below the age of 23) and didn't have as high profile jobs (yet!) Nick M and Faye helped us understand how to efficiently and effectively run meetings, so that they wouldn't be wasteful at all. Some things discussed included:
- Time management, and making a good use of the time available;
- Using an accessible, enjoyable location that would avoid distractions without making the topics too dull;
- Different roles of those attending, and how they can all feel involved/targeted and
- Behaviour/Etiquette (as a chair as well as an attendant.)
An eventful morning's work finished with Nick talking about the concept of 'walking the walk.' Here we talked about the importance of, as a leader, following the things that you believe in or talk about, so then you are respected at what you do. For example, if climate activist Greta Thunberg followed her work by flying all over the world, she wouldn't be as supported as she currently is. I think this is something that causes the downfall of many 'leaders,' as their beliefs can often be undermined due to hypocrisy. As a result, we all left looking at how to change in small ways, so we weren't victims of this.
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| Migrant Hawker dragonfly |
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| Migrant Hawker |
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| Migrant Hawker |
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| Painted Lady and Peacock |
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| Painted Lady butterfly |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly |
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| Butterflies in the obs garden, Spurn |
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| Painted Lady in flight |
The busy morning preceded an even busier afternoon. In order to help us more directly in the birds/nature sector, we were to lead a guided walk/activity for 10 minutes, which would be followed by feedback and advice on improving for the future. So it was slightly harder, we all picked a different topic to lead our activity/walk on, which made me nervously hide at the back trying to think of what to do my one on, as I always feared leading a walk myself!
With the weather being relatively warm and sunny, Sam decided to lead his walk in the obs garden, about migrant birds, particularly warblers. His initial plan, which was to walk about 300m through the fields towards 'Sykes Field,' was quickly seen to be ambitious, as we barely had walked a few metres before we started seeing some decent species.
Now it's worth saying that we were all expecting the session to be straightforward and trouble free, as most would when all the group's members are mature and knowledgeable people. The last thing we anticipated was for the adult leaders of the course to be disruptive, loud and annoying, so as to imitate any possible problem that could come up during a guided activity. This would, as I've found out after leading a walk more recently, teach us how to deal with any problems that may come up.
Sam's walk was a taster of this, and after the adults put on a show to put him off, asking awkward questions or making ridiculous phone calls, we all joined in; I confess I was being an absolute pain, and probably should have thought twice seeing as I hadn't gone yet...
Sam dealt with all of these problems very well, and so Amy was given charge of the next activity, which turned into an attempt at the game wink murder (I'm not scared to say I was good at this!) She dealt with all the problems, such as Nick collapsing on the floor after being caught by me and having a medical emergency, very well, and so her activity went pretty smoothly.
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| Nick having been murdered |
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| Reed Bunting. Canal Hedge |
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| Reed Bunting, Canal Hedge |
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| Dunnock, obs garden at Spurn |
Megan's activity of a 'bird pictionary' was also very successful, so well that I can't even remember if anything went wrong or not! Following this relaxed game, the charge were given to Alfie who led a walk in the obs garden about the flora present there. This arguably contained the most hilarious moments of the day, where his amusing replies to the awkward questions asked helped him get through his walk absolutely trouble-free.
Geth then began a bat walk, ironically just as a storm started to move in across the Humber, meaning it gradually got darker as we walked. It was harder for us to mimic the problems darkness might pose as it was still the middle of the afternoon - however, we found a way to make it difficulty, with Nick pretending to be a 'lost,' young child, while my pathetic attempt at 'losing' my phone caused me to drop and break it... His walk was enjoyable as well, and his knowledge of bats - which I'm not as good with - was clear throughout.
We then walked to the Humber Estuary, where Luke did an activity based around a WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) Count; in this he had to 'teach' everyone how to use binoculars, as well as prevent both Nick M and Nick W from jumping off a rock into the water. By this point everyone had figured out how to manage me, and so I was the 'assistant' for the 2nd time!
Jonny's walk on Identification of the birds present, where he got an opportunity to show off his impressive skill-set as a birder, meaning he had an answer to any complicated question that was thrown at him. For the 3rd time I was the assistant, so couldn't annoy him as I initially intended...
The penultimate walk, before my own, was to be led by Ceri again in the obs garden. By now, the weather had completely turned, and a massive funnel cloud was hurtling it's way towards us from the Humber. Despite the extreme winds, her walk on recording the plants and other wildlife in the garden went well, and soon enough, after a swift 10 minutes, we headed inside for my own activity...
My original plan was to do a 'vismig' outside, as from the initial weather it looked like we may have some decent birds flying over. The new weather - of stormy, windy, rainy etc - may have acted as pathetic fallacy as to what would actually happen. I started my activity indoors, and it would be about using technology in IDing wildlife. After a couple of minutes talking about it, I decided to head outside and that's where things started to go wrong... Soon after we reached the garden, having been stupid enough to be annoying beforehand, the karma came back at me, and I turned around to find about 5 of the original group still there. Sam, Jonny, Megan and Geth had disappeared, someone else was 'stuck' in a toilet while another was making a phone call (a real one this time!) Eventually, after reuniting the group, I showed them how to use the apps of Seek (iNaturalist) and Merlin (Bird ID) to help people identify what they see. With ten seconds left, and everyone standing miserably in the dismal weather including me, my pleading look at Nick to end it there meant we got to trek back inside, where feedback was gratefully received on my disastrous activity! Nonetheless, it was extremely educational and great fun, meaning the disaster wasn't quite so bad..!
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| Little Tern - a lifer for me at the time |
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| Sandwich Tern, Kilnsea Wetlands |
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| Little Tern, Kilnsea |
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| Little Ringed Plover, Borrow Pit |
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| Little Tern, Kilnsea |
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| Kilnsea Wetlands |
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| Tree Pipit, over the Canal |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
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| Tree Pipit |
Before we had our final dinner in the amazing Crown and Anchor pub, we were given a short period of time to plan an activity for the next morning, taking on board the advice from the day for another, less-stressful chance the final morning. With a little time remaining before we headed to the pub for the evening meal, some of us returned for another go at the Marsh Warblers, after the weather cleared up. I was thrilled to finally successfully see them, with the pair feeding their young, dashing to and from some trees to the reedbeds. After some decent views, we headed back up the road and had a fantastic, crazy dinner. The day had gone so well and everyone was on a high, meaning we could all enjoy the meal a lot more. Unbelievably, Ceri had even kept it quiet that it was her 18th birthday, making the meal all the merrier!
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| Ceri's 18th birthday |
To end our final evening, instead of birding or relaxing indoors, we all ended up in the obs garden playing cricket with a sponge ball and a piece of Spurn firewood. It was absolutely mental, and the reputation of 'playing cricket anywhere' that I carry from my family was proudly continued! The game even welcomed the young Spurn legends Jacob and Bethan, with our game eventually finishing in the pitch dark. Our evening couldn't have been much better, and eventually we went to try and get a little sleep, before our final morning of the young birders course. (cricket link here! - https://twitter.com/AmyHallWildlife/status/1161608483948695555?s=20)
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