About Watch…for Grown ups

Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts.

Our aim is to encourage children to engage in their environment and the issues affecting it. There are five principles which underpin all Watch activity:

• increasing understanding of our whole environment
• fostering awareness and feeling for the world we live in
• encouraging a caring attitude towards wildlife and participation in conservation
• creating factual, informal, fun ways to investigate our surroundings
• ensuring that young people’s environmental concerns, ideas and opinions are recognised and developed, and opportunities are created to act upon them.

We do this though Watch groups, projects and members' publications.

Wildlife Watch Groups

Across the UK thousands of adult volunteers are dedicated to running Wildlife Watch groups where children can meet and enjoy exploring their environment. Going regularly to a group, along with their peers, enables young people to have lots of fun and make new friends whilst they develop real understanding and commitment.

Watch groups give children opportunities to discover local wildlife and get stuck into practical activities likely to encompass anything from environmental artwork and waste recycling, to barn owl surveys, pond dipping and wild flower fun days. All groups operate within a monitored framework of child welfare and safety and all Watch leaders undergo a thorough recruitmnet process to check their suitablity to work with young people.

Projects

When the opportunity arises we use an investigative approach to explore a topic in more depth, using relevant, simple-to-do methods. By examining natural history and broader environmental issues in this way, Wildlife Watch projects enable children to participate in genuine conservation research and awareness raising.

Our past projects include:

• Water Volewatch – a search for water voles, much loved as Ratty in Wind in the Willows but now rare in the UK.
• Treewatch –trees and tree products in our homes, gardens and streets
• Frogwatch - a survey linking frog spawning and development to patterns in global warming
• Riverwatch - using innovative tools and techniques to monitor local stream pollution
  

Wildlife Watch membership

Young people can subscribe to Wildlife Watch as junior members of their local Wildlife Trust. They receive a special starter pack plus six mailings a year. Watch membership costs around £15.00 a year for up to four children living at the same address. Many Wildlife Trusts also include Watch membership as part of a whole family package

Watchword, our lively magazine and Wildlife Extra, which opens into a poster, are each sent three times a year and are packed with features on UK wildlife and the environment, news and events, activity ideas, competitions and cartoons. Across most of the UK, individual Trusts also provide a local newsletter for their members.

Wildlife Watch has its own award schemes offering members the opportunity to have their personal environmental efforts recognised and rewarded. The Gold Award comprises eight challenges designed to encourage members aged eight and over to explore and protect their environment, whilst also offering plenty of scope for individual choice and ability.  Watch Starlet is a more basic scheme available for members aged five and over. Simple support material is available to parents and guardians of children active in Watch Gold Award by clicking on the link here.
Watch Gold Award (104kB)

Or on Starlet by clicking on the link below
Watch Starlet

 

Become a Wildlife Watch leader or helper

The network of local Wildlife Watch groups covers most of the UK. A typical Wildlife Watch leader or helper is someone who enjoys working with children, is enthusiastic and concerned about the environment and enjoys being out of doors. No expert wildlife knowledge is required to start, and volunteers receive support and guidance from local and UK staff. 

Click here to read an iinterview with Andy Summer, one of four registered leaders at Lochinver Watch group.

You may like to help an existing group – leaders work in teams, with helpers. This is a good way to find out more about how Wildlife Watch works, and what fun it can be. This can be a springboard for starting your own group in a different area. Alternatively, if there is no group in your area, you can start from scratch.

If you are interested in this, please contact the Watch Organiser at your local Wildife Trust.  This will give you the chance to ask lots of questions and learn more about what is involved before committing yourself. There is some more information about groups on our FAQs page. If you are accepted to register as an active leader, we will provide:

• A leader’s resource pack to help you plan fun-filled, informative, safe activities.
• A local contact for on-the-ground support.
• Full public liability and personal accident insurance
• Link magazine three times a year to update you on current events, news and ideas for activities
• Access to relevant training
• Other ongoing publications including Watchword and Wildlife Extra plus support materials for any new projects.
• Access to the exclusive leaders' area of this website where there is guidance on how to run your group and the opportunity to have your questions answered or to share ideas with other leaders. There is also an activities database to help you plan your programmes.

Some of our publications are shown and described in more detail at the bottom of this page following the information about education in Trusts.

About Watch and Education from The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts is a partnership of local Trusts covering every part of the UK, plus Alderney and The Isle of Man.

As part of their 'People and Wildlife' agenda, most local Wildlife Trusts offer services to schools and other youth groups in their area. This may be through staff time, site visits, local projects, resource provision or a combination of all four. Many include Watch materials within locally tailored packages. To find out about your local options please contact your local Wildlife Trust.  If you are involved in delivering the classroom curriculum, informal activities through local youth groups, country parks or after school clubs perhaps, then they might have just what you need.

RESOURCES
Link
A bulletin of projects, publications, events and other initiatives relevant to anyone engaged in education about environmental issues or biodiversity. It includes photocopiable activity sections and accompanies Watchword in July, March and November. The activity sections usually link to the topics covered in the following Wildife Extra (see below) . Anyone recieving Link also has access to environmental games and activities from a dedicated part of this website. To see a back copy of Link, click here.

Watchword
Our children’s magazine packed with wildlife features, environmental stories, quizzes, competitions, cartoons and news. A great way to make topics accessible to all, with three issues each year.

Wildlife Extra
A mini-magazine that folds out into an A2-sized full-colour poster. Each issue concentrates on a particular theme and is packed with advice on taking positive practical action to benefit wildlife and our environment. There are three issues each year, mailed in January, May and September.

Natural World
The Wildlife Trusts’ magazine that informs readers about UK conservation through news, reviews and features relating to the work of The Wildlife Trusts, with three issues each year. Posted to Watch leasders with Wildlife Extra.

Ideas for action is a database of environmental activities available through this website. Anyone who receives Link through their role as a Watch leader, or as part of their local Wildlife Trust group or school membership has access to an activity database using tried and tested  ideas from Watch's 30 year archive. This area of the website was initiated in 2003 with the availability of Link online, and is being continually developed to ensure it remains a valued resource suitable for anyone striving to engage young people in environmental activity.