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Young Darwins at
FSC Preston Montford
Image courtesy of FSC. |
"I didn't know much
about the Young Darwin Scholarship before I applied for one; name-dropping
arguably the most important naturalist who ever lived, it certainly sounded
like something special, but in the week-long residential that followed my
receipt of the scholarship, all my expectations were exceeded.
"Set up by the Field Studies Council (FSC) in 2012, and
having accepted 15 new applicants every year since, the Young Darwin
Scholarship is an initiative with the goal of encouraging and supporting the
next generation of 'Darwins' - young people aged from 16 to 17 with an interest
in the natural world, and a desire to pursue this interest further. Beyond the
advice and support afforded by an ever-expanding network of fellow scholars, I
had the chance to go on a weeklong residential course at the FSC-owned Preston
Montford Estate in Shrewsbury - the very same town that Darwin himself was born
and grew up in.
"With the fourteen other scholars, I took part in activities
ranging from moth and mammal trapping to canoeing along the River Severn in
search of wildlife. We explored a disused lead mine in Snailbeach Rocks (oddly
enough, a place which was neither a beach nor particularly renowned for its
snails), which proved to be both fascinating from a geological point of view
and darkly atmospheric in its own right.
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Sue Townsend (FSC) and
Young Darwins 2015
Image courtesy of FSC |
"Some days we would spend hours simply
walking through Shrewsbury's most impressive landscapes, including the vast,
craggy Stiperstones (a stretch of rocky heath moorland whose name
unsurprisingly means, in the local dialect, the sharp stones), in search of
rare species like red grouse or kites - the rain, of course, was unrelenting,
but the heavy banks of mist only added to the land's remote beauty. The last
day was given over entirely to a BioBlitz - an intense series of sessions
focused on identifying as many species on the estate as possible, with
assistance from a range of environmental experts. Excitingly, the results we
recorded were then uploaded by us onto an international database, meaning we
had contributed to vital biodiversity statistics.
"I've taken away a lot from that week: I've learnt that I'm
terrible at identifying bird calls, but not too bad at bats; I've realised that
moths are far more diverse than I previously imagined, and (at least to me)
have an unusual beauty that far outshines the ever-popular butterflies; that
otters never show up when you want them to, and a few twigs cracking is all it
takes to scare away a family of badgers after waiting an hour to see a single
shining eye; I've learnt that every species is fascinating in its own way, from
the worms we surveyed on the first day to the barn owl that flew within a few
metres of my face on the last night. The Young Darwin Scholarship taught me all
this and more, and I can't wait to see what it teaches me next".
