Nature Champions Workshops

Nature Champions are a group of 14 to 18 year olds who meet up monthly at Wicken Fen Nature Reserve to take part in activities including conservation work, bird ringing, citizen science surveying, and learning about the wildlife and unique habitats of the Fen. The project Listen to the Voices of the Fen created the ideal context for artist Kathy Hinde to run a series of workshops with the group, focusing on actively listening to nature in different ways.

At the end of September, Kathy led a workshop for the group to build their own hydrophones (underwater microphones) to then go out into the nature reserve to listen to the usually hidden underwater sounds of the drains, ditches and lodes. It was a hugely enjoyable session and the revelation of the underwater soundworld was fascinating. The young people found it particularly rewarding to have made their own listening device from scratch. ( There will soon be a guide to making your own hydrophone on this website if you also want to have a go! )

Some comments

"it was quite interesting hearing that there is actually more life under there than you could see... it makes you think there is more out there and maybe you should connect more with nature..."

"there are so many different species here... you can't see a lot of them, they are really small, and so you can hear them. It makes you aware of how much biodiversity there is on the fen ... knowing there's so much biodiversity really makes you think we need to protect the fens. And it makes you realise the conservation work we do here is for a really good cause, and that is really important."

Just over a month later, at the start of November, Kathy introduced the group to more aspects of field recording, including learning to use different kinds of microphones and recording devices, alongside continuing to work with the hydrophones they made in the first session.

There are more and more people who go to Wicken Fen regularly becoming interested in prioritising listening as well as looking for the many different species living there. We are hoping the Nature Champions group will continue to make recordings through the seasons and add to the bank of sounds that are accumulating as we continue to Listen to the Voices of the Fen.

Many thanks to Dave Stanforth for coordinating the Nature Champions group.