Natural Nations: Having a field day in the Swedish press

During Spring lockdown in the UK, Spain and Malta, our Swedish friends and Erasmus + Natural Nations partners Naturskolan i Lund and Lund University were able to make
significant progress with testing pilot biodiversity surveys in a selection of the schools they regularly visit to train teachers in outdoor pedagogy.  Following in the footsteps of the successful Polli:Nation project (also led and managed by LtL), the surveys provide a crucial role in helping school children understand what insects, birds and plants inhabit their school grounds and informs actions and improvement regimes taken to increase biodiversity. 

Naturskolan staff created a well-designed itinerary over three days for four classes in grades 2, 4 and 7 plus a group of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The first day introduced the concept of biodiversity and its critical importance to a healthy planet.  Field days were spent testing the surveys with children (press article above shows two pupils from Häckebergaskolan in Genarp with Anna Ekblad, Naturskolan educator / NT developer) and then collating their thoughts about how the methods could be improved during evaluation sessions.   

Education advisor Carolina Lindblad focused on a survey group identifying bird species on and around the school grounds in Genarp (see below, top photo) – they managed to find 13 species in five minutes!

We are so grateful to Naturskolan and Lund University for their commitment to the Natural Nations project and especially for arranging fantastic field day coverage in the local press.  

All being well, we will bring more news soon of pilot survey testing in a UK setting…