Local Magor officer Rob Maddocks has been sharing his expertise on wildlife crime with a group of 14 local children from Caldicot enrolled on a ‘Wildlife Warriors’ course.
The 13 week course was set up by the Gwent Wildlife Trust over 40 years ago with the aim of giving children aged between 11 and 14 a chance to learn new skills about wildlife conservation, knowledge and safety.
Most of the sessions on the course are based at the Magor Marsh nature reserve with occasional field trips to locations throughout Monmouthshire. During this recent course, the children travelled to Salisbury Farm in Magor to meet the farm animals, learnt how to identify birds at Seddon House in Dingestow and went to Tintern Abbey to explore the Wye Valley and see birds and animals in their natural habitat.
Gwent Police sponsored the course by buying t-shirts for all of the children involved.
A Wildlife Warrior, Florence Cordner aged 14 said, “At Wildlife Warriors, we go to Magor Marsh and other places and look at the nature around us. We light fires using flints and identify hundreds of beetles, flowers and birds. We see and learn some amazing things that we would never have known before.”
PC Rob Maddocks is a wildlife officer for Gwent Police. He explained, “From experiencing the different types of wildlife crime that happens in Gwent, I think it’s important to educate children about how we can all help to improve our countryside.
“This course is the perfect opportunity to speak to young people and tell them about the impact of crime on the countryside and local community.
He added, “If we can encourage teenagers to become involved in worthwhile, fun activities, they will be less likely to take part in anti-social behaviour. All of the children on this course were very well behaved and I enjoyed being part of this programme.”
The next course begins on Tuesday September 14th and will be held weekly at Magor Marsh Nature Reserve. Whitewall, Magor from 6.30pm until 8.30pm.
If anyone is interested in joining or for more information, please contact Denis Jackson by email – [email protected] or phone 01600 740358.
