I am an 18-year-old naturalist from the Wirral Peninsular. I have a strong passion for arachnids, in particular, however, all aspects of the natural world interest me. In particularly birds, butterflies, and anything weird! I’ll also soon be studying Ecology and Conservation at Edge Hill University. 

Since I was very young I always had a deep-rooted passion for the Natural World. One of my oldest memories, which I believe cemented my love for nature was when I would visit my Great Nan and Grandad. They had a little box television connected to a camera, within one of the bird boxes, and every day when I was there I watched as this pair of Blue Tits built their nest, laid their eggs, and then eventually cared for their chicks and watched them soon fledge. All of this happened just behind the backdoor and it still amazes me!

Fast Forward several years later and I was introduced to different monitoring schemes which provided me with so many new opportunities. I first started off doing WeBS (Wetland Bird Surveys) and helped out on Nest recording schemes all under the correct conduct of course, and it gave me so much knowledge and the drive to do my own thing. I eventually decided to make my own Pan-list for the local reserve just down the road, 3 years later I am still doing it and discovering firsts for the site. During this, this is where I found the site’s first record of Common Lizard so that then gave me another thing to do, help try and monitor and survey them for the local ARG (Amphibian and Reptile Group). Continuing from today I still try and do as much as possible and try to record whatever I find so we can see what is here at the local reserve.

I am ecstatic to now be apart of the Cameron Bespolka Trust as I can truly say they are an amazing charity, providing fantastic opportunities for people like me, young people who have a strong passion for nature but struggled to find an output and others of a similar age who can talk and relate about similar passions. Bird Camp and the New Forest Wildlife Camp are two events I was made capable of going to due to the Cameron Bespolka Trust and they both provided me with amazing experiences and opportunities and if I had not gone I would not have the great friends I still have today.

My goal as a young ambassador is primarily to engage our next generation but to also provide insight and knowledge not many people have. I want to humanize the aspects of nature we don’t normally deem appealing, like arachnids, and to encourage people to take an even closer look at what is around us. This allows us to have a deeper connection to our surroundings and have a greater appreciation for everything that is wild. I’m hoping to aid in providing many opportunities to allow people to experience nature in its raw beauty and hopefully this will convince more people to take care of their local surroundings so we can have a positive impact across our country as a whole.