Autumn wonder at Cameron’s Cottage

02 December 2025

I’m Laura, I work for the RSPB and I run Cameron’s Cottage. I started working here last year and in Autumn 2024 decided to write a seasonal update of all of my goings-on. Here we are a year on with edition 5, Autumn!

As Summer quickly moved into Autumn, the woods surrounding Cameron’s Cottage came alive with colour – from leaves, to fungi, berries and everything in between, nature’s masterpiece was putting on an impressive display. Even while cleaning your teeth, young people could admire this beauty – see the view from our bathroom window!

And just like nature’s last bold act before the quiet of Winter, Cameron’s Cottage was too coming alive with a new wave of intrepid Autumnal explorers. September and October were busy with multiple residential trips and the beginning of November saw the last few day visits of the year. I’m writing this on the first day of December and Autumn is slipping away right in front of my eyes. For me, it’s now time to look ahead to Christmas, the wonders of Winter and planning for 2026 – I must remember to wear my thermals tomorrow!

But back to the slightly more balmy Autumn, where rain only disrupted plans a couple of times and where the sun’s dappled warmth was enjoyable through the golden shades of woodland oak and beech. A definite highlight for me was a sunny morning walk through the woods with a local university group, where fungi were seemingly popping up in front of our very eyes. There were so many of them and so many kinds! It made my day when I spotted my first fly agaric of the season – a firm favourite and a personal indicator that Autumn is surely here.

Behind the scenes I have been working hard to build a following on social media. Instagram has been a particular success, with 538 followers to date! Followers seems to enjoy nature themed content and practical ways to get involved in learning about and looking after the natural world. Showing a Facebook audience of home schoolers and forest schoolers how we use The Lost Words book to teach young people about nature has been a particular hit!

It's been great to have a new way to engage with young people and see their experiences at Cameron’s Cottage – both to follow along with their nature journeys and also a brilliant way for us to reflect using this valuable source of feedback. Here’s one young person who shared a video of his time at Cameron’s Cottage via his Instagram handle mustelid_man. See his post here.

I’ve also been working with the RSPB’s EDI team to raise awareness and improve how Cameron’s Cottage works with young people with Hidden Disabilities and accessibility needs. With initial discussions complete, this work will form a chunk of what I do this Winter – so more on this to come!

With the last group of the year been and gone, I am grateful for an amazing and fruitful 2025 and look forward to what 2026 is going to bring.

Summertime at Cameron’s Cottage

15 September 2025

I’m Laura, I work for the RSPB and I run Cameron’s Cottage. I started working here last year and in the Autumn decided to write a seasonal update of all of my goings-on. This is edition 4, Summer!

In the last edition of this blog, I wrote of how busy April and May had been and early June brought the last of that particular busy spell. Summer has since been a little quieter, allowing for moments of reflection between incredibly rewarding group visits and activities.

The group visits to the cottage have been rewarding

My frequent visits down to the lake were a highlight as I could watch the toad tadpoles developing with every visit! Another highlight was seeing a cacophony of bats on each evening walk I led. Watching the young people be amazed and enthralled by this nocturnal display was so heartwarming – and the excitement from knowing bats were flying low all around us, almost touching our heads at points, was contagious and I couldn’t help but laugh with glee alongside them.

Behind the scenes I had also been working on setting up Facebook and Instagram pages for Cameron’s Cottage to engage young audiences in the nature around them, display some of the goings-on of recent groups visiting the cottage and inviting young people to take action for nature in their local green spaces. July saw the launch of these two accounts and I’ve been enjoying creating videos and taking photos to build an online platform for young people to engage with.

Things picked up again at end of July as we busily prepared for the New Forest Show. The 3 day event is a great opportunity to share what we do with the wider public and local community. Jayne and I designed activities to engage with families and made display boards to aid conservation conversations about our work and our nature reserve.

August brought a small flurry of residential stays and day visits to Cameron’s Cottage, and somehow the team were able to squeeze in some well-deserved holiday! I’m writing this in the beginning of September, with fond memories of the whirlwind year 2025 has already been, and excited for what adventures Autumn brings, especially as while writing this I’m seeing the first signs that Autumn is on its way!

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The reserve lake is teeming with pondlife

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Watching the tadpoles develop

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The New Forest Show was an opportunity share what we do

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We made display boards to aid conservation conversations

Romsey Young Carers

08 September 2025

We were delighted to once again sponsor Romsey Young Carers to spend time in nature, away from their daily responsibilities. Young Carers are young people whose lives are affected by caring for a family member who has a long-term illness or disability. Romsey Young Carers provides safe spaces for their young carers to discuss concerns, get support and have fun.  

The first group consisted of 15-18 year olds who enjoyed their stay at Cameron’s Cottage, immersed in nature, walking, pond dipping and participating in team building games as well as a bat walk and a BBQ around the camp fire.  The bat walk was definitely a highlight.

"During my stay at Cameron’s cottage I was able to decompress around the sounds, sights and smells of nature. We had the opportunity to explore the wildlife that surrounded Cameron’s cottage and we even got to create our own fires to make hot chocolate where we used the natural resources around us.  

"Overall I had the most amazing time being able to catch up with friends and my brother expressing the love of nature and the lovely cottage stay " - Gracie 

"At Cameron's cottage I enjoyed seeing my friends and having the opportunity to relax, enjoy nature and create stronger bonds with other people. I feel it was very beneficial as I am very busy working a full-time job and dealing with lots of adult responsibilities so having the time to just not worry was great. My favourite activity was going to the lake and finding bugs and eating lots of food. I also enjoyed late night uno and playing pranks on everyone". -- Ella

"Thank you so much to everyone at the Cameron Bespolka trust for enabling us to stay at the cottage and experience its surroundings, to be immersed in nature whilst learning new skills. We felt truly enriched and recharged by the end of our stay.”

We were also so pleased to sponsor their Family Fun Day at Cameron’s Cottage. The group consisted of the parents as well as the young carers and provided a perfect place for them to spend time outside together with their parents. A highlight was the campfire where they could play games. 

"Our family day at Cameron’s Cottage was an amazing opportunity that enabled all of us to spend quality time together in a supportive environment, away from the pressures of daily life. The activities – from exploring local insect life to learning practical skills like fire-making – were good fun and encouraged enjoyment of nature. For my daughter, who has caring responsibilities, the day offered both respite and the chance to simply enjoy being a child. Experiences like this have a significant positive impact on her wellbeing, family relationships, and confidence, and I am very grateful that Young Carers had the support from Cameron’s Cottage to make it possible" - Alison

A huge thank you to the RSPB for organising such amazing activities as well as giving these young people some down time to enjoy their surroundings and friends.  

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Spending time in nature helps the young carers decompress

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Enjoying a campfire BBQ

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Team building games are integral to the exprience

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Building a makeshift shelter

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Learning how to safely build a fire at the family day

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It was a chance for the young carers to explore nature

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Romsey Young carers spend time at Cameron’s Cottage

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It was a chance to put drawing skills to the test

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Making use of the outdoor classroom

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The family day was a chance to spend quality time together

Spring-boarding into the busy season!

11 June 2025

Hello again! I’m Laura, I work for the RSPB and I run Cameron’s Cottage. I started working here last year and in the Autumn decided to write a seasonal update of all of my goings-on. This is edition 3, Spring!

The Cottage Chronicles will be a seasonal update, written by me, of what we’ve been up to at Cameron’s Cottage. I’ll try to include the highlights, some stories from recent groups and my general musings of what the last few months have been like.

The weather has definitely picked up since I wrote the last blog. Feb/March brought us our first residential groups of the year and since then it’s been a whirlwind of great weather and happy young people. Spring arrived in full force and it was wonderful to see the cottage and surrounding woodland come alive with wild flowers – seeing the bluebells was a particular highlight! With wall-to-wall sunshine for most of April and May, our busy season kicked off with a bang. A highlight was definitely doing a reptile survey with a group of young conservationists and finding a pair of common lizards basking in the sun.

And wildlife has been all around us! From moths to toads, goshawks to buzzards and everything in between, young people have been treated to an amazing array of wildlife.

At the start of May, we also welcomed Jayne our new Visitor experience Officer who will be delivering activity sessions to groups all through the Summer and Autumn. Jayne will be with us for 6 months and has great experience of working with children and young people both in a school setting and in the outdoors.

 It was a fun and engaging, full-on day, which concluded with me achieving the Bushcraft Assessment Level Two Qualification

A highlight for me over these Spring months was to head back into the woods and complete my bushcraft training, being assessed on the topics I had learnt and trained on last Autumn. This photo below shows the shelter, fire and pot hanger I made, all using bushcraft skills and techniques and culminated in me making myself a cup of tea right there in the woods! It was a fun and engaging, full-on day, which concluded with me successfully achieving the Bushcraft Assessment Level Two Qualification. A fabulous day on all accounts!

May has been jam-packed with several groups visiting the cottage, and while I was hoping to get this blog written earlier, I am glad to have touched the lives of so many young people, hopefully starting their journey in becoming keen nature lovers and wanting to help nature thrive where they live.

June and July are looking a little bit quieter, though bookings are still coming in for our Summer season. If you, or anyone you know might be interested in booking a stay at Cameron’s Cottage, particularly for June or July, please do use the links below for more information.

Booking a stay: https://bit.ly/cameronscottage

Volunteering with us: https://bit.ly/cameronscottagevolunteering

Until next time,

Laura

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The shelter that Laura built

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A pair of common lizards basking in the sun

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A toad

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A Moth

New Forest Young Carers visit Cameron’s Cottage

23 May 2025

We were delighted to sponsor the New Forest Young Carers to enjoy a day in nature at Cameron’s Cottage.

They spent the day engaged in numerous outdoor activities, namely collecting branches and building dens, various team building activities and whittling tent pegs and mallets (which they used to make their dens).  All activities were  brilliantly led by the RSPB.

It’s always a pleasure to see groups enjoy the beautiful peaceful surroundings at Cameron’s Cottage and we are particularly pleased to work with so many Young Carer Organisations.  Young Carers look after someone in their family with a long-term health problem or disability.  It can often be isolating being a young carer and New Forest Young Carers Organisation has a supportive team who offers them support to ensure they are well looked after.  

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Fabulous den built, can you see them hiding inside?

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