We are delighted to report that the very popular Scottish Bird Camp was back for 2024. 

Report

In the first weekend of June SOC and BTO Scotland welcomed 14 amazing participants to our base camp in East Lothian for the third annual Scottish Bird Camp, with some coming from as far as the Outer Hebrides to take part in this nature-filled weekend with us.

With a beautiful sunny evening ahead of us on Friday after arrival, the group headed out round our accommodation to check out some of the local wildlife signs around the camp. First off was a visit to the Nuthatch nest (in use for the second year running) in the local church tower – none of the team have come across building-nesting Nuthatch before – have any of our readers? Do let us know! Then Ben Darvill showed us a few bird nests that he had scoped out the week before – with everyone getting to see an (old) song thrush nest up close, seeing how solidly constructed from vegetation and mud it is! We then had a wander up to the local Badger sett, where we set out a camera trap to see if we could catch some footage over the weekend. A few of us even managed to stay up past sunset to see the first of the local Soprano and Common Pipistrelles coming out to forage around the garden.

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Releasing ringed birds

Mothing with Katty Baird

Making bird boxes to take home from camp

On the boat to Bass Rock

Rosie Johnson is the winner of the Cameron Bespolka scholarship 2023 for the Cornell Young Birders weekend. She will travel to Ithaca, New York next year to participate with other young ornithologists from the US and all over the world. Congratulations!

Rosie Johnson’s winning entry about Peregrine Falcons

Winners at Global Birdfair 2023

Esther Rumsey won the Cornell Scholarship in 2022 and will be travelling to New York in July 2024. Read the report

 “Birds and the natural world mean a lot to me so I feel very privileged to have this opportunity to support my future in conserving birds and nature.” 

We are pleased to sponsor another Young Person’s Wildlife Camp to be held at Cameron’s Cottage, nestled in the RSPB Franchises Lodge nature reserve.

Who: Young wildlife enthusiasts aged 12-18

Dates: 25th - 28th October

Arrival: 25th at 6pm

Departure: 28th at 4pm

This event is organised by Wild New Forest who have a strong commitment to young wildlife enthusiasts, providing them with opportunities to be outdoors and connect with nature.

Please apply direct to Wild New Forest on their website www.wildnewforest.co.uk where you can download an application form.

 Photos from the previous camp:

Pennington Marshes, Lymington

Busy day in the New Forest

Photo credit Henry Jones

Hawfinch ringing. Photo credit Henry Jones

We were delighted to once again sponsor the BTO Young Leaders Course at Cameron’s Cottage in August.

You can read about their stay and how they benefitted from this course and were able to learn new skills to help them discover a career in conservation.  

The opportunity to be focused on developing environmental and leadership skills on a beautiful site, surrounded by other passionate people is one I will always be thankful for

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The Young Leaders course is open to young people aged between 18 - 24 (inclusive) who want to make a difference to the natural world.  This course focuses on skills that will help you advance as a leader and will include practical skills and theoretical skills as well as communication skills and working with other people.  

The course is held over 4 days at Cameron's Cottage in the New Forest. The participants undertake a wide range of activities aimed at improving their skills as leaders. They learn everything from making the most of social media to turning their passion for nature into a career.

Course Objectives

Negotiating and influencing; how to use a leadership position to affect positive change.
Guiding events; from bird walks to debates, how do you run and organise a safe and inclusive event?
Networking; put into practice some of the theory around networking in an interactive activity.
Building a community; how do you bring together a variety of stakeholders for the greater good?
Working in partnership; understanding the importance of working together in the sector.
Practical skills; such as running successful meetings, making presentations, and writing CVs

We are thrilled to work with Birds of Poole Harbour (BoPH) and support them in running a new Young Birders Club for 13-18 year olds. The sponsorship will help provide free resources, events and travel, aiming to give the young enthusiasts the opportunity to learn and engage with birds and wildlife.  

BoPH will be putting on free monthly events providing in-person engagement such as bird ringing demonstrations, talks from conservationists, ID courses, boat trips and more! All of these activities will give young people the opportunity to gain skills, connect with nature and meet like-minded young people, hopefully inspiring the next generation of young conservationists. 

Birds of Poole Harbour is a local charity which aims to raise the profile of bird conservation, preservation and observation in and around the Poole Harbour area through harbour-wide partnership working, high standards of people engagement work and continuous monitoring of the harbour and its bird populations. 

The charity runs over 300 different events through the year including wildlife cruises, osprey nest tours, ID courses, bird ringing demos and much more, engaging over 10,000 people annually

They survey the birds within the harbour to give an understanding of the threats and changes within bird populations here and beyond. They also carry out important practical conservation work, including their Osprey Translocation Project which works to bring Ospreys back as a breeding species to the south coast of England.

They do a huge amount of public engagement work, running over 300 different events through the year including wildlife cruises, osprey nest tours, ID courses, bird ringing demos and more, engaging over 10,000 people annually in the exciting bird life and conservation work locally.

One of the best parts of their engagement work is their free School Bird Boat Project. They take out up to 1200 local primary school children each year on boat trips around the harbour showing them White-tailed Eagles, Seals, Spoonbills and more, getting them engaged with their local environment and wildlife. All of these projects work together to meet their goal of inspiring hope for nature and improving the local environment for both wildlife and people.

We are delighted to be working with the Hawk Conservancy Trust and support some of their exciting educational projects. 

Situated four miles west of Andover, Hampshire, the Hawk Conservancy Trust was formed in 2002 to take responsibility for rehabilitation, conservation and research activities and generate awareness for birds of prey.

Cameron was a passionate birder and visited the Hawk Conservancy Trust on many occasions where he loved getting close to the birds, whatever the weather! (see photo above) 

We are delighted to fund some amazing opportunities and partner with the Hawk Conservancy Trust this summer.  We are funding 2 internship programmes, one in the Conservation Research and one in the Conservation Education department.  Aderyn and Sorsha were lucky enough to be recruited and are involved with hands-on experience with public engagement and education for conservation, fieldwork, analysis, and science communication projects while supporting the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s on-site biodiversity work.

This work will give them invaluable experience and skills.  Our sponsorship has enabled them to receive funds to support their time working as an intern.   

Having completed my master’s in taxonomy, I realised I wanted to pursue a career in conservation and this internship presented itself at the perfect time.

The Cameron Bespolka Trust will also support their Explore Nature programme in 2025.  Explore Nature is a programme that invites senior school students and community groups to spend a day the Hawk Conservancy Trust to attend workshops, career exploration, and displays. It aims to encourage young people, who simply may not get the opportunity otherwise, to connect with nature.

They have already hosted two Explore Nature days this year, on Thursday 22 May (John Hanson Community School - 22 students) and Wednesday 25 June (Upper Shirley High School – 12 students). Activities included an owl pellet dissection, bird tracking activity and flying a vulture. They have another group from Upper Shirley High School booked in July wtih one additional school visit planned in September.

The first sponsored Intern
Sorcha is the first Conservation and Research Intern sponsored by the Cameron Bespolka Trust. Speaking of her new role Sorcha said "‘Having grown up visiting the Hawk Conservancy Trust, I am thrilled to be back as a Conservation and Research Intern for the next few months. It has already been a busy couple of weeks, and I have loved getting involved with the various tasks here at the Trust... Having completed my master’s in taxonomy, I realised I wanted to pursue a career in conservation and this internship presented itself at the perfect time."

Sorcha is the Hawk Conservancy Trust's 2025 Conservation and Research Intern sponsored by the Cameron Bespolka Trust

Second Intern
Meet Aderyn, Conservation Education Intern, who joined the Hawk Conservancy in May to support our education delivery thanks to our funding. In her first month, she has been supporting school visits with welcome talks and workshops – read below to hear more about her time so far. 

“Hello, my name is Aderyn, and this spring I had the pleasure of starting at the Hawk Conservancy Trust as the Conservation Education Intern! I have been working with children for 10 years now – all starting with running an afterschool club at a local first school as part of my Bronze Arts Award project! 

Aderyn's first month has been filled with school workshops, events planning, and assisting with bird flying

I also have a passion for science and nature and last year I achieved my BSc (Hons) Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth. My focuses were on environmental chemistry, specifically emerging contaminants, and biological conservation. After finishing my degree, I knew I wanted a job that was rooted in science, but I was unsure which direction to go with it. I was lucky enough to find this internship which combined my two interests perfectly and provided me with the opportunity to explore different aspects of my career such as education, conservation research, non-government organisations/charity work, animal care and management, marketing and branding, and so much more! It’s been such a pleasure working daily with school children again!

I knew I wanted a job that was rooted in science, but I was unsure which direction to go with it. 

My first month at the Trust has been filled with school workshops, events planning, and assisting with bird flying! My highlights have been holding the chatty Burrowing Owls, feeding Angola the Secretary Bird, assisting with school visits (especially showing children different types of feathers!), and creating a new accessible sensory experience for SEND children. I’ve been lucky enough to hold a Barn Swallow nestling whilst it was being ringed too!"

For more information visit the trust's website: https://www.hawk-conservancy.org

We are honoured and delighted to welcome this year's guest speaker, leading scientist, Dr. Campbell Murn FRSB FLS from the Hawk Conservancy Trust.

Tales, Talons and Tusks

This Talk is hosted by Winchester College in memory of Cameron Bespolka, who was a pupil at the College.

Dr Campbell Murn shares the highs and lows of devoting his life’s work to the research and conservation of Birds of Prey. It all started with a book in a second hand book shop. Held in awe, frequently misunderstood and often under-appreciated, Campbell delves into not only why raptors are just amazing and inspiring, but also vital. Hear fascinating stories about working hands-on with these birds, through to the scientific research that supports their conservation in Africa, Asia and here in the UK with various species of owls, kestrels, kites, buzzards and vultures. He will share the challenges these birds face, the success stories and working with others across the globe to champion these species.

The Hawk Conservancy Trust is a local charity whose mission is the conservation of Birds of Prey.

This talk is free but please do book as places are limited.

For the fourth time this event is being run in the evening to give our supporters a chance to attend what should be a very entertaining talk.

Date: Wednesday 26th November 2025
Time: 7pm, doors open at 6.30
Venue: New Hall, Winchester College
Cost: Free

Reserve your tickets here

Primary School Children Talk

Very kindly, Dr Campbell Murn will be giving the same talk in the afternoon to around 450 primary school children. This Annual Lecture has proved a very popular fixture over the years and has featured a wide variety of wildlife-orientated speakers.

Primary school children enjoying a previous year's lecture

Talks from previous years