Target reached!
We have beaten our target! Thank you to everyone that has donated, with your help...
Inspire wildlife guardians of the future
Winchester, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Help create a safer future for butterflies and moths. Donate today to spark a child's love of nature that lasts a lifetime.
Our wildlife is in trouble. The UK has become one of the most nature-depleted places in the world, but it is not too late to turn the tide. Help us run workshops this summer that will inspire children to protect our butterflies and moths in the future.
The future of our wildlife depends on younger generations. But they can only protect butterflies, moths and our environment if they care about them and they can only care if they can experience and understand the wonders and importance of our natural heritage.
For many children the journey to loving nature starts with a butterfly.
Butterfly Conservation’s Wild in Winchester education project has already inspired more than 700 children in its first year. Youngsters have explored the beauty of our Magdalen Hill Down nature reserve, enjoying hands-on learning about butterflies, moths and their caterpillars; experiences that they will never forget.
But sadly the funding for this project has run out and we urgently need to raise the money to run the important workshops that are planned this summer.
Your donation will help get 25 more classes onto Magdalen Hill Down, introducing more than 500 children to the wonder of butterflies and moths, and showing them why they are so important.
Butterflies and moths have borne the brunt of the steepest wildlife declines. Providing them with a safe future will be a long-term project. That is why it is so vital to show children the importance of butterflies and moths, why they need protecting and what they can do to help. Today’s children hold the fate of butterflies and moths in their hands. Who knows, one of these children could even become the next Sir David Attenborough or Nick Baker.
"The fascination with butterflies and moths (and the rest of the world’s living things) started for me with no more than a few Large White caterpillars, plucked from the leaves of my Mum's Nasturtiums and a jam jar - watching what can only be described as a magical transformation from an ever hungry caterpillar, to twitching chrysalis and then final act as a perfect butterfly emerges. To this day this metamorphosis still blows my mind and the fascination for these insects still holds as true today as it did 35 years ago, such is the power of these childhood experiences." Nick Baker
Donate today to inspire future generations to care for our butterflies and moths.
It is not just children that are benefiting from this work; Kate Barrett who runs this project has been working with teenagers with complex mental health problems,
“My most memorable moment last summer was watching a group of teenagers with mental health issues transform in response to our beautiful chalk downland reserve. They started out very withdrawn and disengaged in the classroom, but once they got onto the reserve they were animatedly hunting out Cinnabar moth caterpillars, photographing Chalk Hill Blue butterflies and gently picking up Six-spot Burnet moths. I’ve never seen a group so transformed by the place they are in, it was magical to watch.”
Help children experience the wonder of nature, and inspire them to create a future where butterflies and moths are protected.
"During my lifetime I have seen at first hand how the UK’s once plentiful butterflies have dwindled and diminished with some species even becoming extinct. This is a gloomy outlook but not one that is set in stone." Sir David Attenborough
How your donation helps
- £10 could buy materials for children to take part in butterfly-related, wild-art activities on the reserve
- £25 could help pay for an outreach visit to help children improve their school grounds for butterflies and moths
- £150 could supply activity packs for a class of 30 children, giving them a lasting memory and keeping them inspired.
- £350 could pay for a class visit to Magdalen Hill Down, taking part in activities and seeing for themselves why butterflies and moths should be protected
This project successfully funded on 12th June 2019