Project tiles 2

Birds of Poole Harbour

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 08:24:00 GMT

We are delighted to once again work with Birds of Poole Harbour in 2026 who understand the importance of inspiring the next generation and getting them involved in nature conservation so that they can go on to protect wildlife in the future.

That's why they’ve set up the Birds of Poole Harbour Young Birders Club for 13-18 years which will be a community of like-minded young conservationists and wildlife-lovers who can share ideas and learn. Also for those with no prior knowledge but just a curiosity.

We are delighted to sponsor this club so they can organise and expertly run free events for the group throughout the year to get them involved and learning outdoors. Events include:

Guided Bird ID Walks
Bird Ringing Demos
Wildlife Safari Cruises
Talks from Conservationists
Much more!

If you are between 13-18, sign up, this club is complimentary and a great way to get involved in something that could be life changing. Birds of Poole Harbour are a conservation charity who will provide you with insights into their crucial work, bird identification and ecology tips and fantastic trips exploring the wild places around Poole Harbour. No prior experience is needed. We want the project to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible, all events are free and we’ll assist with local transport too.

To be a member, please sign up direct with Birds of Poole Harbour:

Young Birders Club

If you are between 13-18, sign up, this club is complimentary and a great way to get involved in something that could be life changing.

Birds of Poole Harbour have so many wonderful conservation projects lined up for 2026. Have a look at their website and sing up for these free events . We are really proud to work with BoPB to support them so they can run these really exciting events.

Take a look and see if you can join for this fabulous opportunity:

Hyde Estate Camera Trap Monitoring Sessions
Saturday 7th March & Thursday 28th May

Join us for two full-day workshops surveying two exciting rewilding estates in Dorset! You’ll have the chance to learn how to install and collect monitoring equipment such as trail cameras to help us understand what species are using the sites. After this, you’ll be able to become remote volunteers for us, by processing the data, and pulling out the important information. This is brilliant opportunity to learn surveying skills and looks great on a CV!

Don't worry if you can't attend both events, just one of these will be a great experience and mean you can still be part of the project.

Book here

Have a look at what the Young Birders got up to in January:

Young Birders Winter Bird Cruise Success
Saturday 10th January

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle (G834) photos by Young Birder Joe Scorey

They enjoyed mirror calm conditions across the harbour on the Young Birders Cruise and a star appearance from the Dorset fledged White-tailed Eagle G834 who sat out on the mudflats devouring a fish. Highlights included 500 Avocet, 400 Dunlin, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Pochard, 8 Black-necked Grebe, 3 Goldeneye and 8 Great Northern Diver.

They also encountered a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit (RGW - RNR) during the trip. Originally ringed as an adult female at Harty, The Swale, Kent, SE England on 29 Sep 2012 by Swale Wader Ringing Group, meaning this bird is at least 16 calendar years old! This bird is well travelled, breeding in Iceland, and observed across Dorset, Kent, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire, Suffolk, Essex and Wiltshire during the autumn and winter. There’s still a few seasons to go until she can think about breaking the 23 years, 3 months, 21 day longevity record for the species!

Young Birders Club

Cameron's Cottage

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:47:00 GMT

Cameron's Cottage is a non-profit venture in memory of Cameron to make nature more accessible to young people.

We were delighted to partner with RSPB to renovate a derelict cottage deep in the middle of RSPB’s Franchises Lodge reserve in the New Forest, Wiltshire, to create this unique residential educational facility. Cameron’s Cottage will provide a base from which small groups of young people will be able to have exceptional, immersive experiences in nature with wildlife activities being provided by the RSPB.

Now that Cameron’s Cottage is open, we work with youth groups, schools and other organisations to financially support them to bring young people to spend time in nature who would not have the financial means to do so. Please get in touch if this applies to your organisation: info@cameronbespolka.com

Booking Cameron's Cottage

For more information about booking Cameron's Cottage including pricing and availability please email the RSPB: cameronscottage@rspb.org.uk

The Cottage can accommodate up to 19 people, including leaders in 5 bedrooms. Additional discounts are available for groups who meet certain financial requirements.

Activities include:

nature: bioblitz, bat detecting moth trapping, wildlife walk
team building: slacklining, blind fold trail, team all maze, wild art
survival skills: outdoor cooking, kelly kettles, shelter building, pioneering, navigation

The Hawk Conservancy Trust

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:24:00 GMT

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.

Sorcha

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.

Aderyn

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

HOS Young Members

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 06:53:00 GMT

HOS Young Members now exceed 70! Cameron was a member of the Hampshire Ornithological Society. He was one of just two Young Members at that time – the other being Tommy Saunders. With our help, HOS were able to offer free membership for young people and it is so great that this has been such a success.

HOS now has around 40 Young Members sponsored by us and even better is the fact that a further 24 young families have chosen to join so that they and their children can benefit from the special activities arranged.

In the autumn of 2021 HOS ran four ringing events where groups of its Young Members (and parents) were able to see birds at close range. It’s such a privilege to see this and the enthusiasm of the Young Members was clearly tremendous despite the very early start times!

Some of the ringers have some small knitted birds, which they use to demonstrate the feather sequence of the birds wings... a great way of letting small children learn without actually touching a live bird.

At Titchfield Haven, there was a good fall of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps while Keyhaven produced some of the first Redwings of the year along with Long-tailed Tits and Meadow Pipits. The first bird at Hengistbury Head was a Cetti’s Warbler which HOS’s youngest member, Rufus, instantly identified despite only the head being visible! Some of the ringers have some small knitted birds, which they use to demonstrate the feather sequence of the birds wings. This is a great way of letting small children learn without actually touching a live bird.

HOS will continue to plan more events. In the spring of 2021 Chris Packham ran a Zoom chat with over 40 HOS Young Members and brought out his feather and wing collection. He has promised to do another private chat for them again soon.

Young members being shown how to ring birds safely

Want to Join HOS?

HOS’s Young Member activities are coordinated by Janice Beck who can be contacted at jaysongrove@yahoo.co.uk

HOS in 2025

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 06:53:00 GMT

We were once again very pleased to work with Hampshire Ornithological Society in 2025 and help fund their young members programme.

They organised 21 specific Young Member events in 2025. These were mainly for birding, but they also ran events on reptiles, dragonflies and small mammals. At the Members Day they arranged for Chris Packham to show the Young Members his feather collection. A careers masterclass was run again and was attended by ten members who were all keen to get careers in conservation.

In addition, they again enlisted help from several experienced HOS members who were willing to lead walks throughout Hampshire.

Young Membership ranges from ages 5-25.

The number of Young Members by age is as follows:

AGE	NUMBER OF MEMBERS
5-9	19
10-14	37
15-19	32
20-24	14

"Thank you for your continued support. It means so much to have this long-standing connection and to do something that honours all that Cameron would have wanted for young birders.”

Keith Betton, Chair Hampshire Ornithological Society.

A huge congratulations to HOS for winning the British Trust of Ornithology Marsh Award for best Local Ornithology Work. Their outstanding work includes the huge steps they have taken to encourage young members to join and the success of their outstanding inclusive events run for young people.

Keith Betton, Tom Saunders and Janice Beck receive award

Want to Join HOS?

HOS’s Young Member activities are coordinated by Janice Beck who can be contacted at jaysongrove@yahoo.co.uk

Eco education building

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 15:31:00 GMT

Delighted we could help part-fund the construction of this eco education building in Cumbria by ensuring the new path makes it accessible for everyone.

Groups from schools, local youth organizations and the wider community can enjoy an abundance of wildlife spotting, together with beautiful views all around. An all-ability swing bench completes the wonderful experience.

It was a pleasure to work with ornithologist Andy Lester.

Memorial Talk 2025

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 12:35:00 GMT

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

Read our report on the afternoon talk

Read our report on the evening talk

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 a 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, The Hawk Conservatory Trust 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

Conservation Careers Talk Project

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:20:00 GMT

We are thrilled to fund this new initiative with Birds of Poole Harbour to deliver ten inspiring Conservation Careers Talks to secondary schools, sixth forms, and colleges in the Poole area, free of charge.

The talks will be delivered from November to March. They will explore how young people can be involved with nature’s recovery in Dorset, the variety of roles available, and include advice on how to gain experience in the conservation field.

With so many exciting projects happening in southern England, now is a fantastic time to get involved. The talks will explore what opportunities are available locally, including grants, volunteering, and Birds of Poole Harbour's own Young Birders Club. There will also be time to ask plenty of questions, with a Q&A at the end of each session.

https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk

BTO Young Leaders 2025

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:25:00 GMT

We were delighted to once again sponsor the BTO Young Leaders course. A course designed to help young conservations gain skills , knowledge and support needed for conservation roles.

The course featured a full schedule of lectures and interactive sessions running from 9am to 6:30pm each day. Evenings were dedicated to shared meals and social activities, including campfire games and nature walks, offering participants space to relax and connect. Opportunities for birdwatching, moth trapping and quiet time in nature were also available, and many participants made full use of these. They were joined by RSPB staff, who shared insights into the local reserve and led a bat walk using detectors.

Liliana shared her own journey in the conservation sector and led an inspiring discussion on how young people are making opportunities for themselves

Eco-painting workshop, led by Sophie. Photo: Rachael Griffiths

Dr Anjana Khatwa, Earth Scientist and EDI specialist - Anjana focused on creating inclusive communities within the sector and workplace, and understanding how to be an ethical leader. Her workshop made participants think about their own privilege and how to use it as a leader.

Johnathon Miller-McCall, Communications & Engagement Officer and Freelance Science Communicator - Johnathon took us on his journey in the science communication and conservation sector, exploring the value of internships and the highs and lows of freelance and career independence. Also, how to create your own video content via the CapCut app and putting this into practice.

Prof Russell Wynn, Director at Wild New Forest and Chair of the New Forest Biodiversity Forum - Russell discussed ecological surveys and the resulting management advice, particularly how leaders need to strategically form partnerships and engage with stakeholders to enable effective conservation delivery. Also, led an open forest site visit. Dr Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link. Richard focused on negotiating and influencing, and the challenges which sometimes come with this. His interactive workshops showed participants how they can influence others by using effective storytelling and understanding of people.

Liliana Tarrant-Snedden, BTO Youth Representative (Pembrokeshire & South Glamorgan) - Liliana shared her own journey in the conservation sector and led an inspiring discussion on how young people are making (and can make!) opportunities for themselves.

Samuel Levy, BTO Youth Engagement Officer - Samuel led on an introductory bird ID session and how to run a guided walk, as well as giving insight into how our team runs BTO Youth events. He also led on the moth trap inspections and some (optional) pre-breakfast birding walks.

Please contact BTO Youth Engagement for information on the 2026 Young Leaders course, again held at Cameron’s Cottage.

How to apply for 2026

Application

How to apply for 2026

Project tiles 2

Birds of Poole Harbour

If you are between 13-18, sign up, this club is complimentary and a great way to get involved in something that could be life changing.

Hyde Estate Camera Trap Monitoring SessionsSaturday 7th March & Thursday 28th May

Cameron's Cottage

Booking Cameron's Cottage

The Hawk Conservancy 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.

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

HOS Young Members

Some of the ringers have some small knitted birds, which they use to demonstrate the feather sequence of the birds wings... a great way of letting small children learn without actually touching a live bird.

Want to Join HOS?

HOS in 2025

"Thank you for your continued support. It means so much to have this long-standing connection and to do something that honours all that Cameron would have wanted for young birders.”

Want to Join HOS?

Eco education building

Memorial Talk 2025

Tales, Talons and Tusks

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

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

Reserve your tickets here

Primary School Children Talk

Talks from previous years

Conservation Careers Talk Project

BTO Young Leaders 2025

Liliana shared her own journey in the conservation sector and led an inspiring discussion on how young people are making opportunities for themselves

Application

Hyde Estate Camera Trap Monitoring Sessions
Saturday 7th March & Thursday 28th May

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