Nurture nature

Before you begin

• Find a local green space where it’s safe for the group to explore and mark out the areas that the groups should try to cover on a map. Try to include features such as trees, bushes, rocks and ponds where wildlife can typically be found.
• If there’s a local species the group knows about that doesn’t appear on the copies of the 'Seeking out nature: my observations sheet', they can add it to the list. Consider looking online for other local species you can find too.
• Set some ground rules for the activity. Some important things to remember include:

1. Being calm and quiet, to not disturb wildlife and other people.
2. Being gentle if handling any wildlife.
3. Making sure to leave any wildlife where it was found.
4. Not picking any flowers or plants.
5. Staying safe and inside your set area.
6. Being careful with borrowed or expensive equipment.

Run the activity

1. The person leading the activity should explain to everyone that they’ll be exploring the biodiversity of the local area and looking at ways they can help maintain it. Find out what the group knows about plants and animals in the region. See if the group knows why spotting and counting them is important and why it helps support biodiversity.
2. Split everyone into small groups, each with an adult or leader. Give out a 'Seeking out nature: my observations' sheet, a pen or pencil and a clipboard to each person. Give out a copy of the 'Common UK wildlife' sheet.
3. Ask each group to pick some different kinds of animals from the 'Common UK wildlife' sheet to look for. Depending on what animals they choose, some groups will need binoculars or magnifying glasses.
4. Go to the local green space. The person leading the activity should give each group an area of the space to explore. Remind everyone to look all around the space for different plants or animals, to watch where they’re treading and to follow the ground rules prepared earlier. It may be useful to have some copies of these rules for each group to carry.
5. Each group should set off to explore their patch of land. Give everyone 30 minutes to fill in their 'Seeking out nature: my observations' sheet and look for the animals or plants they picked from the 'common UK wildlife' sheet. When 30 minutes have passed, call everyone back together to share their findings.
6. Head back to the meeting place. At the meeting place, the person leading the activity should give each group a large sheet of paper and a felt pen. Each group should copy their findings from their sheets onto a chart. The chart should show what kinds of animals and plants were found, how many of each were found and where they were living, hiding or growing. Give everyone 20 minutes to do this.
   
   It may be a good idea for some groups to join together to do this. They can combine their data to make a detailed chart with more information.
7. When the charts have been completed, each group should now come up with three ways in which the animals or plants they found can be supported by the local community. They should think about what each of the different species needs to survive, which areas contain lots of biodiversity and what risks might exist that could make life more difficult for those plants or animals.
   
   The groups might need a bit more information to think up their ways of supporting local plants and animals. They can go online to find out more at rspb.org.uk, buglife.org.uk, plantlife.org.uk and woodlandtrust.org.uk.

This activity helps contribute towards some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more about the SDGs, and how Scouts across the world are getting involved.