Over the last few weeks I’ve felt very privileged to meet some amazing new people. Through the A Focus on Nature project, I’ve met other people in their teens and twenties who are as passionate about nature and wildlife as I am and who have some amazing talents to boot – there’s Nicola (who runs wildlife tours in Scotland, amazing illustrator and artist), Tarran (film maker), Yan (film maker), Evan (interested in community engagement), Lucy (Director of A Focus on Nature extraordinaire) and Tom (wildlife photographer prodigy).

This has perhaps been the most rewarding element of being part of the A Focus on Nature project. Friendships are beautiful things, and when we’re friends we’re able to work far more effectively together to make change. Out of friendships arise the projects, initiatives and changes we believe are needed to help to protect nature and to build the world we want to see.

Myself and my new friends are already working together on our first project.

In mid-April we will be spending two days with David Lindo, The Urban Birder, to document nature in urban settings – this project will be called A Focus on Urban Nature.

Specifically, we’ll spend a day at Wormwood Scrubs with the British Trust for Ornithology. We’ll be looking for the nests of meadow pipits – an old technique, crucial for data collection, that has declined in recent years due to its connotations with egg collecting. The theme for the day will be change over time, and we’ll be speaking to BTO staff, local residents and members of the local council about how Wormwood Scrubs and the British Countryside have changed over time, and why the practice of nest-finding has declined.

The second day will be spent at Tower 42, in the heart of London, as the inaugural day of David’s Bird Study Group spring session. We’ll be looking for birds migrating north, returning from their wintering grounds to raise families in the UK. Our theme for this second day will be change over space. Both birds and people migrate, and London is one of the most multicultural cities in Europe. We’ll be telling the stories of migrating birds, and also trying to capture some stories of how people travel and migrate, whether to holiday or to move abroad.

These two days will give us enough material to put together a video on the themes of urban wildlife and changes in time and space. We’re hoping it will be useful, in particular to other young people, to learn about and care for the nature near them, in particular in urban areas.

Increasing numbers of people live in urban areas and it is easier today to become detached from nature than ever before. This is bad for both people and for nature: there are substantial mental and physical health benefits associated with spending time outdoors, and nature benefits when people know about it, care about it and call for its protection or take action themselves to do this. We hope that our video and other materials will tell the story of the amazing wildlife that can be found in urban areas and why it’s worth cherishing, and also about how a few friends, with some good connections (but not much money), and a bit of time, can make change happen.