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Episode 4 - Biodiversity, wildlife photography and education with Rob Moffat
20 Plays9 months ago
Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.
This time, Holly Cushen meets Rob Moffat, Community Engagement Manager, for a stroll around RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham. The fields, home to an abundance of local wildlife, are used to walk dogs who are being cared for at the animal centre, while over in the education centre the RSPCA works to empower children and young people to treat animals with kindness and respect. Holly also asks special guest Jamie Smart about wildlife photography and her amazing success in the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards – another programme to empower the next generation.
Host: Holly Cushen
Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns
Producer: Morwenna Kearns
Audio producer: Chris Attaway
Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin
Executive producer: Sarah Millerick
Recorded on location at RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham
Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife
RSPCA Next Gen: nextgen.rspca.org.uk
Young Photographer Awards: young.rspca.org.uk
More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to RSPCA and Wildlife Focus
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Walk on the Wild Side and RSPCA podcast. I'm Holly Cushion, an outreach officer at the ah RSPCA. Over this series, we'll meet some other people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity and learn more about what they do. We'll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, how we can help it thrive and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.
Role at Newbrook Farm in Education and Engagement
00:00:31
Speaker
On this episode, we're talking to Rob Moffat, all about education and working with young people, biodiversity and wildlife photography.
00:00:45
Speaker
So our guest today is Rob Moffat, the Community Engagement Manager for the RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham. And we're here at Newbrook to learn more about their amazing education program. It's nice to see you, Rob. Can you tell us about their program and why it was set up and what it
Prevention through Education Strategy
00:01:00
Speaker
does?
00:01:00
Speaker
um So we work in the Department of Prevention and Education so the the logic behind it is prevention through education. So it's all about enabling accessible animal welfare education to the young people that we share this beautiful world with um and making sure that we can update the science and the behavioural work to make sure that people truly understand the the animals that they share the world with but also their homes with. So we've set up a whole network of different programmes to meet the needs of young people across Birmingham and the wider areas as well as supporting the national team across the RSPCA.
00:01:36
Speaker
Wow, it sounds amazing. And we're here at Newbrook Farm. It's such a ah huge, huge space. Can you tell us a little bit more about how Newbrook works?
Exploring Newbrook's 72-acre Site
00:01:44
Speaker
Because we've got such a massive space here. Yeah, so Newbrook is a one of a kind site. We've got a whopping 72 acres that's made up predominantly by one of three of the RSPCA's hospitals.
00:01:56
Speaker
an animal rehoming centre, also the West Midland inspector at base. And now, as of last year, we we have launched officially our education centre. So we have one of four of our education centres that the RSPCA have. And watch this space, we might even have our special ops unit also move to this site and join us here.
00:02:17
Speaker
Like we say, we've got such a big sort of area of green space here.
Engaging Young People with Local Wildlife
00:02:22
Speaker
What types of wildlife do do you see on the daily at Newbrook? Because I imagine quite a lot with all this all the space. Yeah, so we've got, like we said, we've got a whopping 72 acres. We've got um a badger set that predates us to come into this site. So there's a lovely set just down in the valley, just above us. As you can see here, we've got a depth of different flora to create habitat for our different animals that share this site. We get loads of different deer visitors.
00:02:47
Speaker
Depending on the the season as well we'll get loads and loads of different birds both nesting in the hedgerows but also flying over the the wildflower meadows to come and catch all those bugs and then even in the education garden we've got a resident fox that comes in and and steals all of the dog toys and hides them in the hedgerow but it's all fun and games we've even got uh so last year During the winter months we we redid our pond and in our pond we've got common newts thriving so we've got loads of little babies at the moment so lots and lots of different types of wildlife to to observe both small and big. So here at Newbrook Farm we've just seen and loads of young people coming into the centre here, can you tell us a little bit more about what they're doing today?
Creating Bird Boxes and Decision-making
00:03:29
Speaker
Yeah so today they're focusing again on on biodiversity um and we do that by trying to enable and empower young people to get involved in the natural world. So today they are focusing on getting in the woodwork workshop and we give them the choice of creating bird boxes, bat boxes, tote boxes. We kind of give them the choice of what to create um but today they're focusing on bird boxes and learning the difference between different types of birds and their needs. So like even from like a robin box quite a confident bird that will have quite a big opening to something like a blue tip box where they'll have a 25 mil hole um to keep the predators out because they're not quite as confident to keep them away. And so will they take those boxes home with them or do they stay here on site to encourage wildlife here on site? When it comes down to to what to do with the boxes we give them the choice so it's whether they want to take them home and you know reinforce that that environment that they can recreate another habitat for another animal
00:04:24
Speaker
or whether they donate them to us and we put them up all over our site. So we try and use invitational language in everything that we do um just to empower those young people and get them to make their own decisions.
Empowering Young People in Animal Welfare
00:04:35
Speaker
That's really fantastic and you've said the word empowerment a few times there. What does the word empowerment mean to you? um I think empowerment is is kind of our role in the next generation so it's not about trying to teach a young person your thoughts, your opinions. It's about enabling them and giving them information for them to decide their own right and wrong. They're they they young people coming up and they'll teach us as many things as as we'll teach them. So it's about giving them the opportunity to become themselves and recognise the power that they have to create and improve the world around them. Shall we go see some more of the site? Absolutely. Let's
Expansion of Educational Roles and Outreach
00:05:20
Speaker
go. Let's get walking.
00:05:27
Speaker
So education at Newbrook actually started about seven or eight years ago where a community engagement manager role was created, um firstly to try and see how much demand there was for animal welfare education. Everything very, very quickly snowballed there. We started with, like I said, with a community engagement manager and very quickly employed a school's engagement officer and a youth engagement officer to focus on the two main avenues to make sure that we're making education accessible. Now if we fast forward seven or eight years we now have a team of
00:06:04
Speaker
six staff on site including our outreach officers so we have two outreach officers that will go to schools and other youth settings so they'll go to so scout clubs, girl guides and offer free education at that establishment so they will offer anything from assemblies to what I would call school takeovers, where we try and utilise the time that we're there and reinforce that learning. So we'll do potentially an assembly and then engage with every class, say, every of a year. So depending on what school it is, if they've got a full format entry, we'll do a session with each class then to reinforce that learning further.
00:06:45
Speaker
Both of our outreach officers actually offer a six-week animal welfare course as well, so for a higher impact learning.
National Lottery Funded Courses for Mental Health
00:06:52
Speaker
And then if we come to on-site we support young people from about 12 to 30 on-site through a six-week animal welfare course that is completely funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to have a positive mental health impact on young people in the local community.
00:07:09
Speaker
Now that's quite a mouthful. Really what our course focuses on is animals. Every aspect of animals from learning things about dog body language to cat body language to reinforcing biodiversity through both horticulture so enabling young people to recognise the power that they have to create habitat space and even recognise that sometimes what we do as humans can be quite detrimental to those the habitats of those animals.
00:07:34
Speaker
even down to projects I've done in the local area to reinforcing hedgehog highways. So humans, we like to take over a space and say, this is mine. Put up no lovely big solid fence boundaries, which is great. It keeps lots of people out. But what about the life that was there before us? We need to make sure that we're making it accessible. and And it's those little things that we can achieve to create such a massive change for the animals that we share this world with.
00:08:03
Speaker
And then we've got a couple of pilot programs that we support as well on site. So to give those young people stepping stones, they will achieve AQA Unit Awards, so AQA accreditations for the six sessions that they do on site with us. They then potentially have the opportunity to come back as ah as a volunteer and help us support education for further groups.
00:08:25
Speaker
And then we've got a pilot programme called The Experience where we run a week course and young people have the opportunity to shadow an animal care assistant, a vet nurse and an inspector to truly have an in-depth experience to decide where in animal welfare they'd like to work.
00:08:44
Speaker
We also then have another pilot program that we run here. It came about really to support the work of the inspectorate. Like we said, everything we do is about reinforcing animal welfare, so it's all of through prevention, through education. But this one's more supporting young people who may have made the wrong choice through either neglect or or deliberate actions.
00:09:05
Speaker
And inspectors can then refer young people to us to run a six succession course to create and inspire change in those young people and truly recognise that their actions may have caused harm.
Recognizing Animal Sentience and Education
00:09:20
Speaker
The thing that we're experiencing at the moment is that young people don't recognise that that animal may have been a sentient being.
00:09:27
Speaker
So, say we've had incidents involving, like, if we use hedgehogs again for an example, people don't necessarily understand from what we're experiencing that those hedgehogs may be able to perceive, you know, feelings and emotions. Whereas, as a nation of animal lovers, we're quite capable of recognising that our dogs and our cats, you know, the animals that are in our homes, experience those feelings, but it's about recognising that that more animals are capable of that.
00:10:08
Speaker
So Robbie mentioned a little bit more about hedgehogs there and I know that over 7000 hedgehogs were admitted to our wildlife centres here at the RSPCA between 2020 and 2023. But how do you protect hedgehogs here and sort of animals here in the centre um and out on these lovely fields as well? And how can our listeners also
Tips for Wildlife-friendly Gardens
00:10:28
Speaker
do that back at home? What type of things can they can they do?
00:10:31
Speaker
So on this site we make sure that all of our all of our solid fence boundaries have hedgerows along them to try and make sure that we've got wildlife corridors. I know that's a little bit harder to achieve in your own garden but even whether you live in in a high rise block of flats to to have in a space with a massive garden you can have a great impact on those animals that we share this world with. um Even when it comes down to the flora so you can have a right diversity of plant matter that will create different habitat for different animals to thrive in. I mean it's amazing isn't it when you're talking with the young people nowadays a lot of young people haven't ever seen a hedgehog. Yeah it's sad isn't it I love hedgehogs. They're such an awesome little creature even when you're coming down to the little facts like what's a baby hedgehog called.
00:11:15
Speaker
I know, it's called a hoglet. It's so awesome and it's because of the noise they make when they're foraging in those hedges for the for their food. So they're not a hog, they're not part of you know the pig family, theyre but they've earned that through the noise that they make. They're such awesome animals, we just need to recognise them and and empower them, but sometimes that thing is for us to take a step back.
00:11:36
Speaker
think about what we're doing so when we're creating our garden space even I know it can be quite difficult for those of us who are own dogs um but just just think about the space whether you can have maybe at the back of a hedgerow just a little cut out for hedgehogs to be able to carry on and do their normal work pathways to be able to travel around you've got to recognize that yes you want lots and lots of life to come and share your garden but is it your garden or is it like a collective almost with nature So even things down to wildflower meadows to creating another digging a pond can have a massive change to the ecosystem that yeah is in your garden and you'll see if you create that habitat space from digging a pond to adding in wildflower meadows to just increasing in the variety of plant matter that you've got in your garden you will see that change you'll see that the insects come
00:12:28
Speaker
And then the animals come to follow that.
Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Ecosystems
00:12:30
Speaker
Like we saw post COVID, nature will come and take it back if you let it let it let it thrive. Let it reclaim its own land. Yeah. So there's a badger set on site. um If we actually carry on back down, we can walk right past it.
00:12:48
Speaker
I just love badgers. They live in a set of about 15 of them. They refresh their beds all the time. They dig a separate room to be their toilet. yeah That's very clever. What animal does that? That's genius. So they they are fascinating animals um and they've, well, I've been in recent years, they've been given a ah hard time. But if we go back to our biodiversity,
00:13:12
Speaker
it's potentially the badgers and the foxes that could be the next animals that we lose in our biodiversity and then what happens? What happens to the ecosystem? How does it recover? I know I keep going back to biodiversity but I think when I look at biodiversity I see it intertwined with climate change and it truly is. So some of the algae that lives in our pond that will produce more oxygen than some trees will.
00:13:37
Speaker
And you're like, how can something so small have such a big change? Well, it does. And it you can recognize that everywhere. So from the coast to the seagrasses to, I mean, even here, we recognize on the walk up, we were saying we could do with planting a few more trees here. And I expanded those native species of plant matter to really and reinforce that habitat.
00:13:56
Speaker
I think it's really amazing how you've got such a good so sort of area for badgers, wild badgers, to make themselves home here.
Badger Conservation and Biodiversity
00:14:04
Speaker
Because between 2020 and May of this year, 2024, there was over 370 badgers that have been admitted through our wildlife centers. And the most common reason for that was and injuries, lots of unknown causes, but also through orphaned cubs and traffic collisions and things like that. It's so sad to see. and you know through work and education I'm sure you get told quite a lot that not only do do young people not have never seen a hedgehog before but more than likely when they have seen badges it's been at the roadside. yeah So it's really amazing that you know you've got such a great area here where you're letting wildlife sort of yeah create its own home here and you're supporting that as part of the ah RSPCA. Well, we've definitely, for a long time, ah had this ethos anyway. So we we work for every kind. And recognizing our role in this and this world is is important. But yeah, so our badger set is actually just next to us here. You would never know, would you? Especially and um with all the growth through spring. But the badger set is just in this valley. And we we saw them preparing for cubs a few months back. Hopefully they're still doing really well.
00:15:13
Speaker
but we've got to do what our role is and leave them be and let them let them thrive. Amazing, thank you so much Rob. Should we head back inside? I really fancy a cup of tea. Always got to grab a cuppa after a good walk.
00:15:35
Speaker
on
00:15:40
Speaker
just move
00:15:49
Speaker
So Rob, we're down this corridor with ah loads of photos, really amazing photos that are all taken by young people. We've been working with young people for a really long time at the ah RSPCA. It's a big part of our history since 1875, I believe we've been working with young people for. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?
00:16:06
Speaker
Yes, so the first time the RSPCA worked with young people was in 1875 with the Band of Mercy. They were the first young people that worked within animal welfare and really were the first animal advocates. They would go out and into their communities with their hymn books and banners and spread the word of animal welfare.
00:16:23
Speaker
Now, if we fast forward just a few years, um we get to so one of the ways that we we engage with young people now. And like we've talked about a lot whilst walking around the fields, there's so much wildlife that we can observe. And really, that's kind of the connection to us and and nature is we don't want to impact their life in a detrimental way. We can create habitats and all sorts to promote their life. But often the thing that we do for our wildlife is is to take a step back and observe.
00:16:53
Speaker
And a lovely way that we can capture the natural world is through photography. I've really been taken in by this photo here, can you talk to me a little bit about it Rob? So this picture that we're looking at here is a photograph by Jamie Smart, um this one's called Spring's Treasures and it is a lovely pheasant showing off their their iridescent chest, stood on on what looks to be a fence boundary, a little railing. This is part of our Young Photography competition, Young Photography's award, it happens every year, ah usually starts around summer and runs through to
00:17:26
Speaker
Around August, I think the the dates normally close. So get involved, there's loads and loads of different categories. We're looking at an under 12 category here. An under 12? Wow, that's a pretty impressive photo for someone under 12. I don't even think I could take that. I don't think I could take anything even similar, but but the composition here is lovely, isn't it? Just the way that they've really focused on not only the pheasant, but also the some of that backdrop. So you've got some of that lovely hedgerow that's come into focus with that little bit of blossom. So it really emphasises spring.
00:17:56
Speaker
She's obviously really talented. That's such an amazing photo. It's incredible, isn't it? You know what? She's on site today capturing some pictures. Shall we go have a chat? Yeah, it sounds amazing. Let's go. Cool. Let's go.
Young Photographer's Journey into Wildlife Photography
00:18:17
Speaker
So we're out here outside the Education Centre and we're here with Jamie. Hi Jamie. Hi. How are you? I'm good, thank you. Fantastic. So you were the overall winner of the Young Photographer Awards in 2023, our youngest ever winner at age eight, which is very impressive and very impressive with that. How did you get into photography?
00:18:38
Speaker
So I started with a big passion for dinosaurs but when I realised I'll never be able to see a dinosaur I then realised that dinosaurs are related to birds and birds are related to dinosaurs and that started my passion for animals and birds.
00:18:55
Speaker
I started using binoculars with animals and birds but I really struggled with focusing on the animal before it flew off or ran away and Dad asked if I would like to use a camera and I didn't want to drop the camera because I knew how expensive it was but when I started taking photos of sparrows in the bush and around the garden I was getting more used to using a camera and Dad said it would take me a while to get a bird in flight going across the sky and in a couple of days I started getting photos of sparrows in flight with it bang in the middle of the frame and then one day I was in the garden and I managed to catch a photo of a peregrine falcon which is the fastest bird in the world in a dive.
00:19:41
Speaker
That is pretty impressive. We have actually just been looking myself and Rob at your amazing photo of a pheasant. Can you tell me what what's behind that photo? How did you manage to capture that? It's amazing. So it was very early in the morning. It was like four o'clock in the morning.
00:19:59
Speaker
and it was like minus four outside and we were in the car and we were driving to the moors and we spotted this pheasant on the gate and I said stop stop stop the car dad and I slowly pulled down the window and managed to just get my lens out there and capture an amazing photo of the pheasant on a gate initially we thought he was frozen to the gate because he wasn't moving but he he wasn't frozen he walked away That's an amazing story and definitely I think one you'll probably remember. and Now I do believe you also have a pet turkey whose name is Frederick and a photo of Frederick was the overall winner of the Young Photographers Awards. Now this is probably a tricky question but do you prefer to take photos of wildlife or do you prefer to take photos of your own pets?
00:20:48
Speaker
You're right, that is a very tricky question. But I do, I must say, I do prefer getting photos of wildlife. I think it's because I like the challenge of it might not be there and it's not easy to capture it, but I do like getting photos of pets as well. And you are very, very good at photography, most definitely. But it was really, really nice to meet you, Jamie, and best of luck and with your next photo challenge. Thank you very much.
00:21:16
Speaker
Wow, what an impressive young person. But now we're going to take a short break and then hear a few clips from Badgers and Their Cups, which is a fantastic black and white film made by Eric Ashby in the New Forest in 1968. It's one of the treasures from our archives. We'll be back soon.
Engaging with RSPCA Activities
00:21:35
Speaker
Here at the ah RSPCA, we believe everyone can play a vital role in helping animals, from sponsored runs to making a donation. No matter how much time you can spare, we've got ways you can get involved. Join us, everyone for every kind. Help animals your way and click more info now.
00:22:05
Speaker
The RSPCA has been around since 1824 and it's amazing to look back and see how much we've achieved over the past two centuries. We've got a huge archive of films, sound recordings, photographs, newspaper clippings and magazines. So let's dig in now. Badgers inhabit most counties in the British Isles in varying densities. They are more plentiful where there is good cover around their sets. Woodland is the most favoured.
00:22:33
Speaker
In very secluded parts, they may appear for a short time in daylight. Distinct, well-worn paths are made between the set and feeding grounds, or other sets. In soft earth may be seen good impressions of its square-shaped foot with five toes pointing forward. The claws are very long, especially on the front feet. Constant digging wears down the hind ones.
00:22:57
Speaker
Badgers, unfortunately, are still exposed to much ill usage by man, and every effort to protect them should have your support. The weight of evidence comes out well in their favour as a useful inhabitant of our woods. They do little harm, but also destroy many pests. Control is seldom, if ever, necessary. We must do all we can to save this heritage of the British countryside.
Badgers' Role in Ecosystems
00:23:23
Speaker
oh
00:23:26
Speaker
Oh that was lovely wasn't it? Really nice. We're back here with Rob and we've just watched Badgers and their Cubs. Now we did go to the Badgers set here at Newbrook earlier today and Badgers are still spread all over the UK but these days you'll probably find them more in the southwest.
00:23:45
Speaker
They're such an awesome species, aren't they? They're integral to the biodiversity of our country and they play such a vital role um even down to to them turning over the land. You see the way that they dig their sets, they dig their different rooms within their sets, the sheer size of those those sets and the land that that covers. They are absolutely awesome animals and they'll be foraging for for all of their different food and then that will be process through them and spread across those fields, you know, they're an integral part of the ecosystem. You're going to think what other animals also share their sets. We've got some camera footage that we caught here at our set where you can see all of the lovely field mice and all sorts that benefit from the badgers sets and the way that they store all of their their different substrates.
00:24:34
Speaker
But yeah, they're just so lovely and fascinating to watch because it's another world that we don't really get an insight into. So we continue to learn more and more every day about the amazingness of of these creatures. So the narrator in the film there was talking about how you can recognise the signs of badgers in the area through looking at their paw prints. Rob, how can people know if they're so secretive whether they have badgers in their areas or not?
00:25:00
Speaker
So luckily they're quite big diggers so they leave quite a lot of evidence around their set so you might see the turnover of their bedding so you might see the leftovers you know the used bedding slightly further down the hill because they'll have pulled it quite far out to you.
00:25:16
Speaker
Make sure that their set is nice nice and clean. Also down to, that the like the video alluded to, those those massive footprints and the claw prints that they leave with those footprints. So some really lovely markings that you can see around their set, as well as the the bush that they'll clear out the way so that they can utilise that into into their bedding. But they're just awesome creatures to observe.
00:25:39
Speaker
even down to the way that they interact with each other and the vast family that they have. There's about 15 of them usually in ah in a set together and the way that they work together and they communicate with each other is just lovely to see. Makes your heart throw up really, doesn't it? Just seeing those those lovely animals communicating with each other and really, they don't need us. They don't they don't need anything else. they just they They're self-sustaining, aren't they? They're a character themselves.
00:26:06
Speaker
And often that's the case if we let nature be nature. um It's just awesome to to be an observer, isn't it? and just And watch the wildlife thrive.
Conclusion and Engagement with RSPCA
00:26:17
Speaker
Well, that was amazing. Thank you so much, Rob, for joining us on the podcast today. You've been amazing and so full of knowledge that you've been so lovely to share with everybody. Thank you so much. The honour's all mine. And to all those listening, enjoy your walk.
00:26:38
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the ah RSPCA Walk on the Wild Side podcast. It was presented by me, Holly Cushion, written by myself and Moenna Kearns, and produced by Chris Attaway and Moenna Kearns. Our wildlife expert was Rebecca Machen. The executive producer was Sarah Millerick. Special thanks to RSPCA Newbrook Farm and RSPCA Molly Damswood, all of our guests and everyone else who helped put this podcast together.
00:27:06
Speaker
To learn more about getting involved with the RSPCA, click on the link in the show notes or search RSPCA Wildlife Podcast or visit rspca.org.uk.