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Create it!’, Record it!’, ‘Do it!’ and ‘Shout about it!’

Emma Bradshaw

Kestrel Award

Take part in the Kestrel Award

If you are a member of Wildlife Watch and you are over the age of eight, you can take part in the Kestrel award.  The Kestrel award has four wildlife challenges (Create it!, Do it!, Record it! and Shout about it!)  and you will need to complete them all to gain the award.  Once you have completed the challenges you will receive a certificate and badge and the Kestrel icon will be added to your website profile. 

FAQ's

Who can take part?

The Kestrel Award is for children over the age of eight years old who subscribe to Wildlife Watch through their local Wildlife Trust.

Why take part?

By taking part we hope you will:

  • Gain a sense of personal achievement and pride in your work
  • Develop new skills and knowledge
  • Enjoy applying your skills and imagination to a variety of tasks
  • Get to know more places and people in your neighbourhoods
  • Have a positive impact on wildlife or the environment, or on your appreciation of it
  • Be encouraged to take on projects you might not have done without the incentive of the award
  • Develop a long term commitment to nature conservation
  • Find out about, and develop links with, their local Trust
  • Help raise the profile of Wildlife Watch and The Wildlife Trusts through publicity generated by their work
  • Have fun with their friends or families

How it works

To complete the award participants will need to complete four challenges: ‘Create it!’, Record it!’, ‘Do it!’ and ‘Shout about it!’.  These challenges can be worked on either independently or through activities with a Wildlife Watch group.  When all four challenges have been completed participants will receive a certificate and badge from their local Wildlife Trust.

How can I get involved?

Email our Kestrel Award co-ordinator, Clare Sweeney who will send you over a pack to start your challenge. csweeney@lancswt.org.uk

The Challenges

Create it!  Record it!  Do it!  Shout about it!

Create It!

Write a story or poem inspired by nature or the environment.
Create a piece of art inspired by UK wildlife.  Participants can decide what medium to use for this, so it could be a painting, a drawing, a model, maybe even a decorated cake!
Create a collage, model, or sculpture using natural materials (e.g. sticks, leaves, pebbles, sand or mud).

Record It!

This challenge is all about recording the wildlife you see by keeping a nature diary.  To complete this challenge you will need to:

Choose a place that you want to study. 
Visit the area at least six times over a period of at least six weeks. You might like to take you time over this challenge and make visits throughout a whole year to watch how the seasons affect your place.
On each visit, record the wildlife you see.  Notice whether the wildlife in your place changes over time or whether it stays the same.  
Make a nature diary and use it to record your findings.  Your diary could include photos, drawings, maps, video, or sound recordings.

Do It!

This challenge is about making an area better for wildlife.  To complete this challenge, you will need to do three things from the following list of choices:

Help build a wildlife pond
Plant a wildlife friendly flowerbed / flower garden to attract wildlife
Make and put up a bird box / bat box / minibeast home / bumblebee nest (choose one)
Go on a litter pick
Take part in some practical conservation work on a nature reserve
Make / put up a bird feeder, and keep it topped up with bird food over the winter.

Shout About It!

Tell people about the things you have been doing to get your Kestrel award.  Choose one of the following ways to do this:

A presentation.  This could be to your class at school, or to another group.
An article.  Write an article and get it published. 
A display.  Make a display which highlights what you have done, and encourages others to help wildlife.  Find somewhere to display it, e.g. your school, library or community centre, and get it on show! 
A film.  Make a film about your work and publish it on-line (e.g. YouTube).