Bird Woman of Ettingshall

A local bird enthusiast is volunteering her time to sow the seeds of bird appreciation amongst our young by visiting schoolchildren as part of the RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch.

Bird loving Sue Jarvis, a business administrator at Tarmac's Ettingshall offices, inherited her interest in birds from her father who used to tell her all about the different species and is now winging her way to local schools to pass on her enthusiasm.

"I started volunteering with the reading scheme at local schools through my employers, Tarmac" said Sue. "For a few hours a month I visited East Park Infants and Junior Schools in Ettingshall to listen to and help them read, which I really enjoyed doing."

After taking a one-day RSPB training course to qualify as a RSPB Friendly Schools Volunteer, Sue is now generously using her holiday time to enthuse pupils about wildlife.

Sue is currently making three visits to Uplands Junior School in Finchfield. On her second visit she promoted the RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch using activity packs and games to encourage pupils to make their school grounds more bird-friendly.

"School grounds are like an extension to our gardens," she said.

The RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch dovetails neatly with the charity's Big Garden Birdwatch happening this weekend on 24-25 January. Both events encourage people to track bird species they have seen in their own gardens and send their results to the RSPB's nationwide survey.

Sue will visit the school again in April to follow-up on the bird watching results as well as other wildlife activities.

Sue has also been asked by the RSPB to visit other schools in the area. A local allotment holders' association which has a bird hut on its site has also asked her to visit them.

The RSPB's nationwide Big Schools' Birdwatch runs from 19-30 January.

For more information please Contact PR.

22 January 2009