The Prince of Wales’ Half Term Nature Challenge: WWT’S Waterside Wednesday Challenge
As part of the Prince of Wales’ Half Term Nature Challenge we are encouraging children in the UK to safely visit their local wetlands and try our WWT Waterside Wednesday Challenge.
The activity will be broadcast on 17 February via the @Clarencehouse Instagram page.
Families taking part will be encouraged to follow the hashtag #POWNatureChallenge and share their creative responses throughout the week in the form of drawings, photographs or even short films.
Waterside Wednesday is one of six daily challenges aimed at encouraging children to get out doors and connect with nature locally throughout half term week. Each is set by a charity whose patron is the Prince of Wales. Any travel should be on foot only.
The Challenge
Instructions
Visit your local wetlands such as ponds, streams, lakes, and canals and spot as many birds as possible. Ducks are one of the easiest birds to find in wetlands, so why not create your own fantasy duck bringing together your favourite bits from the ducks you’ve seen.
A guide on how to create your own fantasy duck can be downloaded from the WWT website. Or you can use your own materials, or send a photograph or video of your favourite bird.
Don’t worry if you don’t spot any birds, or don’t have wetlands nearby, you can also use your imagination, or watch one of WWT’s live lake-side webcams at Slimbridge or Caerlaverock Wetland Centres on their website to see water birds in real time.
Information
Visit our challenge page for the fantasy duck activity sheet, webcams and a guide to UK ducks
Dr Jonathan Reeves, Principle Research Officer (Health and Wellbeing), WWT, said:
We are delighted to be setting the Prince of Wales’ Waterside Wednesday challenge this half term, helping to encourage children to get outdoors, use their creativity and have fun in their local wetlands.
We, as a conservation charity, have a 75 year history of encouraging children to get outside and fall in love with wetland nature. And we’re still encouraging families to get out into wetlands, whether through visiting our wetland centres, helping people to explore their local wetlands, or joining our schools programme.
We believe that developing children’s natural joy in exploring the outdoors into a passion for nature helps create the conservationists of the future and is fundamentally good for their health and wellbeing. The latest research shows that blue spaces involving water may be even better for people’s wellbeing than green spaces, so we’re pleased to be joining our patron the Prince of Wales in encouraging families to get their wetland wellbeing fix this half term
Here is the video from Prince Charles introducing the challenge broadcast on the @Clarencehouse Instagram page on Saturday 13 February:
