Surprise Visit

We frequently receive quite visits from conservationists who work overseas, largely due to our connections with the RSPB at Sandy and BirdLife International in Cambridge. 

Last week we met an American academic who was in Cambridge for a conference and came to us on a whim to build a British bird list.

This week our visitors were on a planned study trip from our BirdLife partner in Germany, which is called NABU. The name reminds me of a planet in Star Wars, but it actually stands for NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION UNION. It is one of the oldest and largest environment associations in Germany. The association encompasses more than 450,000 members and sponsors, who commit themselves to the conservation of threatened habitats, flora and fauna, to climate protection and energy policy. 

NABU`s main objectives are the preservation of habitats and biodiversity, the promotion of sustainability in agriculture, forest management and water supply and distribution, as well as to enhance the significance of nature conservation in Germany and beyond. You can visit their website at index.html

Our guests, Gabriele Koeppe (Director), Inez Schierenberg (Director Designate) and Ruediger Wohlers (Director at Oldenburg and Senior Marketing Officer), were from the Lower Saxony branch of NABU and they were here to learn about our legendary volunteers and our education partnership with the Wildlife Trusts. In turn, we learned a bit about their training programme.

Thanks to Debbie McKenzie and Trevor Gunton for acting as hosts for this important mission.