Glasgow primary school wins prize in national nature camera trap competition

Mike Cantlay, Chair of SNH, said: “Connecting people with nature is so important to us, and what better way to connect young people with nature than by getting primary schools involved in capturing camera footage of their local wildlife? Camera traps are an exciting way to encourage children to combine technology with outdoor learning and the environment.

“It’s been fantastic to see young people all over the country get excited about seeing and identifying the various birds and mammals that live near their schools. We were very impressed by the different ways pupils collected their footage but were particularly excited by video from Hillhead Primary School!”

SNH provided camera trap equipment and training to rangers and outdoor education staff who supported each school ‘on the ground,’ helping them to gather footage from January to April 2018. Joanne Dempster, an OPAL Community Scientist with Glasgow Science Centre during the project, provided ongoing support and advice to Hillhead.

Hannah Doig, P6 Teacher at Hillhead Primary School, said: “This was the first time our pupils had used camera traps, which was very exciting for them. Many pupils got really into the citizen science aspect of the competition, getting involved with species identification on Zooniverse. We also found ways to incorporate other parts of our curriculum but also made it fun - after one of the bird feeders was vandalised we held a mock court to identify the guilty party: a Magpie!  We’re thrilled to have won our own camera trap, and look forward to identifying more of our local wildlife.”

All participating schools were encouraged to come up with innovative ways to engage the pupils, who had to be involved at all stages of planning and recording their submission.  Each school was also asked to submit their findings to their Local Records Centre, to help build an important local picture of the variety of birds and other animals living right on their doorstep.

The competition was funded by SNH and delivered with the support of the North East Scotland Biodiversity Partnership.