A Rocha UK
Partner in Action projects
Active Care for the Natural World
Taking action to improve biodiversity, address climate change and make a real difference to nature restoration at Lendrick Muir
As our Environmental Instructor, Grace has been leading the way with our partnership with the Christian environmental charity, A Rocha UK.
As the new environmental instructor at Lendrick Muir, it has been really exciting to work with A Rocha UK in a partnership focused on stewardship and sustainability.
It’s been a year of thinking hard about how we as a centre, and one of A Rocha UKs Partners in Action can best care for the amazing nature that lives across the 120 acres at Lendrick Muir, and most importantly how the young people who come to stay here, can discover and explore God’s amazing creation.
Throughout this we have benefitted from the advice and support of A Rocha. Last Summer, we hosted a A Rocha hub training event where we came together with the A Rocha team and staff from Lendrick Muir and Alltnacriche. Together we updated and maintained nesting boxes and feeders across the site, and looked together at how we can further bring eco-education into the residential experience across our centres.
Education is at the heart of environmental stewardship, as it equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to understand and look after the environment around them. It raises awareness and fosters responsibility. It ensures that the protection and preservation of the environment isn’t just happening now but across future generations. Therefore as part of our call to environmental stewardship, we’ve made environmental education part of our school residentials.
Environmental Education Programme
The heart of what we have done this year has been our eco education programme called Discover and Explore which has continued to grow. We now have sessions focussing on nature, sustainability and conservation. The role of the lead environmental instructor was created to deliver, grow, and develop this programme. It’s been a real joy doing this and seeing so many young people explore the landscape through play and learning. 
Focusing on this has allowed us to share the amazing landscape at Lendrick Muir, with those that stay here and to help young people grow in their understanding and appreciation of the environment, through intentional time spent in nature.
It’s also been exciting to work with our whole team of instructors building up our collective knowledge and expertise in the environment and creation care and see this passed on to the young people that stay at Lendrick Muir.
You can read more about Discover and Explore on our Classroom Outdoors Website
Other projects
Throughout the year, there have been other environmental projects and focuses ongoing:
- Thanks to the amazing efforts of our staff, volunteers, and pupils on school residentials we planted around 700 trees in the late winter and early spring. This replaced valuable woodland that we lost during Storm Arwen. As a centre we are excited that this planting is reconnecting fragmented woodland habitat. Its also proved a great educational tool, with the new trees springing up capturing pupils’ curiosity as they explore the landscape.
- We are also grateful to volunteers from Peter Vardy who have come and helped us with tree maintenance, the creation of new woodland paths, and putting wood chip around newly planted trees. All of which has helped maintain the landscape and access to nature for our guests.
- We ran an October Day-Camp with SU holidays focusing on creation. Campers particularly enjoyed making and deploying seeds bombs.
- Staff from across SU were busy planting bulbs as part of our annual staff retreat in November, it was a great chance for staff from across the organisation to come together and spend time in nature.
Who are A Rocha UK?
A Rocha UK (pronounced “a rawsha”) is a Christian charity that works alongside Christian organisations, groups and churches to protect and restore the natural environment. Their aim is to inspire individuals and groups, equip organisations and leaders, build partnerships and manage land for God, nature and all people.
As an A Rocha UK Partner in Action, Lendrick Muir Residential Outdoor Activity Centre is committing to:
- caring for the biodiversity of the 120 acre site
- supporting the recovery of declining species and threatened habitats and
- engaging with guests to spread a message of hope for creation while demonstrating good conservation practice
iRecord
The goal of iRecord is to help bring together wildlife sightings from many sources, so that they can be checked by experts and made available to support research and decision-making. It is operated by the Biological Records Centre (BRC) as part of the work of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).
iRecord is a website for sharing wildlife observations (biological records), including associated photos – you can register quickly and for free. Once registered, you can add your own records for others to see, and you can see what has been recorded by others. Your data will be kept secure and will be regularly backed up. Records can also be added to iRecord via the iRecord app.
Get Involved
If you’d like to help us in our work to care for the flora and fauna of Lendrick Muir Residential Outdoor Activity Centre, please get in touch.
You can download the app or visit the iRecord website to record sightings of plants, animals and insects during a visit to Lendrick Muir.
Follow Lendrick Muir on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with our Partner in Action and Target 25 projects, and tag us in your posts if you catch any of our wildlife on camera.
