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Tuesday 26 November 2013

Where are all the youngsters?

We had a great time at the NWBWF as you can see from the previous blog. But I was prompted to ask the question; "where are all the children and young people?"

We did see a small number of children during each day, but not as many as we would have hoped. However, there was one young man who made a real impression on Elis and me.

His name is Menura which, he will be pleased to tell you, is the generic name of the lyrebirds of Australia. Menura hails from a Sri Lankan family and has developed a passion for anything to do with birds, he tells us that he has a conservation wall in his bedroom and keeps lists of sightings he has made.
Rick with Menura at the Wader Quest stand.

As we spoke to him his enthusiasm bubbled over and was evident to anyone who'd care to listen. We first noticed Menura when he and his mother slipped into the back seats at the Sunday afternoon Wader Quest talk, afterwards they came up to us and Menura captivated us with his obvious interest in the avian world.

I do hope that we'll have the chance to meet him again and follow his progress as he develops, his ambition is to be a Zoologist or something similar and we wish him all the best for the future which we feel is very bright. Young people like Menura are the future of conservation and we should be nurturing them as much as we can as indeed his mother and family have been, for which they too are to be congratulated.


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