Keen young bird watchers rewarded for their efforts 

As part of their ongoing focus on carbon reducing and green initiatives, West Monkton Parish Council recently held a community wide bird watching competition to tie in with the RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch. The competition encouraged local youngsters to count the birds they saw in their gardens so that a record of the wildlife observed in the area could be collated and fed through to the RSPB nationwide survey. 

Winners Charlie Badman-Warren and Ruben Dutton received locally sourced birdwatching goodie bags provided by Sparkle and Shine Bookstore and locally made scrap wood birdboxes made by Monkton Heathfield based carpenter Collin Garner.  

Cllr Norman Cavill who was on hand to present the prizes said “We are delighted to award these locally purchased prizes to two very worthy young bird watchers. It is inspiring to hear their enthusiasm for nurturing wildlife in their gardens and local community, and as part of our policy to always shop local where possible, it has been wonderful to work with neighbourhood businesses to run this competition”