Children to learn more about moors at UK’s largest annual upland education event
Thousands of children from across the country will have an opportunity to meet the people and organisations that help to protect our stunning moorland landscapes and species when the UK’s largest upland classroom returns this summer.
Let’s Learn Moor provides interactive lessons that engage children and teachers about the wonderful species on our moorlands from spongey sphagnum mosses to the iconic bent beaked curlew. Children will be “rescuing” their teachers with the mountain rescue, solving rural crimes with the police and learning about the importance of the precious carbon-rich peatlands below their feet. They will also get to sample the delicacies of wild food with venison, pigeon and grouse on the menu.
Let’s Learn Moor 2022 will be held at eight locations in England from the 4-8th July. This year’s theme will be “protection” – the protection of people and communities, carbon, and wildlife.
More than 6,000 children have attended Let’s Learn Moor events since the project was launched in 2017. It is coordinated by Countryside Learning and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). Events have been hosted at multiple venues involving more than 50 partner organisations.
Gareth Dockerty, BASC’s head of uplands and Let’s Learn Moor co-ordinator, said: “As part of Let’s Learn Moor 2022, primary school pupils will get to feel spongey sphagnum mosses under their feet on part of the UK’s largest carbon store and see sticky insect eating sundew plants. They will get to hear the chattering of red grouse and the iconic curlew calling, see soaring birds of prey and get to meet hardy Swaledale sheep.
“Let’s Learn Moor is the UK’s largest annual upland education event, providing an opportunity for children across the country to meet the people and organisations that help to protect our stunning moorland landscapes and species. The events involve park authorities, local farmers, the emergency services, gamekeepers, water utility companies, conservation groups and many more.”
Part-funded by BASC legacy funding, the day is free to all schools involved, ensuring that there are no financial barriers to participation.
