10 Years of being Wild About Hampstead Heath
This year we are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of our Wildlife Interpreter Programme! Our volunteer-led programme of weekend activities that engages Hampstead Heath’s visitors with nature.
In 2011, the RSPB, hatched a plan to engage city residents with wildlife, choosing Hampstead Heath as their pilot location. Named ‘Wild about Hampstead Heath’ (WaHH), the project aimed to encourage visitors to make lasting connections to nature, with outdoor ‘guerrilla interpretation’ designed to encourage families to explore and protect the nature around them.
After much planning and with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, WaHH was launched in 2013 with a team of volunteers, custom cargo bike stalls and even a published ‘Explorer’s Handbook’ for the Heath. Visitors enjoyed a range of activities through the year, from making leaf crowns and bird feeders to bug hunts and muddy barefoot walking! Volunteers were trained in how to identify flora and fauna on the Heath to help engage the public.
In 2015, WaHH was handed over to Heath Hands and we took over the supervision. We’re pleased that several of the volunteers are still with us, with some taking the role of supervisors leading the sessions. The success of the programme continued, with over 8000 visitors engaged in the following four years!
WaHH have been a popular presence at big events, such as our community fun days, Give it a Go Festival and the Heath’s annual Conker Championships. They have also brought the Heath out to community events, with nature tables showcasing the Heath’s Wildlife. As well as running their own activities, WaHH have encouraged the public to take part in citizen science initiatives, like the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, the Big Butterfly Count and the City Nature Challenge.
Sadly, these public-facing activities had to halt with COVID lockdowns, putting WaHH under a two-year hiatus. However, it relaunched in February 2022 in spectacular fashion, with over 150 people joining a birdwatching session!
WaHH continues to grow with 25 active volunteers and counting and 1300 visitors engaged since covid. The cargo bikes are still in use, with one being electrified, making cycling up Parliament Hill much easier!
We are very proud of what the project has achieved and would like to thank all the volunteers who’ve been involved in the past decade, especially the supervisors who run the sessions!
The success of WaHH through the years has inspired further projects like our Heath-Friendly Schools programme and the soon-to-be-opened Dairy Interpretation Centre. A WaHH session will be running on the opening weekend and we will be celebrating the anniversary with the volunteers.
If you would like to join as a Volunteer Wildlife Interpreter you can find out more and apply here.
