Last Sunday, 223 children, adults and families from Malta celebrated the start of spring, officially 21st March, by walking 7 kilometres through the Maltese countryside in aid of nature conservation, raising a total of €1,200, in BirdLife Malta’s “Walk for Nature.”

Walk for Nature is an annual event organised by Klabb Huttaf, BirdLife Malta’s nature club for young people, and is one of the activities for Dinja Wahda environmental primary schools. Staff from the Bank of Valletta, BirdLife’s partners in Dinja Wahda, were amongst those who joined in the walk.

As well as raising money for conservation, the activity helps to teach children (and adults) about Maltese wildlife and why it is important that we protect it.

In the past, money raised by the Walk for Nature has helped to buy nest cameras for use at the Ghadira and Is-Simar wetland reserves, and pay for solar panels at the scientific ringing station on Comino.

This year, the money raised will again go towards improving the nature reserves, including buying binoculars for visitors to use, helping them get closer to the birds and other wildlife in these rare wetland habitats.The walk took a rural route from Siggiewi Parish Square on small countryside lanes through fields bordered with traditional rubble walls and past the Neolithic temples of Hagar Qim, to St Matthew’s Chapel near Maqluba, with its famous sink hole.

Along the way there was lots of opportunity to enjoy the sights and sound of the Maltese countryside and wildlife in spring, with resident Maltese breeding birds like the Zitting Cisticola making an appearance, as well as butterflies, lizards and many native flowering plants adding colour and interest at every turn.

The nature highlight of the walk was an activity for the children (and some of the adults!) which turned them into plant detectives as they tried to identify the different species of plants in an area of garrigue.

This year, seven primary schools took part in the activity, and for the first time they were joined by adult members of BirdLife Malta, who were happy to be able to share their knowledge of Maltese wildlife with the younger generation.

Walk for Nature and Klabb Huttaf coordinator, Kathleen Mamo, said, “It’s always a pleasure to see children enjoying and getting excited about nature and learning about wildlife in a hands on way. That is what this event is about and now to also bring younger and older generations together adds more value for everyone involved.”

BLM said, “at the end of the walk, prizes were given to all the children who took part, with the top prize- a copy of Breeding Birds of the Maltese Islands- going to Giulia Debattista Montalto, who raised an amazing €125! Thank you and well done Giulia!”

Anyone who would like to make their own donation towards BirdLife Malta’s work for birds and nature conservation in the Maltese Islands can do so on the organisation’s website, www.birdlifemalta.org.

Photos – Plant detectives try to identify the different species in an area of garrigue during the Walk for Nature on Sunday, and: Young Walk for Nature participant Giulia Debattista Montalto receives a copy of Breeding Birds of the Maltese Islands after raising an amazing €125 for nature conservation. Photos by Ella Beeson

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