Chilterns Conservation Board

VOLUNTEERS from the Chilterns-based wildlife surveying project, Tracking the Impact, have won the Marsh Award for local ornithology.

The Marsh Awards are organised by the British Trust for Ornithology and celebrate the outstanding contributions of volunteers and charitable organisations which are committed to social, cultural and environmental causes.

Tracking the Impact is part of a number of projects developed and led by the Chilterns Conservation Board’s chalk, cherries and chairs landscape partnership.

It helps people improve their knowledge of local birds, plants and butterflies. It provides training on species identification as well as survey methodology.

To date, more than 125 volunteers have been carrying out regular surveys across the Chilterns, gathering data that helps track the population trends of birds, butterflies and plants.

The volunteers received their award at a ceremony at the Society of Wildlife Artists’ Natural Eye exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries.

Tracking the Impact project organiser Nick Marriner said: “We are honoured to win this award, which reflects the collective energy, enthusiasm and passion of our volunteer team supporting wildlife in the Chilterns. They should all be very proud.

“We hope the project will act as a template for other local landscape-scale projects and help to better understand local wildlife trends, complement and add value to national data sets, support a new generation of wildlife recorders and connect more people to their local landscape.”

For more information about Tracking the Impact or to become a volunteer, visit www.chilternsaonb.org/
tracking-the-impact

Vicki Pearce