THE Andover-based bird of prey charity, Hawk Conservancy Trust, has secured special funding to ensure school visits can still take flight with visit bursaries for deserving pupils from across Hampshire. 

For some children, trips to places like the Hawk Conservancy Trust are beyond their reach because financial pressures on schools and the cost-of-living crisis are making it harder for parents to support educational trips. Trust says this is detrimental to children's experiences, their learning and to the charity’s mission to help the future of our planet by inspiring conservation through education.

Now, the trust has been supported by the financial services company Investec to provide funds to enable the charity to support education in several ways.

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Andover Advertiser: The Hawk Conservancy Trust has been given funding to offer bursaries for deserving pupilstThe trust’s chief executive Penny Smout said: “Our visitor centre near Andover is all about shining a light on the incredible world of birds of prey; our work to conserve them; and spreading the word to inspire more people to appreciate the wonders of wildlife and the need to look after it.

"One of our aims is to encourage pupils, from all walks of life, to follow a career path in conservation and that spark can come from a school visit. At the same time, we have research to show just how valuable being close to nature is for the wellbeing of us humans.

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"Our hope is that with this funding, we can help bring all of those benefits to children who often don’t get the chance to experience such things.”

Investec’s support has enabled the trust to specially design “Explore Nature” days. These will offer children who might not normally be in a position to visit to do so and meet the resident birds, experience the multiple daily flying displays and learn about the species, their habitats and conservation through fun workshops with the trust’s expert team.

The Hawk Conservancy Trust has also been awarded a separate grant from the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) for a travel bursary to help fund transport costs for state-funded schools where high fuel and coach hire prices might be a financial barrier to some schools.

The Hawk Conservancy Trust is now keen to hear from schools which feel they have pupils who could benefit from participation in “Explore Nature” days or bursary support.