How to inspire next generation

Awakening a child to the wonders of the natural world in the age of computer wizardry can be quite a feat.

Video games and cinema special effects mesmerise young imaginations and can leave everyday encounters with wildlife in the shade.

Having taken my grandson Benjamin to see the Bafta-winning Avatar: The Way of Water, with its eye-popping array of fantastic aquatic beasts, I felt a little trepidation about our trip to a local wetland reserve.

To young minds, everyday ducks and geese must seem humdrum compared to James Cameron’s incredible skimwings, toruks and ikrans.

Luckily, my own piece of hi-tech gadgetry came to the rescue in the shape of a digital camera with a powerful 125-times zoom lens.

In Benjamin’s hands, it was soon capturing everything that flew across our path as we walked towards a hide overlooking a flooded pit that has become a haven for wintering wildfowl and waders.

Oystercatchers, teal and tufted ducks were all framed at long distance before a nondescript duck swam into view.

Trying to turn a dowdy gadwall into an exciting find would have been a challenge without regaling Benjamin with the story of how I saw my first one.

Our school birdwatching club was on a trip to Tring Reservoirs back in the early 1970s when we walked past a group of middle-aged and rather posh-sounding birdwatchers, who were using a telescope to focus on a distant duck. There was mention of a gadwall, a scarce bird back in the day and one we had never seen.

It was only after we had patiently lined up to view the duck, that one of the party told us the great Sir Peter Scott was allowing us to use his telescope.

Sir Peter was my childhood hero. A quick recap of his life story as the son of Scott of the Antarctic and the patron saint of conservation was enough to impress Benjamin, and he was soon clicking away at the gadwall to his heart’s content.

The great Sir Peter Scott was letting us use his telescope!