Jane Austin-Walker, biodiversity advocate, previously Re-flowering Redesdale officer.

When I talked with Jane, in 2020, her work was Senior Project Officer - Volunteer and Greenspace Groundwork North East and Cumbria.

There have been changes since then, but below is what we spoke about in November 2020. This is the article which first appeared in the Northumberland Gazette.

When we first moved to Rothbury I was intrigued and delighted by an open space at Townfoot, a gap between two buildings, which contained an optimistic scene of beautiful, boisterous, wild flowers, and masses of edible produce. Like many other people, I often stopped to breathe it in and to have a look at the bug hotels and interesting work going on in there. So, it was a great delight to me to finally get to interview the energetic woman behind all this.

However, it was Toby, her husband, who I first met. His remarkable guitar playing and singing at the weekly open mic sessions were something we came to really look forward to. Toby works as a gardener but is also a fine artist. Jane's whole family is creative! 'Toby is arty, I am crafty'. Of course, their children are also knowledgeable about nature and enjoy photography, art, and crafts.

Toby Austin-Walker, on the right, with guitar, leading Katie, John, and guests to the hand-fasting tree.

Jane is an inspirational woman who is very much appreciated not only in Coquetdale but right across Northumberland. She brings nature to as many folk as she can. For the last 14 years, Jane has run nature-based crafting activities with elderly people. Her enthusiasm has been gratefully acknowledged, and she has developed a set of crafting videos, along with craft kits, to enable this handiwork to continue during the pandemic. Jane also runs gardening and craft sessions for a Sensory Garden Group (for people with visual impairment). The work Jane does with youngsters is also admirable. It is no surprise to learn that she is a Forest School Leader.

Jane was born in 1975 to a university lecturer dad and a school teacher mum. It was unexpected, then, that school did not hold much appeal to Jane.

Life changed, though, when she joined a young warden group at Bolam Lake.

'It was wonderful to learn about the nature'.

She never missed an opportunity to be outside, avidly learning all that nature could teach her.

'It was a key time in my life. I hadn't realised that you could study and work at maintaining and protecting the countryside'.

Enrolling at Liverpool John Moores University to study Countryside Management was an obvious choice.

'I didn't apply for any other course - this was all I wanted to do'.

And Jane has made a fine career in making a positive difference to our environment, and to the lives of the many young people who have engaged with her on different projects. Working at: Bolam Lake, at Plessy Woods, Havanna, Big Waters, Jesmond Dene and Walker Riverside, Jane now has extensive knowledge about the natural environment.

She particularly enjoys engaging with children and teaching them about biodiversity, ecology, animals, and plants.

'I plan and run a lot of 'food for free' events, plant and animal identification, etc'.

It was while she was employed by Newcastle City Council, managing a team of rangers, that she heard about Ground Work. She began working for them in 2006, running a volunteer team, and completing many kinds of outdoor projects.

Most recently Jane has been enjoying working on a church garden in Berwick.

'We've made a hibernaculum for frogs and toads, a bug village and a living willow tunnel'.

The plot in Rothbury is home to the nursery for propagating these significant flowers. 'We grow them from local seed which we collect from Northumberland. The idea is to restore plants which are missing from the upland hay meadows'. The seeds that Marjorie and Jane are collecting and planting include:

Wood Cranesbill, Melancholy Thistle, Great Burnet, Devils Bit Scabious, Birdsfoot, Trefoil, Lady's Mantle, Globeflower, Common Knapweed, and Yellow Rattle.

Jane has also been working closely with the MOD and tenant farmers on the Otterburn Ranges as part of this project.

'Why have the flowers gone from these areas?' I ask. Jane explains that the change from hay making to silage means that many plants don't have time to set seed and this has resulted in the disappearance of some of the most iconic flowers from our meadows. By working with farmers to reintroduce these important flowers, alongside traditional haymaking, huge benefits are also made to our pollinating insects.

I now work as a Forest School leader at the middle school. I teach all the children on a rotation system, through the spring and summer months.

We do things like learning how to make and use fire safely, build dens, wood carving, weaving, and so on.

In the autumn term, I do campfire cooking. This year I ran a whole school jam testing competition! To begin with, the children had to learn how to make a fire.

They then took it in turns to toast a slice of bread on the fire.

After that, we tested 6 types of jam which I had made from things I had grown at my allotment. Everyone had to write down what they thought the jam was made from.

After marking all the answer sheets (200!) I then ran a jam-testing final at an assembly, which involved finding out all the answers.

We had to hold a knock out round for the top scorers. It was very funny. The winner got a jar of jam!

In the winter,when the weather is rubbish, I run indoor projects.

Last year I did a felt-making project: each child made their own piece of felt from wool, then sewed it into a useful item of their choice.

The children made items such as: phone cases, pencil cases, handbags, pictures, and purses. This winter I did a tie dye project: each child tie-dyed a piece of cotton, sewed it into something of their choice, then made a stencil and printed it onto their creation. The items they designed and made were: Santa sacks, pillowcases, tote bags, and rucksacks.

They were all very proud of their work

I also established and run the biodiversity team - 40 odd children who help me improve the school grounds for wildlife. We did a bird project last year, put up bird boxes and checked on the development of the chicks, built a bird feeding station and a willow screen.

I also set up a gardening group for year 8 students. We grow vegetables which we then eat at Forest Schools. This group is after-school and voluntary. I wanted to encourage people to volunteer in their local community. This was a good introduction to that.

From all Jane has told me, back in 2020, and what she has added here, I feel that the young people who she works with are gaining such a great deal. Jane's background, from her choice of degree, her voluntary work, and her employment, has made for an excellent mix of sensitivity, innovative thinking, and knowledge.

It is hardly surprising to hear that Jane and her Biodiversity Group won a Love Northumberland Award. It was easy to guess what they bought with the £250 prize money - fruit trees!

I cannot wait to find out what Jane decides to do next!