Hello lovely you! Welcome to series 2 episode 12 of Prompted by Nature. How are you this week?

This week’s episode is my final conversation episode of 2020 although next week the tables will be turned when my amazing friend Priya Shah will be interviewing me, which should be interesting, as she’ll be asking me the questions that I usually ask my guests! I hope you’ll join us for that!

But onto this week’s episode. Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with the wonderful Lucy Groves of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Lucy is a conservation biologist working on a range of projects across Sussex and has an interest in animal behaviour, movement ecology and nature connection.  Lucy joined Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in 2019 as Project Officer for the White Stork Project which is a multi-partner project aiming to restore the White Stork to Britain after a 600 year absence.

Based at the Knepp Rewilding project in West Sussex, Lucy is responsible for coordinating partner organisations and release sites, post-release monitoring of the storks including movement data from GPS tracking and collation of sighting reports,  as well as delivering public engagement using the emblematic White Stork to drive nature connection in local and wider communities.

A self-confessed nature nerd, small mammal lover, thread painter and Mum to a Little Owl, she is happiest when outdoors searching for British wildlife.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How she found her way into conservation biology


• Her experience of burnout and work-related mental health issues and how this led her to her work at Knepp


• Her connect to animals and fascination with animal behaviour


• How she came to be involved with the White Stork Project


• What the WSP involves


• The wonder of instinct in animals


• How she stays inspired


• How she stays motivated and how her experience with lyme’s disease forced to reassess her priorities in times of tiredness


• Her hope for the future and what her journey has taught her

I first found out about Lucy work on BBC Springwatch when they showcased the white stork project at Knepp. I started following Lucy on social media and an absolutely fascinated by the journey of the storks and the work that Lucy and her team are doing. It was so lovely to hear more about the project and the wonderful things that we can do to help heal our planet and its wild inhabitants.

You can find Lucy on Instagram and Twitter @lucyinthewild and can read all about her work with the white stork project on www.whitestorkproject.org

As always I’m over on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and on the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can sign up to my weekly online nature writing sessions, book in for any of my 2021 in-person outdoor writing and creativity sessions and retreats and buy gift vouchers for the nature lover in your life! And if you enjoy the podcast, please do share with your communities by sharing on social media or in real life. And please pop in a review and five stars wherever you’re listening if you can - every little helps get these voices and conversations out there.

Remember to stick around until the end when I’ll give you a little insight into the meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode.

Happy listening and I’ll speak to you after.

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Wasn’t that so inspiring I hope you enjoyed it! In the meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode, we’ll be taking inspiration from the storks and creating a piece guided by their journey. As always, I’m sending you lots of love. Happy writing and I’ll speak to you soon!