A Student Sustainability Impact Intern Blog by Alysia Byrne
An introduction to me and the Leeds RSPB Group
I am a young ornithologist and ecology undergraduate aspiring to do a PhD studying avian behaviour. I also have a passion for connecting young people with nature and helping to break down any barriers they may face in doing so. When I first saw the student impact role, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to enhance my skill set whilst also helping staff and students to connect in a new way with the wonderful species we have on our doorstep. With the help of my supervisors, Michael Howroyd and Iain Manfield, and the RSPB Leeds local group, I have been able to achieve just that.
The Leeds RSPB Local Group collaboration
A large part of my role has been connecting students and staff with the Leeds RSPB Local Group, which is a group that brings birders of all levels from across Leeds together for talks, free birding walks and coach trips. As part of my role, I was able to attend the group’s events and what a pleasure it was to do so. I was warmly welcomed into the group and immediately felt the benefits of being part of a community of bird lovers. Birding with the group involves storytelling, helping each other locate and identify birds, and lots of excitement. Attending these events helped massively to improve my bird identification skills. As a relatively new birder, being able to ask lots of questions and be introduced to a wide range of new species was extremely helpful.
Attending events not only helped me gain key skills but also allowed me to observe first hand any barriers students may face in attending and feed this back to the group’s committee. For example, some of the free outdoor meetings were difficult to reach by public transport. As a result of this, the group is now thinking of adding a future outdoor meeting at Meanwood Valley Farm, which will be much easier for students to access given that it is very close to the University. The main challenge I found was that staff and students were not aware that the RSPB group existed. I tried to overcome this by posting about the group on the University Sustainable Community teams forum, as well as on societies’ group chats. Whilst this had some success in reaching staff and students, I believe that moving forward, comms posts on social media will achieve even greater reach.
One of the outdoor meetings this year was at Eccup Reservoir. As a result of a post I had put out on the Leeds Conservation Volunteers society group chat, we had two new students join. The first was already a keen birder and was able to achieve an existing goal of seeing all UK wagtails. The other student was completely new to birding, but with the help of the group, she was able to start her life list, and by the end, she was very keen to continue. Both students also really enjoyed exploring a new part of Leeds and taking a break from their studies. One of my lecturers also attended this event. I knew from a field trip that Liz was a birder and suggested she come along. Liz hadn’t birded in a group before and found it very helpful to gain birding tips from fellow birding enthusiasts. The group also spotted a yellowhammer on this particular trip, which was one of the many lifers I achieved throughout the year.
Opportunities I had on campus
During my time in this role, I have also had many opportunities to attend and volunteer at campus events. Starting with the RSPB Big Campus Bird Watch in February, when we took a group of staff and students around campus to identify winter birds. I was concerned about the turnout on this particular event as it was quite drizzly, but sure enough, we had a great turnout. The rain did not put any of us off, and we even ran over by ten minutes, which meant we spotted a Tree Creeper in St Georges’ Field. Afterwards, like all events, we recorded observations on the University of Leeds Campus iNaturalist Biodiversity Network Events like this one are a wonderful way of connecting staff and students with nature, in between their work and studies, whilst also contributing to scientific surveying of the species we have on campus.
I also had the pleasure of attending this year’s peregrine chick ringing. The Leeds Camous peregrines are an annual reminder of how important urban spaces can be for our local avian species and draw lots of excitement from the local community. Each year, the same breeding pair return to Parkinson Tower, a staple building on the University Campus. The peregrine chicks are rung under licence to contribute to scientific research. I am working towards my C permit for ringing. Unfortunately, there are no BTO trainers in the Leeds area, so I am only able to do so in the summer. Watching someone else ring is a helpful way to learn ringing technique, so I was incredibly excited to be able to learn from watching this year’s peregrine chick ringing.
In April I was asked to help launch the Universities’ Campus Greenery Trail developed by Dr Hazel Mooney. In 2025, Campus Reimagined proposed several projects and students were able to vote for their favourites. The Campus Greenery Trail was one of my top votes, so it was incredibly exciting to be a part of the launch less than a year after voting. The trail encourages people to stop and enjoy the green spaces we have on campus whilst also enjoying artwork such as visual boards and window displays. I was also able to speak during one of the event sessions about how people can record what they see whilst on the trail using the University's iNaturalist Biodiversity Network. It was fantastic to be part of both the planning and running team for an event run by Campus Reimagined and the Sustainability Service, and it helped me to plan my own campus event.
The University's first Bird Discovery Day
This year the Sustainable Team ran a very successful campus bioblitz, of which the Leeds RSPB local group were in attendance. This involved surveying as many different species on campus as possible with the help of local organisations. I was on a field module at the time, so was not able to attend, but was pleased to hear how much attendees had enjoyed it. A big highlight was the first recorded sighting of a male Mandarin Duck on the popular Roger Stevens Pond.
I had the idea of running a similar event but with the main theme being connecting people with the wonderful bird species we have on campus. I discussed this in one of my fortnightly meetings with my supervisors, and they were both very enthusiastic about the idea. To close what has been a fantastic time in the role, I started to organise the University’s first Bird Discovery Day. I ran two sessions, one early morning and the other mid-day. This event took lots of organisation, including meeting with members of the Sustainability Team, producing a plan of the day, sending all of the information to comms and advertising. I mapped out the route, ensuring it was accessible and included bird hotspots on campus, including Roger Stevens Pond, St George’s Field and, of course, the Parkinson Tower. I also ensured equipment would be available to help attendees identify birds, including binoculars and pens with a pull-out sheet of common campus bird species, which the University Sustainable team developed.
The morning session, while having a small turnout, had very positive feedback. Members of staff who attended really enjoyed a morning bird walk before their workday. The midday session was much busier, with a total of fifteen staff and students joining. It was fantastic to have Pauline, Sue, David and Iain attend to represent the RSPB local group. Lots of attendees were able to find out about the group and ask any questions they may have about joining. For any future collaborative events, I recommend bringing members onto campus to meet with staff and students, as it can be less daunting to join a new group of people if you see a familiar face. I really enjoyed speaking with attendees about birds and nature. It was lovely to be a part of the excitement of the group when we recorded, for example, a peregrine fly near the tower right at the end of the first session or a jay swoop into a tree in the second session. The total species count of the day was over twenty species. It was very rewarding to have overseen the event from start to finish and see how enthusiastic attendees were.
Reflection and remarks
Reflecting on the past year of on campus events that I have been a part of makes me feel very proud of myself and the University of Leeds Sustainability Team. Every event has had attendees walk away with a positive experience with nature. Time and time again, we see the benefits of spending even a short time in nature and planning these events provides easy access for people to take a break from their work or studies in nature without having to leave campus. I myself have thoroughly enjoyed these sessions, especially connecting with different people from across campus, and I look forward to attending more in the future. I have also been able to experience event planning and develop the skill set of doing so, such as organisation, planning and communication.
Collaborating with the RSPB has not only been really fun but has also allowed me to learn so much. I have gained experience in advertising, nature engagement and communication. I now understand the importance of producing comms material as soon as possible before an event and using a wide range of platforms to advertise, as it reaches more people. I understand that a successful collaboration can involve inviting groups onto campus to meet with students. It also helped highlight any barriers students face when attending off-campus events, including transport, cost, time of the event and uncertainty. I believe next steps should include looking in advance at public transport options and sharing when advertising, continuing to plan on-campus events and inviting external parties. I think it is very good that the Leeds RSPB local group has free outdoor meetings, but I think a discounted membership should be looked into as a possibility for students for coach trips. I found some people were nervous about joining if they did not have any experience birding, so I found highlighting that all birding abilities are welcome is extremely important for this reason. I also think not having binoculars is a barrier to lots of people, so perhaps the University could donate a few pairs for staff and students to borrow whilst joining RSPB events, as the University does for on-campus events.
Special thanks
I have had the pleasure of learning and having help from a wonderful group of people this year. Big thank you to the Sustainability team at Leeds, especially Ollie who helped coordinate comms. A very special thank you to the Leeds RSPB local group, who were incredible at welcoming me into the group, supporting me with my identification skills and helping me to attend events. It has been truly incredible getting to know everyone in the group, and I cannot thank them all enough, especially Pauline, Steph, Maggie, Geoff, David and Sue. I look forward to joining the group again next year! Finally, thank you so much to my supervisors Mike and Iain for their tremendous amount of support this year.
Alysia Byrne
If you are interested in finding out more about the RSBP Leeds Local Group, visit their website to explore current projects and discover new opportunities!
We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to guide our activity. This work is linked to the following SDGs:
- Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing
- Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Goal 15: Life on Land
- Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals
Find out more about our impact on the SDGs.
