The Sea Watch Foundation’s Regional Coordinator for Dorset, Catherine de Bertrand, has recently visited the Prince of Wales School in Dorchester.
Catherine spoke to the children about the Sea Watch Foundation and the whales, dolphins and porpoise that can be seen around the UK.
Speaking about her, Catherine said, ‘I was so pleased to see how the children reacted to the photos, videos and information I was giving them. It was a great reminder of how enchanting and inspiring these animals are. I talked to the children about the work of the Sea Watch Foundation, the network of volunteers around the UK and told them about how and why I volunteer for the charity’.
Speaking about The Prince of Wales School, Catherine said, ‘The school has a great environmental ethos, with care and respect for the environment embedded in everything they do, from having various wildlife areas within the school grounds to looking into introducing environmentally friendly school uniform. When I spoke to the children about the threats cetaceans face and showed some difficult photos including a dolphin entangled in a fishing net and a beached whale dying from swallowing so much plastic, I could see there was real concern in the room and a great understanding of why it’s so important to protect marine mammals’.
Catherine explains, ‘It wasn’t all so serious; we also looked at some fun facts! We covered a little bit of anatomy, the differences between toothed and baleen whales, how dolphins find their food using echolocation and how they sleep. I was extremely impressed by one little boy from the Reception class who told me that cetaceans close down one side of their brain to sleep.
The highlight of the talk came when I played the sounds that whales, dolphins and porpoise make. There were lots of surprised giggles when I played the trumpet of a Right whale and call of a Humpback whale but never before have I seen a group of children clap and dance to the sound of a Minke whale! I know I won’t forget it and I hope the children won’t either’.
