The older students have helped us with some of the surveying that's need to understand more about species across the site. This has included vegetation surveys, reptile, invertebrate and bird surveys. They have also been helping us with fieldwalking on some of our cultivated plots to see if any archaeological artefacts are being ploughed up.

Why do this? Why bring young people out to site to get involved in practical conservation? Why make then part of the project? Many young people simply do not get the opportunity to get out into nature and get involved in conservation. Providing these kind of opportunities for young people can provide a huge range of benefits - for us and for them.

On the surface, it's as simple as bringing theoretical learning into practice. Take trigonometry as an example. It's the bane of many students' lives. I remember being at school thinking "I'm never going to need this" but, in fact, when you're measuring tree height it becomes essential. (Even then, it's still sometimes difficult to get young people to see why nature-based maths is cool).

Outside of learning we know that being out in nature is important for our physical and mental health; this is especially true for young people who are under huge stress in this modern world. It's important to provide a space and time where young people can just be outside in nature, discovering the world around them and having a moment in which they can just 'be'. This is a moment of respite from the digital world, in which there is always an urgency to everything. Being out in nature can slow the world down.

It's also, though, about encouraging the next generation of conservationists - whether in their personal or professional life. If people don't feel connected to the natural world, they won't want to protect it or do something to conserve it for the future. A lot of us hold childhood memories or specific experiences of nature and it's our motivation for our actions. For me it was being out with my dad, building dens in an old pine forest. None of us can know how a single experience can impact our future!