August 2010

Katy Barnard is the OPAL community scientist for the North East region. Based at Newcastle University, she works with groups and individuals of all ages, inspiring them to get more involved with nature.

What’s the most enjoyable part of working on the OPAL project?
One of my favourite things about OPAL is that one day I might be working with five-year-olds, and the next with a group of retired people - it’s a real mixture. But the best thing is seeing what people get out of it. It’s so rewarding to hear all the positive comments after an event and to know they've learnt something new.

What kind of things are you up to in the North East?
We’re really lucky to have access to Moorbank Botanical Garden, an amazing garden that features all sorts of fascinating plants not normally found in this area - or even in this country.

We have a tropical greenhouse, a desert house and even a good selection of carnivorous plants. The garden is not normally open to the public, so I’ve been running regular open days to give local people an opportunity to explore the many different plants we have here.

I’ve also designed lots of activities that people can take away with them to do at home or in the garden, to help them continue their interest.

What’s the most interesting thing anyone has discovered at one of your events?
Although we haven’t found anything out of the ordinary, people are discovering things they didn’t know about nature all the time at our events.

When we launched the OPAL air survey, I designed a ‘What’s in the box?’ game where I gave people clues and they had to guess what was in there. The clues included things like, ‘It can live for 1,000 years’ and ‘It can survive totally unprotected in space’, so needless to say we had some pretty outlandish suggestions.

People were amazed when I eventually revealed the lichen within, and even more surprised to learn that they are actually all around us.

Do you have a favourite animal?
I absolutely love elephants. A few years ago I worked at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand that looked after animals that had been used to entertain tourists. My favourite was a quiet, wrinkly old female called Pai Lin. She’d lived a long and difficult life so it was nice to see her relaxed and happy in her old age.