The David Streeter Award is given annually to a young person who has made an outstanding contribution to nature conservation.

This year the winner is David King. Here he tells us a bit about himself.

My interest in the natural world started when I was 10 after watching Springwatch. Seeing me dangling my mum's compact camera out of a window to photograph birds, my family bought me a cheap red camera (about £30), which was probably worse than most modern phone cameras. My hobby of wildlife photography grew over years, until 2017, just after my 14^th birthday, I shifted gears and took up wildlife filmmaking instead. Since then, I have created a small YouTube channel David King Wildlife, which has seen some interesting projects:

One was a 20 minute wildlife documentary about Warnham, which took two years to film. Another was a seven minute video about our connection to wildlife during the pandemic (including a letter from Sir David Attenborough). I'm also attempting a monthly video update on my trail camera at Warnham.

As well as my wildlife filmmaking, I have also been part of the 12-16 Wildlife Rangers groups at Tilgate and Horley, as well as going to other Sussex Wildlife Trust related events, such as biodiversity days and a Young Naturalists group at Woods Mill. 

I signed up to volunteer with the Sussex Wildlife Trust too, however the pandemic has meant I haven’t yet been able to do anything.

In my studies, I do A-Level Environmental Science, A-Level Geography and BTEC in Media, which all relates to my plan to become a professional wildlife filmmaker. At the moment, I am looking at Ecology and Conservation University courses, but I can’t be certain about anything in the future yet.

What I can say is that the sequel to my first documentary is already a year in production. As long as everything runs smoothly, it should be out within the next year or so. On top of that, I hope to do more videos along the lines of the one on the pandemic, college work permitting.

I feel I have been lucky in life. I am surrounded by quality green spaces, and the Sussex Wildlife Trust have been an amazing help in furthering my interest in nature. On top of that, I am extremely fortunate that I have the equipment to make the films on my channel. Most people don’t have half that opportunity, unfortunately.

I was delighted to win the David Streeter Award, and have spent the £250 on a trail camera, with the aim of furthering my project at Warnham.

Wildlife photos by David King