Ffion has enjoyed being in nature all her life so it was natural for her to choose natural things to be the focus of her Skills section of her Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. She created a fact file of plants she saw each month and was assessed by WTSWW's People & Wildlife Officer, Pauline. 

Pauline said, 'As Ffion added each species, she looked more closely and recorded more details in the drawings. It was great to see her interests broaden.'

By observing each plant carefully, Ffion used her drawing skills to create beautiful illustrations in coloured pencil. She then researched each species, adding a description and details of the preferred habitat to her fact file. She also added it's uses where relevant. Her work led to interest in other taxon groups such as fungi and trees, which she recorded in the same way. 

Ffion said, !’ve been a supporter of Brecknock Local Group for some time.  Their events have inspired me to learn more about nature.  I love sharing my knowledge with others so I chose to create a book of facts with hand drawn illustrations of wildflowers, trees and fungi.  On my Duke of Edinburgh expedition I identified plants, mammals and birds for the rest of the team to enjoy.  Together we created drawings  on a T-shirt to remember our journey.  I’m really grateful to Pauline for agreeing to be my Assessor.  She’s always really encouraging and knowledgeable."

Ffion completed her expedition later in the summer holidays. She returns to school to study Photography for GCSE's. Her aim is to focus on nature in some way for the project.