7-year-old Benjamin Fallow is a young artist and naturalist. He draws all the time, and loves to draw out in the countryside - carrying paper and pens in his backpack since he was three! Benji draws and paints from nature, studying the details of each animal. He loves learning about animals, insects and plants, and wants to do everything he can to protect them! During lockdown 2020, Benji won a national nature writing competition for his age group, Nature on your Doorstep with Lucy McRobert, and was featured on Chris Packham’s Self Isolating Bird Club. His story was published in BBC Wildlife last autumn. His artwork has also been featured on social media by The Wildlife Trusts, the Natural History Museum, RSPB, Greenpeace UK, and received amazing encouragement from Sir David Attenborough! Benji was proud to be featured by the RSPB this February as one of seven young people in their national Seven Stories campaign. Last autumn he was invited to put his name to letter from 100 artists in support of the Right to Roam campaign for equality of access to nature by Nick Hayes, alongside Stephen Fry, Jackie Morris, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Goldsworthy, and Radiohead. If he’s not drawing, Benji’s usually out with his binoculars, or covered in mud : ) He’s transformed his family’s small garden, making his own wildlife pond out of an old washing up bowl, growing a wildflower meadow, collecting seeds, and learning to take cuttings and grow his own vegetables. Benji loved going on daily walks in lockdown, and recently walked all the way across the South Downs to Grandma’s house, nearly 20km in one day, raising over £500 for Wildlife Vets International. Benji’s passionate about protecting nature and wildlife, and wants to use his artwork to help nature.
