5 minute read
MY WILD LIFE Megan McCubbin
Megan McCubbin
Conservationist and TV presenter Megan McCubbin became the Trust’s new President last November. Here, she tells us why she’s so excited to take on the role and how her experiences growing up have shaped her career and fuelled a passion to protect the environment.
My earliest wildlife memory is hard to pinpoint because I was very lucky that wildlife was never something I had to visit. I was surrounded by it 24 hours, seven days a week. I would be out exploring every evening after school, every weekend and every summer holiday; essentially any opportunity that I got! I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my future career at that time, but I knew that nature was always a safe space that I could go and just be myself.
My bedroom was some sort of miniature natural history museum with all kinds of animal artefacts. I had an ostrich egg and a warthog skull on one shelf with my praying mantids on the other; just to name a few of my favourites. I would go out to watch the badgers and stay up late to listen to the tawny owls. These experiences all happened in my early years and my zoologist-themed bedroom was my little bubble.
Growing up I had quite a few people who inspired my passion for wildlife Chris [Packham], my stepdad, is certainly one. I met Chris when I was two years old and he helped to raise me alongside my biological parents. He was doing The Really Wild Show at the time. His career continued to expand and if he was travelling on a film shoot and could take me, I went. I was really lucky I got to travel around the world, and see the most incredible landscapes, cultures and species that opened my mind. I’ve got so much respect and admiration for him.
Another hero of mine is the late Rob Stewart. He was a shark activist and filmmaker who made several documentaries, including Sharkwater, which exposed the illegal shark fin and meat industry. He sadly died in a scuba diving accident while filming in 2017. I followed his work closely and to me, he was this passionate, determined individual who saw an environmental injustice and took action to make it right. He was, and always will be, a huge inspiration.
I can’t talk about people who have influenced my life without mentioning Jill Robinson who is an absolute superhero. By chance, she discovered a bear bile farm whilst on a tour in southern China. After witnessing that cruelty, she started her charity, Animals Asia, and has since rescued hundreds of bears from bile farming and is working with governments to change legislation. She does it all with such grace and integrity, and I think she’s an amazing, unsung activist.
Becoming the new President of a massive organisation like Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is not something I took on lightly. I wanted to make sure that I could devote my time to it 100%, but of course, I happily said yes. I was thrilled by the invitation! I recognise the responsibility of my new role and it is an absolute honour to work with the Trust on a mission that’s so important to me.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is home for me. It’s where I grew up. It’s a place that I love and it’s a place that has some amazing wildlife. But it’s also a place where improvements are needed for the benefit of the environment and local biodiversity. If I can help support that change by using my voice and by rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in, then I am all in!
In taking on this role I thought to myself ‘what can I do to help?’ and ‘how can I best apply my skills to benefit the Trust?’. And, ultimately, I hope I will help to empower people from all over the two counties to use their voices for the benefit of the planet and for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
I’m dyslexic and I struggled with science and maths at school. It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand these subjects, I just couldn’t learn them in the conventional way and I needed the confidence to learn them in my own way. I had to change my mindset in my approach to science, and I believe that’s made me a better science communicator. I hope I can bring that skill to this role and engage with a diverse group of minds; perhaps people who, like me, didn’t always believe that an environmental career or simple passion for nature is possible.
Megan hopes to empower people to use their voices to benefit wildlife.
