Last weekend (6th & 7th April) were the dates set for this year's Big Green Hike. An amazing and inspiring story has emerged of a young Skye Kentwright, who decided to raise funds for amphibians and reptiles in the UK! Skye managed to walk an incredible 8km and has raised over £600 - smashing her goal of £500. Skye's mother, Hollie, recalls the details: 

I saw the Big Green Hike advertised on Instagram at the start of the year and asked Skye if she would like to take part. She immediately said yes and I went through with her the different environmental charities that she could raise money for. As soon as I mentioned Amphibian and Reptiles she stopped me immediately and said, ‘yes, the reptiles!’ (she is a huge snake and lizard fan!)

At the beginning of the year Skye would find walking 1km difficult and would complain of her legs aching, so I knew that we would have some work to do to get her hiking. We practiced by walking our puppy each weekend and they have built up their resilience together as the weeks past. We were aiming for 6km, however, on the morning of the Big Hike Skye woke up and said ‘I’m going to do 8km’. So I had to add on an extra 2km onto our pre planned route. On the day she absolutely smashed it, between 2-3km was the hardest point, and after that she just kept going; our moto being ‘just put one foot in front of the other’. We also played guess who for the final 2km which made the final stretch feel a breeze (however, more than just a breeze being an incredibly windy day!).

Skye says:

I enjoyed the walk and I am really proud. I chose reptiles because I think they look beautiful. I hope you make some homes for reptiles with my money, to make an area with sticks and leaves.

We think you should be incredibly proud of this achievement, Skye, and you can be sure that the funds you raised will help contribute towards the building of grass heaps for grass snakes, hibernacula for adders, sand scrapes for sand lizards and much more. Thank you so much to the both of you for taking the time to do the Big Green Hike for ARC, and for your dedication to nature and wildlife.

If you would like to donate towards Skye's fundraiser, please follow the link below: 

Skye's fundraiser for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation