A GREEN-minded teacher will wing his way to Bolivia to study bird-life after winning a place on a national environmental scheme.

Ken Midwinter, who teaches at Spring Hill Primary School, Accrington, is one of 150 people picked to take part on one of the Earthwatch nature trips funded by the Millennium Commission.

"I am looking forward to the trip but I am still a bit in awe of it all and what I am going to be in for," he said.

"It will certainly be quite a culture shock landing near the Andes."

He hopes to return armed with slides, photographs and information for his class.

Ken's interest in the environment started when he first began working at Spring Hill four-and-a-half years ago and became involved with class nature projects. His year four pupils have planted bulbs and vegetables on an allotment, looked at pond life and annually help to clear litter from around a nearby reservoir.

They have also participated in tree planting, raised money through recycling to adopt badgers and they sponsor three acres of tropical rain forest.

Ken applied for a place on the Earthwatch scheme after reading the advertisement in the Guardian newspaper.

Environmental workers or people in education who organise nature projects could apply for excursions in locations including New Mexico, Hungary, South America, Africa and the Far East.

Ken, who has already carried out nature work in Costa Rica and helped with skylark surveys for the British Trust for Ornithology, will be helping scientists to net and ring birds in Bolivian habitats from August 4 to August 18.

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