Children were inspired by nature when a local conservationist visited their school.

Year 5 students from Holy Trinity School in Weymouth received a rousing talk by Richard Bradford, founder of the Lost Words campaign.

The whole year group gathered to hear about Mr Bradford's mission to provide every infant, primary and junior school in Dorset a copy of the book, The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.

The book takes twenty words that have been falling out of use amongst children - such as adder, kingfisher and bramble and brings them back to life through the beautiful paintings of Jackie Morris and the ‘spell poems’ of Robert Macfarlane.

Mr Bradford told the pupils how his campaign was inspired by a similar campaign which had been successful in Scotland.

He also spoke about his favourite birds, natural words and even which animal he would like to have as a pet - the otter.

After his talk the year group posed challenging questions to Mr Bradford including what influence he thought the book had on children.

Mr Bradford said: "I think it gives children an opportunity to become more familiar with the words and encourages them to keep their eyes open for these things when they are out and about.

"The book is very much about encouraging children to explore their natural world. I have spent 40 years in conservation and the most challenging thing is trying to win people over in their hearts and minds to care about nature."

Mr Bradford added if their was one thing he could change about the book is he would make it longer to include more words.

In the run up to Mr Bradford's visit, the pupils took part in lots of classroom activities themed around the Lost Words.

They used the book in guided reading, wrote letters to Mr Macfarlane, painted nature-inspired pictures and even wrote their own spell poems.

Year 5 pupil, Lily Wilson said: "If we carry on like this, fewer and fewer people will know what these species and words are."

Fellow student, Milly Downton said: "Mr Bradford got inspired by what someone else did in Scotland. It made me think if someone else could do it then we could do it. We could give the book to our family and friends, tell them about it and help keep these words around."