Since 1954, the Mammal Society has dedicated itself to the conservation of mammals. Data gathering, public awareness events, workshops, field work… they never stop. For example the Mammal Society has local groups across the UK and is involved in a variety of their own projects and partnership projects such as the State of Nature Youth Report, the shrew project, polecat project and many more! So what's the perfect way to support the Mammal Society in protecting UK mammals? A walk across the West Highland Way! 8 days across Scotland from Milingave to Fort William.

My name is Liane, I'm 17 years old, I'm a youth ambassador for the Mammal Society and I’ll be turning 18 this year so to celebrate my first summer of ‘adulthood’ I will be walking the West Highland Way. I want to help the Mammal Society continue their amazing work by putting myself out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to walk all 154 km of the West Highland Way. Next year, after my exams, I will be setting off with other youth ambassadors on the WHW where we will record mammals that we spot along the route using the Mammal Society’s Mammal Mapper app. This will enable us to contribute to citizen science and protect our mammals by collecting important data and supporting Mammal Society. I thought this would be a great way to mark our 1 year as youth ambassadors, my graduation at college where I will finish my A-levels and this challenge will be me stepping up for university where I will study Ecology and Conservation.

I’ve never done this kind of hike so to put things into perspective I wondered how many blue whales it would take to line up along the route. Blue whales seemed a fitting measure since they are the biggest mammal alive on Earth and also my first event as a youth ambassador was a cetacean survey in Scotland. Turns out that you would need 5133 blue whales to make up the length of the WHW, that is, if you take the longest ever measured individual (about 30 metres long). Incredibly, those 5000 whales represent between half and a fifth of the population of blue whales now left on Earth as their numbers are estimated between 10000 and 25000 individuals (down from over 100 000 a century ago).

I am setting the fundraising target at £1 per blue whale walked, so £5133, will you help me achieve it?

Beyond fundraising for the Mammal Society, a group of young people taking on the West Highland Way is an incredible opportunity for us but it will also hopefully inspire other young people and help to normalise embracing the wild, caring about our planet and protecting the environment.