Meet the staff - Jonny Owen

Emma Chaplin
, 03 June 2026
Meet the staff - Jonny Owen
Jonny Owen © Roz Bassford

Meet Wilder Learning Manager, Jonny Owen

Tell us a bit about yourself

Football was never my thing growing up – I was the kid who wanted to rootle around in the undergrowth looking for caterpillars or under rocks for woodlice. My biggest disappointment growing up was receiving a World Wrestling Federation sticker album for my eighth birthday - I didn’t have the heart to tell my nan it was the World Wildlife Fund album I really wanted. I was lucky enough to go to a school on a working farm in beautiful Purbeck. The attitude of many teachers seemed to be ‘why teach inside if you can do it outside?’ and I have happy memories of geography on the beach – less happy memories of physics in a hailstorm, though this probably demonstrated forces rather well.

I wanted to be a vet, but like a lot of kids, got distracted and ended up at art college instead. A wiggly route via adult learning and support, youthwork, community-based harm minimisation and HIV prevention, ultimately led to a new career about 10 years ago in conservation. I retrained with Open University, enjoyed lots of volunteering and a wonderful traineeship with Dorset Wildlife Trust. Conservation felt like I’d found long lost comfy slippers - home at last!

Beach School © Aimi Rifat

And your role with us...

I'm just four weeks in (!), but both people and nature are at the heart of my role. The major priority is enabling and empowering our wonderful Wilder Learning Officers (WLOs), who support our pilot Wilder Schools Programme, ie direct delivery to children, plus our Forest School Teacher Training, and our Wild Beach Teacher Training. I've been lucky enough to join our WLOs on both Wild Beach and Forest School delivery – to say I was impressed is an understatement. The transformative impact on teachers, both in terms of their practice, but also on a deeply personal level, was extremely heartening to see. There is hope, people!

Comatrichia slime mould © Max Mudie

Tell us about your work at Brownsea Island

There was a lot of practical conservation work (slopping about in muddy lagoons or scrub-bashing etc), biological surveys, as well as leading on schools and youthwork. There was never a dull moment – I remember the lagoon’s tidal flap breaking and spending all day down an outfall shaft trying to fix it, before the tide came in and washed out all the tern nests. Never been so pruny! Living on the island, being immersed in nature 24/7 was incredibly special. I had mice welcome in my flat, who I recognised by face, and a friendly Sika deer who just thought she was human. Of course, the Red Squirrels were adorable and the moths were incredible… then there were the slime moulds!

What did you have for breakfast?

Same I have every day – fruit and seeds with homemade kefir (don’t get me started – I am a real gut health bore. Anyone struggling, drop me a message - kefir could change your life!).

Tell us something about you most people won't know

I love music. I recently discovered Rave Therapy (yes, it’s a thing) at one end of the spectrum but love prog, acoustic, classic, indie rock. Will even admit to being a sucker for a bit of a hairbrush ballad.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1780693329.54090 [905] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1780693329.5650.0241Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1780693329.56510.0001Server address: 216.73.216.114
1780693329.56520Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1780693329.56520Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/meet-the-staff-jonny-owen
    [s] => meet-the-staff-jonny-owen
    [1] => meet-the-staff-jonny-owen
)
1780693329.56540.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.56630.0009 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1780693329.56790.0016 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1780693329.56840.0005INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1780693329.570.0016 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=21520087
1780693329.57040.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=21520087
1780693329.57090.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-06-05 21:02:00' AND saleTo>'2026-06-05 21:02:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1780693329.5720.0011 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-the-staff-jonny-owen')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-05 21:02:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1780693329.57440.0024 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1780693329.57480.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3947 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-05 21:02:00'
1780693329.57550.0007 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1780693329.57610.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1780693329.57660.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=195 LIMIT 1
1780693329.57710.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=274 LIMIT 1
1780693329.57760.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1780693329.57780.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1780693329.57870.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-05 21:02:00' AND postSlug='meet-the-staff-jonny-owen'
1780693329.61530.0367Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1780693329.61580.0004 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1780693329.61720.0014Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1780693329.61740.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1780693329.61820.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1780693329.61930.0011 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1780693329.62210.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.6240.0019 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1780693329.6260.002Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1780693329.62610.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.6270.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.62740.0004 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.63010.0027 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.63120.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.6320.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1780693329.63460.0026 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.63560.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1780693329.63750.002 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1780693329.6380.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1780693329.63830.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1780693329.6390.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1780693329.63930.0003 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-the-staff-jonny-owen')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-05 21:02:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1780693329.64120.0019 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1780693329.6420.0009 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1780693329.64410.0021Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1780693329.6450.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3947 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1780693329.69370.0488 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1780693329.6940.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1780693329.69420.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1780693329.69520.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1780693329.69610.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1780693329.69660.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1780693329.69860.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.69910.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1780693329.70090.0018 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1780693329.70170.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1780693329.70220.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1780693329.70270.0005 [37] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1780693329.70480.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.70520.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1780693329.70730.0021 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1780693329.71060.0033 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1780693329.71120.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1780693329.71220.001 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1780693329.71440.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.7150.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1780693329.71670.0017 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1780693329.71880.0021 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1780693329.71940.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1780693329.71980.0004 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1780693329.72190.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1780693329.72240.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1780693329.72420.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1780693329.72530.001Request time: 0.1857
1780693329.72530Process time: 0.1856
1780693329.72530Memory: 1.628