AN A-level student from Tavistock is celebrating after scooping the first prize at a prestigious science fair held in London.

Natasha Murray, 18, entered her project on coral propagation for the British Youth Science Fair just two days before the closing date — and won out of a field of 42 different projects produced by A-level students from all over the country.

At the fair, run by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, she spent the day explaining her work to judges.

'I felt like a tape recorder, it was really tiring,' said Natasha.

'I looked at the other stands and they were really complicated — I walked around and I couldn't even understand some of the titles!'

She put her success down to the simplicity of her project, which she worked on during August at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth.

The aim of her research, which was sponsored by a Nuffield bursary, was to help the aquarium expand its existing stocks of coral so it did not have to take more from the wild. She designed a tank in which to grow it and discovered the optimum conditions required.

'I had to use absolutely static temperatures in my tank to get it to grow. I used the fair as a way of telling people that the coral reefs are just so important and are absolutely threatened by the warming of the oceans,' said Natasha.

'It was a brilliant learning experience — just to talk to people who were interested in it was fantastic.'

She said she had no idea that she would win the top prize — an all-expenses paid trip to the Stockholm Water Festival in August where her work will be exhibited once more.

'I phoned my Mum and said, "I'm going to Stockholm, I'm going to Stockholm" — it was just so incredible!'

But before that she has the little matter of A-levels in biology, chemistry and physics to tackle, plus an AS level history exam to take.

Natasha, a student at Taunton School, hopes to study medicine at university but she will be heading back to a marine environment for her gap year.

'I'm hoping to study loggerhead turtles in Costa Rica for four months,' she said.