NATURE EVENT 2018

Summary

We counted 29 different family groupings, including 55 children, who came to enjoy this event on one of this Summer's 'heatwave' days. It was good to see so many happy faces at the end of the day!

List of the activities

Activities offered this year were:

Pond Dipping: always a great favourite, and at times the activity was so popular that a queue built up. The children were loaned nets to 'swish' through the water of the Education Pond, and then to take their catch to one of the bright yellow specimen trays, where our resident expert, Mark Williams, the Park Ranger, was able to identify and talk about the many creatures caught, of which, possibly, the smooth newts were the childrens' favourites. All the creatures were, of course, returned unharmed to the pond.
Bug Hunting: another firm favourite! This activity was led by Barbara and Richard from the Wickford Wildlife Society, and it involves the children sweeping nets through the long uncut grass, which is full of insects at this time of the year. After identification, and being told interesting facts about the insects, they were of course all returned to the grassland. Barbara and Richard have provided a checklist of the creatures identified - see below.
Make a bird feeder from a fir cone: a simple, popular, albeit very mesy activity that involves kneeding together some fat and bird seeds, and then pasting / pushing it into the crevices on a fir cone. A bit of string is then attached to the top of the cone so that it can be hung from a branch or from a bird feeder. These feeders could be expected to attract various garden birds, especially Blue Tits and Great Tits.
Who lives where? A mini quiz for the children, looking at homes where various animals live. Also, on the same table, there was also the How Many Legs activity - the children had to guess how many legs the different bugs had e.g. Ladybird, Earwig etc.
Animal face-painting. This was anew activity for the event this year, but hugely popular. Our artiste was very skilled!
Animal origami. Martin Singleton showed the children how to work magic with a sheet of thick paper. I think my favourite was the penguin!
Make and colour an animal face mask. Another new indoor activity. Some fantastic creations were seen leaving the Park at the end of the event!
Tea, coffee, cold drinks, and biscuits - very welcome, especially on such a hot day!

The children were given a sticker for each completed activity, and by the end of the day, many of them had a full set!

Bugs found!

Here is a list of the catches recorded at the 'Bug Hunting' stall:

Gate Keeper Butterfly
Meadow Brown Butterfly
Common Blue Butterfly
Green Veined White Butterfly
7 Spot Ladybird
14 Spot Ladybird (black on yellow)
16 Spot Ladybird
Harvestmen
Corizus Hyoscyami – Cinnamon Bug
Roesel’s Bush Cricket
Bishop’s Mitre
Meadow Grasshopper
Orb Web Spider

Pictures from the day

Acknowledgements and thanks

We would like to thank all the volunteers who came to help out with the setting up, running, and dismantling on the day. Without that help, the event could not have been held.