Out & About July 2017

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Get outdoors
and play
Make the most of the summer sun and get close
to nature, says WENDY TOBITT from the Berks,
Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT LOCAL WILDLIFE EVENTS
for events throughout July and August.
Pictures: Margaret Holland, Pam Cruise, BBOWT
July and August includes training events for people interested in learning more
about small mammals, butterfly identification and ecology, and the delightful
dragonflies and damselflies of West Berkshire’s heathland ponds.
Summer’s here and now’s the time to let loose
your little and not-so-little ones into the fresh
air of the West Berkshire countryside.
If you’re looking for family trips and days out, then
head to the Nature Discovery Centre in Lower
Way, Thatcham.
Their amazing team creates something new every
week for Fantastic Wildlife Fridays, from July 28 to
September 1.
Just turn up for a session at 10.30am, 12noon or
3pm and you’ll find wildlife adventures.
You could become a wildlife detective – like
BBOWT’s president Steve Backshall – make a bug
hotel for your garden to attract lots of pollinating
insects, or step inside one of the bird hides with
a pair of binoculars and see how many birds you
can spot.
One of the favourite activities is pond-dipping, so
they’ll be doing that at least once.
If you’re busy on Fridays, there are other events
in July and August such as Let’s Go Batty,
Crocodiles of the World, Reptiles and mini-beasts,
and Fur & Feathers.
There’s a photography workshop on August 29,
for children to learn how to make the most of their
cameras. This one might book up soon, so don’t
delay.
The Nature Discovery Centre really is a great
place to discover nature.
This summer’s visitors include families of sand
martins whizzing across the lakes into their
sandbank burrows, where they’ve nested and are
raising their chicks.
Sand martins are relatives of swallows and house
martins, members of the hirundine family, and like
their cousins they spend the summer in Europe
and the winter south of the Sahara in Africa.
They like nesting close to each other, which is
why the Wildlife Trust has made a special home
for several birds to nest close together in sandy
burrows.
Sand martins are incredibly agile as they skim
across the surface of lakes and old gravel pits,
catching flies, so keep watching carefully to spot
them.
In August BBOWT is running Wildlife Craft Days
and Safaris at Shaw House gardens in Newbury.
Visitors can craft beautiful creatures and hunt out
the garden’s bizarre bugs and mini-beasts. This
event is part of Linking the Landscape in West
Berkshire, a project supported by the Heritage
Lottery Fund.
Discover how you can stay wild this summer with
BBOWT.
Pond-dipping in bright sunshine at the
Nature Discovery Centre
Sand martins perch on sandy banks
at the entrances to their burrows
Pond-dipping at the Nature Discovery
Centre