Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts, and the UK’s leading environmental action club for kids.
There are 150,000 Wildlife Watch members around the UK and hundreds of local Watch groups where young people get stuck into environmental activities. Taking part in Wildlife Watch is an exciting way to explore your surroundings and get closer to the wildlife you share them with.
The Rushcliffe Wildlife Watch Group meets every second Saturday of the month (except in August) at the Education Centre in Rushcliffe Country Park. Sessions generally run from 11am to 1pm and always involve some fun and games, which are usually outside in the Country Park, weather permitting.
The Watch is appropriate for children aged 8 to 13, though we do have some younger ones in the group and our activities are always tailored to be inclusive.
This year’s projects have included the (very enthusiastic!) building of a monster Bug Hotel, making bird boxes and discovering the “Jurassic” Country Park. At our most recent session, we “went wild” in the Country Park, hugged a few trees, made some noise and played the “smelly sock game” – ugh you may think, but actually quite brilliant.
We’re really excited about our next session on Saturday 14th October, as we have “Hawks of Steele” coming to visit and they’ll be bringing some amazing birds of prey to the park. This will be a great opportunity to get close to some of our wonderful raptors and learn all about them.
Then on 11th November, we have the Notts. Fungi Group coming over for a “Fungi Foray”. We’ll be introduced to a great variety of mushrooms, toadstools and other fungi, which will be great fun as we’re bound to discover lots of weird and wonderful specimens. Finally for 2017, our meet on 9th December will be “Party Time”.
Perhaps the best thing about joining Wildlife Watch is that you’ll helping care for the wildlife where you live! Isn’t that great?
So, if you’d like to see what we’re all about, come along to one of our sessions or contact Geoff East, one of the group leaders, at geoff.east@virginmedia.com or on 07804 297 041. Alternatively, you can call Lynn Victor at Notts Wildlife Trust on 01159 588 242 or visit www.wildlifewatch.org.uk to find out more.
Geoff East