The Big Butterfly Count 2021

It is that time of year again where the Butterfly Conservation Organisation are asking us to take part in the  annual Big Butterfly Count 2021!  This is a great activity to do over summer and will be especially useful this year as lots of us will be staying at home in the UK or perhaps travelling to different parts of the country too. You can collect data from wherever you are!  And the more data we collect, the more we can understand about how butterflies are doing in the UK and how we can help them.

Butterflies are a good indicator of the health of our environment.  The more species of butterfly we see, the healthier it means our environment is and the more varieties of plants and insects there are about.  There are thought to be around 60 types of common butterfly in the UK.  However, the numbers of butterflies and moths being recorded has significantly decreased since the 1970s due to land use change and habitat loss.  With the threat of climate change worsening and more extreme weather in the future, the outlook for butterflies does not look good.

The Butterfly Conservation Organisation therefore want us to help them survey butterflies in the UK and record where and when we are seeing them!  Visit their website https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/about or download their app 'Big Butterfly Count' for more information on what to do.  The count lasts from 16 July until 8 August 2021.  Set aside 15 minutes to do a butterfly count (you can do more than one, perhaps even one every day!) and record your results on the app or website.  Even if you don't see any butterflies, you can still record it as this is useful information too.  The app also has a handy ID page to help you identify which butterflies you are seeing.  

Happy butterfly hunting!

For the love of bees

The celebration of World Bee Day this week drew attention to the plight of the world's bees and how our behaviours are contributing to their decline 🐝

Bees are some of our most important pollinators and they do a huge amount to ensure the diversity of our ecosystems.  We rely on them for the survival of our food crops most of which are pollinated by wild insects rather than by human intervention. Without them, this would cost us £1.8 billion to achieve!  Some bees provide us with other luxuries such as honey. These bees are often kept in hives but also contribute to the pollination of farm crops.  

Sadly, bee populations are now in decline. This is due to five main causes:

❌ Habitat loss - replacing natural areas with intense farming land or urban developments deprives bees of the wildflowers and meadows that they usually thrive on

❌ Climate change - changes in weather patterns are affecting the times that flowers bloom and bees are struggling to adapt to these changes meaning that they miss out on important food sources

❌ Pesticides - these are harmful to bees and often either kill them or prevent them from reproducing 

❌ Pests -  honeybees can be particularly susceptible to pests and disease which can spread through their hove colony; beekeepers should make sure they check on the health of their hives to stop diseases spreading to other populations

❌ Invasive species - some non-native bee species pose a threat to the survival of UK bees and so these species need to be kept an eye on to ensure their numbers don't become threatening

So what can you do to help?

🐝 Get planting!  Even in you just have a windowsill or window box, get some wildflower seeds and create a little pollen pit-stop for bees to refuel on as they fly past

🐝 Let the grass grow! Try not mowing your lawn or at least leave part of it unmowed for bees to feed and shelter in 

🐝 Leave off the pesticide! Pesticides do so much harm and there are easy alternatives such as using diluted washing up liquid water to remove aphids

🐝 Plant through the seasons! If you have a garden, try to include a range of plants that will flower and seed through spring, summer and autumn to give bees the best chance of survival

For more ideas, visit Friends of the Earth at friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/10-easy-ways-help-bees for some more tips and ideas 🐝

Walk to School 2021

This week is Walk to School week! 👣

The five-day challenge will take place from 17th-21st May and will encourage everyone to get to school by walking, cycling, scooting, parking & striding.... anything to get people travelling in a clean and sustainable way that will benefit our planet and local community.

Every school day, the school run adds a huge volume of traffic to our roads in the mornings and afternoons.  This puts large volumes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere which contributes to climate change.  It also impacts on the air quality in our local area which can have a negative effect on the health of children who are trying to walk or cycle to school and end up breathing in the fumes. 

Making the effort to walk or cycle into school this week will help to challenge and reframe our perception that it's easier to drive everywhere or that it's just too much hassle to walk.  Walking has so many benefits and not just to your physical health; it has been shown to improve concentration, boost creativity, and give people a better connection to their environment and nature.  You notice more when you're walking and it's fantastic to see the changes in your local area from one season to another. 

I've been trying to walk to school at least once a week (usually on a Friday) and to be honest, I really look forward to listening to a podcast on the walk in, and then taking a slightly longer more scenic route back home at the end of the day.  It really helps me to unwind at the end of the week, and it signals that it's the weekend and that I'm ready to relax and recover from a hectic week.  It's also shown me that it's not really that hard to walk in each day... and I can easily still do any errands on the way which I don't really need a car for.  And it saves money on petrol too!

Living Streets has a fantastic website with lots of information and ideas about how to help your school have a successful Walk to School week. Visit them here at www.livingstreets.org.uk 👣

No Mow May

It's #NoMowMay!! 🐝🐛🐜🐞🌱

The month of May is when all the grasses and wildflowers such as dandelions and buttercups start to sprout up and grow in abundance in people's back gardens, public parks and countryside.  These provide a rich and sheltered habitat for bees and butterflies to live in, and these tiny creatures perform valuable tasks such as pollination which help to spread diversity and colour throughout our landscape.

Mowing these down will only reduce the biodiversity of the area and make it harder for animals and insects to exist in that environment.  No Mow May is a campaign to get people to think about their local ecosystems and to think twice before mowing their grassy areas just to make them look neat or tidy.

If you can leave an area to just go wild then that's the best option!  If you want to bring some sense of tidiness to your garden, try just mowing down the middle and leaving the edges to grow. Alternatively, get creative and mow different shapes such as a figure of eight into your lawn to break up the areas that are mowed/not mowed.  If you want to go even further, the National Trust has shared a video on how to make a 'scaremow' to encourage people not to mow their lawns.  

Not mowing your lawn is really crucial to protecting some of the UK's most valuable plant and insect species.  The Conservation Charity 'Plantlife' is asking people to do a survey of the plants and flowers in their lawn at the end of May to see the diversity of plants and flowers that have been able to grow.  You can also take part in their Great British Wildflower Hunt where they are asking people to go searching for different species and hopefully learn some new ones along the way. 

Why not take a look at their website www.plantlife.org.uk and see what you can learn or do in your local area 🌼

Protecting our coasts

The UK has around 18,000km of coastline which includes all kinds of valuable ecosystems from rockpools to sand dunes to estuaries.  Many of us will have been lucky enough to visit the coast on school holidays and some of us will even have the privilege of living with a beautiful beach or coastal stretch right on their doorstep.  Being an island, you are never more than 70 miles from the sea in Britain and our coastlines are beautiful landscapes that we need to appreciate and protect.  

Lots of UK beaches have Blue Flag Awards which means they have met the criteria for water quality, environmental management and safety.  This is fantastic as it means they are clean and safe to visit with our children and pets, and can support wildlife that thrive in their ecosystems.  However, our beaches are still subject to littering, whether that be from visitors, tourists or wild campers, or washed up by the sea itself.  Microplastics are a real problem as they are invisible and cannot simply be picked up out of the environment.  

The recent documentary 'Seaspiracy' highlighted the impact of the fishing industries on our seas, oceans and coastlines.  It claims that the majority of plastic waste in the oceans comes from fishing nets and that a huge amount of damage and devastation is carried out by trawler fishing.  When we buy and eat fish, we contribute to this industry and this in turn may have an impact on the biodiversity in our seas and the quality of our coastlines both at home and abroad.

We can take some simple steps to protect coastlines everywhere.  Making efforts to clean up the beach or change behaviours that prevent beaches from getting polluted or degraded are both equally effective.

🐬 Take part in a beach clean up - get a community group or a school group to do a litter pick along a stretch of coastline; this not only actively cleans the beach but it helps educate and raise awareness of how polluted our beaches can get 

🐬 Stop buying plastic items - we know this already but it's so hard to fully commit to; make one swap this week that will save  some more plastic

🐬 Wash your clothes with ecofriendly detergent - our waterways have a lot of chemicals in them from both households and industry; try a different detergent that us gentler on the microorganisms that live in the water

🐬 Reduce your fish intake - eating less fish will reduce demand over time; this will allow fish populations to grow back and reestablish natural balance

🐬 Visit the coast - if you don't live near the coast, take a trip there or plan a visit with your local school; there is no alternative for actually visiting a place to help bring about an appreciation and understanding of it

If you live near the coast, why not develop a Beach School either alongside or instead of a Forest School!  Any learning in the outdoors is so important and all environments have something valuable to teach us. Click here to find out more. 

The power of worms

If you're looking for something new to add to your forest school or outdoor learning area, then consider building a wormery!  They may not sound like the most appealing of structures to have, but they can be absolutely brilliant for teaching about the importance of soil and the processes that happen within it.  If you happen to be on a school site, you can add some of your school's food waste to it as well which helps reduce the amount of food that goes to landfill.  Having a wormery provides a great teaching point and can really help educate children on what happens within soil and how decomposers are some of the most important organisms in the ecosystem.  

You can make a simple wormery that will last for about a week (visit the Wildlife Trusts website to find out more).  All you'll need is a large (1 litre) plastic bottle with the top cut off.  Build up several layers of garden soil, compost and sand, and top with some fallen leaves or old flowers.  Then, hunt down some worms and add them onto the top layer of the wormery.  The'll soon bury down and start decomposing all the decaying matter.  Secure the top with some cling film and an elastic band - don't forget to puncture some holes in the cling film! Wrap the bottle in some card to make it dark for the worms and place it in a cool part of your outdoor space.  Check the layers every so often to see how the worms are doing, and add a little water as necessary to stop it drying out.  Finally, when you have finished with your wormery, release the worms back into the wild so they can continue doing their important work under our feet!

To make it a more permanent structure, buy a wormery which comes with multiple trays and layers for the worms to work their way through. This acts similar to a compost bin but has the added excitement of seeing the worms doing their thing.  How much of the school's food waste can you fit in the wormery?!

Earth Day 2021

Today we have been celebrating Earth Day and it has given us a chance to stop for a moment and think about the impact we are having on earth, our common home.

We have had lots of good conversations in school today about what we do that harms our planet, and how we might go about changing those behaviours.  I have been so impressed with the ideas that children have had in school, and I think it just highlights the importance of making green choices every day and the significant impact this can have over time.

Schools are great places to start when trying to make big social change.  If we instil those green values in young people, then they are more likely to go on and make sustainable choices later in life.  They can also influence people around them and other communities outside of their school life.

For the last year or so, I have been exploring ways of making schools greener places to teach and learn.  Many of the actions we can take are ones we know already; turn lights off when you leave the room, recycle paper, bring a reusable water bottle, eat all your food at lunchtime etc.  However, these changes alone are not always enough to bring about significant change.  They are also difficult to remember to do in the hectic nature of a busy school day.  I'd like to offer a few different ideas that might help to make a difference over time.  Some of them might require more effort or time but I guarantee they'll make a difference (and might save some money too!) Let's see how many you might manage to do?! 

🌍 Exercise books are a huge cost and use of paper -> swap them for slim, cardboard files or folders - this will save paper and glue as you won't need to glue worksheets in all the time; it should also save you a good amount of money, and time as you won't have to trim worksheets down to fit into books

🌍 Food waste can be a big problem in schools -> involve children in deciding on the school menu - this will give them to opportunity to express a preference which will lead to less food waste; make sure you buy local and seasonal as well

🌍 Schools can be very harsh environments -> bring plants into the school and classroom - green has a calming effect on the mind and the plants will help to purify the air; you can make it a task or responsibility for children to have to look after them and water them on a regular basis

🌍 Lots of water goes down the drain every day -> install some rainwater harvesters around your school grounds - the water can be used for watering plants, topping up a bird bath, or creating a mini pond; develop a little outdoor space or forest school area in which to do outdoor learning

🌍 Uniforms are often bought new or thrown out after use -> create a system where uniforms can be passed down or bought second hand to save them going to landfill; it will save parents money too, and you should encourage children to care for their clothes and belongings and not treat them as disposable or replaceable items

It is also a great idea to create an eco-council or green club within your school so that children can take ownership of what happens and change comes from within.  Sign up to become an EcoSchool with eco-schools.org.uk and follow their steps to becoming a sustainable school community.

🌍  Happy Earth Day!  🌍

Saving water

You might have noticed that it hasn't really rained much over these past few weeks.  Plants in the garden are looking a little drier than normal, and buds and leaves are seeming slow to burst and blossom due to the cold dry air that has been lingering for some time.  I've been out in my outdoor spaces trying to get things ready for early summer and get some seeds sown, but it hasn't escaped my attention that the soil is looking dry and cracked and in need of a good rain shower.

What we can do when nature needs a bit of a helping hand?  Turning the hose on and giving the garden a good old water is an obvious choice, but if water levels are low overall then we run the risk of depleting supplies even further.  Water demands are only getting higher with all the appliances that we run daily that use lots of water, and climate change is causing the supply of water available to decline. So what can we do?

Water conservation is the key and there are a number of actions we can take.  Year-round rainwater harvesting is a good option as it makes use of the natural abundance of water from the sky.  It is also a better choice than tap water as it doesn't contain chlorine and other chemicals that may exist in treated water.  You can also channel water from gutters and pipes that would otherwise go down the drain. Buy a water butt to store your water in and use a watering can to carry the water to the plants that need it.  

Grey water is water that has been used for washing and cleaning.  This water can also be used for watering plants though it's best to use it straight away rather than storing it.  Soil and compost can usually filter out any mild residue of soap and detergent.  Make sure you use this water on general plants and not ones that are going to be eaten.  

Finally, if water supplies are low then chances are that birds, insects and other wildlife are also struggling for a drink.  Consider putting a bird bath in your garden for birds to drink from or wash in.  Building a mini pond or even putting a large washing up bowl of water in your garden somewhere can also act as a vital drinking source.  Keep an eye on it and make sure it stays topped up as temperatures continue to rise and rainfall levels stay low.

For more information, visit the RHS website to find out how to save and store water.

The Wildlife Trusts website has some good information on how to build a pond.

Have a sustainable Easter!

It's one week until Easter and with lots of Easter egg hunts and games being planned, there is a risk of creating unnecessary waste and buying items that will be single use only.  Tonnes of packaging, toys and decorations are thrown out each year on festive days such as Easter, but with some sensible shopping choices and more crafty thinking, you can still have the same amount of fun but with less impact on the environment.

Here are some useful ideas or choices you can make when celebrating Easter this year:

🐥 Many chocolate brands are selling chocolate eggs without plastic packaging now; make sure you look for these and recycle the foil and cardboard appropriately

🐥  Buying ethical chocolate is also important;  look for brands that have Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance logos, or that are made without palm oil (often found in chocolate products as an emulsifier)

🐥 Try to make long-lasting or reusable decorations out of paper or material; keep them safe and remember to take them out each year

🐥 Make an Easter egg trail using painted stones; these can be used over and over, or you can even get children to paint their own stones!

🐥 Try making your own natural dyes and use them to colour egg shells and make patterns; cabbage, spinach, turmeric and blueberries work really well

🐥 Have a go at making your own hot cross buns; they're easy to do and just need a little bit of time to allow the dough to rise;  BBC Good Food has some good recipes

🐥 When planning an Easter meal, try to think about where the food is coming from and buy local/seasonal as much as you can

🐥 And finally, get outside and see what nature is doing at this time of year!  If you have a local farm, go and visit and see the newborn animals and buy some local produce while you're there

🐥🐰👒 Happy Green Easter! 👒🐰🐥

Earth Hour 2021

This time next week it will be the build up to Earth Hour 2021 🌍💡

The first Earth Hour was held in 2007 as a way of drawing attention to the environmental impact we are having on our planet.  Turning lights off is an easy action that we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint, but what other simple actions can we take to minimise our energy consumption?

I've been doing some research into schools and they are some of the most energy inefficient places you can find! From leaving lights on all day, to leaky taps, to wasting reams of paper... the wastage in some schools can be seriously high and this is sending a worrying message to young people.  However, schools are also an ideal place to highlight the inefficiencies that exist in all areas of our lives and show children easy steps to reduce our levels of waste and carbon emissions.  This will help teach them a valuable lesson and hopefully make them more environmentally responsible citizens in the future.

Here are some of my favourite easy steps you can take:

💚  Keep scrap paper to use for quick and simple activities that don't need to be kept

💚  Assign children to be classroom eco-monitors who can turn off lights and close windows

💚  Teach children the importance of looking after their belongings and not throwing them away as soon as they are damaged or broken

💚  Install recycling bins in all parts of the school and encourage children to bring in snacks in plastic-free packaging or reusable containers

💚  Have times where you turn off the lights and use natural light instead

💚  Invest in some low maintenance indoor plants to bring greenery into school and clean the air

💚  Install smart meters that help visualise the amount of energy being used 

💚  Incorporate some outdoor learning activities into your curriculum to help bring awareness to the importance of the environment and how much we are connected to it

To find out more about Earth Hour, visit earthhour.org and learn more about their mission

To learn about making your school more environmentally friendly, visit eco-schools.org.uk

 

Take learning outside this spring

The return to school tomorrow is feeling like a new start for many of us :)  The long winter slog is almost over, and the longer, lighter days are bringing us sunshine, new hope, and the chance to rekindle old friendships.  Why not take the opportunity to introduce some new ideas into your teaching too?

Taking learning outside has been shown to increase engagement and stimulate many more senses and types of learning than in the classroom.  Being outdoors facilitates more practical, hands on learning and encourages children to thrive who might normally shy away from participation in an indoor setting. 

Forest Schools have become a way of making outdoor learning more regular and this helps children to engage with nature and appreciate its dynamics and rhythms over the seasons.  You don't have to be an official forest school, however, to take advantage of the benefits of teaching outside.  Why not incorporate some outdoor time into your science or geography lessons, or even think of a way of taking maths outside or spending time having discussions during a PSHE session?  

Spending time outside may be a particularly useful way of easing the return to school for some children who may find the intensity and chaotic, noisy nature of being in the classroom a bit overwhelming at first.  Including some activities such as forest school crafts or team building games which can be done in an open space might help children interact with each other and remember how to play together.  

There are loads of useful websites for outdoor learning, these are some of my favourites:

🌳 The Wildlife Trust 

🌳 Learning through Landscapes

🌳 The School Run

🌳 Twinkl (you may need membership to access fully)

Have a search on Pinterest for tonnes of ideas, or look at the resources on my blog too:  learningthroughnatureblog.blogspot.com

Planting blossom trees

We are approaching blossom season! 🌸🌸🌸

To boost the amount of blossom trees in the UK, the National Trust is pledging to plant hundreds of blossom trees at different sites including London, Nottingham, Newcastle and Plymouth.  These will include varieties such as cherry, hazel and plum which all give beautiful pink flowers in the spring.  The project is hoping to boost nature in these areas where there is currently not much access to green space and to give people a closer connection to the natural world. 

The inspiration for this has come from Japan where each spring they have "Hanami" - the celebration of flowers at the arrival of spring.  Trees are in bloom everywhere you look and it creates quite a spectacle which people travel from far and wide to see.  By boosting the number of trees (particularly blossoming trees) it is hoped that it will create a similar spectacle in the UK and draw people's attention to the beauty of nature.  Many populations live in 'grey deserts' in the UK where there are large areas of no trees or green space, and this can have an impact on people's mental health, and their appreciation and respect for the natural world.  

Blossom is also plays an important in supporting ecosystems.  An abundance of pollen increases the number of pollinating insects such as bees, wasps, beetles and flies.  These in turn feed birds in the local area who can further spread pollen and seeds.  When looked at together, these behaviours all help to make a richer environment that can support a more diverse wealth of wildlife.  

Why not think about planting some blossoming trees in your garden or school?  The sight of blossoming trees can spark interest in young children and help them to understand the life cycle of trees and the seasons. You could even incorporate these events in to lessons, and do some research into places like Japan who have amazing blossom events every year!

To find out more, visit the BBC to learn about the blossom planting project; or kiddle to find out more about Japan's seasonal blossoming 🌸🌸🌸

Walk to school this spring

Although many of us are still in lockdown, it seems as though the return to normality is not far off now and schools will be one of the first places to get back up and running. Many children have still been attending school every day of course if they have learning needs or are children of key workers, but the return of all children will bring back the busyness of the school run and the increase in traffic that inevitably accompanies it.

With the restrictions of lockdown, lots of families have recently turned to walking as a shared activity and a chance to escape the confines of the house together!  I'm sure there are lots of people who previously would never have considered themselves a walker that because of lockdown have now embraced getting their boots on and striding out the front door on a regular (if not daily!) basis.

When lockdown lifts, why not consider incorporating this new found love of walking into your daily routine?  With spring around the corner and mornings and evenings already feeling lighter and warmer than before, the walk to school could become an enjoyable part of the day where you walk as you talk and digest the day's events together.  

Walking brings a whole host of benefits including improving circulation, strengthening bones, boosting your mental health, and creating a better connection with nature.  At this time of year, there are so many little changes to notice around you and each week there will be something new to see from the early spring crocuses and snowdrops to the slightly later daffodils to tulips. 

It needn't be every day, but even choosing perhaps once a week to walk to and from school will bring benefits.  You could even pick your day dependent on how good the weather is going to be!  Combine with other families to take it in turns to walk and collect children.  Some schools even have walking buses where children can join the line as it goes by their house.  Park & Stride is another initiative where if you must drive, park a little further away than you absolutely need to and walk the rest of the way to get some exercise and fresh air.  

For more information about how to teach your child to be road safe, visit think.gov.uk for more ideas and resources  

The meaning of roses

There are an abundance of roses in the shops at the moment in readiness for Valentines Day, but since when were roses a symbol for love and why are roses important?

Here are some rose facts for you:

🌹There are hundreds of different types of roses including ones that grow in bushes, on the ground, or climbing walls and fences

🌹Roses come in many different colours including red, white, pink, coral, white and peach, each one with a different meaning

🌹Roses are known for their gentle floral scent and have long been included in perfumes and confectionery 

🌹Roses are one of the oldest flowers and fossils of roses have been found from 35 million years ago

🌹Flowers have long been given as a gift to show love, and roses are particularly linked to Venus/Aphrodite who was the goddess of love in Roman/Greek times

Roses are a beautiful flower to have in the garden at any time of year and there are so many different types to choose from.  They are known for enhancing biodiversity and insects thrive on the pollen they produce.  Rose hips provide an important source of food for birds in autumn and winter, and rose bushes can make an ideal nesting place for birds and give shelter to smaller mammals. 

If you want to grow a rose in your garden, visit a rose specialist or ask someone for advice in a local garden centre.  The type of rose that may grow best may depend on your garden and how much shade or sunlight it will have.  Roses are fairly hardy plants though and with the right care and attention to pruning, they will be sure to give you an abundance of flowers all summer long 🌹

To find out more, visit the RHS's guide to growing roses.

Counting the stars

The Countryside Charity Star Count 2021 ✨

The Countryside Charity is asking people this week to get outside and count the number of stars they can see!  The survey of light pollution last year revealed that the majority of the country are living with a significant amount of light pollution which is obscuring the beauty of the night sky and preventing people from seeing stars.  The charity now wants to find out if lockdown is having an impact on the amount of light being emitted and potentially might be enabling people to see more stars than before. 

There are thought to be several benefits of a darker night sky including improved health & wellbeing, protection of wildlife, and a better connection with nature.  The night sky is not something we often focus on unless there is an unusual astronomical event happening, but it is obviously there all the time and taking a moment to appreciate its beauty can bring about a sense of calm and wonder.  

The CPRE believe that dark and starry skies are a special part of our countryside, but that buildings and streetlights affect our view of truly dark skies.  They want to ensure that everyone has a right to view a starlit sky, and to do this they want to find out exactly what different people are seeing in different parts of the country.  By collecting data, they can map out where star-spotters are seeing the darkest skies and the most stars, and they can them work with councils to decide what to do about the areas with the most light pollution.

To take part, choose a night between 6th - 14th February when the sky is clear and free of clouds.  Find the constellation known as 'Orion' (see the website link here for more info) and count how many stars you can see inside it.  Submit your results to the CPRE website and then check back to see what the results show!

Happy Stargazing!  ✨

Big Garden Birdwatch 2021

This weekend is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch! 🐦

Birds are such an important part of the UK's ecosystem and there are around 574 different species that have been recorded around the country.  Birdlife present in all different shapes, sizes and colours and live in a variety of environments from remote coastal outcrops to busy city centres.  Among other things, they help to pollinate plants, spread seeds and control pests, as well as being a critical part of the food chain that they both consume insects and are preyed on by larger mammals.  

The UK sadly has several bird species that are endangered, including puffins, skylarks, cukoos, and the lesser spotted woodpecker.  There are also thousands of little birds such as the willow tit and house sparrow that are under threat due to habitat changes (mainly to woodlands) and climate change which can affect bird migration patterns.  

Back in October, I was lucky enough to be involved in some conservation work to manage a willow tit habitat beside a Staffordshire reservoir.  By simply altering the willow habitat slightly, it made it easier for the birds to fly into the safety and shelter of the trees, and it also helps them nest which make it more likely for them to breed successfully.  Conservation work like this is vital to giving native bird species a helping hand and a chance to thrive in the wild.

This weekend, the RSPB is calling anyone and everyone to take part in a bird counting survey in your back garden or from a balcony.  All you need to do is spend an hour watching the birds in your outdoor space and note down how many you count and what species they are.  It's a great opportunity to contribute to community science and learn a bit about what is happening with the wildlife right on your doorstep!  Visit their website here to find out more and to record your results.  Happy bird watching!  🐦

Activity: Leaf crafts

The windy and rainy weather has brought down a tonne of leaves this weekend 🍂🍂🍂  and it's sad not to see them on the trees any longer.  However, there are so many ways that we can still use and enjoy the leaves and their beautiful variety of shapes and colours.

If you're on the look out for red leaves, then acers or maples are best as they have rich, deep crimsons and scarlets.  Beech trees have the wonderful yellows and orangey tones that look so stunning against a bright blue sky.  All the other classic British trees such as oak, birch, alder, ash, sycamore and hazel will have beautiful rainbow of colours in the autumn, and the fun is trying to catch them at all the different stages of turning from one shade to the next!

Here is my list of my top favourite leaf art or leaf activities that you can do this November:

🍂 Crayon leaf rubbing

Take a good sized leaf (maybe one with good strong veins!) and place a piece of paper over it.  Gently rub a crayon over the top to get an imprint of the leaf from underneath.  Repeat with lots of different leaves and colours on a large piece of paper to get a collage effect. 

🍂 Leaf printing

Apply paint to one side of your leaf (can be one paint colour or a mix of colours!) and then carefully place it paint side down onto a piece of paper to create an imprint of the leaf skeleton.  Repeat with lots of leafs to create an autumnal masterpiece!

🍂 Leaf bowl

Place some large leaves over an upturned breakfast bowl and gently apply PVA glue with a brush so that they stick together.  Leave for a good few hours to dry (maybe even overnight) and then gently remove form the bowl.  It would make a beautiful mantlepiece decoration or even a table centrepiece.

🍂 Leaf lantern jars

Similar to the bowl, place your leaves on the outside of a large jam jar or mason jar and apply glue to stick the leaves in place.  Make sure the leaves cover the whole of the outside of the jar and leave to fully dry overnight.  Place some tea lights into your jar and watch the effect of the light glowing through the leaf colours.

🍂 Leaf mobile

This make a beautiful display for a window.  Get a long twig and some string if you can, and tie different sized and coloured leaves at different lengths along it.  Place in a window or from a mantlepiece where you can see all the leaves. 

🍂 Leaf wreath

I was so inspired to make a leaf wreath when I came back from New England a few years ago.  The Americans love seasonal wreaths (not just at Christmas!) and so I just had to give it a go.  Tie or glue some leaves around a circular wreath frame and then hang from your front door for a cosy, welcoming decoration. 

I hope that's given you some inspiration!  You might even find that you become a bit more expert at identifying the leaf shapes and and sizes while you're crafting away 🍁  Happy November!!

Activity: Make a hedgehog home

This is the time of year when hedgehogs start to hibernate. Hedgehogs are sadly in decline in the UK with less than a million left due to a decline in their habitats. Making a home or shelter for hedgehogs will help them by providing them with a secure place to shelter, hibernate, or even raise little hoglets safely.

Hedgehogs go house-hunting in the autumn and so this is the ideal time of year to set one up.  To make a really simple hedgehog home, all you need is a large cardboard box.  Cut two side vents into the two walls of the box and a large entrance for the hedgehog to walk in.  Next, find a place suitable to put the hedgehog home.  A quiet part of your garden under thick vegetation is best. Somewhere behind a shed if you have one would be perfect!  Place the box south-facing if you can.  Finally, tear up some newspaper and place it inside to make a cosy and dry floor.  Add some straw on top if you have it.  If you box is not under vegetation, you might want to cover it with a plastic bag (leaving the vents and entrance open) and then place leaves and deadwood on top.  

You can also make a hedgehog house out of a more sturdy plastic container or even pieces of wood if you have them.  Click here to read instructions from the Wildlife Trusts.

Linking gardens together is also a great way of making areas more hedgehog friendly.  Did you know that hedgehogs can travel up to one mile every night?!  Ensure that you have small holes at the bottom of your fence that are free of leaves and twigs for hedgehogs to pass through.  See if you can get your whole street on board to help make a hedgehog highway! Click here to find out more from the Hedgehog Street campaign. 

Activity: What to sow in September

As we slowly crawl towards the end of the summer we may feel sad as the flowers start to fade and the crisp sun-dried leaves begin to fall to the ground.  It's a good time to cut back any dead-heads, dried grasses and faded blooms, but we can also begin to think about what wonderful fruit and vegetables we may want for the year ahead!

Here are some ideas for what to sow in September:

🌽 Leafy veg - sowing seeds for things like cabbages and spinach is best done in September though they may need some protection over winter

🌽 Broad beans and peas - these are hardy plants that will establish over winter and be ready to harvest next spring

🌽 Radishes - these can be sown and grow quickly ready for a crop in a few weeks!

🌽 Onions and garlic - isn't it great to grow your own so that they're right there for when you need them?... planting in autumn means you will have a crop ready to harvest from early next year

🌽 Herbs - things like coriander, parsley and rocket grow well and are hardy to the colder temperatures

Did you know that September is also the month for growing food organically? This means growing food without toxic pesticides that are harmful to wildlife and require a lot of energy to manufacture. Growing your own veg is the perfect way to stay organic and avoid buying into the large-scale farmed supermarket produce. 

To find out more about what to grow, visit the Gardener's World website. 

To read more about Organic September, visit the Soil Association website. 

National Read a Book Day!

Today is National Read a Book Day!  It is a day to remind us of the simple joy of reading a book and escaping into a another world for a short time.  Whether you love to read story books, poems, travel books, or the classics, we can all share in the experience of curling up with a good read and National Read a Book Day is the perfect day to get back into that habit!

Reading is a fantastic hobby with so many benefits.  It has been shown to help your memory, develop your writing skills and vocabulary, and also improve your analytical skills and concentration.  Studies have also shown it aids relaxation and has a calming effect.  I know so many people who use reading as a good way to fall off to sleep at night!

If you don't usually read, why not give it a try today.  Choose a book that has perhaps been sitting on your shelf for a long time that you've never picked up and find a cosy corner to sit in to begin reading. If you have children, why not read aloud or make story time a part of the bedtime routine.  Non-fiction and travel books can be a good way into reading if you've fallen out of the habit.  Treating yourself to a newspaper or magazine can also be a great way to spend half an hour away from phone and TV screens and other distractions.  Or if you're lucky enough to have a Kindle or similar, why not browse the whole library of books out there and find something new to enjoy! 📚