Some Village Activities

This took place on Saturday September 24th

The main event from 10 am – 3 pm. Preceded with Discovering Moths at approximately 09:00

Why?

The management group decided that as Penfield Nature Reserve (PNR) was approaching its first year of opening it would be great to exhibit what had been achieved in nearly 18 months of planned and at times exhaustive work by the small team of volunteers. Additionally a lot of people had not visited it and seen what progress had been made and how pleasant it can be to just sit on one of the benches and enjoy some peace and quiet and the view.

The aim was to encourage visitors to discover this wonderful asset in more detail other than just an old field that became a quarry with a lake and a few paths, at the same time being able to learn about nature and the professional approach that is necessary, for example seeking the advice and guidance from other nature reserve professionals.

The team also wanted to encourage family units to visit so various activities were organised to allow all ages to be shown the beauty of Nature. In essence fun and interest for all.

We are lucky that we have a Moth expert in Langtoft; Josh Jones who agreed to set up a trap the night before and then on Saturday morning display what had been trapped. This does not cause the moths any harm and is the prescribed method widely used. This was a well received acivity by all ages.

Other interested Nature groups were invited: -

Lincolnshire Bat Group, exhibited a lot of information regarding species and Bat boxes, the latter being something that we want to install in the reserve.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, represented by John Oliver exhibited bones, skulls, horns and some skeletons of smaller animals. Some of these were from his personal collection, some of them had been found in nature reserves across South Lincolnshire. There was a large interest by all ages in the display.

Other activities included;

Treasure hunt,

Wildlife Bingo,

Sketching competition with all materials provided, various leaves some small flower stalks to be drawn around or sketched and coloured in.

Wildlife Identification,

Make your own bird feeders, this was a great activity for children of all ages it used toilet rolls or something similar cut to length, smothered in Peanut butter and then rolled in bird seed food and a piece of string passed through a couple of holes in the top, great fun albeit a bit messy at times.

Pond dipping, for safety an old fish tank was used and duly filled by Augy, thereby allowing people to see the very varied life forms currently existing in and under the water, there was a microscope for viewing some of the leaf and weed life. It was then possible to see minute creatures.