Once a month children led by volunteers from the Steering Group take part in a range of activities, spending time exploring and learning about the Woods and the natural environment. Who better to involve than the next generation of custodians!
The group is called Walsham Wild Things and the project is led by Tracey Gorzelak who is currently working towards becoming a fully qualified Forest School Leader. Around a dozen children can be accommodated to take part and for the youngest children, parent/ guardian helpers join in too.
In June the children explored the variety of trees and shrubs using leaf ID cards, found the Wild Wood boundaries and made their club badges from discs of hazel wood. The July session will focus on butterfly spotting and links with the Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count. Keep up to date with the programme and book spaces for forthcoming sessions online.
Both the Wild Wood and the Jubilee Wood are registered Wild Spaces with the Butterfly Conservation Organisation and already there look to be more butterflies on the wing than last year which was the worst year on record. If you would like to help update the picture of the state of wildlife in our locality either visit the woods with the app on your phone or relax in your own patch for 15 minutes and count the species you spot:
https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org
Our wonderful Wild Things adventure has been made possible by Lottery funding, a Garden’s Weekend grant, Suzi Martineau and supporters of our last Pop Up Curry Night. We are very grateful for everyone’s contribution which will in turn support the Primary School and Pre- School in making the most of these amazing green diverse spaces on our doorstep.