This November we are going on a fossil hunt!
Our regular monthly event will run on Saturday the 9th of November between 3 and 5 pm. We will be exploring a local field (private, to which we have been granted access permission for this event) where fossils from marine animals are known to occur. What are marine animals doing here in Tisbury? Well, come and find out! Here is a little example of what may be found. The landowner may show us some of the fossils in his collection afterwards! We had a fantastic woodland safari this month!
The sun was shining and we came back with treasure baskets containing beech nuts, birch bark, wasp galls, leaves, hazelnuts, larch cones, birch polypore and Alfred’s cakes! We also saw lots of other beautiful fungi, invertebrates, heard buzzards and tits and, and although we didn’t see any mammals, we saw their feeding remains! Head to our social media for some pictures of what we saw: Instagram post. We had a very succesful harvest mice nest search last weekend, with 5 complete nests and 2 incomplete nests found in a previously unsurveyed area. Head to our social media to see our pictures! (For example, here is our Instagram post)
We will be looking for abandoned harvest mouse nests - No experience required, training provided!
It was a beautiful morning yesterday, perfect for investigating what life the River Nadder was sustaining at the Teffont Fishing Club. Harry Hodgson, River Keeper, and David Holroyd, River Monitoring Coordinator for Salisbury and District Angling Club guided our Young Nature Watch members as they excitedly spotted bullheads, minnows, nymphs and shrimps, water snails and many more creatures which Harry and David had scooped up for them to start us off. Afterwards the children donned their water boots and did their own dipping with nets and buckets and excitedly showed each other their catch. We're very grateful to David and Harry for setting up this event for us and by the sound of it, there are already some young enthusiasts who want to learn fly fishing. We hope you'll join us at Teffont Fishing Club for a fun morning with fishing nets, to see what we can find in the river. Stay for a picnic afterwards!
Please note that an error was thankfully spotted by Dick Budden for the what3words location and it's now been updated to mixer.coconuts.endearing. The entrance is opposite the road sign pictured below. Let us know via email if you'd like to come along. Further details can be found in the blog below. A date for your diary! On Sunday Sept 15th 10am-12pm, Young Nature Watch will be going down to the Nadder near Teffont for a morning of river sampling with the River Keeper Harry Hodgson and David Holroyd of the Teffont Fishing Club. Some of you may have met Harry at Woodlands Alive this year where he ran the pond dipping activity. Both Harry and David are involved in conservation projects to improve the biodiversity and health of our local waterways and are looking forward to showing you some of the aquatic life in our river. They will go out the night before to catch some of the bigger fish to show you and these will be released back into the river after our visit.
What to bring Bring jelly shoes or wetsuit booties (not wellies) so that you can wade in the shallow part of the river for your own sampling activities. If you have a small net and bucket at home, please bring them with you. At the site there’s a hut and a large grassy area where you are welcome to have a picnic afterwards. Parents might want to bring folding chairs. Please note that there are no toilet facilities. Parking Parking for this event is on private land. Harry will put a sign on the field gate, please allow time to leave your car at the top of the field and walk down to the river (5 mins) for the 10am start. The field is on the right if you’re coming from Lower Chicksgrove, shortly before the turn to Teffont Magna and the lake on the bend. What3words: mixer.coconuts.endearing (updated 03/09/24) As with all Young Nature Watch activities, members of the Tisbury Natural History Society and children come free. Bring your friends. We ask for a small donation of £2 from each non-member adult. If you would like to join us, please let us know either by the contact page or the Young Nature Watch email. We had a fantastic owl pellet dissection event in August, where we processed a good number of pellets collected in the local area, from Semley to Teffont (and beyond), and found evidence of field voles, bank voles, water shrews, common shrews, pygmy shrews, wood mice, harvest mice and brown rats.
We are grateful to those who helped in any way, providing pellets, support during the day or coming to help us dissect! We know there are a few local fans of owl pellet dissection so there will be more events like this in future. In the meantime, check out the Mammal Society's ID atlas and head to our social media for some pictures (more coming soon!). On the 10th of August we have an owl dissection marathon between 10 and 1 pm at the Hinton Hall.
This is a joint event between Young Nature Watch (Tisbury and District Natural History Society) and the Wiltshire Mammal Group and is a suitable activity for all ages and levels of experience. We will provide all equipment and necessary guidance for those who need it. The aim will be to dissect as many pellets as possible, to obtain information about the prey items of barn owls in the local area and assist the Mammal Society in finding out the spread the Greater White-Toothed Shrew, a species of invasive shrew that has been recently found in Eastern England for the first time. No bookings required, just drop by at any time and stay as long as you feel like! This is a free activity for children, members of our society and the Wiltshire Mammal Group, a small fee of £2 for non-members is welcome! If you would like to have more information, please get in touch! |
Young Nature Watch (YNW) is a branch of the Tisbury and District Natural History Society (T&DNHS).
YNW is free for under-21s! Young people always have priority at any of our activities but accompanying adults are required for under-12s. For adults, annual membership for the T&DNHS (£10) or a £2 fee per event (for non-members) is due. Download our annual programme below!
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YNW logo design by Izzy Fry.
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