We are hoping to find a lead for Young Nature Watch in 2026. After 5 years at the helm, the current lead is stepping down.

If you have enjoyed our events and would like to continue them, expand them and improve them, please come forward! Assistance can be provided if needed and we are open to many options. Feel free to get in touch to discuss in detail if you feel you may be potentially interested.

If no replacement lead is found, unfortunately YNW will cease to exist in its current format, although young people will still be welcome in all the other events of the society's programme and in special events in collaboration with other organisations, such as Wiltshire Mammal Group & Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

Our first November event is an otter survey by the river Wylye, on Sunday the 16th of November between 10am and 12pm. The survey will involve walking for about 1 mile while checking the riverside for otter footprints and spraint (poo), we are very unlikely to see the actual otters. If you would like to join, please get in touch and we will let you know of the meeting point and other details - close to the event date. Unfortunately, this event may need to be cancelled in adverse weather or if there is flooding.

Our October event, the dormouse box check (which was meant to have been on the 19th) has had to be re-scheduled due to poor weather. The new date is Saturday the 13th of December (potentially to be moved to Sunday the 14th of December depending on the weather) at 9.30 am. This event was fully booked but there may be spaces if all the original registered attendees cannot make the new date. Please ask if you would like to join but note it is not suitable for very small children.

Please make a note in your diaries that this activity will now take place alongside Tis the Season fair in the Hinton Hall on 29th November from 10am - 1pm. We shall publish more information nearer the time.

Julia and Janie are kicking themselves for forgetting to take photos of the first art activity when we did printing onto cotton sheeting using flower petals as dye. Young Nature Watch enthusiasts selected from a huge pile of flower petals and made colourful patterns across white sheeting that had been soaked in apple cider vinegar. Each piece was rolled up and tied with string, then put in a steamer for the rest of the session to infuse as much colour from the petals as possible. The big reveal was done at home. This method is best done on silk so something to try again next year at home now that everyone knows the process. We give thanks to Tisbury Dental Surgery for their permission to snip their roadside roses and buddleia and especially to Debbie Condon for kindly giving access to a wide selection of flowers from her garden. 

We had a quick walk around the Community Garden and St John's Churchyard to spot autumnal berries and nuts and then our next activity was painting leaves of different shapes and sizes, then pressing them onto gift cards and tags to make colourful designs. Our YNW mothers also enjoyed the therapeutic calm of getting creative.

And our final activity was mushing up blackberries in a cup and squeezing the juice through muslin to make a pretty purple ink for painting with. Highly satisfying to see the ink squirt out through the muslin and a few children wanted to take the muslin home to have further play with them later!

Our next Young Nature Watch event is on Sunday 7th September from 2-4pm in the Hinton Hall with some art activities, differentiated for our YNW age range.

There are plenty of ideas for art at this time of year as we first photograph trees and plants close to the Hinton Hall and collect some samples. With options of fine detail studies - let's get the magnifying glass out - collage and differing print techniques, we can study the natural forms and create some cards in the Hall to take home.
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Email us so that we know the names and ages of those who would like to take part.

On Saturday the 5th of July we will be checking the footprints in a number of small tunnels we will have set up some time in advance, to find out which small mammals are present. We hope to see evidence of hedgehogs, woodmice and dormice if we are lucky! We will be meeting at Old Wardour Castle at 10 am, and head on a walk to find the footprint tunnels. If it has rained recently, we will also check for any footprints in the mud in the tracks! Please let us know if you are coming in advance.

Our Young Nature Watch event for June is an opportunity to go birdwatching at Langford Lakes on Sunday June 22nd from 10 until 12. We will be with Andrew Graham, our expert birder, to help us to identify as many different species as possible. Langford Lakes is a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve in the Wylye Valley between Salisbury and Warminster (directions: https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/langford-lakes).

There are four lakes and a wet scrape which provide a vital stopping off point and resident habitat for about 150 different bird species. The reserve has level paths and five hides overlooking the lakes. There is an on-site cafe, open until 3:30pm.

We will meet at 10 outside the cafe but please let us know if you are coming in advance.

We are doing owl pellet dissections as part of the Langford Lakes bioblitz this weekend, come and join us! More info: WWT website.