Last Saturday the BioBlitz team were out in Oldham for Alexandra Park Life, braving the elements to stage a mini-BioBlitz ahead of the main event on Saturday. It’s amazing how much nature you can find right on your doorstep - in just a few hours we found 65 species, including birds, insects, flowers and pond-life. I think my favourites were two great little spiders – one had a really bright lime-green body, and the other one was really dark blue with pale spots on it – if only we’d had the British Arachnological Society folk with us to help us identify them, but at least they’re coming along to BioBlitz next Saturday! Weather-wise the day started out great, with opportunities to do sweep-netting, tree-shakes and bug-hunting around the area, with pond-dipping proving to be very popular too. Then we had an hour or so of torrential rain, thunder and lightning! Thank goodness for the marquee which kept us all dry, including some members of a wedding party who took shelter there! And then in true RSPB spirit we carried on with our activities, despite the wet conditions!
So, as well as being great fun and a chance to see what you could find close to home, Alexandra Park Life was also an opportunity to advertise the fact that BioBlitz is happening at Dove Stone this coming Saturday July 7th, and that we’re running free minibuses from there on the day. There are still seats available, so if you want to book on please ring Geoff de Boer on 07801135106 before Saturday. The buses will be departing from Alexandra Park main entrance (near the Visitors’ Centre) at 10:30am (returning at 2pm), 11:30am (returning at 3pm), and 12:30pm (returning at 4pm).
And in case you missed Alexandra Park Life, we’ll be running Stoneleigh Park Life on August 23rd 2012 (TBC). Look forward to seeing you there, and at Dove Stone BioBlitz this Saturday!