The wait is over and Big Wild Sleepout is finally here! At Minsmere the Wildlife Explorers group could not wait any longer and had their camp night last weekend. We were very lucky with the weather and wildlife and a lot of fun was had by all.
The Camp Night event began in the afternoon with the Wildlife Explorers arriving at the reserve and setting up their tents and camping areas. The first structured activity was a den building challenge. The Wildlife Explorers and their families were divided into two groups and they had to work together as a team to build the best den they could. Both dens were very impressive; one with several rooms and the other looked almost water tight it had been constructed so well.
The next challenge was a family art challenge. Each family had to use nature as their inspiration to produce a piece of art work (much like the celebrity guests had to on Springwatch Unsprung). They only had half an hour to produce their masterpiece and boy did they rise to the challenge! Here are some of the incredible pieces of art work they created.
The families then went off to enjoy an alfresco picnic in the evening sun before returning to the Discovery Centre for a family quiz. Afterwards with the sun beginning to set over picturesque Minsmere and the smell of deet in the air we started out on a nocturnal walk through the woodland towards Island Mere hide. We took out with us the bat detectors and it wasn’t long before we spotted some bats above and stopped to see whether we could identify them using the bat detectors. The Wildlife Explorers were amazingly quiet and the detectors soon picked up the sounds of the bats echolocating.
Bats give out a series of ultrasonic sounds in front of them as they are flying. As they come into contact with objects they bounce echoes back to the bat. This helps the bat avoid obstacles when flying and helps them home in on insect prey. The bat detectors can help identify the bats by the frequency with which they are echolocating. The bats that we encountered were soprano pipistrelle bats; one of the more common bats in the UK but only classified as a separate species since 1999.
We continued our walk to Island Mere hide in the hope of seeing some otters but were not lucky enough to see them this time. As we walked up Whin Hill towards Canopy Hide we spotted a glow worm on the ground. Ian Barthorpe picked it up to show the group and just before we got back to the Discovery Centre another glow worm was spotted close to the doors. After drinks and biscuits the Wildlife Explorers went to sleep in their tents.
Everyone had a restful night and was ready for the fun activities the following morning. We had breakfast in the Discovery Centre and then looked at what had been caught in the moth trap which had been set by one of our volunteers the previous night. It was so fascinating seeing the variety of species of moths caught in the trap and great for the Wildlife Explorers to get so close to nature. The large moths attracted the most attention with this private hawk moth stealing the limelight
The event finished with an early(ish) walk around the reserve with a few of our expert guides. One group of walkers took the path towards North Wall and encountered beewolves (always a crowd pleaser), the other group took a lovely sunny stroll towards Wildlife Lookout. The sunny morning made the conditions perfect for viewing sticklebacks, roach and perch in the water beside the path with many different dragonflies whizzing overhead.