Hello, and happy Monday!
There is plenty to do here at Saltholme this week, and we’d like to invite you and your family along to join in all the fun. You may remember that a few weeks ago I wrote about the brilliance of the Introducing Saltholme Walks. Well, if you’d like to put my recommendation to the test you have not one but two opportunities to do so this week! The walks will be running on Thursday and Sunday, both of which start at the very respectable time of 12:30, for any wildlife lovers who also feel passionate about a good sleep in. The news just gets better, as these walks are completely free to attend. There do tend to be spaces available for those who turn up on the door, but just to avoid any disappointment I would advise you to book a spot beforehand. It also gives our guides a good idea of how loudly they’ll need to speak, and whether any vocal warm-ups will be required. If you are going to come along, bare in mind that the walks are around three hours long and you’ll need appropriate footwear and warm clothing. The mobility scooter is also available, but please contact us beforehand to book it!
Speaking of the mobility scooter, we will be using the funds from this weekend’s Nest Box Building Workshops to keep this essential piece of equipment running. Nest Boxes are a fantastic tool for attracting breeding birds to your garden, and they can even help in preserving dwindling species that would otherwise be unable to find suitable nesting sites in urban areas. Also, it’s just fun for us to get hands on with some good craft work! We’ll be running two sessions per day this weekend, from 10am-12pm and then again from 1pm-3pm, and helping you build your own garden nest box. The cost of this event is £6 per box. We’re anticipating a lot of interest and spaces are limited so we’d recommend you get your session booked as soon as possible!
On Sunday we’ll also have the opportunity for some of you to join our team as they survey the species on the reserve as part of WeBS (the Wetland Bird Survey). Not only is it a great chance for you to help Saltholme monitor our resident birds, it also provides you with a personal guide who can share their expertise with you as you patrol the reserve. This will cost £4, or £2 for members, and spaces will be extremely limited so make sure you call us early in the week. We should also mention that this event probably isn’t one for children, but adults can feel free to book no matter what your knowledge of birds!
Have we mentioned that it is still welly season? Oh, go on then, we’ll remind you again! We have all the usual family fun running this weekend, including the ongoing Welly Wanging that has already seen some fantastic results. Keep your eyes on the Rio Olympics in 2016; we reckon we have nurtured some gold medallist shot putters and javelin throwers of the future on our humble reserve this year. (Our campaign to make welly wanging an Olympic sport is ongoing!)
That’s our roundup of events for this week – but remember there is also all the drama and unpredictability of nature, we can never really predict what might happen as you stroll around the reserve!
Have fun, and keep your eyes peeled.
Andrew