Half term is almost here and with it comes some great family fun to be had at the Wild Weymouth Discovery Centre at Radipole Lake from Sat 14 Feb – Sat 21 Feb Drop in any day between 10 am and 4 pm to join in with the free craft activities including seed bomb making and the return of the ever popular pebble painting.
The seed bombs are made by getting a ball of wet clay and rolling it in compost and wildflower seeds. People then take these home and launch them into the garden where they grow into wildflower areas; beautifully simple and great for wildlife.
On Wednesday 18 Feb we are doing something a bit special and having an Otter Day from 10 am – 3 pm to celebrate the otters that live on Radipole Lake nature reserve. Otter day is dedicated to these fantastic animals and you can make an otter mask, follow our otter trail around the nature reserve and take part in our quiz plus lots more ottery fun and its all free! You may even be lucky enough to see one!
Ottery Fun! Picture credit: Mike Langman
We had a visit from a bit of a legend at the weekend. Having visited Arne yesterday, Gary Prescott #thebirdingbiker made it to Radipole Lake on his way to Devon. Gary is fund-raising for us and other charities by cycling around the UK, and visiting ALL 200+ RSPB reserves en-route. Occasionally allowing himself a stay at B+B's, he is mainly sleeping out at night. And he's only just started, the challenge will take him all year. What a TOP MAN.
If you would like to support Gary with a donation, offer of accomodation, bird sightings (he's hoping to see 300 species this year) or just wish him luck you can go to his blog http://bikingbirder2015.blogspot.co.uk/
Gary Prescott and the RSPB Radipole Lake team, RSPB
At Radipole Lake spring is on the way; catkins, bullfinches feeding on the buds and violets out in flower all the signs of a change in season. We might not quite have the weather to match it yet but it won’t be long.. Its been an amazing bearded tit winter with lots of people getting fantastic views of them, bitterns have been seen again and water rails too and one of the rarer visitors last week was a Siberian chiffchaff.
Bearded tit winter. Picture credit: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)