Tune into wildlife during tough times
THE Wildlife Trusts have created online nature activities to encourage everyone to tune in to wildlife at home this spring – and to help people find solace in nature during tough times.
Spot bees, butterflies, bats and birds during your permitted local walk, keep children entertained with nature-themed crafts, or tune in to look at fabulous wildlife footage and photos!
There’s also plenty of practical outdoor advice to inspire us to do more for wildlife in gardens, balconies or window boxes.
New videos
A new video will be uploaded to Wildlife Watch UK every Wednesday at 10am. The channel will feature wildlife experts, home-school help and seasonal species to spot at wtru.st/Wildlife-Watch-YouTube.
Future videos will include:
• How to build a pond
• Be a garden scientist – exploring your garden wildlife
• How to identify insects in your garden
• How to make a bug hotel
• What is marine pollution?
• Why birds sing and how to recognise their songs.
Wildlife tours
Wildlife experts who are usually leading school visits, events or talking to visitors on reserves have had to down tools and work from home – and so they can now be found online leading wildlifespotting tours through their gardens, blogging about the life cycle of oil beetles or sharing heartwarming sounds of a dawn chorus on a sunny April morning.
Leanne Manchester, wildlife gardener and digital communications manager at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “More people than ever are tuning into our wildlife webcams – more than double the figure for this time last year – and we’re seeing people have a lot of fun wildlife-watching in their gardens.
“Spring has arrived in splendid colour and sound, and over the past few days, hundreds of people have told us that they’ve spotted their first butterflies. These are joyful moments that people hold dear at this difficult time.”
In total there are 24 webcams offered by Wildlife Trusts across the UK; 19 webcams are online now and five cams will come online later in spring, depending on when the species they watch arrive!
Tune in at www.wildlifetrusts.org/looking-afteryourself-and-nature. The Wildlife Trusts are also launching a weekly wildlife programme on YouTube this week for kids and parents.