Journal archives for June 2021

June 7, 2021

Important Work

Hi everyone,

Another great week last week, with plenty of observations - I'm sure the Sun finally making an appearance in Wales helped a lot!

We also ran our first two events, one in the Science Garden at Glyndŵr University and one at Groundwork's Plas Power nature reserve in Tanyfron. It was fantastic to see young children attending these events and experiencing nature in a new way - each child that attended was given a magnifying class and collection pot, and it was brilliant watching them take their time to explore and look at habitats closely. This project is all about education and enjoyment, so this really was awesome.

Observation highlights from these events include many bushes absolutely teeming with alder beetles (they have a wonderful metallic blue lustre) and a cricket! We've also had some great observations from America this week - I particularly like the jumping spiders with their awesome patterns!

I've just attended an environmental communicators conference with the Natural History Consortium. A lot of the talks focussed on increasing participation in environmental communication and research, and the importance of authentic, fun, inclusive, and accessible projects in this mission. I think Wild Watch has made a really good start along these lines, so I want to say a huge DIOLCH YN FAWR to everyone for all your work so far! You're really making a difference, not only by providing important scientific data, but by showing others how wildlife spotting really is a fun and easy activity that anyone can get involved with.

Looking forward to seeing what we find this week!
Kieran

Posted on June 7, 2021 03:33 PM by kieran-182 kieran-182 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 18, 2021

Summer is here

Hi everyone,

Cheers for another great week! Plenty of brilliant observations - my favourite this week is the horned palassus beetle from Loogna in Tennessee. Check it out, it's huge!

We've had some brilliant weather and hopefully it will be here for most of the summer (next week excluded!) - it's the perfect chance to take your time exploring nature and looking for wildlife. Every single record you make is so important. Each of them help scientists learn more about the biodiversity of that area and how best to protect it.

Now that the weather has picked up, we are starting to take Wild Watch to schools. We had our first session the other day at an after school club near Chester. The children had great fun finding all sorts of insects and arachnids in their school garden. This was definitely helped by the purchase of insect viewing pots (small plastic pots with a magnified lid - they're only about £1.50 online or in our gift shop). We also gave them sheets to mark how many species they found in each microhabitat in the garden - I let them decide which areas constituted a microhabitat, so we had a chance to discuss what a habitat is and what sort of creatures might like each one.

We will be visiting a few more schools before the summer holidays. I will also be running a session with the Digging Deeside group, a community social garden group for vulnerable and isolated adults. It's fantastic to be able to show a wide range of people how fun and accessible citizen science and wildlife recording are.

We will be running some more FREE events in the Wrecsam area throughout the summer. Details are coming soon - keep your eye on this blog or the Xplore social media channels for updates.

Have a great weekend - looking forward to seeing what you all find!

Diolch
Kieran

Posted on June 18, 2021 02:44 PM by kieran-182 kieran-182 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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