The Nature Engagement team works hard all year round to engage Stanwick Lakes visitors and the local community with wildlife on the nature reserve and in the wider environment. Here are some of our 2023 highlights:
The Wildlife Volunteer Team is a group of adults, including young adults from @Grow Wild Outreach, who meet monthly to survey and learn more about the plants and animals on the reserve. Over the last year, they have surveyed for hedgehogs (no luck, unfortunately!), learned about and identified local flowers, and helped to create the butterfly bank as part of Butterfly Conservation’s Wild Spaces campaign. They also found 5 harvest mouse nests on the site as part of the Mammal Society’s national Harvest Mouse Survey – and while doing so met this lovely Harvest Mouse. (pictured)
The youngest group we worked with this year are preschoolers and their families in our Bub Club nature sessions. At both public and special sessions for the Wellingborough and Kettering Children’s Centres, Jacqui from the Bub Club shared her nature-inspired stories and songs. The children made a craft and enjoyed a mini outdoor adventure on the nature reserve. These sessions were able to take place thanks to funding from Cllr Helen Howell through North Northamptonshire Council’s Members Empowerment Fund, and we are delighted that we have secured further funding from North Northamptonshire Council to put on more of these popular sessions in 2024.
We have a teenage team of Junior Rangers who meet monthly to undertake surveying and practical conservation work at Stanwick Lakes. In 2023, they have completed a variety of tasks, including surveying for aquatic invertebrates, helping children make animal crafts in the nature tent at the Nene Valley Festival, and they finished the year by starting to make a bird viewing screen using willow and hazel, some of which they cut themselves, which they plan to complete in the New Year.
The team and its volunteers also organise and take part in community events throughout the year. In January, we supported the local RSPB group with their Big Garden Birdwatch bird ringing event. In the summer, butterfly-themed walks and children’s craft events were held to celebrate the new butterfly bank, and we worked with the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs, and Northants on a community litter pick in Irthlingborough and a cycle trail that linked our two visitor centres. The summer was a busy time as we also held a nature activity day in partnership with the Nene Rivers Trust. Over 200 children and adults from the Scouting Association spent the day learning about the valley’s designation as a Special Protection Area by pond dipping, tracking mammals, and den building. More recently, in the autumn and winter, we engaged hundreds of children at big public events to learn about the animals of Stanwick Lakes by making peg butterflies, pinecone tawny owl chicks, and woolly grass snakes!
Liz Williams, the Nature Engagement Coordinator, would like to thank all of the volunteers who gave up their time in 2023 to support these activities, groups, and events. See you all in 2024!
