Education, education, education

Here are three examples of how Natural England have connected people with nature. The first is an inspiring the next generation through a school visit only achieved thanks to our wonderful volunteers. The second is through a ringing demonstration which allowed people to get really close to birds and the final facilitation of an art therapy workshop.

School Visit

Susan Morris leading group

We were delighted to welcome a group of year 5 students and their teachers from Sacred Heart RC Primary School in Paignton.  As an environmentally conscious school their aim is to ensure children are aware of their responsibilities as stewards of our shared planet and instil a desire to look after and cherish these precious and delicate eco-systems.   Coming to Yarner Wood gave the students the opportunity to experience an environment which they may not have had the opportunity to visit and learn about the various habitats containing a diverse population of plants and animals.

understanding coppicing and charcoal making

Beginning our walk through the forest, the students were challenged to find leaves from at least three different trees and bushes and soon showed expertise in identifying the common species such as the silver birch, holly, oak, rowan and beech.  Also spotted were the different types of wooden boxes attached to tree trunks to provide shelter and nesting opportunities for bats, dormice and birds including the pied flycatcher. February is not the best month for spotting animals but there was great excitement in discovering a dead mouse in the undergrowth, possibly the highlight of the visit for some! Whilst moving through the reserve, students gathered information on the importance of this temperate rain forest, how it is managed and what we all can do to protect it.  Once back at school, this was used to design information leaflets on Yarner.

created leaflet

After lunch at the Woodland Centre, most students (but not all) were very enthusiastic in examining the skulls from different types of animals which live in the woods including deer, badger and fox.  The teeth indicate their diet, whether carnivorous or herbivore.  The students were also intrigued to see examples of old dormouse nests collected from the boxes, although possibly disappointed not to see the actual animals which are happily hibernating in nests on the forest floor at this time of year.

The final activity involved mixed media artwork and having learnt about past production of charcoal from the trees in the forest, there was the opportunity to use this drawing materials.

charcoal artwork

We all managed to find our way back to the coach on time and the students happily took souvenirs of their visit with them; leaves, rocks, and sticks of impressive size but thankfully, not the dead mouse!

Words by Ann Sullivan (volunteer guide) who helped alongside Susan Morris (volunteer guide) and Albert Knott

Photographs supplied by Tracey Dickinson

Bird Ringing Demonstration

nuthatch

On Sunday 26th March 2023 the Bovey Tracey branch of the Devon Wildlife Trust were treated to a bird ringing demonstration at Natural England’s Yarner Wood, part of the East Dartmoor Woods and Moors National Nature Reserve.  The session was led by Tim Frayling, a team leader of Natural England’s Birds Team, who is  a licenced bird ringer. The ringing team were Tim, Malcom Burgess and David Price doing the ringing demonstration, together with Matt Twiggs, Sam Gray and trainee Joe Frayling who helped with checking the nets and ringing.

A total of 118 birds caught covering 10 different species: 33 blue tit, 29 coal tit, 27 siskin, 10 great tit, 6 long-tailed tit, 4 great spotted woodpecker, 3 marsh tit, 3 nuthatch, 2 robin and a chiff-chaff.  All birds were fitted with a uniquely numbered ring, or if already ringed, the ring details were recorded as a re-trap. All birds were aged, sexed (where possible), measured and weighed before being released. All the data is sent to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who co-ordinate all bird ringing in Great Britain.

mash tit

Bird ringing is an incredibly valuable tool that generates information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, helping us to understand why populations are changing. Ringing data make a major contribution to the study of population changes and to our understanding of species declines. One of the blue tits caught on Sunday was a female ringed as an adult in a nearby nest box in 2021 and the same box in 2022, and therefore this individual is at least 4 years old.  Malcolm Burgess and his team of Nest Record Scheme volunteers collect valuable information on productivity, through the nest box monitoring, and ringing the adults and chicks are a valuable part of that work.

siskin

Ringing is also incredibly useful technique to help to understand bird migration and movements. Most of the birds caught on Sunday were resident species such as coal and blue tit. However, one species we caught in relatively large numbers, siskin, is likely to include some individuals that will be passing through on migration. Siskins are more widespread in England during the winter months and are now a common visitor to bird feeders, particularly in late winter and early spring. One of the siskin was wearing a ring that was not one of those used at Yarner Wood, so it will be interesting to hear from the BTO where this bird was originally ringed. Tracking bird movements from metal ringing is valuable because nearly a million birds each year are ringed in Britain, creating a large set of data. Please see the BTO website Bird Ringing Scheme | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology has more about benefits of ringing.

Word by Tim Frayling photos by Tom Morris

Art Therapy in Nature’ Day Workshop in Yarner Woods – 29.4.2023

We had a successful day workshop exploring ‘Art Therapy in Nature’ in Yarner Wood, using the Woodland Centre as a base, with 12 Art Therapists from all over Devon and Cornwall.

The idea of the workshop was to build confidence and knowledge in working creatively and therapeutically outdoors in woodlands such as Yarner Woods, for the benefit of people’s mental health and well-being.

It is now well established scientifically that being out in nature is beneficial for mental health and well-being, and Art Therapists are well placed with their therapeutic training and practice, to offer a creative therapeutic approach to making art with clients in nature, as a way to explore and process their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

In the morning of the workshop, we made a large ‘Nature Wheel of The Year’ on the ground, using nearby woodland materials (see photo) and we each created our own piece of nature art in a segment of the Wheel, which then came together as a communal piece of art by the group. We then stood around the circle and expressed our thoughts and feelings about what we had made.

We also talked about how following the cycles and seasons of the ‘Wheel of the Year’ can connect us more deeply with nature in an ongoing way, and planted a written ‘wish for Beltane’ about something we would like to manifest for ourselves this spring and summer.

In the afternoon, we created nature ‘effigies’ or ‘dolls’ using clay and natural woodland materials to represent our more wild and natural selves (see photo), and placed them in special places in the woods. We then went around as a group to visit each person’s nature effigy, and the person who created it talked about the thoughts and feelings that arose for them in the making of it.

The feedback on the workshop was very positive, and several of the attendees expressed an interest in taking their Art Therapy practice outdoors in the future.

Art Therapy in Nature is something that could be offered to the local community in Devon at Yarner Wood both for individuals and groups that would like to explore the mental health benefits of working creatively out in nature. Contact Scott Burnett at scottyburnetty@outlook.com for more information.

Words and photos by Scott Burnett