Natural England

Are your kids fed up during the summer holidays? Why not bring them along for a day exploring the boggy biodiversity of Fenn’s, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve at a free day-long Bog Creature Workshop? Every family will go home with a free wildlife gardening CD and can have their picture taken with a life- sized wooly mammoth.

Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales are hosting the Workshop from 9.30am to 4pm on Wednesday 13 August. It will be based at the Manor House NNR Base at Whixall, near Whitchurch and Wrexham, and will be led by Natural England’s Reserve Manager Pete Bowyer and education officer Caroline Dahn.

Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales have been hard at work restoring the Mosses after extensive damage caused by cutting peat for use in gardens. Butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, wetland birds and other bog creatures are now flourishing on restored areas on Britain’s third largest raised bog.

Senior Reserve Manager Joan Daniels said, “The Bog Creature Workshop is a wonderful chance for kids to see and handle wildlife themselves. And while having fun, they will realise how important bogs are, for helping to reduce the global warming that could drastically alter their world”

“They will also get the wildlife gardening CD and lots of leaflets and ideas showing them how to encourage wildlife into their own gardens at home and if it is raining will make wildlife shelters to take home”.

The Workshop is one of a whole series of exciting events during August aimed at raising awareness of our wonderful wetlands during Meres and Mosses Month, www.meresandmossesmonth.info. The wooly mammoth is a great mascot for the Meres and Mosses as it used to roam Shropshire just before our 10000 years old peat bogs began to form.

On the Bog Creature Workshop, the children will begin by catching some of the insects on the NNR base and will find out how to sort wildlife into different groups, using photographs and keys. Depending on the weather they will watch the Meres and Mosses DVD with its ‘live’ wooly mammoths.

After that, it will be up onto the Moss, with their picnics. Even if it is raining, they can pond-dip in the peat cuttings, and are bound to catch some of the larvae of our 28 species of dragonfly, and perhaps huge diving beetle larvae. They might even find tell-tale tracks of lizards, snakes or badgers!

Over lunch they can see what birds are about, and then can have good fun sweeping insects off the bushes and sucking them up into ‘pooter’ pots. They’ll find an amazing variety of boggy bio-diversity.

And even if it pours down there will be the skulls and snake-skins, and plenty of other things to look at, and dragonfly models to make.

The Workshop is open to children of all ages. Youngsters under eight years old must be accompanied by an adult. Parents of older children are welcome to stay and join in.

And if they can’t make that date they can collect and learn to wood carve prehistoric bog pines on Sunday 31 August again at the NNR.

To book on either workshop and to get the instructions for the day please ring Caroline Dahn on 01743 282000 in the week or Joan Daniels on 07974 784 799 evenings and weekends or e-mail caroline.dahn@naturalengland.org.uk for a booking form.

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Notes for editors

Natural England
Natural England was established by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Its purpose is to ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development. www.naturalengland.org.uk

The Countryside Council for Wales
The Countryside Council for Wales champions the environment and landscapes of Wales and its coastal waters as sources of natural and cultural riches, as a foundation for economic and social activity, and as a place for leisure and learning opportunities. We aim to make the environment a valued part of everyone's life in Wales. More information about our work is available on www.ccw.gov.uk

For further CCW information/ Welsh language interviews, contact Meinir Wigley, Public Relations Officer on 01686 613416.

Biodiversity means the variety of life, from the tiniest bug to the largest oak tree, along with the habitats in which they live. www.biodiversityday.org.uk

For further information contact: Dr. J L Daniels
Telephone: 01948 880362
Email: joan.daniels@naturalengland.org.uk

For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk