Wildwood e-news October '11

Wildwood e-news October '11

1) Autumn half-term fun at Wildwood!

2) Welcome to Baxter, our new red fox

3) Kent Mammal Group training courses
4) Wildwood winter opening hours

5) Christmas events at Wildwood

6) Christmas gift ideas

7) Animal of the month - Wildcat

8) Items needed - can you help?

 

1) Autumn half-term fun at Wildwood

 

Join in the autumn fun at Wildwood this half term!

FREE talks and feeds every day
Join our experts around the park for free talks and feeds to see our animals close up and watch out for our roving demonstrations every day for close up encounters with animals and animal artefacts.

Tues 25th October – Shadow puppets & Story telling craft event
Join our Natural Heritage Officer, Steve Kirk for an afternoon of animal stories and shadow puppets and make your own to take home.
2-4pm, £2 per person, one adult free per family. Must book (call 01227 712 111)

Wed 26th / Thur 27th / Fri 28th October - Hallowe'en Crafts
It's time to get spooky with our annual pumpkin orange and spider black creepy craft event. Make your own suitably spooky decorations to take home themed around pumkpins, bats, rats, spiders and cats. One session per day. 2-3pm, £2 per person, one adult free per family. Must book (call 01227 712 111).

 

2) Meet Baxter, our new red fox

 

Wildwood is pleased to welcome Baxter, our new red fox.

The new addition brings number of red foxes at Wildwood to 3 and Baxter is getting on well with his new acquaintances, Wildwood residents Ellie and Chris.

Baxter was brought to Wildwood by The Fox Project, a charity based in Kent and the South East that helps sick and injured foxes and abandoned cubs, providing for their care, treatment and rehabilitation back to the wild.

Baxter, a young male, was rescued by the Fox Project team after being found abandoned as a cub. They cared for him until he was strong enough to fend for himself but sadly he is not suitable to be returned to the wild so has been brought to Wildwood to live with our existing foxes.

Wildwood's head keeper Paul Wirdnam said "Wildwood has worked with the Fox Project for a number of years, their team do a fantastic job have rehabilitated thousands of foxes just like Baxter. We are very proud to work with them"

You can see Baxter in the fox enclosure – keep an eye out for him on your next visit to the park.

 

3) Kent Mammal Group courses - last spaces remaining

 

Small mammal trapping course – Sat 29th October 9.30am - 4.15pm

Learn how to survey Kent's smallest mammals using live traps, includes handling and identification.

• Introduction on small mammal surveys by Hazel Ryan.
• Out into the woods to check the traps (set the previous evening).
• Handle, sex and weigh the animals before re-setting the traps.
• Illustrated talk on Kent's small mammals and their field signs.
• Behind the scenes tour of our small mammal captive breeding programme (please note these animals are not on public display)
• Re-check the traps.
• Learn how to carry out your own small mammal surveys.
  

Kent Mammal ID Course – Sat 19th November 9.45am - 4pm

This popular courses teach you how to survey Kent's larger mammals from their tracks, signs and sightings . The courses are run in conjunction with Kent Mammal Group who are working towards an Atlas of Kent Mammals.

• Includes a tour of native mammals kept at Wildwood
• Learn how to identify animals by sight, along with nests, footprints, feeding remains and droppings.
• Includes hands-on experience looking at skulls, antlers and skins.

Course tutor is Hazel Ryan, Wildwood's Senior Conservation Officer. Courses cost £30 per person (£50 when you book both courses together).

To book call Hazel on 01227 712111 or e-mail hazel@wildwoodtrust.org

 

4) Winter opening hours

Please note that from Sunday 30th October, Wildwood's opening hours will be:

10am - 4pm (last admission 3pm)

 

5) Christmas at Wildwood

Visit Santa at Wildwood!

Sat 3rd & Sun 4th Dec - Sat 10th & Sun 11th Dec - Sat 17th & Sun 18th Dec

Visit Santa in his grotto this December at Wildwood. All good little boys and girls welcome from 1pm-3pm. Cost £6 per child, includes a present from Santa (optional photographs also available for £2 each). Just drop in any time or book on 01227 712 111. Please note that all access to this event is only allowed if membership of or entry to Wildwood has been paid.

Christmas trees at Wildwood
Wildwood will have christmas trees again this year - orders are being taken now. Stock will be available to buy directly from the shop from 3rd Dec. To place an order call the shop on 01227 712 111.

 

6) Christmas gift ideas 

Animal adoptions - the perfect gift
An animal adoption is a great gift for any animal lover as well as helping to support Wildwood's conservation work. Choose from animal adoption bags for kids or postal adoption packs for adults. Prices start from just £25 with over 20 animals to choose from.

Visit www.wildwoodtrust.org or call Pat or Sharon on 01227 712111 to give someone their favourite animal this Christmas.

 

Photo Days  
A unique experience for novice and more experienced photographers alike. Enjoy exclusive access around the park to take close-up photos of our animals, with our resident photographer Dave Butcher on hand to give help and advice on how to get those special shots. A range of different animals will be photographed across the day, with animal feeds for the more elusive animals to help you get close up shots. Days run from 10:30am - 12:30pm and 1:30pm - 4pm with an hour for lunch (make use of our restaurant or bring a packed lunch). Max 10 persons per day. Visit our website at www.wildwoodtrust.org for details of forthcoming dates.

Gift vouchers are also available to allow the recipient to choose a date to suit them.

Cost: £75 per person, which includes entry to the park. To book call 01227 712 111

 

7) Animal of the month - Wildcat

They may look like your friendly tabby next door, but don't be fooled, this is a cat that was never going to sit beside anyone's hearth. Wildcats are exactly that-wild, and are renowned for being untameable, even as kittens.

Wildcats were present in Britain before humans arrived here and before domestic cats had even evolved. Wildcats survived human persecution for a thousand years longer than the brown bear and over two hundred years longer than the wolf, making them one of the largest predators remaining in the UK. Sadly, wildcats are only found nowadays in remote areas of the Scottish highlands and recent estimates put their number at a dangerously low 400 surviving in the wild.

Wildcats are traditionally forest animals, although Britain's remaining wildcats have been forced to adapt to other habitats and will often include moorland, heath and rocky areas in their territory. Scottish wildcats mainly prey upon rabbits and hares, whereas European ones tend to eat mostly small mammals, such as mice and voles. Wildcats will occasionally eat fish, frogs, lizards and birds. They are true carnivores and eat almost every part of their prey, including fur and bones. Wildcats resemble a domestic tabby in some ways but they are clearly larger and more muscular, the tail is thicker, with a blunt black tip, and their coat is very thick, with brown and black stripes. The face and jaw are usually wider and more heavy-set than in a domestic cat.

Wildcats are mainly nocturnal. They spend the day resting in dens or among undergrowth and can prowl up to 10km at night in their search for prey. Like many animals, wildcats communicate with one another through scent, either by leaving urine and faeces in prominent places or rubbing their cheeks or clawing trees to release scent from glands.

Wildcats are solitary animals, spending most of their lives alone. They mate in midwinter and the male does not help to rear the kittens. Kittens are born in spring, usually in May, and there may be 1-8 kittens in a litter although 3 or 4 is average. Females who are ready to mate, in January or February, can be heard caterwauling to attract a male. This is one of the few times that wildcats make any noise. Kittens are fed on milk at first but within a few weeks their mother will begin bringing back live prey for the kittens to practice on. Kittens will spend time out hunting with their mother before they become independent at about five months old. Wildcats generally mate for the first time in their second year.

Although they are often referred to nowadays as Scottish wildcats, wildcats were once found across the whole of Britain. They are now only found in Scotland, north of a line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Persecution from humans and habitat loss has reduced the population, so that now wildcats are Britain's most endangered mammal, with only 400 pure specimens left in the wild. The last Kentish wildcats are thought to have died out around 1750. In the past, wildcats were persecuted by gamekeepers because of the threat they posed to game birds and their chicks. Farmers also saw wildcats as a threat to newborn lambs. There was even considerable misunderstanding about the threat wildcats posed towards humans - until the 1950s, they were believed to kill humans, hanging by hooks in their tails from branches and then leaping for the throat! The biggest current threat to wildcats is hybridisation with feral domestic cats, of which there are thought to be approximately 100,000 in Scotland. The Scottish wildcat population has been calculated at up to 4000, but all except 400 are suspected to have hybridised with domestic cats and so are not true wildcats. Although wildcats are a protected species, there is little the law can do to prevent feral and domestic cats from mating with wildcats. Releasing captive-bred wildcats is not an effective way to boost the population of pure wildcats, as they are not used to hunting for themselves and tend not to survive very well. However, captive animals are vital at the moment to maintain numbers of this highly threatened species.

 

Did you know? Wildcats....

• Are completely untameable - kittens will hiss, spit and claw at humans even before their eyes have opened.
• Have full surround-sound hearing; each ear can swivel independently 180 degrees.
• In Scotland are larger, more heavily camouflaged and hunt across a wider range of habitats than their European cousins.
• May be at the root of Scottish stories of banshees; females will scream to attract a mate.
• The Catti people, an ancient tribe which worshipped the wildcat, gave their name to Caithness

 

8) Items needed - can you help?

We love to recycle and we can make use of many items that would otherwise go to landfill. At the moment we need the following items:

• Laptops (less than 5 years old) - for use by our conservation and keeper teams when visiting other sites and around Wildwood.
• Flat-Panel TVs - To enhance our educational facilities.
• Large plastic storage boxes with lids - for use in our new conservation building to store equipment safely out of the way of small creatures such as dormice and water voles should they get loose.

If you can help at all please contact the office on 01227 712 111, many thanks.

 

 

Fiona Paterson
Wildwood Trust
Tel 01227 712 111

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hollywood legend and Oscar Winner Vanessa Redgrave Launches New Wildwood Film

Wildwood launches a new documentary film at a premier hosted by Hollywood legend and Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave.

Hosted by Vanessa and her Director son, Carlo Nero, with a guest list including the UK's leading conservationists,  the premier will be held at the Soho Headquarters of 20^th Century Fox on Tuesday 18^th October.

The Film, entitled 'The Killing Fields', explores how a 'land Value Tax' would not only stimulate jobs and enterprise but put a value on all of our natural resources and encourage us to look after them.

Peter Smith, Wildwood Trust's Chief Executive, who is the main commentator to the film, said:

"If a 'Land Value Tax' was implemented this would mean hard to farm areas and marginal land of little use to society would naturally become land set aside for wildlife and allow the recreation of little wild woods across the country"

Land Value Tax has been hitting the headlines lately with politicians from all political parties recognising the role it could play in getting the country out of recession and addressing the growing problems of wealth division and tax avoidance.

Wildwood Trust is a charity which runs the Canterbury based Wildwood Woodland discovery Park, an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury.

*************END*************************

Peter is available for interview  peter@wildwoodtrust.org Mobile: 07986 828229 - get in touch with Peter if you wish to attend the premier – there will be broadcast quality HD footage and stills taken at the event which will be available.

Contact:

Peter Smith
Chief Executive
Wildwood Trust

e-mail:  peter@wildwoodtrust.org

Mobile: 07986 828229

Tel:  01227 712111
www.wildwoodtrust.org

 If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter then sign up on http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/news.htm#events

Wildwood Trust

Herne Common

Herne Bay

Kent

CT6 7LQ

Registered Charity No 1093702

Wildwood Trust is Kent's unique 'Woodland Discovery Park', a visitor attraction with a difference.

Wildwood is not only the best place to bring the family for a day out, but it is also a bold and innovative new charity, backed by the UK's leading wildlife conservationists. As a new charity Wildwood needs everyone's support in its mission to save our native and once native wildlife from extinction.

Wildwood Trust's vision is to bring back our true 'wildwood', a unique new way of restoring Britain's land to its natural state. This involves releasing large wild herbivores and developing conservation grazing systems to restore natural ecological processes to help Britain team with wildlife again.

The Wildwood 'Woodland Discovery Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here.

Set in a sublime 38 acres of Ancient Woodland, Wildwood offers visitors a truly unique experience. Come Nose to Nose with our secretive badgers, experience what it is like to be hunted by a real live pack of wolves, watch a charging wild boar or track down a beaver in his lodge.

Wildwood Trust runs a highly successful programme of Conservation Projects

- we are the UK's leading experts in rescuing and re-establishing colonies of Britain's most threatened mammal, the water vole. Wildwood Trust has pioneered the use of ancient wild horses to restore nature reserve. Wildwood Trust has been at the forefront of efforts to re-establish the European Beaver back in Britain where they belong. European Beaver have been proven to help manage water ways to bring back a huge range of plants, insects and animals.

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Wildwood welcomes new red fox

Wildwood is pleased to welcome Baxter, our new red fox.

The new addition brings number of red foxes at Wildwood to 3 and Baxter is getting on well with his new acquaintances, Wildwood residents Ellie and Chris.

Baxter was brought to Wildwood by The Fox Project, a charity based in Kent and the South East that helps sick and injured foxes and abandoned cubs, providing for their care, treatment and rehabilitation back to the wild.

Baxter, a young male, was rescued by the Fox Project team after being found abandoned as a cub. They cared for him until he was strong enough to fend for himself but sadly he is not suitable to be returned to the wild so has been brought to Wildwood to live with our existing foxes.

Wildwood's head keeper Paul Wirdnam said "Wildwood has worked with the Fox Project for a number of years, their team do a fantastic job have rehabilitated thousands of foxes just like Baxter. We are very proud to work with them"

Baxter is now on display in Wildwood's specially designed red fox enclosure and is  just one of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 01227 712 111

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury.

*************END*************************

FACTS - Red Fox Vulpes vulpes

Recognition:

Reddish orange fur, small dog sized; thick bushy tail in winter
Head/body length: average 67-72cm for males; 62-67cm for females; tail about 40cm
Weight: average 6-7kg for males; 5-6kg for females.

General Ecology:

A highly adaptable species, found in nearly all habitats from salt marshes and sand dunes to the tops of mountains. In Britain, more than elsewhere in Europe, foxes have also adapted to life in urban surroundings.

Foxes hold territories, the size of which depends on habitat; they can be as small as 0.2 square kilometres in urban areas or up to 40 square kilometres in hill country. Each territory is occupied by a fox family group. These often consist of a pair - dog fox and vixen - and their cubs. However, in areas where foxes are not persecuted and where there is a plentiful supply of food, a family group may contain several adults.

Foxes have a very wide and varied diet. On salt marshes they eat crabs and dead seabirds, while in upland regions carrion may be important, particularly during the winter months. In lowland rural areas small mammals, especially field voles and rabbits, are the major source of food, with earthworms, beetles, fruit (particularly blackberries) and small birds also being eaten.

Urban foxes glean large amounts of food. Much of this is deliberately supplied by local householders, and is supplemented by scavenging from dustbins, birdtables and compost heaps. Unlike rural foxes, those living in some urban areas eat many small birds and feral pigeons.

Usually only one vixen in a group produces cubs, once a year in the spring. Litters average four to five cubs which are born blind and deaf in a den (called an earth). The earth may be dug by the foxes, or they may enlarge a rabbit burrow or use holes made by other animals. In urban areas cubs are often born under garden sheds. A vixen stays in the earth with her cubs for the first two weeks of their lives. At about four weeks old, usually in late April or early May, cubs begin to come into the open, when they are often seen by city householders.

Foxes generally do not live very long; although they have been recorded up to nine years old in the wild, most survive only one or two years.

Conservation:

Foxes have little legal protection. In some areas they are subjected to much persecution including shooting, hunting, being snared and dug out with terriers and caught with lurchers (fast, long-legged dogs). Self-locking snares and gin traps, both of which were once used to catch foxes, have been outlawed. Free running snares are legal, but they must be inspected at least once a day. These humanitarian provisions are the sole protection received by foxes.

Despite their lack of protection foxes are widespread and abundant. The success of the fox is due to its adaptability and it is in no need of active conservation measures. There remain about 190 fox hunts in England and Wales, but these probably kill a small proportion of foxes compared to those captured in snares and killed by other means. In the early 1980s many foxes were killed each year for their fur, most of which was exported to West Germany. However, with the decline in fur prices, this trade has decreased substantially.

 

 

Fiona Paterson

Press Officer

Wildwood Trust

e-mail: fiona@wildwoodtrust.org

Tel: 01227 712111

www.wildwoodtrust.org

Wildwood Trust

Herne Common

Herne Bay

Kent

CT6 7LQ

Registered Charity No 1093702

Wildwood Trust is Kent's unique 'Woodland Discovery Park', a visitor attraction with a difference.

Wildwood is not only the best place to bring the family for a day out, but it is also a bold and innovative new charity, backed by the UK's leading wildlife conservationists. As a new charity Wildwood needs everyone's support in its mission to save our native and once native wildlife from extinction.

Wildwood Trust's vision is to bring back our true 'wildwood', a unique new way of restoring Britain's land to its natural state. This involves releasing large wild herbivores and developing conservation grazing systems to restore natural ecological processes to help Britain team with wildlife again.

The Wildwood 'Woodland Discovery Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here.

Set in a sublime 38 acres of Ancient Woodland, Wildwood offers visitors a truly unique experience. Come Nose to Nose with our secretive badgers, experience what it is like to be hunted by a real live pack of wolves, watch a charging wild boar or track down a beaver in his lodge.

Wildwood Trust runs a highly successful programme of Conservation Projects

- we are the UK's leading experts in rescuing and re-establishing colonies of Britain's most threatened mammal, the water vole. Wildwood Trust has pioneered the use of ancient wild horses to restore nature reserve. Wildwood Trust has been at the forefront of efforts to re-establish the European Beaver back in Britain where they belong. European Beaver have been proven to help manage water ways to bring back a huge range of plants, insects and animals.

 

 

 

 

 

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Wildwood goes nuts this autumn

Go nuts at Wildwood this autumn

Wildwood are asking wildlife lovers to help us harvest this year's bumper crop of autumn nuts to help feed our animals.

This year has been a bumper year for acorns, walnuts and sweet chestnuts, so much in fact that they are falling out of the trees faster than Wildwood's animal keepers can collect them, and Wildwood are asking for help collecting them to make sure we have enough to feed our animals this coming winter.

Wildwood's wild boar adore sweet chestnuts and acorns and our red squirrels can't wait to get their paws on this season's hazel nuts and walnuts. But they need your help. As a big thank you we are giving away a free children's return ticket, or a special prize for members, for every carrier bag full we receive.

You can collect the nuts from the paths around Wildwood or from trees in parks or your garden! As a charity we have to save every penny so we can spend it on our innovative conservation projects, that is why it is so important that we get help to harvest our natural food source.

To claim your free ticket or prize, simply hand in a carrier bag full of hazel nuts, acorns, walnuts or sweet chestnut (only one type of nut per bag and no conkers please!) to the shop.

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. For more information visit our website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 0871 7820081.

KEEP SAFE!

1. Whilst at Wildwood please stick to the marked paths. Don't feed any of the animals, some of them may bite and if an animal is given the wrong food or too much food it can make them very ill.

2. Don't eat any of the nuts; they could make you feel very sick!

 

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We have a range of pictures to go with this story of oaks acorns and animals that like to eat them including our wild boar. Or we can arrange a visit for photographers to see our animals eating acorns.

 

Top 10 Acorn and Oak Tree Facts

· Pigs love Acorns and up until recently many farmers allowed their pigs to run through woodlands in the autumn eating this excellent food which helps fatten them up so they can survive the winter

· Oak trees don't have acorns until they are at least 50 years old

· The Anglo-Saxon name for oak was aik, so the seed was known as aik-com. English oaks bear them on stalks, sessile acorns are stalkless.

· In a good year a mature oak tree may produce around 50,000 acorns.

· Oak trees are an important habitat for wildlife and provide a home for more species of wildlife than any other European tree. Squirrels and many birds shelter, feed or nest in the canopy and many insects eat the leaves. Mosses, lichens and algae and insects live on or in the bark, and acorns feed all sorts of animals such as deer, squirrels, rabbits, mice and birds. Even when a tree dies it continues to provide food and shelter for wildlife as it slowly decays. In fact an oak tree is really just like a big wildlife hotel!

· Oak trees are deciduous which means they lose their leaves in winter. Like other deciduous trees, oaks have wide flat leaves from which water is easily evaporated. In winter when the ground is cold or frozen, it is difficult for trees to take up enough water through their roots, so in autumn as the days become shorter and darker, trees lose their leaves and 'sleep' through the winter. Then in spring as the days become longer and brighter, the tree produces a whole new set of leaves.

· In May oak trees also produce two types of flowers. Male flowers hang in long catkins from the twigs and female flowers appear at the tips of the twigs. Pollen from the male flowers is carried to the female flowers by the breeze and the female flowers eventually turn into seeds called acorns. By the autumn the acorns are ripe and fall to the ground. Many are eaten by animals such as deer, squirrels, mice and rabbits and by birds such as jays and rooks. But hopefully some will land or be dropped on the soil and germinate the following spring.

· An oak seedling may reach a height of 30cm in its first year but it has a long way to go! Oak trees are very long lived and can live for 1000 years or more!

· There are two species of oak native to Britain:

- The English Oak (Quercus robur) is a massive tree and can grow up to 40 metres in height. It has a short trunk, long branches and a huge crown. The leaves have 4 or 5 lobes (rounded wiggles) on each side and don't have stalks. The acorns of English oaks are attached to the twig by long stalks.

- The Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) can also grow up to about 40 metres in height. It has a longer trunk than the English Oak. and a fan shaped crown. Its leaves are also a rounded wiggly shape in outline, but unlike the English oak, leaves of the sessile oak grow on stalks. The acorns are stubbier and they don't have stalks.

 

Fiona Paterson
Press Officer
Wildwood Trust
e-mail: fiona@wildwoodtrust.org
Tel: 01227 712111

www.wildwoodtrust.org

Wildwood Trust
Herne Common
Herne Bay
Kent
CT6 7LQ

Registered Charity No 1093702

Wildwood Trust is Kent's unique 'Woodland Discovery Park', a visitor attraction with a difference.

Wildwood is not only the best place to bring the family for a day out, but it is also a bold and innovative new charity, backed by the UK's leading wildlife conservationists. As a new charity Wildwood needs everyone's support in its mission to save our native and once native wildlife from extinction.

Wildwood Trust's vision is to bring back our true 'wildwood', a unique new way of restoring Britain's land to its natural state. This involves releasing large wild herbivores and developing conservation grazing systems to restore natural ecological processes to help Britain team with wildlife again.

The Wildwood 'Woodland Discovery Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here.

Set in a sublime 38 acres of Ancient Woodland, Wildwood offers visitors a truly unique experience. Come Nose to Nose with our secretive badgers, experience what it is like to be hunted by a real live pack of wolves, watch a charging wild boar or track down a beaver in his lodge.

 

Bushcraft Experience at Wildwood

Last spaces available on the Wildwood Bushcraft experience - Book Now!

Wildwood Bushcraft Experience - Saturday 15th October - 10-4pm - £35 per person (min age 12yrs)

Join our natural heritage officer, Steve Kirk for a day of bushcraft and survival techniques at Wildwood. The day is your chance to get back to nature and learn basic bushcraft techniques with tutition and practical activities. To book call the office on 01227 712 111

Practical activities will include:

• Building a debris shelter
• Foraging for wild plants and/or fungi
• Animal tracking using Wildwood's animals, wild animals and casts of tracks
• Water collection and filtering
• Fire lighting including fire by friction
• Preparing and cooking a rabbit *
• Atlatl (spear thrower) demonstration and practice (space permitting)
• Making cordage from natural materials

Learn:

• How to tune in to your environment using all your senses
• How to recognise some edible and useful wild plants and fungi
• Which animals we would have traditionally eaten, and how you would find enough food to survive
• Tracking skills
• How to prepare a rabbit for the pot*
• How to find and prepare water safely for drinking
• How to build a safe fire and some of the methods for lighting fires
• What plants make good tinder and their other uses beyond food
• Basic shelter building techniques

 

The day runs from 10-4pm (with one hour for lunch, bring a packed lunch or purchase lunch in our cafe). *Preparing a rabbit is an optional activity. Please note this event is subject to weather conditions.

 

To book please call the office on 01227 712 111

 

 

The Wildwood Team

Tel 01227 712 111