Last year SACWG’s garden wildlife survey proved very popular and worthwhile, and we were encouraged by the participation and the findings. See the full report here. Despite all our efforts in ensuring the surveys and the training were appropriate and would appeal to children, we failed to engage them. Robert McFarlane’s heart-rending book on ‘The Lost Words,” documents his findings on how children are growing up with an increasing gulf between them and the natural world; findings that resonate in my own volunteering work with school children, who often don’t know the names of even our most common wildflowers.
So – undaunted, volunteers within SACWG have opted to take identification skills to the school children this summer. Our tentative offers have been warmly welcomed by the primary school in Church Stretton. We are working through the summer term with the Y5 and Y6 pupils during their weekly Forest School sessions. We began by planting out wildflower plugs and seeds before Easter; not ideal timing but most have survived. 
During the summer term, we are focusing on the identification of wildflowers, and the most common insects’ children are likely to find – such as Ladybirds, Bumblebees and Shield Bugs. The children have been very responsive and interested. It is a privilege to be able to continue this work with the same groups of children over several months – and hopefully we will return next year. We have received a generous grant for this work from the Shropshire Hills Conservation Fund, to buy equipment, ID guides and pay for training our volunteers. The funding has paid for some great ‘bug catchers’ with magnifying lenses which the children are handling well. The Bumblebee session was a notable success with children beginning to remember some of their names, in particular the ‘teddy bear’ bumble bee (Common Carder).
Photo Credits Dr Isabel Carter
If you’re interested in improving your own ID skills, do pop our next Bioblitz into your diaries. It will be in Cudwell Meadow (on the road to Brockhurst and the allotments) from 9.30 on Saturday 11th July. Shropshire Mammals are helping us with setting mammal traps to see what is living in the meadow, so we’ll start by opening the traps. We’ll have plenty of equipment and ID guides to share. Bring drinks and a picnic.
