Go for a walk on the wild side

Boots and coats on, magnifying glass at the ready – follow nature expert Christopher Somerville’s tips for leading your family on a wildlife foray

 
It can be tricky getting young children to go out for a walk but when it's a real live wildlife walk on offer - "Let's have a splash in the puddles and see who can find enough little seeds to fill up a pot!" - wellies are fetched and arms held out for coat sleeves in record time. It's not all about spin, of course: you have to deliver the promised wildlife thrills but Mother Nature is pretty good at that sort of thing.

 

Where should we go?

It doesn't really matter where - there is as much wildlife in the ditches and bushes of a local park as there is on a nature reserve - you just have to get your eye in. Field margins are excellent. Hedges teem with fruits, as well as bird nests, and seeds and wildflowers hide in the roots, along with insects. Woods are brilliant. Water is always a great magnet - a pond, a ditch, a stream, a waterfall - as is the beach. An objective is good: a church, an old hill fort, a spinney, somewhere with a big view, anywhere you can be aiming for. Let the children look at the route beforehand on Google Earth.

 

Can anyone help?

If you're short of ideas or confidence, there's plenty of guidance. County Wildlife Trusts (www.wildlifetrusts.org) offer all sorts of child-friendly rambles and activities from dissecting owl pellets and exploring local woods to birdwatching and family flower walks. Among dozens of National Trust nature events (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events) are Tuesday Nature Trails at Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire, self-guided nature trails at Cragside in Northumberland and pond-dipping at Sissinghurst in Kent. Many nature reserves cater for children and families: for example, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk (www.pensthorpe.com) lays on bug walks, pond-dipping excursions, bird-feeding sessions and a young explorers quiz trail. The British Naturalists' Association (www.bna-naturalists.org) organises study days and wildlife rambles and has nature project ideas online.

 

What should we take?

You don't have to take anything bar your observation skills, but kids love gadgets, so feel free to arm yourself with a mini flower press (some National Trust shops sell them); tiny containers for seeds and feathers; small lightweight guides to birds, beasts, bugs, blooms (Ladybird books are good, as are Usborne's Lift-the-Flap series and the Field Studies Council's excellent laminated fold-out charts on owls, orchids, ferns, ladybirds, bugs on bushes and lots more); binoculars and a magnifying glass; coloured wax crayons for leaf/bark rubbings; pencils, elt-tips and sketchbook; geological hammer to split stones; penknife.

 

What should we do while we're on the walk?

Don't put too much pressure on to make it a route march or a ‘learn-or-be-damned' exercise - it's supposed to be fun! Gently touch a spider's web to see the spider run across. Smash a stone and see what's inside. Dam a stream and let the water gush out. Make a map as you go round. Collect all sorts of things. Award points or bribes for finding ten sorts of flowers, or a rabbit hole. Play Pooh-sticks off a footbridge and paddle in the stream. Climb trees - only a little way up will feel like a big deal to a child. Trap a blade of grass between your thumbs and blow. Pick and eat blackberries, hazelnuts and wild strawberries. Let the children take lots of photos.

 

Is it OK to collect things?

Fallen leaves, sticks, coloured earth, flakes of bark, empty seashells, feathers, nuts, crab and snail shells, animal bones and skulls - all OK. A good rule of thumb: if it's detached from its parent body and is not alive, fine. Frogspawn is debatable - frogs lay a huge number of eggs to ensure survival of the species, but frogs are declining across the UK. So it's better to return to the pond several times and see the different stages of egg into tadpole in situ. Leave pebbles on beaches. When it comes to flowers, only take small specimens from large patches of what are known to be common species - dandelions and daisies for instance, and avoid trespassing on private land or picking plants from nature reserves and protected areas. Only ever pick part of a plant, and never uproot one. If in any doubt, get the children to take a photo or make a sketch instead.

 

What should we do when we get home?

Be ready to make a mess: you can clear it up later. Great fun is unrolling a long piece of wallpaper on the floor and telling the story of the walk with words, drawings, photos, paintings and stuck-on treasures. Older children can make scrapbooks. Leaf collages are beautiful. Press seaweed or leaves between blotting paper in the pages of a book and revisit them the next day. Talk about it over tea. And don't forget to display what you've made and found - at home or on the class nature table if your child's school has one: it will be a constant source of chat and an inspiration for next time.

 
Bring back the nature table

We want to see a nature table in every primary school and to urge parents and grandparents to take children regularly to explore local parks, woodlands and fields. We are working with Jordans Cereals (www.jordanscereals.co.uk), which promotes wildlife through its conservation-grade farming system, and the Field Studies Council (www.field-studies-council.org), which provides centres across the UK for both schools and families. Visit www.allaboutyou.com/countryliving for more details.

 

 

---

 

If you enjoyed that, try these...

 

Visit the Country Living nature table special for all the latest updates on the Bring back the nature table campaign 

 

Visit our smallholding special for all the advice you'll need on starting your own 

 
Take a look at our step-by-step guide to moving to the country 

 

 

Subscribe Save up to 47%