Settle Eco-Explorers 2022 at Lower Winskill - including Lichen and Wildflower Walk

There will be a similar event 15-16 August 2023. For details and to book contact sally@thewatersons.org

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Families enjoyed two days of nature activities. up at Lower Winskill Farm on 16 an 17 Aug 2022, in an event organised by Churches Together in Settle: 8 families on Tuesday, 12 on Wednesday.

(See Craven Herald Report here)

Activities included painting (and printing) wildflowers, a walk to the stream to look for stream animals, a geology walk to look for fossils and stand on the glacial erratic, nature games; and a wild flower and lichen walk (led by myself.. more below).  We raked hay. We had lunch. We sang songs.  

The event was spearheaded by Sally Waterson with lots of help from her husband Keith and from myself. I helped them put up the tent. 

Others helped too - Richard brought his trailer tent. Les ran nature games. The artist ran Painting sessions. Amanda led the group to the stream. Several people helped prepare food.

The weather held good.. though strong winds early in the Wednesday morning woke Keith and Sally at 5am  so they drove up to put extra guy ropes round the tent.

Our sessions were 1 hour this year (which worked out at 1 1/4 hour)  - not just 45 min as we had done when we ran the event in 2019 (before covid), and this worked better.

We were pleased on the Wednesday to be joined by three families staying at the Women's Centre at Horton.

Lichen and Wildflower Walk:

I was keen to use Frank Dobson's Lichen book (our UK standard Lichen book with pictures).  People in the British Lichen Society are celebrating August as a month to remember the contribution to Lichenology of Frank Dobson .

Looking at Lichens on Tuesday, using hand lenses and Frank Dobson's book

Looking at Lichens on Wednesday using
three versions of the book

On Wednesday I had hoped to mark the edge of a lichen thallus with two dots of red paint, take a photo of the lichen with the children, and invite them to come back next year or in 3 years time, and see how much the lichen has grown. 

However the logistics of this with 8 excited children got beyond me (see picture), so I contented myself with a photo of the group, and of one boy measuring Caloplaca flavescens with a ruler (mm scale).

Photo by Lucas of Caloplaca flavescens

Our walk progressed through the field to the pasture
 beyond with limestone pavement.

Although it is hard to distinguish what is going on, this is the underneath of a leaf from a rose bush, with a spiders nest. The green spider is near the bottom left- you can see its pink legs. The centre and top right are all the remains of prey that have been caught in the web of the nest. There are lots of tiny baby spiders bottom left. 

Afterwards, Johnnie went and tied the twig back onto the bush from which he had taken it.  

Using sticky back plastic to attach our named flowers to card.

Lunch, and songs

And here are pictures  

 

Samson's toe - glacial erratic
- see the dark greywacke boulder
-on the light grey limestone below.

We hope to continue Eco-Explorers  in September as a fortnightly activity for more local children meeting at 4pm to 5.30pm - usually (but not always) at Settle Methodist Church on alternate Mondays - Events will usually take the form of a walk 

Then we may turn to one meeting a month on a Sunday afternoon as the evenings close in in late Autumn.

If you are interested please contact Sally  sally@thewatersons.org