Day 32 Go on a treasure hunt..

Callington Road local nature reserve is an oasis for wildlife in the middle of a busy urban environment in south Bristol. Download one of our nature journal's made specifically for the site, to help you discover how bats feed, which tree could help to make an artificial limb, how fast dragonflies can fly and much, much more. With lots of different wildlife to spot throughout the year, stories and memories from the local community and even a treasure map with clues for you to find, this journal will keep you busy all day!

Day 28 Have a hoot at Portbury Wharf

Visit our wonderful nature reserve at Portbury Wharf tonight for an evening walk with the warden, Bernie D'arcy for a chance to see owls, bats, foxes, and perhaps even a water vole.You'll need to book a place but the walk is free to everyone. Craig Vale said of the last walk: "thanks to Bernie for a lovely evening, we were even lucky enough to see some owls in flight." 

Portbury Wharf is unusual in that it was created as a condition of planning permission being granted for the adjoining Port Marine housing development. Bernie D'arcy (warden) and Neil Hutton (community officer) were employed in 2010 and work on the reserve to maintain and develop the wetlands habitat for wildlife and provide opportunities for the wider community to discover and learn more about the reserve. Large pools, ditches, marshland and of course, the estuary, provide invaluable habitats for species such as water voles and otters, migrating birds and invertebrates including the rare, hairy dragonfly.

Find out more about all the different species that can be found at this lovely wetlands reserve here, find out about the fantastic breeding barn owls here and follow Portbury Wharf on facebook to get news about family events, wildlife sightings and more.

Day 23 Go batty and have a great night out

Have you experienced the magic out walking through a wood at dusk and coming across a bat as it darts around the twilight sky in search of its supper? Did you know that if you live in South Gloucestershire, you can visit your local library and pick up a bat audio trail pack with a bat detector and all the information you need to go out exploring one of the bat audio trails created by South Gloucestershire Council's Wild Roots and Wildways Projects.

There are four award winning trails in Hanham, Warmley, Wick and Willsbridge and you can download guides to the trails here and a trail pack, with information about how to use the bat detector and more information about bats in general, here.

If you love all things batty, then take a look at our Bats for Bath website, this contains a podcast for our Browns Folly nature reserve which has a series of old mines, providing a fantastic winter roosting spot for several species of bat. Take a walk around the site and discover what makes it a valuable home to bats, learn about the importance of the species rich grasslands that provide so much food for the 12 species of bat that live here.

Finally, did you know....... that if we had ears as big as the long eared bat, they would reach down to our waists! 

Day 15 : Bat Walk at Tyntesfield

Wrap up warm and take the whole family out for an evening of adventure as you search out some of our most elusive nocturnal creatures. Explore Tyntesfield at dusk on a guided family-friendly bat walk on Wednesday the 15th of Aug at 7.45 to 9.45pm - Booking Essential. For further details and directions click here.
If you want to learn more about bats and how they use echolocation check out this Avon Wildlife Trust  'Bats for Bath' website. There are lots of podcasts to listen to that will help you become a bat expert in no time.

Day 3 : Discover the bats of Browns Folly

Go bat spotting at dusk on Browns Folly nature reserve

Ancient woodland, quarries and wildflower grasslands make Browns Folly a great place to explore and at dusk you can discover some of its more nocturnal inhabitants.Click here to download a walk showing what to look out for - including Bat Caves! 

This extensive website tells you everything about bats and this special Avon wildlife Trust nature reserve. You can listen to bat podcasts and learn how bat detectors work on this site too. There's even a handy guide to building your own bat box for the garden to attract them to your area.

Directions and overview of the reserve can be found here