This autumn there are lots of free-of-charge nature-themed activities coming up for you to get involved in!
Firstly, on Saturday 3 October, we will be taking part in the Thornbury-wide Fun Palaces event, giving you a chance to create and decorate self-watering herb planters from single-use plastic waste. This is a drop-in event where you will get the chance to make and take away your planter and chat to us about topics such as supporting wildlife locally and local food resilience.
Later that month, we will be joining with the Avon Wildlife Trust's Community Nature Reserve team to bring you two mini pond workshops. At these events we will share with you the importance of ponds for wildlife and give you hints and tips about introducing watery spaces into your own gardens. There will be a demonstration of how to build a mini pond and we will even provide you with a kit to take home! This event will be bookable and places are limited.
Next we have a fascinating talk from Biodiversity Officer Sally on the extraordinary European Eel and its ecological and cultural significance to our area. The West of England Combined Authority-funded Linking the Levels project will share with you the story of these, sadly endangered, creatures, charting their voyage from the Sargasso to the Severn. This will be an evening event that you will need to book for. There will be teas and coffees on hand afterwards and a chance to chat informally about ways you can support nature in Thornbury.
Carrying on our watery theme, during the October half-term we will be bringing a freshwater outdoor lab to the Mundy Playing Fields with Sally from the Linking the Levels project. During this drop-in, family friendly event, Sally will share with us some of the fascinating mini-beasts that make their homes beneath the surface of our streams, rhynes and ponds. There will also be some watery-themed crafts for all the family to take part in.
Finally, we will be looking for eager volunteers to help us plant up a new memorial woodland and wellbeing garden adjacent to Thornbury Cemetery. The first phase of this new project will involve planting native trees (with the help of the Forest of Avon project), along with native bulbs.
So, as the nights start to draw in and the weather turns cooler, there will be lots of chances for you to get outside and connect with nature. Just keep an eye on the Climate and Nature events page of the website, follow us on social media, and look out for our events posters around the town for more details.