The Trust took advantage of the two May Bank Holidays to provide visitors with two contrasting opportunities to learn more about our Coldwell Horseshoe reserves.
On Monday 6th May, our reserves team led two guided tours of the entire Horseshoe, highlighting the reserves’ many splendid landscape features, explaining the importance of their position in relation to other local wildlife and nature reserves and enabling visitors to better understand our plans for our new reserve of Coldwell Bank. The Coldwell Parrock orchids and cowslips put on an excellent display for everyone, too!
By way of contrast, during the half-term week at the end of May, our Coldwell reserves played host to a family day of fun on hands and knees, for our Get Close to Nature event. The event began with the opening of a couple of moth traps which had been out across the reserves overnight. Visitors were treated to a total of more than 200 moths of 24 different species, including some quite spectacular ones to marvel at. (All were carefully released afterwards, into shrubby cover where the birds wouldn’t immediately spot them, in case you’re wondering.)
Various local experts were on hand throughout the morning to assist visitors in hunting for and identifying the many things that live and grow on the reserves. Everyone had great fun seeing what could be spotted growing or crawling amongst the grass, or gathered up in sweep nets. And it even stayed dry all morning for us, too! We look forward to hosting more events like this across our reserves in the future. Many thanks to those who gave up their time to come along to help make the day a great success.
