Superb day of nature, art and investigation at the Bury Wildlife Festival
We’re pleased to report that a great time was had by all at the fifth Bury Wildlife Festival in the Abbey Gardens in May. Lasting a full week, several schools immersed themselves in wildlife on Friday, followed by the main event on Saturday – stalls, talks, walks and bug safaris. Then, starting on Sunday, a very successful four-day exhibition in the Cathedral cloisters.
Three schools brought 180 children along, who spent Friday creating art inspired by things they saw and heard on guided walks, all ably lead by Jackie and Jac. Their art was gathered up and while the main event was happening the next day, Daisy set up an exhibition in the cloisters.
Warm sunshine and blue sky greeted us on Saturday when around 1,000 people took part in talks at the stalls and walks with various experts. Non-stop bug safaris were led by Gill and Sue with our walkers recording 126 observations of 58 species, the bulk of which were insects and spiders (because as you know, spiders aren’t insects!).
Ross kicked off the stall talks with a load of rubbish…! Of course, I mean figuratively, not literally – he talked about the impact of litter on our environment, our mental health and our wildlife. He was delighted to discover how many people actively clean their local green spaces and was equally pleased to welcome lots of new volunteers. Also featured were several pieces of antique rubbish in a pop-up Litter Museum with some items dating from the early 1980s and 90s. One crisp packet featured a Spice Girl. It’s startling evidence of how persistent litter can be.
Every time a new talk started, Sharon and Libby moved the chairs and benches to the featured stall so the stallholder could address their audience with all their props around them. We had motivating talks from, among others, Larkwood Lakes, Sustainable Plants, Suffolk Prickles Hedgehog Rescue, RLCP, the Abbey Reborn project, Suffolk Action for Wildlife and Suffolk Birds.
The walks were no less interesting. They started off with a dawn chorus walk, then a beginners’ introduction to 100 plants and an amusing stroll with Acorn Ecology called “Be Enlichened”. Who’d have thought lichens have such interesting lives?
Alongside the walks and talks, children and adults alike made bug hotels out of various recycled materials and natural objects. Volunteers had been collecting these for months, storing them in Gill’s garden before the big day. Hopefully people have now installed their hotels at home so the bugs have had somewhere to shelter since the weather well and truly broke a few days ago.
Our exhibition was entitled ‘Revealing our Living Landscape’. Designed to explore the sights, sounds and feelings you get from a walk in the Bury water meadows, the school children’s art was accompanied by various bits and pieces from the meadows themselves. It was all skillfully curated by Daisy and supported by the Abbey Reborn project, who gave us the space in the cloisters to use. Many people attended, either having heard about it before, or simply because they were walking through the cloisters. Jac and her helpers had recorded an intriguing soundtrack of insects going about their lives underwater in the ditches, as well as the dawn chorus on the Butts. Played throughout the exhibition, the birdsong made for a calming backdrop in the cloisters.
We’re grateful to everyone who came along or gave up their time to make this event happen. Make sure you join us next year when we’ll be doing it all again!
Jillian Macready and Emma Wilkin
