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Welcome to Macclesfield Wildlife Explorers

Our new season has started!

Next indoor meeting –

Monday 20th May 2019 Insects, Spiders & Myriapods – Life with Lots of Legs

Next outdoor meeting –

Sunday 28th April 2019 Dawn Chorus

You can join our group by emailing us or by coming along to one of our indoor meetings.

To see What’s Coming Soon, or to download a pdf copy of our current programme, please ‘click’ here

To see Recent Events, please ‘click’ here

To see Recent Press Coverage, please ‘click’ here

 

Click here to read reports for the Big Schools Birdwatch 2018!

 

Our old website still exists as the archive of Reports of Meetings held prior to September 2013.
Click here to view our old meeting reports.

 

Wednesday 10th April 2019: Tytherington Club Holiday Club

Posted on by April 10, 2019

Leaders Dave, Jen, Tina and Will visited The Tytherington Club Holiday Club to talk about Homes for Wildlife and help children make bird boxes for use in the club grounds. The session began with everyone looking at a whole range of different manmade wildlife homes and working out which wild creatures they were designed for. The answers were deduced using the size of the animal and position of the home, from a hedgehog house to a barn owl box and from a butterfly shelter to bat box the solutions arrived at were all correct. Everyone then designed their own home … Click here for more information…..

Sunday 24th March 2019: Conservation Work – Macclesfield Forest

Posted on by April 2, 2019

After a quick welcome from Ranger Martin Winder, a safety talk and instructions on how to safely complete the tasks for the day a large group of Wildlife Explorers headed to the Education Area. Armed with gardening gloves, a selection of tools and lots of enthusiasm families headed to the education area. As well as tidying up the tree shelters in the hedgerow and removing dead plants, saplings from the tree nursery were transplanted to the hedge, filling in spaces and extending the hedgerow. There was also plenty of bramble to clear and fallen branches were collected into piles for … Click here for more information…..

Monday 18th March 2019: Secrets of the Rainforest

Posted on by April 8, 2019

The most recent indoor meeting for Wildlife Explorers focussed on Rainforests and the incredible variety of life these habitats support. The group learned about the work the RSPB does managing the Harapan Rainforest in Sumatra. We are losing rainforests across the world at an alarming rate and yet the Harapan Rainforest sees local communities coming together to restore and protect the area. The forest is home to incredible creatures from Sun Bears to Sumatran Tigers and Tapirs. After measuring and comparing their height against the height of various rainforest birds and animals Explorers got crafty and coloured cards depicting rainforest … Click here for more information…..

Tuesday 26th February 2019: Birdwatching Session at Puss Bank Nursery

Posted on by March 20, 2019

Volunteers from Macclesfield RSPB Wildlife Explorers visited the nursery at Puss Bank to talk about garden birds and do a spot of hands-on birdwatching in the school grounds. Before we headed outside on a short birdwatching walk, each group of children learned a little bit about some of our most common wild birds – we talked about their colours and what they sound like. We were also very careful to make sure that everyone understood the safety rules for using binoculars. The unseasonal warm and sunny February weather was perfect for birdwatching. Lots of birds were calling and we listened … Click here for more information…..

Sunday 10th February 2019: Signs of Wildlife Treasure Hunt – Poynton Coppice

Posted on by February 12, 2019

Despite a soggy start to the day lots of Wildlife Explorer families gathered at Poynton Coppice for a ‘Signs of Wildlife’ Treasure Hunt. As well as brilliantly rhymed wildlife-themed clues (honestly!) – families had to complete a series of challenges on the way round the treasure trail including listing the birds we heard singing, determining the tree species on site from looking at their buds and identifying lichen. Family members of all ages took on searching out the clues and completing the challenges with great gusto. Admittedly there was one tiny glitch with the clues – Tina and Susan had … Click here for more information…..