IT’S MEADOWS Day this weekend, a midsummer celebration of the country’s grasslands and wild spaces.
As well as offering residents an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of wildflower habitats, it also aims to raise awareness of the loss of an estimated 97% of these wild spaces since the 1930s.
Around the country organisatios will be hosting family-friendly wildlife events.
In Caversham, Meadows Day will be celebrated at Clayfield Copse.
Visitors to what has been described as ‘Reading’s best natural open space’ will be able to enjoy guided walks, chat with bee keepers, and pay a visit to the bees.
They can talk with members of a local bat group and meet one of their rescued bats, and for budding paleontologists, there’s an opportunity to examine fossils from millions of years ago.
There will also be a chance to see slow worms, identify butterflies, count the number of wild flowers in bloom, and marvel at spiders’ spinning workmanship.
And for those aiming high, there will be an opportunity to learn how to measure the height of an oak tree – without having to climb it.
For a free day of fun for all the family, people should make their way to Clayfield Copse on Saturday, July 4.
The Meadows Day event is organised by conservation volunteers Friends of Clayfield Copse, which is part of Econet.
It will run from 10.30am until 1.30pm.
A guided Meadows and Woods walk will take place at 10.45am, followed by a Family Walk at 11.15am.
For information, visit the group’s Facebook page, and: archive.econetreading.org.uk
