Our Summer Leys visitor centre has been open for over a month now, and it is great to be up and running. The visitor centre is a great way for us to connect with visitors to one of our most popular reserves, and the income generated will support the management of this beautiful area for both wildlife and people. The centre houses a refreshment kiosk, a small retail area and a space for events and activities. Our refreshments have been very popular in particular, as visitors are very pleased to be able to get a drink at the end of their walks around the site. We are now pleased to be also selling ice lollies, which we’re sure will be a welcome addition now we are getting some warmer weather. Our retail area houses some great wildlife items for both adults and children, such as books, nest boxes and binoculars.
To celebrate our opening, we held a launch weekend on the first weekend of April, where we welcomed everyone to our brand new space with open arms! We held some ‘taster’ sessions for families, allowing them to have a sneak peek at the events and activities we will be running at the centre, and to get involved with some wildlife fun such as looking for mini-beasts and birdwatching. We also had a guided walk on the Sunday, which had a great turn out and was led by one of our knowledgeable volunteers.
After our launch weekend we dived head first into Easter holidays, which was a great couple of weeks for us! We held activities such as making bug hotels, a family birdsong walk and painting ceramic egg bird feeders, which were great fun for all! Throughout the holidays we also had drop- in crafts on most days, and an Easter egg trail running around the site, where visitors could grab a question sheet from the centre and hunt for clues on eggs- to then receive a prize at the end.
Since opening we have also run some Wildlife Wanders, which are a great way to learn more about the incredible wildlife living at the reserve. We have more of these scheduled for the coming months, so please do book on if you would like to learn more about Summer Leys, or to get out for a walk with people with similar interests. We have also run a couple of willow weaving events, where visitors were able to create some willow obelisk plant supports to take home with them. We are planning to run lots more of these at the centre- so keep your eyes peeled for coming events. We have had some great creations so far and can’t wait to see more!
At the end of March we also had another exciting delivery- this time of Highland Cows! Tia, Tallulah, Tatiana and Tilly have settled in nicely on the reserve, happily munching away on some tough vegetation and trampling on overgrown areas, to help us in our conservation efforts to create an array of habitats and plant heights for different wildflowers to flourish. They will make their way around the reserve over the coming months, before moving on later on in the summer. Thank you to everyone who donated to our appeal to buy the cows.
We have also had some great wildlife sightings recently, which we update on our sightings board in the centre regularly. We have had many of our summer migrants returning such as swifts, swallows, terns and hobbies (our only migratory falcon in the UK!), as well as lots of sand martins taking interest in our sand martin bank. We are also regularly hearing many cuckoos around site, which is always a wonderful sound- but points to anyone that manages to spot them!
If you haven’t already, please do pop in to our new centre. Our friendly staff and volunteers will happily chat to you about our wildlife and give you tips for visiting the reserve. We have lots more events coming up, especially over May half term- these include making bird feeders, helping hedgehogs and a family bush craft day. Please visit here for more details on our events, we hope to see you soon!
