Tower and Town, December 2019 (view the full edition)Big Forest Find at Savernake ForestOn the 5th of October, Forestry England staff and volunteers held the Big Forest Find at Savernake Forest. Throughout the day, guided walks and family activities investigated a wide variety of wildlife in the forest, from lichens, fungi and veteran trees to minibeasts, birds and bats. The team were thrilled to be joined by local wildlife experts who led these engaging and informative activities, including birdwatcher Trevor Pinchen, fungi enthusiast Fred Gillam, Hayley Herridge of Buglife, Paul Rutter of Plantlife and Wiltshire Bat Group members Gareth Harris and Lisa Wade. Attendance on the day was fantastic, with 145 visitors of all ages taking part in these walks and activities. A standout species recorded during the event was the rare and elusive barbastelle bat, which was picked up on bat detectors during the last walk of the day. Being an autumnal event, fungi were a key highlight of the day and the fungi walk was one of the most popular. Forestry England staff from across West District were joined by ten volunteers, including expert walk guides and volunteer facilitators who recorded wildlife observations, collected visitor feedback and generally helped to ensure the walks and activities ran smoothly. Many of these volunteers were new to Forestry England and several are now keen to get involved in other projects. It was fantastic to have so much support, many thanks to those volunteers who gave up their time to help deliver the event and to all the visitors who came along and took part. The team received lots of positive feedback, with many visitors expressing an interest in attending similar events in the future and telling us that taking part in the Big Forest Find has increased their appreciation and knowledge of forest wildlife. One of the Big Forest Find's key aims was to encourage members of the public to record their wildlife observations using the free iNaturalist app. This was very successful at Savernake with 231 observations uploaded to the app to date. Behind the scenes, keen volunteers are working through these observations and helping to identify each species.  Bird-ringing  Lichen Abby Paravani |