FOR seven days from 24th to 20th June, a quiet valley in Broad Chalke is transformed into the world’s largest history festival – and this year’s Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival promises to be even more exciting and stimulating, bringing history to life from the horrors of the Black Death to the challenges of…
KEEPERS at Longleat Safari Park are celebrating the arrival of seven tiny wolf pups. The bumper litter of European wolves, which were born last month, are being carefully looked after by mum Eliska and dad Jango. The protective parents periodically pick the cubs up and move them between three separate underground dens in their woodland…
FEARLESS Kiana is a lioness with a head for heights – the eight year old Longleat lioness climbed a 20 metre tall sycamore tree in the safari park. She seemed more like a mountain lion as she made short work of went up the giant tree in her wooded enclosure. Keepers say she has always…
MIDSUMMER is almost on us (where did the year go!) and Dorset Wildlife Trust has a host of interesting and exciting events, many of them linked to the Get Dorset Buzzing theme to increase awareness of the importance of insects and pollinators in the environment. Tuesday 25th to Thursday 27th – Wildflowers, orchids and grasses identification…
ONE of Wiltshire’s hidden delights, the idyllic garden of historic Hatch House near Tisbury, the home of Sir Henry and Lady Rumbold, holds its annual open garden on Sunday 2nd June, raising funds for the Salisbury Hospice charity. It is a popular event for all the family – a chance to see the 17th century…
THE rites of spring have come to Stourhead as the National Trust revives the Romans’ annual Floralia tradition. Floralia was a festival in honour of Flora, the goddess of flowers, whose memory is celebrated in a charming temple that looks out across the lake at the centre of this world famous 18th century landscape garden…
THE National Trust’s Brownsea Island, which has been voted Britain’s favourite nature reserve, is managed by a team of dedicated countryside rangers. On Wednesday 29th May, during half term, young visitors will have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a ranger for a day, undertaking practical tasks and learning some bushcraft skills….
THE Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has thanked members of the public for their generous support of a fund-raising appeal to run the annual Little Tern Recovery Project at Chesil Beach this summer. Each year from April to August the project protects Chesil Beach’s Little Tern colony from predators and disturbance, to give…
THE Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has arranged a weekly series of walks to discover the elusive nightjars at the RSPB Arne nature reserve, on Thursday evenings in June and July, starting at 8pm. Ellie Sunderland, RSPB Arne visitor experience officer, says: “Experience one of our most mysterious birds in a stunning and…
SPECTACULAR Emperor dragonflies are emerging from the ponds at the National Trust’s Tyntesfield estate during late May and early June each year. Emperor dragonflies (Anax Imperator) are Britain’s largest dragonfly species, with a wingspan of up to 10cm, and up to 100 new adults will shed their underwater skins and take off from the water….