The annual Bugs, Birds & Beasts nature day for the general public returned to Imperial’s rural campus at Silwood Park, Ascot on 30 July.

Once again Silwood Park was transformed into a bustling hive of activity as scientists and volunteers delighted children and their parents with an array of fascinating stalls about the world of nature around us.

Imperial’s Silwood Park campus, located in the picturesque surrounds of Sunningdale village, near Ascot, is a leading international centre for research and teaching in ecology, evolution, and conservation. Bugs, Birds & Beasts Day takes place at Silwood each summer, allowing the campus to throw open its doors to the general public and offer them activities such as pond dipping, birds of prey flight shows and butterfly hunts, learning how nature can enrich our lives.

The family-friendly event is organised by the team from Imperial’s Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, headed up by Director Professor Vincent Savolainen, with a fine collection of exhibitors handpicked by Facilities Manager Dr Catalina Estrada-Montes. The event aims to welcome visitors of all ages to Silwood and encourage them to engage with the natural world through a range of science-focused activities.

Professor Savolainen said: ‘Children are often less engaged with nature these days, and Bugs, Birds & Beasts Day aims to change this by providing hands-on wildlife experiences to school kids.’

"Children are often less engaged with nature these days, and Bugs, Birds & Beasts Day aims to change this by providing hands-on wildlife experiences to school kids." Professor Vincent Savolainen Director, Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet

Stalls were manned by Imperial Silwood Park staff and students, who exhibited bumblebees, carnivorous plants and an interactive tree of life amongst others. New Silwood collaborators CABI ran a plant clinic where plant doctors gave advice to visitors about plants in need of some TLC.

And external nature-focused organisations participated including the Butterfly Conservation, Wildlife in Ascot and the Berkshire Nature Recovery Strategy-RBWM amongst many more. 

Biodiversity in the garden

Families enthusiastically engaged in making seed bombs to increase biodiversity in their gardens with Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust.

Clare Hegarty, Nature and Wellbeing Officer: said ‘What an amazing day our staff had at the Bugs, Birds and Beasts Day at Silwood Park. Despite the very warm day hundreds of families attended the superbly organised event. The interest in the ideas we shared to make gardens more wildlife friendly was great to see.’

Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Participants were asked to think about where Berkshire nature needs help the most and how people can benefit from giving nature a hand.

"The day was a brilliant mix of academia and family friendly activities. What a clever way to engage people with cutting edge science happening on our doorstep!" Rosie Street Berkshire Nature Recovery Strategy

They chose a habitat they deemed important and selected five species to sit around that habitat, using hexagonal images, and had to choose what they thought was most important to protect in an area.

Rosie Street, Berkshire Nature Recovery Strategy Manager, Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, said ‘The day was a brilliant mix of academia and family friendly activities. What a clever way to engage people with cutting edge science happening on our doorstep!’

Animal Masks

Visitors were provided with arts and crafts materials, and the aim was for the children to make a paper plate mask of an animal whilst volunteers chatted to them and helped with any tricky bits of the cutting out. The stand was aimed at younger visitors – one mask-maker this year was just two years old!

"I love helping run the stall at Bugs Day. We had some really gorgeous creations this year, as well as lots of enthusiastic young people who said they want to be scientists when they’re older." Nell Pates PhD student, Pearse Lab

Nell Pates from the Pearse Lab said: ‘I love helping to run the stall at Bugs, Birds and Beasts Day. It’s a lovely opportunity to engage with the children as well as their parents and carers. We talk about the animals they choose and see if they know any fun facts about them, and then we talk about where those animals live, what adaptations they have that help them to survive, and what the changing world might mean for them. We had some really gorgeous creations this year, as well as lots of enthusiastic young people who said they want to be scientists when they’re older.’

Beneficial microbes

One stall was all about microbes and the ways that we are trying to harness them to do useful things for us. The volunteers created displays for their work on beneficial microbes to increase crop growth and protect against pathogen, on plastic-degrading microbes, and on electricity generation from microbial fuel cells. This included showing off their hydroponic lettuce growing set-up, and having visitors test the voltage of a microbial fuel cell.

Tom Smith, Research Associate at Silwood Park, said: ‘We had a great time talking to people about our work on microbes. I think the children were most captivated by our demonstration of microbial plastic degradation using Lego, and many were keen to build a microbe out of craft supplies! Everyone was very happy to share their opinions about the future of plastic use and recycling.’

A visitor's view

It was a really successful event with around 400 people attending.

Visitor Demelza Samson said: ‘We had a brilliant day. My son had the best time chatting to everyone and engaging with all the stalls and activities - he was in his absolute element! We ran out of time to do everything so I’m sure that we will be back next year!’

Looking to the future

Bugs, Birds & Beasts Day is always looking to grow and develop. This year there was a shuttle bus from Ascot to the campus to allow visitors from outside the locality to easily attend and because of this people visited who had never seen the campus before. Next year there are plans to include new stalls both from external exhibitors and from colleagues in other departments across Imperial. The event is of course a fun day out for all the family but more than this, it aims to change people’s mindsets both in their day to day actions and in their aspirations for the future, so the team are keenly monitoring impact in this area. A number of the youngsters who attended the event this year left excited about the possibility of becoming a scientist one day.

If you’re interested in participating in Bugs, Birds & Beasts Day next year, please contact Emily Govan.