Posts for April, 2024

Join foraging expert Tamara Colchester on a three-hour spring walk that will introduce participants to around 15 wild, edible and medicinal trees, flowers and plants, along with their etymology, folklore and how best to prepare them.

Learn as you go about poisonous plants, and how to safely identify and avoid them. This meditative, sensory walk will take you into the riotous abundance of spring, ending in a foraged herbal tea with delicious cakes and biscuits prepared with wild ingredients.

Ticket price: £45 per person, children (under 16 years old) £20.

Time: 10.30am – 1.30pm

When: Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th May

Where: The walk will take roughly 3 hours and will remain within the Gardens & Grounds of Blair Castle, so an ability to manage this distance is required.

About foraging expert, Tamara Colchester

Over the past eight years, Tamara has been studying wild plants and her journey began when she was carrying out research for a film about hunter-gatherers. Inspired by her initial findings, she embraced the idea of discovering how people can live off the land in the Northern Hemisphere and in particular the UK. She has built up an incredible knowledge of plants, their food and medicinal benefits, as well as becoming attuned to the seasons and understanding how our eating requirements change and adapt with the weather. In addition to learning about the plants, herbs, trees and flowers in the UK, she has also taken time to understand animal tracking, as to survive in the Northern Hemisphere an omnivore diet is essential.

Discover how to identify the smells & tastes, learn the language & understand what you enjoy!

Join us for a one hour class and learn how to use your breath to unwind, de-stress, relax and recharge your body!

Booking is required as spaces are limited.

Call 013397 53435 to reserve.

Like it or not, Orang Utans are one of our closest relatives and are now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. This talk will describe their relationships to the other ‘great apes’ and their role in the forest ecosystem. Now threatened by industrial-scale farming for palm oil, attempts to help them are ongoing on these islands. We will describe some of the conservation efforts and discuss the future for this glorious mammal.

While almost everyone has heard of Charles Darwin, rather fewer have heard of A R Wallace, yet he independently recognised that species were not immutable and that natural selection was the driving force behind plant and animal evolution. Less financially independent than Darwin, his ideas were developed during his travels as a naturalist and collector through what are now Malaysia and Indonesia. He was the first to appreciate the profound differences in the fauna between the east and west of the region, leading to the recognition of the ‘Wallace Line’ between Bali and Lombok. This talk will also report on his role in one of the greatest acts of altruism in science.

Common or King? Velvet or Surf? Nope, not hotel room booking options, but just a few of the seaduck species to look out for along our North Sea coasts… Especially for Seaduck Week, Mark looks at their identification, life stories and much more.

Can this isolated, relict population of this beautiful and once common migrant be saved? The NYTDP is giving them a fighting chance! Find out more in Mark’s talk….

Iolo is a Welsh Naturalist and TV presenter, conservationist, writer, inspiring public speaker and tour guide. In this talk he will take us on a journey detailing his wildlife career from the early years, through 15 years in the RSPB, 26 years on TV and 10 years of guiding.

Dawn Balmer, Head of Surveys at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) will share her thoughts on some of the most significant changes in the British avifauna over the last 40 years. The talk will highlight some of these changes using the latest information from long-term surveys, projects and atlases.