Discoverers Events
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7th May 2025Skylarks on Thursday 17th April 2025, 10am-1pm at Roehampton Gate's little garden (next to the entrance)- Photos by Paula Redmond -
7th May 2025Half-Term Fun at Petersham Playground on Tuesday 27th May, tree trail, birdsong and bird-coloured friendship bracelet, see you there! -
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22nd March 2025Skylarks on Thursday 17th April 2025, 10am-1pm at Roehampton Gate's little garden (next to the entrance)- Photos by Paula Redmond -
22nd March 2025We had fun spotting birds, drawing feathers, painting a bird bath, learning about feathers and performing a science experiment. Everyone joined in, it was really fun! -
4th November 2024Inspired by our Discoverers November Nature Walk -
4th November 2024Monthly Sunday Nature Walk with a story stick to match! -
3rd November 2024A whole day discovering about the trees and fungi in Two Storm Wood! -
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14th May 2024We learnt to recognise spring birdsongs in Richmond Park -
30th April 2024With all the help he could get our local Parks Police Sergeant was happy to solve the mystery of the stolen biscuits! -
10th March 2024We had fun learning about the birds of Richmond Park and their feathers.
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13th February 2024Over 100 children turned up to our February half-term Discoverers event hosted at the Belvedere (Pembroke Lodge) by The Hearsum Collection. We had a lot of fun! -
5th January 2024Our Christmas Crafternoon was a great success, we made deer and owls out of pine cones and cards too! -
1st December 2023Discoverers had fun back in October, looking and listening out for bats on their detectors. Over 70 participants took part over three evenings. -
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18th July 2023Found you! Discoverers went out to find Little Owls at dusk. They proved elusive, slightly cold and overcast evening perhaps, but we did find one in the end! -
27th April 2023We held our FISH EVENT in the rain and we had lots of fun! -
27th March 2023Discoverers held its first Arts and Crafts event in partnership with Pembroke Lodge Hearsum Collection and it was a huge success! -
13th March 2023100 children made a little tree out of clay with the Discoverers Volunteers' team on the hedge planting day at the new Queen's Green Canopy. -
16th February 2023Discoverers took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch in January 2023 -
4th January 2023Children Laureate, Joseph Coelho grew up near Richmond Park. Children loved reading his poem 'Richmond Park' during our History Trail. -
4th December 2022Getting close to the subject is a fun thing to do as a wildlife photographer! -
29th November 2022Janet being led towards an exciting discovery! -
8th November 2022Half Term Fun - History Trail at Richmond Park Just over 50 children came to the trail on Thursday 27th November and the group were treated to a session where they got the opportunity learn more about the history of Richmond Park. Families were treated to viewing items from the Hearsum Collection and took part in a little session learning about the park with a model that was made by Monique especially for the event as shown in the picture above. Lots of facts were learnt through a geology session based on the Thames such as why the western side of the park overlooks the Thames Valley. There was also a hand-on session at prehistoric King Henry’s Mound with handling of 100,000 years old axes, calligraphy hands-on near Poets Corner and poetry reading at Poets Corner. -
9th August 2022Following our morning identifying and counting butterflies in Pembroke Lodge, Charlotte and Zoe sent in their beautiful and accurate drawings. Discoverers contributions to the site always welcome! -
9th August 2022Discoverers met at Pembroke Lodge Gardens on Sunday 7th August to learn about the life of butterflies and to practise identifying them. It was a really fun morning enjoyed by all! -
1st August 2022On Friday 8th July and Friday 29th July, Discoverers went out at dusk to look for little owls. -
15th June 2022To see what we got up to at Ham Fair click the above link. Discoverers were excited to attend Ham Fair last Saturday. Under a green gazebo the volunteers had arranged lots of activities for young people to explore! The most popular was badge making and not only was this super fun but the badges were environmentally friendly also! -
9th June 2022The Platinum Jubilee Teddy Bears’ Picnic held in the Isabella Plantation on May 31st was a huge success! Almost 120 children and their families attended, accompanied by their teddies. Click the link above to read more. -
16th May 2022Last weeks Birdwatching Event started bright and early at 7.30am as it was all about the The Dawn Chorus. Families were treated to a beautiful symphony from birds such as Blackcaps, Garden Warbler's and Blackbirds. During Spring the Park comes alive with not only birdsong but its also the best time to discover the lovely trees and plants that start to blossom. Below is a picture of a tree that is called a Handkerchief tree which was admired by all. You can find this in the Prince Charles Spinney which proved to be a great spot for listening out for The Dawn Chorus at the event. We were very lucky as we had a couple of talented young photographers who attended last weeks event who have sent us some amazing pictures. Below are some lovely shots that were captured by Tristan on the day. Well done and thank you for sending these in Tristan! They are brilliant. The picture below was also taken by Tristan and this is a 50p coin next to a cracked eggshell which is presumed to belong to a Robin! Good spot! We also wanted to share a picture that was sent in by Oliver who also attended the Dawn Chorus last week. Although this was not taken at the event it was too good of a picture we just had to share! Thank you Oliver! What a great shot of a beautiful kingfisher! The morning was enjoyed by all and we hope to see old and new faces at the next birdwatching event! -
20th April 2022Who and what might live in Richmond Park? On Thursday 14th April, The Friends of Richmond Park Discoverers and Holly Lodge Education Centre joined forces again and put on a free event for children to show them what homes the animals in Richmond Park build at this time of year. Among other items, we had an extensive array of birds’ nests at our disposal and we could compare the materials and skills required by a robin or a song thrush. Huge models of a yellow meadow ant, its symbiotic partner the aphid (symbiotic means they both get something out of the relationship!) as well as a stag beetle impressed all of us and everyone had the chance to build a nest of their own and fill it with chocolate Easter eggs. A very timely addition to all the beautiful creations we witnessed being made! There were many questions asked and answered and the biggest ‘Wows’ were heard when children were given the opportunity to weigh a robin or a great tit’s nest in the palm of their hand: “Wow! You can’t even feel it!” “It weighs nothing!” they said. Once they had made their little nest the children then went off on a search for all the different items we had talked about such as lichens, moss, feathers and holes in old oak trees. Everyone also had a Nature Bingo Sheet they had picked up on arrival tom tick off as they went along. It was a glorious sunny morning and although many people seemed to be away, those who could make it had a lovely time! See you all at our next event: 1st May Birdwatching Nature Walk, to be followed by a 7.30am Dawn Chorus the following Sunday! -
16th April 2022Birdwatching with the Discoverers - you never know what you might see!!It was a lovely sunny morning when a few of the Discoverers joined Peter and myself for our new monthly Birdwatching Nature Walk. We set off from the Pen Ponds kiosk and walked towards Crown Field in search of singing skylarks.We saw the usual jackdaws, parakeets and magpies ever present near the kiosk and heard green woodpeckers and great spotted woodpeckers. Blue and great tits were flying about quickly from tree to tree. As we arrived near White Lodge, we spotted a red kite flying right above us. Down into White Lodge Plantation, we heard the distinctive song of a mistle thrush. We made our way to the edge of the wood adjoining onto Crown Field, still no sign of skylarks but a buzzard was spotted circling high above in the blue sky. But our biggest treat was yet to come: a little owl! Sitting just above us in an oak tree it was staring down at us. Moving to one side to get a better look, we realised that there was another little owl sitting right next to the first one! A rare treat. As we walked back towards the ponds, we saw all our usual waterbirds and we could appreciate all the work that has just been done on the island in the middle of Upper Pen Pond, already recolonized by cormorants, herons and Greylag geese. The only missing birds on that morning were the skylarks which were nether seen nor heard, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, you never know what we might see! -
16th April 2022Last Event - Discovering Beverley Brook On the beautiful morning of Sunday 20th March, Discoverers met up at Roehampton Gate to learn all about the Beverley Brook. Brian and Stephen showed us and explained what they do as part of the Riverfly Monitoring Team. We heard about the Downstream Defender, the aptly name ‘hero of the Brook’ which stops debris and other pollutants from entering the brook form nearby populated areas. They also showed us what they look for when they test the quality of the brook’s water: a healthy river is a river that is capable of harbouring wildlife and therefore eight groups of invertebrates are checked every month for their presence and numbers. We saw mayfly larvae (mayflies lay their eggs in water and the pre adult stages (larvae) live in the water), freshwater shrimps and we even saw a huge fish! Brian and Stephen then showed us the recent work that has been done on the brook as part of a Restoration Programme which aimed to make the brook a wildlife-friendly place again. We had a go at calculating the velocity of the flow (how quickly the river travels down) with our rubber duck and a timer and to finish off, we held a duck race! It was a beautiful morning in Richmond Park, we learnt a lot and we had lots of fun too! Thanks to all our volunteers without whom none of this could happen and especially to the brilliant retired teacher Juliet Mills who stepped in as Leader for Monique, who had to stay at home with covid, and to Brian McDonald and Stephen Russell, intrepid volunteers and river monitors extraordinaire! Watch a video that we made by clicking here that talks about about the River-flying process. -
28th February 2022Find out more about how our latest event went where we Discovered the trees of Richmond Park
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2nd February 2022The Discoverers Team Discover Birds at Pen Ponds where they spotted many different types of birds including a Macaw a Mandarin Duck and an Egyptian Geese! -
12th October 2021Family Bat Watch - 2021. Read how families came on a guided walk, used a bat detector, and watched the bats of Richmond Park. -
19th June 2021Report of the event which ran on July 4th 2021, led by two of the Park’s bee keepers with some of their Honeybees. -
27th March 2021Discoverers have run a Competition to design an anti-litter Poster. Here are the results. -
15th February 2021Discoverers are running a Poster Competition for an anti-litter Poster. Deadline 8th March. This describes how to enter. -
13th September 2020Our virtual Bat Walk took place on 26th September 2020. We were led by our bat expert, Philip Briggs who told us about the amazing lives of the different types of bats that live in Richmond Park. -
17th November 2019On 17th November, 10 families explored the mysterious Kingdom of the Fungi with fungus expert Janet Bostok. -
21st September 2019Our annual family bat watch took place on the evening of Saturday 21st September. You can read about it, and see some pictures, in this item.
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30th June 2019On June 30th we met two of the Park’s bee keepers and some of their Honeybees. This report contains pictures and more details.
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19th May 2019A group of families met some of the Park's oldest residents in High Wood on Sunday 19th May 2009. -
7th April 2019On Sunday 7th April we learned how a dead stream - once the home of beavers - has been brought back to life. Its restoration is an environmental success story. We were led by Toby Hull from the South East Rivers Trust. -
24th January 2019Now complete - thanks to those who took part in this survey. Please let us know if you took part (wherever you were) and tell us how many stars you were able to see. The results we know of confirm that light pollution is very bad in Richmond Park. -
1st December 2018This year seven families, gathered at the Holly Lodge Centre on a perfect Autumn day -
26th November 2017This is one we will certainly be repeating! After Janet introduced her fascinating fungi collection families explored the Holly Lodge Centre Nature Trail -
23rd September 2017Eight families gathered on a mild Autumn evening to watch some of Richmond Park’s bats emerge after sunset -
25th June 2017There were few butterflies and insects to be seen in the Isabella so our families followed a trail of clues around the Plantation instead -
21st May 2017We were very lucky with the weather and spent the morning in a part of the Park none of us knew well, following a walk based on Susanna Ramsey’s Family Trail no. 6 -
2nd April 2017After an introductory presention about Richmond Park’s famous deer population, Susanna Ramsey led our Discoverers families into the Park ‘on safari’ -
4th February 2017The good news was that the sky was clear long enough this time for thirty or so hopeful sky-watchers to look at the First Quarter Moon
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12th November 2016November’s Full Moon was a Super Moon – closer to Earth than at any time since January 1948 -
23rd October 2016Fungi are Nature’s recyclers and Autumn is the season when they are at their best – eight Discoverers families enjoyed a most interesting event based at the Holly Lodge Centre -
8th May 2016Our base was the Holly Lodge Centre’s Nature Trail. After a brief introduction, the group set off with Hugh Bradshaw. -
20th March 2016Ten families celebrated the first day of Spring, learning about the rich wild life of Richmond Park with Susanna Ramsey and the Nature Collection -
3rd October 2015We had excellent weather for this popular annual event, calm and warm. This meant that there were plenty of bats around in the evening twilight -
10th May 2015The annual celebration of the Visitor Information Centre saluted volunteers but had some sad news too -
26th April 2015The annual celebration of the Visitor Information Centre saluted volunteers but had some sad news too
