Calling all toddlers!

Pond dipping

As part of our ever-expanding education programme, we are starting a brand new outdoor parent and toddler group from April. Meeting once a month in the woods in Holkham Park, 'Twiglets Toddler Group' will give children from walking age to school age the freedom to explore and connect with the natural world. Come along for loads of fun, creativity and fresh air!

Click here for more details.

2016 off to a chilly start!

Wildflower margin in the summer

With a few patches of Snowdrops around the estate signalling (we hope) the start of Spring, we welcomed Mr Hadley and an eager group of Year 4 pupils from Wells Primary School to help us complete the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Big Farmland Bird Count. This important piece of citizen science has been running for three years now and aims to highlight the good work done by farmers and gamekeepers in helping to reverse the decline in farmland bird numbers. Sue and I had selected two different sites to survey, which each offered an expansive view of farmland as well as a selection of different features such as grass margins, field trees and hedgerows. If only the count was conducted in the summer months!

On arrival we ran through a selection of birds that we were likely to see and looked closely at their key identification features. There followed a quick lesson in binocular skills and we were lucky that a mixed group of birds including Greylag Geese, Coot, Egyptian Geese and a bonus pair of Barnacle Geese had chosen the nearby cricket pitch as their morning hang-out zone. They posed beautifully for us and, having honed our field skills, we set off to our first survey site, clipboards and binoculars in hands.

Brown hare

Site 1 gave us a fantastic view of a large, newly ploughed field and several clumps of field trees which led on to a winter wheat field and the distant back of the Hall. The wind was gusting icy blasts but our intrepid citizen scientists soon got down to spotting, identifying, counting and recording the birds that had braved the bitter weather. First off were 15 Common Gulls, a small gaggle of 5 Greylag Geese and large groups of Woodpigeon and Lapwing, who were feeding in the amongst the winter wheat. Single Herring and Black Headed Gulls joined the party before we were treated to a double raptor hit of a swooping Kestrel and a soaring Buzzard. Despite having fingers that were numbed to the bone, the plucky Year 4s also noted weather conditions and physical land features and were lucky enough to spot some wonderfully camouflaged Brown Hares before we headed off to Site 2, by the pheasant pens and bio-mass storage areas.

Buzzard

We hunkered down as best we could in the dip between fields and once more clamped binoculars to eyes. A gorgeous Buzzard appeared above the large tree clump and cover crop zone, treating pupils to really good views before it spooked large flocks of around 30 Woodpigeons and 40 Lapwings. It was especially nice to see so many Lapwings around the farmland as these birds have been really struggling in recent years. It was feeling almost like an Arctic expedition now, so we retreated to the warmth of the mini-bus to finish our survey and managed to add Carrion Crow, Herring Gull and Jackdaw to the species list.

With birds counted and fingers thawed it was time for the Year 4s to head back to school to share their new ornithological knowledge and to upload their survey results to the GWCT website. These citizen science projects are playing an increasingly important role in developing conservation methods and we were all very pleased to have played our part.

Halloween Half Term Holidays

Pumpkin Bowling

Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve written for the blog! Since the last post we had the pleasure of hosting our annual Halloween celebrations during October half term – for this year they were based in the Walled Garden. The theme was definitely pumpkins as this photo of giant Pumpkin bowling in our Events Room shows!

Children’s quiz trail

Throughout the garden there were trails for different aged visitors, spooky story telling in our Ed Shed, creepy crafts & all sorts of Halloween themed decorations. It was brilliant to see so many of our visitors getting into the spirit dressing up. Sadly Halloween see’s our gates close to visitors for the season and lots of time indoors for me and the team to plan and update our programmes and activities for next year....... we'll keep you updated.

Sue Penlington

Education Manager

Walled Garden Project

Monday saw our first visit to the Walled Gardens of Mr Fisher’s Year 5/6 Kittiwakes class from Burnham Market Primary School. The school have been working with us on a partnership horticultural project for over two years now and our team of gardeners always find exciting activities for the pupils to enjoy.

Winners of longest taproot competition!

First up, it was time for the children’s floral design beds to be cleared in preparation for new designs for next Spring & Summer. As all the plants were annuals, they needed to be dug up, roots and all, as their flowering season had come to an end. Pupils completely cleared the beds, dug over the soil and removed all traces of roots and debris. They even found a confused looking shrew, which had been enjoying feasting on the large, slimy slugs that had taken cover in the foliage. Of course, the shrew was set safely on its way as it is always a gardener’s friend! The surprisingly vast amount of plants, which had provided an excellent display, were then transported to the new composting bay. Here the children learnt how it would transform into fantastic, nutrient rich plant food.

After lunch, Dene (Head of Parks & Gardens) showed how the Box cuttings, planted by  some of the pupils last year, had taken root in the warmth of the cold frames and were now ready for potting-on. These would then continue to grow and could be used to create hedges and topiary. Pupils expertly lifted the newly rooted plants and transported them carefully to the glasshouse, where the potting-on of a staggering 200 plants took place! There were so many that the children each took their own Box plant home.

Pressed flower design

In the final session, our Landscape Managers Phill's artistic flair really shone through. He had prepared an example display of flower and foliage arrangements which could be pressed and dried to make wall designs which would decorate the Ed Shed. Teams of children set off all around the different rooms of the garden, returning with armfuls of flowers, petals, leaves, fronds and grasses. They then set to work ingeniously crafting some absolutely beautiful designs. The designs were sandwiched between sheets of newspaper, which would absorb the moisture, and then pressed by plywood boards and breeze blocks. In 8 weeks’ time, the grand unveiling should hopefully show us how the designs have been transformed into impressive, dried pressings. Watch this space!

New Academic Year!

Den Building

The start of a new academic year is always an exciting time for the Education team here at Holkham and we were straight back in the thick of things this week when we welcomed our first school visit of the Autumn term to the estate. 120 enthusiastic Year 1 & 2 pupils from Swaffham Junior School spent a busy day with Will, Michaela and Sarah, our fantastic new volunteer. Den Building was the main focus for the day and pupils discussed the woodland habitat, its creatures and the dangers within. Knots were learnt and practised, survival skills were put to the test and both natural and manmade resources were used to help construct some really fantastic dens.

It was great to see the teamwork, leadership skills and new friendships that developed when the groups were set some quite tough challenges. It demonstrated just how valuable educational field trips can be to pupils and teachers alike at the start of a school year, when pupils in new classes are just getting to know each other. By the end of the day each group had transformed into a solid, efficient and, most importantly, happy team of den building experts.

Renewable Energy Study - Wood chip for biomass

Also this year, we are very excited about the extensive new Secondary and Sixth Form Programme that we have been developing over the past 6 months. The new brochure will soon be flying hot off the press and the new website section will also be going live. With the huge scope for high level field work here on the Holkham Estate we look forward to welcoming GCSE and ‘A’ Level students here, where they can experience a totally new and unique way of studying Geography, Biology, Art & Design, Photography and Business Studies, Leisure & Tourism. 

Super Blog Winners!

I am delighted to confirm the winners of last term’s Superbloggers competition were Megan & Travis from Peterhouse Primary School, Great Yarmouth who both won a Family ticket to Holkham’s attractions. The runners up were Chloe & Kiya, also from Peterhouse Primary School. The blogs are posted below – we particularly liked the fantastic detail and journalistic style of Megan & Charlie’s & the brilliant descriptive writing and rich language of Chloe & Kiya’s.

Our day at Holkham Hall

We arrived at Holkham Hall after a long drive. When we got there we met a lady called Lady Leicester. She explained what we were going to be doing. We went into her house and she walked us around. She showed us the Library, kitchen, front room, hall way and the spare rooms. Next we went out to do some bug hunting it was so much fun! We loved hunting for the mini beasts and catching them, we were asked to make a hotel to release the bugs.

We got to eat lunch on the grass, it was very nice. After lunch we played in the park, then we built a big den in groups but each den had to be waterproof, windproof and hail proof. This was such a challenge.

Last but not least we visited the gift shop and spent some of our money on boomerangs, sweets, key rings and funny stress heads. 

From Megan & Charlie

Holkham

Our trip to Holkham was amazing. Arriving at Holkham we met by a magnificent driveway leading to obelisk. The obelisk was white. When we parked our minibus we met a woman called Michaela she was our educational guide. When Michaela had introduced herself to us we went inside the Holkham Hall. The Hall was very big and posh. The Lady that lived at the Holkham Hall was called Lady Leicester. Lady Leicester lived there with Lord Leicester, their two children and a dog called Frankie. Frankie looked like a sausage dog. Michaela gave us a guided tour around the hall. There was a lot of gold within the hall some of it was golden frames around paintings, the wall decoration was golden and the guest bedroom was covered in gold and most of the walls had tapestry on.

About 20 minutes after we had a guided tour we went back outside and went on a leaf there was all different kinds of leafs we had to look for a rowan leaf ,holly leaf, beech leaf, birch leaf, field maple and other different kinds of leafs. After we went on the leaf hunt we had a mission to find all the mini beasts that we could Kiya was scared of the mini beasts so she stayed right away from them.

Chloe and Kiya

Summer Holidays Fly By......

Pond Dipping

With a great many people enjoying their school summer holidays by making a visit to Holkham, our education team here have been busy presenting an array of fun and informative educational activities around the estate & on occasion enjoying a spot of time off after our busy summer term!

There has been a series of Discovery Days held in our fantastic Walled Gardens, with young visitors trying their hands at mini-beast hunting, designing pine cone creatures, making bug houses, biodegradable plant pots & simple birdfeeders, planting beans, sowing seeds & special highlight dissecting owl pellets. Our pond dipping in the lake has once again been very popular with visitors catching an array of wildlife in their nets – the highlight have been baby fish, damsel fly larvae, dragonfly larvae, water boatmen, cased caddis fly larvae and even a water scorpion! Special thanks to our volunteers Gail, Linda & Rose for helping us throughout the summer.

Trailer Tours

Our fabulous new Trailer Tours have proved very popular and the 32-seat trailer, towed by the 7^th Earl’s wonderful old Massey Ferguson 135, has been filled with happy visitors who have enjoyed seeing parts of the estate that are not normally seen by the public. We’ve been sharing their knowledge of the heritage and traditions of Holkham’s farming history, as well the modern, eco-friendly and conservation minded methods of farming today. Visitors on the tours also get an insight into the forestry management here and the farming company’s forward thinking diversification, which now includes the solar farm and the biomass anaerobic digester up at Egmere. A huge vote of thanks must go to our dedicated volunteer tractor drivers, Richard and Mike.

Our Adult Education has continued with our monthly Walking Women group & Guided Walk of the National Nature Reserve both popular. August is an exciting month for us as we also explore the creatures of the night on Bat Walks within the Parkland. Despite some drizzle (you can’t help the British weather!) we’ve managed to see & hear (using bat detectors) Soprano Pipistrelles above our head which has been a magnificent experience for all. Thanks to Keith & Sonya from Norfolk Barbastelle Study Group for their help with leading these.

Behind the scenes we’ve been busy working on developing our Secondary School Programme & our new Exhibition Field to Fork which is opening in April 2106. There’s never a ‘quiet time’ in our job just a different focus to our work!

Sue Penlington Education Officer