The Ambleside Natural History Society meets in a spirit of friendship and goodwill to share in all aspects of natural history, geology, the countryside, its scenery, its flora and fauna, its use, its buildings, its history, the activities of its inhabitants, etc. Almost nothing is excluded.
Non-members are welcome to attend our meetings at a charge of £3.
Our next meeting is our first field trip of the year
Skelghyll Woods walk
Saturday 4 May 2024 at 10:00am
led by Pete Martin
Something for everyone: there’s trees and woodland history and birds and bluebells and lichens and geology and lovely views from Jenkins Crag and more.
We will be following the route of the nature trail, designed in 1967 by Ambleside Field Society.
Some things have changed a bit since then, but some things stay the same. There’s still toothwort (the illustration is by Harold Auty, who did the lovely “woodcuts” in the original leaflet; the photo by Pete Martin a couple of weeks ago).
The route is about 1½ miles long and involves steep ups and downs and rocky sections.
We will meet at 10am by the bus stop opposite the Waterhead Inn on the A591 at Waterhead (OSGR NY377032; there’s a sign saying Public Footpath Jenkins Crag).
We will finish (a couple of house later) in the car park at NT Stagshaw (OSGR NY380028) . People can go on to look at Stagshaw Gardens or do the Champion Tree Trail if you‘ve not had enough of the woods.
For more information, please contact Pete on thorncottage@hotmail.com.
Please can you let him know if you are planning to come- he’ll let you know if bad weather is going to force us to cancel.
A guide to travel to Ambleside Campus can be found at this link with a campus map in the section on cycling.
The Percival Lecture Theatre is in the Langdale Building, number 5 on the map.
The alternative venue is the Beehive, building number 2 on the map.
If you turn in at The Armitt Museum, park in the car parks at the bottom of the hill (free in the evenings) then walk up the hill. The Beehive is the single storey building on your right, the Langdale Building is slightly further, up the steps to the flat area and is again on your right.
The committee always welcomes suggestions for future talks; if you have suggestions for talks, comments on what we are doing or if you want to become a member email us at ambleside.nhs@gmail.com.
Our programmes for previous years are available at the heading tab.
Swifts in Ambleside
Following a talk on swifts to ANHS by Peter Moreton in April 2019, Pete Martin set up a small group to monitor swifts and their nest sites in Ambleside each summer.
Click on the links to read Pete’s reports of their observations.