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.

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings.

Next Meeting

11 November 2021

Peatland restoration in Cumbria

David Harpley (Conservation Manager, Cumbria Wildlife Trust)

The importance of peatland in capture and storage of carbon from the atmosphere is widely recognised. David will discuss the ecology of bogs, why they are in the state they are now, why we ought to do something about it, the issues and conflicts around their management, what we do to restore bogs and where we go from here.

We are currently meeting in the Percival Lecture Theatre on the university campus to allow social distancing (see below for directions). Mask wearing is encouraged.

Our programmes for the last three years are available at the heading tab. At the bottom of this page you can find links to brief reports and photos of our field trips in May each year and what has now become the annual swift survey in Ambleside.

Local outdoor activities in July

In July we held a couple of excellent outdoor activities for members.

Saturday 17 July – BooM Plant Propagation Day

We joined the Back on our Map Species Restoration Team (BooM) for a morning helping with the propagation of endangered pants as well as larval food plants for endangered butterflies.

Wednesday 28 July – Ambleside Bat Walk

Meeting in the churchyard at 20:30 we had a 15 minute introduction to bats and bat detectors from Volker then about 14 members walked to Miller Bridge, along Under Loughrigg to the Bronwen Nixon Bridge. This is clearly a favourite spot for pipistrelle bats, flying back and forth along the river catching insects: our detectors were sounding off almost continuously.

Volker adds the following after the meeting: “If the walk has piqued your interest in bats, it’s well worth purchasing your own bat detector. You can pick up a basic model for under £60. More high-end models that allow you to turn your mobile phone into real-time bat detector (with automated recognition!) are also available.”

Thanks Volker for an interesting and informative walk.

Our series of talks for the 2020-21 season is now over. We thank all those who attended via Zoom and hope that you enjoyed the programme. Our 2021-2 programme is available from the tab at the top of the page.

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.

View map of Ambleside Campus

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.

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.

2019 report

2020 report

2021 report

Welcome