Nature Spotters Guide: In Trees And Woodland (FSC) NS03

Head out to the countryside and explore trees, woods and forests. Can you find all 80 Nature Spots?

This Children’s Nature Spotting paperback book will help you and your family identify your finds in your garden. A handy recording sheet is included so you can note down and tick off each one as you spot them!

From broadleaved and conifer trees to wildflowers, shieldbugs and fungi, each one will win you a bronze, silver or gold medal. There are Nature Spots to see all year round, even in the winter. How many will you find? There are 8 different places to look…

• Broadleaved trees – Most broadleaved trees are deciduous. They lose their leaves in winter. But we’ve included a guide to bark and twigs, so you can spot these trees even without their leaves.
• Conifer trees – Most conifer trees are evergreen, so you can spot them all year round.
• Juicy fruits – Many plants produce brightly-coloured fleshy fruit. September and October are the best times.
• Takeaways and flyaways – Takeaway fruits and seeds, like acorns, are carried away by small animals. Flyaway fruits, like sycamore samaras, are carried away by the wind.
• Shieldbugs – These are big, brightly-coloured insects. Hawthorn, oak and birch trees, dock plants, brambles and thistles are all good places to look.
• Woodland flowers – A woodland walk is a good chance to spot wildflowers. April and May are the best times.
• Fabulous fungi – Mushrooms and toadstools are most common in the autumn, after the first rainy storms and before the heavy frosts of winter.
• Looking for longhorns – Longhorn beetles are some of the most spectacular insects in Britain and Ireland. But they are not uncommon. Hawthorn and hogweed flowers are a great place to hunt.