Follow our resident Dragonfly Expert Keith Gittens as he guides you around the arboretum to learn about the 16 species of Dragonfly and Damselfly that occur in The Yorkshire Arboretum.

You may wish to bring your own binoculars if you have them and camera as there will be plenty of photo opportunities!

Ticket Price: £20

To book please email: visit@yorkshirearboretum.org or phone 01653 648598

Join us to explore and identify the many different species of butterfly in the arboretum. This is an amazing opportunity to find butterflies in their natural habitat, with expert guidance.

For booking please email visit@yorkshirearboretum.org or phone 01653 648598

£20 per person

Booking Essential

It is useful to be able to identify grasses - for botanical surveys, for monitoring grassland, for understanding agriculture and ecosystems, and for enjoying their beauty. Grass identification can be challenging: coming on a beginners day course is an excellent way to start.

This lively, one day course with Dr Judith Allinson is suitable for anyone who would like to start learning how to identify grasses, whether a student, an amateur naturalist, a farmer, a scientist, a botanical or agricultural surveyor, a gardener. Participants will see lots of examples of the grasses growing in slightly different habitats.

Location: Yorkshire Arboretum Tree Health Centre
Tutors: Dr Judith Allinson     Fee: £130
Level: No prior knowledge required
Includes buffet lunch

Please book your place below:

About the Course

Aim

For participants to recognise common species of neutral grassland and a few in woodland, concentrating on those that come into flower early. Participants will learn the vocabulary to describe both vegetative and flowering features of grasses, and thus be able to start using grass keys.

Objectives

• To learn to recognise c. 10 common species of grasses that you can probably find at home too.

• To see a variety of other grasses and have distinctive features pointed out.

• To be introduced to and learn and use the vocabulary needed to describe vegetative features, and grass flowers.

• To be introduced to some of the books helpful for identifying grasses.

The above will be achieved by means of teaching in the classroom, followed by a walk to look for grasses in the grounds of the Yorkshire Arboretum. If there is time we will use a grass key. We will concentrate on grasses in neutral grassland.

Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Have a small collection of grasses to take home, including vegetative and flowering specimens. These can be in the form of pressed plants, or grasses stuck onto a sheet with sticky back plastic (or both).

• Have gained confidence in recognising these plants.

• Have been introduced to and learnt the vocabulary needed to describe special features of grasses.

• Have been introduced to some of the books  helpful for identifying grasses.

 Useful Accessories / Notes

• Hand lenses will be available for participants to borrow who do not have a hand lens of their own. If they have them, participants are invited to bring hand lenses and fine tweezers.

• Waterproof clothing and strong footwear are recommended. It is not anticipated that we will be walking very far.

• Notebook, pen, plastic bags can be useful.

Note this is an introductory course. It is hoped to run further courses involving more practice in use of keys, finding more species, and looking at vegetative features.

About the Tutor

Judith (or Dr Judith Allinson) started work as a field biology/botany tutor at Malham Tarn Field Centre. Since then she has worked carrying out botanical surveys for Natural England (and its predecessors) and other organisations, and spent some time school teaching. She has run “Grasses” and “Grasses and Sedges” courses at many Field Studies Council Centres and elsewhere, specialising in identifying grasses using vegetative features.  She co-authored the AIDGAP guide: “British grasses: a punched card key to grasses in the vegetative state.” by Pankhurst and Allinson. She is a past president of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union.

Contact

For further information about the course please contact the team by email administration@treehealthcentre.org or phone 01653 648598

Lichens are a much unrecorded section of our wildlife. Yet they cover 6-8 percent of the world’s land surface. Recently more people have become aware of the symbiotic relationship of the fungus and alga (or blue-green bacterium) which make up the lichen. 

This one day course with Dr Judith Allinson will take you on a journey of discovery into the world of lichen identification. You will learn how to recognise several common species and gain the vocabulary to describe a new lichen you find to a lichenologist. Suitable for beginners, students, amateur naturalists, and botanical surveyors.

Location: Yorkshire Arboretum Tree Health Centre
Tutors: Dr Judith Allinson     Fee: £130
Level: No prior knowledge required
Includes buffet lunch

Please book your place below:

About the Course

Why

Lichens are a much unrecorded section of our wildlife. Yet they cover 6-8 percent of the world’s land surface. Recently more people have become aware of the symbiotic relationship of the fungus and alga (or blue-green bacterium) which make up the lichen. Look at a lichen under a hand lens and see the rich variety of colours and textures and you will soon become hooked! It is easier to come on a course with a tutor and have the species on a branch pointed out to you than to learn them from a book.

Aim

Participants will learn how to recognise several common species of lichen, gain the vocabulary to describe a new lichen you find to a lichenologist, or read about a lichen in a book. And, to learn how some species of lichen can tell us about pollution levels.

Objectives

• To learn about common species of lichens growing on trees in the Yorkshire Arboretum, that you can probably find at home too. 

• To see a variety of other lichens.

• To be introduced to and learn and use the vocabulary needed to describe lichens.

• To be introduced to some of the books and website pages helpful for identifying lichens.

The above will be achieved by means of teaching in the classroom, followed by a walk to look for lichens on trees in the Yorkshire Arboretum.

Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Have a small collection of lichens to take home, many of these are likely to be growing on trees near them in other parts of Yorkshire.

• Seen a variety of other lichens and will have been introduced to and learnt some of the vocabulary needed to describe lichens.

• Be able to say whether a lichen is a crustose, fruticose, or foliose lichen.

• Have seen two simple chemical tests often used to distinguish lichens.

• Have been introduced to some of the books and website pages helpful for identifying lichens.

Useful Accessories

• Hand lenses will be available for participants to borrow who do not have a hand lens of their own.

• If they have them, participants are invited to bring hand lenses, fine tweezers, a mobile phone, or camera with close up facilities. But do not buy one specially for the course!

• The most useful book is Frank Dobson’s “Lichens - An Illustrated Guide to the British and Irish Species” (£35 from the British Lichen society - £5 reduction if you are a member) but as participants are beginners it is not expected that many people will have one.

• Waterproof clothing and strong footwear are recommended. It is not anticipated that we will be walking very far.

• Notebook, pen, plastic bags, sheets of A4 paper or envelopes, and a penknife can also be useful.

About the Tutor

Judith (or Dr Judith Allinson) started work as a botany tutor at Malham Tarn Field Centre. Since then she has worked carrying out botanical surveys for Natural England (and its predecessors) and other organisations, school teaching and teaching Grasses and Sedges courses at Field Studies Council Centres. Over the last ten years her interest in lichens has increased. She currently hosts the Zoom Lichen Chat and Improvement Group for the British Lichen Society, and has served on Council of the British Lichens Society. She is a past president of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union and is keen to encourage young people to find out about lichens.

Contact

For further information about the course please contact the team by email administration@treehealthcentre.org or phone 01653 648598

Take a dusk walk in the arboretum armed with a bat detector and accompanied by expert Dr Barry Wright. The noises we pick up will help us identify the species that we find.

Please wrap up warmly and bring a torch!

Booking essential - Ticket Price £20

Join expert Rhona Sutherland for a talk followed by a fungi based foray into The Yorkshire Arboretum. She will then lead a display and identification session using microscopes based in our lab.

The course will provide an understanding of the importance, amazing diversity and beauty of fungi and increase awareness of the value of fungi in the environment and the need to conserve them.

The course will appeal to people of all levels of learning with an interest in fungi.

About the tutor: Rhona Sutherland is a teacher of Biology & Science in the UK, Kenya and Nepal. She studied a degree in Zoology and completed her Phd in the biology of obscure groups of deep sea Molluscs. She has been a Recorder for Ryedale Natural History Society since 2007.

Course fee: £110 including buffet lunch and refreshments.

Follow our resident Dragonfly Expert Keith Gittens as he guides in learning about the 16 species of Dragonfly and Damselfly that occur in The Yorkshire Arboretum.

You may wish to bring your own binoculars if you have them.

Ticket Price: £20

The Yorkshire Arboretum will be celebrating UK Fungus day on the 7th October 2023 with a festival of fungi activities. The perfect way to spend an autumnal day in our 120 acres of trees, packed with fun(gi) for all the family.

Why not join us for one of our fungal forays around the arboretum with local experts (paid sessions and booking essential) or join the mycologists for one of the mini lab sessions throughout the day to discover the world of fungi under the microscope. There will be a mushroom trail for children along with art and craft activities and displays of posters, fun facts, ID guides and leaflets… make sure you grab a goody bag from the British Mycological Society while stocks last!

Ticket Price for Fungi Foray £20

Book a Fungi Foray: