Festival of Nature 2013: Exciting updates on our exhibitors!

Wednesday 08, May 2013

It is now less than six weeks to go until this year’s most exciting natural history festival! Here at the Bristol Natural History Consortium, we are extremely excited by these recent updates on what our partners have in store for us!

In the Millennium Square you will be able to find Bristol Zoo Gardens, who will be giving everybody the opportunity to get up close to some exotic insects. Not only this, but you can also find out which brilliant bugs live locally at the Avon Gorge and Downs! Visit the BBC Natural History Unit, where you can peek behind the scenes, have a go at presenting your own wildlife documentary, get in front of a thermal imaging camera and meet the presenters of some of your favourite shows!

In the Amphitheatre, the Bristol Aquarium will be teaching some important lessons about the damaging effects of discarded waste on our oceans and giving you the chance to fish for rubbish in their sand pit. Lucky you! Stop by at Westonbirt Arboretum and detect the hidden life of trees using microscopes and lenses, and even make your own mini-arboretum. Dig up fossils and handle real dinosaur bones with the Bristol Dinosaur Project, see the sun as you never have before with the Bristol Astronomical Society, and join the At-Bristol team to learn about sustainable buildings, cutting-edge green technology and meet Brian the robotic peregrine falcon!

That’s just a tiny snippet of what we have in the offing though, visit our festival website for more info, and come down on Saturday 15^th and Sunday 16^th of June for what’s looking set to be a nature-tastic weekend!  

Bristol Festival of Nature celebrates a decade of discovery

Wednesday 01, May 2013

A new challenge to uncover Bristol’s hidden environmental hotspots is launching in May to celebrate Bristol Festival of Nature’s 10th anniversary.

Bristol99 will give the public the chance to discover the natural world in their own neighbourhood, with exciting wildlife events being held across the city’s 99 best sites for nature. It will encourage people to explore their local area and celebrate the wildlife in Bristol’s green spaces including everything from hidden gems to the city’s best known parks.

It begins with a ‘BioBlitz’ at Kings Weston Estate on May 3 and 4, where the festival team will seek the help of members of the public to discover as many species as possible in a designated area over 24 hours. The events will then continue over the next six weeks before culminating in the main Bristol Festival of Nature weekend.

The festival is the UK’s largest free natural history event and takes place at Bristol Harbourside on the weekend of 15-16. On June 14 the annual Festival of Nature Schools’ Day, supported by Clifton College will welcome over 1,000 primary school pupils to the site for a day of hands-on science and nature activities.

Giving wildlife enthusiasts of all ages the opportunity to explore and enjoy the natural world in the heart of the city, the public festival brings together over 150 organisations for a programme of interactive activities, live entertainment, hands-on experiences, a market packed with local produce and much more.

The highlights for the weekend include:

 • The first screenings of new wildlife films produced by the next generation of natural history filmmakers, who are studying a new MA course in wildlife filmmaking run by UWE and the BBC.

• A pop-up butterfly garden run by North Somerset Butterfly House which will give visitors an immersive experience to learn about some of the world’s most beautiful butterflies.

• The Seeds of Change Garden which will connect the natural world to the city’s history of trade and migration through a ballast seed garden produced by Arnolfini and the University of Bristol.

More than 150,000 people have attended the festival since 2004, and the past 10 years have seen it grow significantly to become one of Bristol’s most popular festivals, helping to raise the profile of environmental issues and natural history in the city and across the UK.

Savita Custead, Chief Executive of Bristol Natural History Consortium which organises Bristol Festival of Nature, says:

“The Bristol99 challenge will help to take the Festival of Nature out into the city and directly to the people of Bristol. The Festival has always aimed to inspire people about the natural world and this is a fantastic new way to take the initiative and help the public to find nature on their doorsteps.

 “Bristol is the home of natural history in the UK and we are proud of the contribution the Festival of Nature has played in developing that reputation. It is the only event that brings together all of the key environmental organisations in the city, and over the last 10 years we have seen these relationships go from strength to strength.

 The festival was named “Tourism Event of the Year 2011” in the Bristol Tourism and Hospitality Industry Awards 2011, and was awarded Bronze in the Tourism Event of the Year category at the South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2011-2012.

The Bristol Festival of Nature takes place on the Bristol Harbourside and is open from 10 am – 6 pm on Saturday June 15, and 11 am – 5 pm on Sunday June 16. Admission is free.