Running from Saturday 6th December to Sunday 7th December, Yorkshire Robin Festival will be the perfect opportunity to celebrate one of Britain’s most-loved birds and a festive favourite.
The Trust has published a free ‘twitch and stitch’ knitting and crochet pattern on their website, encouraging keen crafters to create and send in a robin to bring some seasonal spirit to the visitor centre from our feathered friends.
Helen Jones, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Head of Visitor Services, said;
“Everyone loves a robin, our quintessential festive friend. We’d love to have a whole blush of robins around our visitor centre and create a sense of festive joy for everyone who visits us for our first Robin festival.
“Whether you have a local beloved robin you want to celebrate or you’re looking to get out and about to reconnect with nature during the long winter months, we are offering a different activity this season. Enjoy and be inspired by nature – and give a hand to the wildlife on your doorstep too.”
The Trust will run activities over the weekend, including
- ‘Where’s Robin’ treasure trail activity
- Guided robin rambles around Potteric Carr;
- A gardening for robins workshop – make a nest box or willow bird feeder;
- An early morning reserve guided walk with breakfast;
- A local choir group to enjoy on both days;
- A Wildlife-Friendly Gardeners’ Question Time;
- The ‘Recognise a Robin’ challenge
- And a pre-festival launch event of ‘Pub Painting’ a robin at the Visitor Centre
Festival visitors can also enjoy plenty of winter warming treats in Potteric Carr’s onsite café overlooking the lake, and the reserve shop is full of the perfect gifts to buy wildlife-loving friends and family.
Robins are one of our most iconic winter birds and polls, including a national one with over 200,000 responses by The Urban Birder David Lindo in 2015, voted it unanimously as our national bird. Their bright red breasts and undaunted song as the nights draw in are a true wild joy as much as their enduring association with Christmas.
The festival has been sponsored by Kelling Group, who are a leading rental and leasing provider of modern, specialist vehicles and equipment for the infrastructure and construction sectors. The group say, “Kelling Group is honoured to support the Yorkshire Robin Festival — a true celebration of nature, community and resilience. Our best wishes to all Yorkshire Wildlife Trust members and supporters as we head into the festive season.”
Nestled on the edge of Doncaster just opposite B&Q, Potteric Carr nature reserve is a regionally-famous wildlife haven with plenty to enjoy. Miles of surfaced tracks and routes mean visitors can spend just a few hours or a whole day in search of Yorkshire’s winter wildlife – from birds of prey wheeling overhead and wading birds hidden amongst the reedbeds to roe deer disappearing amongst the trees in a misty dawn.
Crafters keen to make their very own robin can download the free pattern and more information from https://www.ywt.org.uk/twitchandstitch.
