YOUNG people enjoyed their final Wild Wednesday session of the summer at Bowlees Visitor Centre, in the upper dale, last week.
The weekly workshops, provided by the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership (AONB) and Natural England, were aimed at teaching children about the natural environment while having fun.
Over the summer children learned more about the geology, flora and fauna of upper Teesdale.
The final session saw children enjoy river dipping, where they discovered the amazing “mini-beasts” that inhabit the waterways.
Jill Essam, representing the AONB, taught the children about the differences between invertebrates that live and those which survive in
ponds.
She explained that those in rivers had adapted to prevent themselves from being dragged out to sea by the flowing water, while those that survive in ponds had evolved ways of getting oxygen in still waters.
Mandy Oliver, who organised many of the sessions, said they had gone well despite sometimes tricky weather this summer.
She said: “They have been well attended despite the weather because, apart from last week, it has been very wet. People are still coming so it is good.”
The final session was fully booked.
Seven-year-old Ewan McBain said his favourite session had been the A Picture of Nature.
He added: “We made art out of the things we found in the woods.”
Visit www.northpennines.org.uk for more details about coming events.
