Whatever time of year you visit Temple Newsam, there are always new things to see.
We have lots of woodland, which lies next to open farmland or people's gardens. This is a great habitat for
deer, foxes, rabbits, hedgehogs and smaller mammals like bats, mice and voles. Woodland birds such as robins,
wrens, tree creepers and woodpeckers also live here. We have many different kinds of trees growing at Temple
Newsam.
If your garden backs onto a woodland habitat, you will probably get more wildlife visiting your garden than
someone who lives in an area surrounded by other houses. Try making a survey of all the creatures you see in a
week. Then get your parents or guardian to help you put up a bird table and start feeding birds. You could get
them to help you dig a small pond, put a good quality pond-liner in it, fill it slowly with water and leave it
to colonise for a month. Then you can make another week-long survey. The chances are that the amount of species
visiting your "new improved" wildlife garden will have risen by at least 25% from your first survey!
We have streams and ponds and even several large lakes at Temple Newsam. These are very valuable for wildlife,
because all living things need to drink some water to survive. We have got three and five spined sticklebacks,
pond skaters, water scorpions, whirly-gig beetles, water-boatmen, dragonfly and damsel-fly larvae, giant water
beetles, water spiders ...
Remember! The best way to see pondlife is NOT from inside the pond!
DO book yourself on one of our pond dipping activities, because they are well supervised and you can borrow all
the equipment, from pond nets to observation trays, magnifyers and I.D. books. DON'T go pond dipping without a
parent or guardian's approval and DON'T go on your own. MAKE SURE you let someone know where you are going and
please – unlike this chap – make sure you can swim.
This fool was showing off. He got too close to the edge of the bank. Don't fool with water. It won't fool
with you.
We also have loads of grassland. Some is cut short and is great for playing football on (or rolling down hills).
Quite a lot more is deliberately left long and has wild flowers in it. Natural grassland is quite rare these
days. The average field can have at least twenty different species growing in it. Some grasses have got really
amazing names, like "Yorkshire Fog" , "Wavy Hair Grass", "Fox-Tail" and "Meadow Sweet Grass".
This grassland habitat is perfect for looking for butterflies in. We have loads of different butterflies in
summer, including Peacock, Small Skipper, Wall Brown, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Comma. In the evening,
moths start to come out to feed on flowers in the formal gardens. Look out for Yellow Underwing, Silver Y and
well over a dozen other species found here.
We are all familiar with Ladybirds, which come out in the day time, but lots of beetles and other insects like
chafers, crane-flies, lace-wings, caddisflies, mayflies and midges fly at night. They are food for bats.
A common Pipistrelle bat can eat 3,000 insects in one night, many of them mosquitoes! Carry on chomping,
little Pip! We have an annual Bat Evening at Temple Newsam in summer. Look out for it on our
Events page. You
can see our resident bats - Pipistrelle, Daubenton's, Brown Long-Eared and Noctule on our guided Bat Walk with
BBQ. No ... we don't BBQ the bats. a) they are TOTALLY PROTECTED BY LAW, b) they are all fur and bones - there's
no meat on them, c) they are SO SWEET and cuddly! How could you even think about it??? If you want to know more about
our furry insect-chomping champs, book onto one of our annual Bat Evenings. Ring (0113) 264 5535 to find out when the next event is happening.
