A Volunteer’s Account of Activities at Martin Mere
Wetland History,
Ancient People, Bog Oaks & a Bronze Bog Body, Canoe Safari, &
Lots of Birds
Alan Daglish
Martin Mere is one of
about 10 sites run by the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust (WWT). My main
involvement is with the living history activities that we do with primary
schools. We have a wetland roundhouse
village, thatch and wattle and daub, together with various artefacts. The activities we involve the kids in, include
thatching, willow weaving (weaving up a pig pen) charcoal making and
foraging. The highlight of the day is
when I take them down to the back of the village and give them swords and
shields. I then proceed to turn all the
blue-eyed, blond sweet young things into evil vicious killers! Mind you given the looks in some of their
eyes, girls especially, not much turning is needed.
We can cover four periods
of wetland history. Iron age Celts, I am
Alan ap Lagan, Briganties warrior, Romans and Celts Antonious the Gaul,
Centurion, Anglo Saxons, Alleyn Edricsson Warlord of Mercia and lastly the all
time favourite Vikings, Allann
Shortbeard Viking chieftan.
In the summer holidays the
village is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays and fully manned and geared up with
various activities. Usually we do
Vikings for the warrior training of the younger visitors (and often some of the
adults!). If you want to visit during the summer hols I will be there on
Wednesdays. Other holiday activities include pond dipping, bug hunting, den
building and various craft based activities.
In addition there is a
hugely popular playground with water based activities where the kids can get
well and truly soaked. There is also a
canoe safari available. By the way, the bog oaks are scattered around the grounds. There is also a small display of wetland
history and artefacts including a (bronze) bog body.
All this is backed up by
the very large collection of waterfowl, a lot feedable by hand, and seven bird
hides for the enthusiast. At the moment
visitors can witness the hatching of ducklings to the accompaniment of oohs and
aahs.
Details on how to get there, opening times etc., can be found at this link
Alan Daglish
For further information,
contact Alan on mail@adaglish.org.uk
May 2016
