Wb Dr Anne Day 2708

FOURTEEN children attended the annual “Dr Anne Day” at Ewelme Watercress Beds on Thursday last week.

They took part in nature-based craft activities, including making bug hotels and boats from recyclable materials to race along a short course.

The family event also gave children the chance to observe moths caught in a light trap, including a large hawkmoth, dip in the brook for fish and shrimps and take part in bird-spotting and tree identification competitions.

The day was planned and delivered by volunteers from the Chiltern Society, which owns the Watercress Beds nature reserve, the Friends of Ewelme Watercress Beds and other villagers. It is named after the late GP Dr Anne Millar, who practised in Benson for 30 years and helped found the Benson Ecological Study Team, now known as Benson Nature Group.

Organiser Andrea Powell said: “The children came not just from Ewelme but from other local villages to spend several hours immersed in nature and away from screens and devices.

“Every child went away with an appropriate prize as well as their bug hotels and from the happy faces of both children and adults it seems that the day was, yet again, a huge success.”