Tuesdays
21 February - 20 March 2012
2 - 4 pm
5 Weeks: £25
This course is now full
Who is this course for?
Anyone interested in natural history and gardens.
No skills needed - any level of expertise or none is welcome.
By the end of the course you should:
*enjoyed the experience
*know more about the wild and not so wild plants and creatures of the garden
*know more about the nesting habits of garden birds
The Course
The course takes us through the year in some South Hams gardens, and is centred around a selection
of Bryan Ashby and Chris Pierce’s beautiful slides with commentary by them and Gordon.
We encourage questions and discussion as we make our imaginary journey.
There will be photocopied hand-outs giving information and books to borrow.
Each week we will investigate a different aspect of Bryan’s garden:
-’weeds’, flowers, vegetables and the creatures that eat them or hide beneath them.
-the greenhouse, the walls and hedges.
-butterflies and moths, bees and hoverflies.
-the great variety of birds.
Added to this will be a time watching birds at the nest from Chris and Bryan’s hides.
Week 1:Bryan’s garden, Mistle Thrush and Chiffchaff stories.
Week 2: :Bryan’s garden, Black cap, Robin’s stories.
Week 3: :Bryan’s garden, feeding time at the log, Greenfinch and Dunnock’s stories.
Week 4: :Bryan’s garden, predators, Goldfinch and Spotted Flycatcher’s stories.
Week 5: :Bryan’s garden, Wolfgang Link’s Bees, Bullfinch’s story and Three Men in a Hide.
Your Tutors
Bryan Ashby trained as a photographer in London, came down and worked as a mate on
'Hoshi and Provident' for the Island Cruising Club, where he met Jane.
His first visit to the Isles of Scilly was at the wheel of Hoshi,
sailing down the narrow channel between Bryher and Tresco.
Together Bryan and Jane have raised a faimly and run a photographic business in Dartmouth
and then Kingsbridge until their retirement.
Bryan has been a natural history photographer for many years and has a wonderful collection of slides.
He and Gordon enjoy giving talks to all types of groups.
They also ran a family naturalists course,
for children and adults at Slapton Field Centre.
Gordon Waterhouse was a primary school teacher in the South Hams.
He and Barbara came to Kingsbridge with their young family in 1971.
He has always had a passion for natural history and does a monthly bird count
on the Kingsbridge Estuary and clearance work at Andrew's Wood.
Gordon wrote the Nature Diary column for the Kingsbridge Gazette for 10 years,
he now shares this with a team of writers.
He has written books on the Wildlife of the Kingsbridge Estuary,
The Birds and Natural History of the South Hams,
Wildlife Walks, A South Hams Nature Diary and Seashore Life,
usually with Bryan supplying the photography.
Since retirement. he has led evening classes on Natural History
with Bryan showing the slides and Bryan and Chris keeping him in order!
Chris Pierce trained as a photographer in the RAF.
He came to the South Hams to take charge of an engineering factory in Kingsbridge,
spending his spare time photographing birds and a variety of wildlife.
He and Bryan have enjoyed working together photographing from hides,
and Chris took over Bryan's photographic business in Kingsbridge when Bryan retired.
To enrol, call 01548 854708
