Prior booking and payment is essential. Numbers are limited, so you are advised to book up as soon as possible. Please use the enclosed booking form. Enquiries and bookings with payment should be sent to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, Lower Smite Farm, Smite Hill, Hindlip, Worcester WR3 8SZ (tel: 01905 754919). Please make cheques payable to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. We reserve the right to cancel any course which does not attract sufficient participants. Further details and instructions for finding meeting places will be sent with the confirmation of booking.

Look out for details of our Discovery Days on Reserves. Please phone Andy Harris on 01905 754919 for details of these.

A small informal group of WWT members go out regularly to learn about and record mosses and liverworts. It is a group for beginners. If you are interested please phone 01527 873135.

Course 1: Can you name this flower? An introduction to identifying flowering plants - two mornings Saturdays 27th March and 3rd April 2004, 10.00.a.m. to about 12 noon. Led by John Meiklejohn. Based at Lower Smite Farm. Maximum number: 10. Charge for the two mornings £10-00. Bookings will be for both mornings.

27th March: Introduction to flower structure and use of keys for identification.

3rd April: Looking at three plant families.

The two indoor mornings will prepare those attending to identify plants when they flower later in the year.

Saturday 8th May 2004 10.a.m. to about 4.p.m. Led by Harry Green and Tessa Carrick.

An introduction to the groups of animals you will find und logs and stones and how to begin to identify them. Starting indoors at Lower Smite Farm, followed by field work. Maximum number: 12. Charge for course £12. Please bring a packed lunch and outdoor clothes and footwear. A hand lens may be useful.

A copy of W.P. Wheater and H. J. Read (1996) Animals under logs and stones ( Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd., P. O. Box 963, Slough, SL2 3RS, tel 01753 643104) will be useful. Also useful would be P. Wheater and P. Cook Studying invertebrates from the same publisher. Both are £9-95 paperback.

Course 3: Finding and Recording Ancient Trees: a Beginners’ Guide.

Saturday 15th May 2004. 10.00.a.m. to the afternoon. Led by Harry Green and John Tilt, who have been developing this interest for several years. Starting at Lower Smite Farm, followed by a field visit. Maximum number 12. Charge for the course: £12-00.

Please bring a packed lunch. You will need outdoor clothing and footwear. A camera will be useful.

Saturday 22nd May 2004. 4.p.m. until after dark. Led by Edward Leszczynski of WWT’s Wildlife Consultancy.

Ed will give an introduction to the bats you may find in Worcestershire and how to study them. Then he will take the group out to a site where you may expect to find several species as it grows dark. Please bring sandwiches. You will need outdoor clothing and a torch will be useful. Maximum number 10. Charge for course: £14-00.

You will be able to buy a Field Studies Council identification chart on Bats at the course, price £3-00.

Course 5: Grasses of calcareous soils.

Saturday 19th June 2004. 10.00.a.m. to 1.00.p.m. Led by Ann Fells. Based at Windmill Hill Nature Reserve. Maximum number: 10. Charge for Course £8-00. You will be able to buy a Field Studies Council identification chart on Grasses at the course, price about £3-00. You will need a hand lens and outdoor clothes and footwear.

Sunday 11th July 2004. 10.a.m. to 4.p.m. Led by Dave Grundy of DGCountryside Consultancy.

The course members will examine moths collected live in light traps and will begin to identify moths for themselves. Based at Lower Smite Farm. Maximum number 15. Charge for course £14. Please bring a packed lunch. A hand lens may be useful. Also, please bring any book on moths you have. For those who wish to pursue the study of moths further, there will be some garden moth traps for sale at the course.

Useful modern book: P. Waring, M. Townsend and R. Lewington (2003) Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland (British Wildlife Publishing, Lower Barn, Rooks Farm, Rotherwick, Hook, Hants RG27 9BG, tel: 01256 760663, £29-95 + £3-75 p &p)).

Saturday 11th September 2004 10.a.m. to 1.p.m. Led by Peter Garner. Examination of ferns on the north of the Malvern Hills which has a wide variety of habitats. Based at the North Quarry Car Park, just beyond the Clock Tower (SO 772469) off the B4232. Maximum number: 12. Cost £8-00. Please wear suitable footwear. A hand lens (preferably x15) will be useful. Recommended book: C. Jermy The Illustrated Field Guide to Ferns and Allied Plants of the British Isles (Natural History Museum, London).