Arnside and Silverdale AONB

Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Local children learning about Arnside/Silverdale AONB

Teachers resources, information and education packs

Environmental Education

An important function of the AONB Service is to provide environmental education. From teaching volunteers conservation techniques and the correct use of tools through to the interpretation of the landscape and habitats, education is a constant and important aspect of our work.

All of our staff are involved in environmental education in one form or another. We organise guided walks on a regular basis. We provide Slide shows to village groups and societies and produce Teachers guides for key sites within the AONB. We take School groups out into the AONB to learn about the natural world and the history of the landscape.

The following describes some of the different ways in which environmental education is made available to the public:

Guided Walks
The Service organises and/or leads a number of guided walks covering a wide spectrum of topics. These benefit groups ranging from local schools and members of the public to the Royal Forestry Society, Arnside and District Natural History Society, RSPB, Lancaster City Council staff, the Countryside Agency and the Landscape Trust.
Guided walks are a practical way to help people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and educational need, gain an insight into the unique nature of this area and the way we are managing it for both wildlife and people.

Illustrated Talks
The Service is often asked to talk about its work and the AONB. These talks may be just a general outline of the area or an in-depth presentation of a particular topic. We can also provide full lectures with slides or powerpoint presentations with handouts etc. We can tailor presentations to suit your needs. Please contact us to discuss how we can help. The aim of this work is to help increase peoples' awareness of the importance of the area and the work we are doing to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the AONB.

Website
This is being continuously developed by AONB staff and will eventually cover all areas of our work within the AONB. There are sections of the website devoted to the AONB Service, the Limestone Heriatge Project, The AONB Sustainable Development Fund, and The AONB Landscape Trust. We have recently launched a new linked site for the "Visit Bittern Initiative" - working with local businesses in the AONB - www.visitbittern.co.uk .
Both of our websites provide useful links to other partners, local groups and businesses in the AONB. Many of the AONB Service's interpretation, educational and management documents are available to download in pdf format.

Leaflets and Publications
There is a comprehensive range of leaflets and guides available from the AONB Office. We have self-guided walks leaflets and interpretation leaflets on a range of subjects. These publications have been developed by AONB staff covering manyt of the subjects and areas of our work within the AONB. We also stock leaflets on the Area produced by our partner organisations. Some of our leaflets and publications can be downloaded from this website using the links below or from the "Publications" page. The Warton Crag Teachers Information Pack is available as a full colour printed booklet from the Office at the cost of £5.00 inclusive of postage or can be downloaded free of charge in pdf format using the link below.

Click the links here for the publication you wish to download

	Downloadable Document Name	Download size

	Teacher Information Pack.pdf	1,715Kb
	Tick Information leaflet.pdf	618Kb
	AONB Management Plan 2004-2009.pdf	2,469Kb
	Warton Crag Management Plan.pdf	587Kb
The above documents are in adobe pdf format. Press on the icon below to download a free version of Acrobat Reader which will enable you to read and download the reports.

Providing AONB information
Our headquarters at the Old Station Building is more than just an office. Increasingly, it has become a first point of contact for a wide spectrum of queries about the area from the public and professionals ranging from the general to the specific. Call in for advice on a broad variety of topics, including walks, species identification, archaeology, geology, history, habitat management, availability of maps and much, much more - even details on train services or a free train timetable

Return to the page menu | Up to the top of the page

Working with Schools

A Discovery Pack for Schools was produced in 1993. This is available on request from the Arnside Office. It is designed to be used by primary schools in the area and is also available to visiting schools and groups. It supports teachers and helps the children learn more about the area, how to understand the countryside and how to behave while out enjoying it. It is fun to use as well as being educational.

Site specific teachers' guides have been produced for a number of sites such as Trowbarrow LNR, Warton Crag LNR, Parkside Pottery, Ashmeadow and Beetham Hall.

We are very happy to visit local schools and also to take groups of children on visits to sites within the AONB to help them appreciate and understand their countryside.We have also developed outdoor education facilities for local schools within their grounds using our volunteer team.

Return to the page menu | Up to the top of the page

Further Education

The Service can offer assistance and advice to students doing projects and research. Over the years many graduate and postgraduate students have learnt their basis of their professional skills with the Service whilst contributing to the database of knowledge. Refer to our volunteering pages for further information about opportunites with the Arnside/Silverdale AONB Management Service.

We receive many enquiries from higher education establishments. We have organised visits for undergraduates studying for HND courses. Looking at grassland and woodland management at Warton Crag and Trowbarrow LNRs gives the students a real practical grasp of the possible problems and solutions to some of the conundrums that we face. In addition students studying Countryside Management degrees have regularly visited Trowbarrow to see the management work that has been done and hear about the way the Service is financed and run. We have developed regular contacts with both Myerscough College and Liverpool John Moores University.

Return to the page menu | Up to the top of the page

The Arnside/Silverdale AONB ONLINE website is managed by the staff of the AONB Service.
If you experience any technical difficulty using the site please contact the AONB Office.