Life under leaves

• Stick together in your teams with your adult when exploring. Even if you manage to stick to the footpaths, the forest can begin to look the same if you’re not familiar with it, so it’s important to stay together to stay safe (and so you don’t miss it if anyone sports anything really cool).
• Tread carefully, slowly and quietly. Not only will you be less likely to trip on roots or rocks, the forest floor is teeming with life – by moving slowly and quietly you’ll be able to spot more and squish less. You’ll also have a better chance of spotting shy animals such as deer or badgers; they’ll usually run for cover if they hear you coming.
• Put back anything you pick up (unless it’s litter). Wildlife use rocks, leaves, and rotting wood to build their homes – you don’t want to be responsible for mayhem among minibeasts.
• If you find litter that you can pick up safely (with gloves if possible), put it in a bin, and wash your hands. Don’t touch anything sharp or heavy – let the person leading the activity know about it so they can tell whoever’s in charge of the area.
• If you want to remember something, take a photo or draw it. It’ll be useful when you want to remember the details of what you spotted – you could even label your drawings, for example, to remind you of colours.
• Don’t approach animals such as deer, badgers, or birds. Bigger animals don’t always run away. Sometimes they can be aggressive and bite. Lots of animals are also protected by disturbance from the law. Admire them from a distance, with binoculars if you have them.
• Don’t damage trees or plants by bending or breaking branches. Animals like birds and squirrels use the branches to get around safely – you wouldn’t like it if someone destroyed the roads or footpaths you use every day.

What sort of woodland is it?

• For example, it could be a timber plantation (with uniform rows of trees that are roughly the same age), an ancient mixed woodland (with old and gnarly trees of all sorts of species packed together in a random pattern), or a recently planted young woodland (with smaller, thinner young trees, which may be protected by covers around their trunks to stop deer or cattle from eating the bark).
• If you’re not sure what kind of woodland it is, try to capture what you see with notes or pictures so you can find out later.

What plants can you find?

Remember don’t touch them – you might damage them and some are toxic to humans.

• Other than the trees, what plants are on the ground? If there aren’t many, what’s the ground like – is it quite dusty and muddy?
• Are there any clearings filled with wild flowers and grasses?
• Can you spot low shrubs and bushes around the paths and at the foot of trees?
• What about mushrooms or fungi?

What’s the largest tree you can find?

• Think about the width of the tree as well as the height. Some of the oldest trees aren’t especially tall, but they’re wide. See if you can find the tallest and the widest trees.
• The circumference of the tree is the measurement around the outside. Roughly, every two and a half centimetres represents about one year's growth. This means that you can estimate the age of a living tree by dividing the circumference by two and a half. For example, a tree with a circumference of 50cm would be around twenty years old.

What water is there?

• Are there rivers, streams, or ponds in the woods? Is the water flowing or still?
• What life can you find around the water? Are there any fish? What about birds nearby?

What large animals can you spot?

• Depending on where you are (and when you’re visiting), look out for deer, badgers, foxes, larger birds, rabbits, and squirrels.
• Animals like badgers, hedgehogs, and foxes are fairly wary and mostly come out at night, but rabbits and squirrels can be seen even in city parks.

What small animals can you find?

• Here, ‘animals’ means anything living that isn’t a plant, so it includes insects, other bugs, and birds too.
• Can you spot smaller wildlife living under rocks, in trees, or by water? Be careful not to disturb them.

What evidence of human activity is there?

• Are there structural things like paths, fences, or buildings?
• What about evidence of tree cutting or land management such as stumps and laid hedges or fires?
• Are there signs of industry like chimneys, plantations, allotments, or roads through the middle of the forest?

What effect do you think human activity has had on the wildlife in the area?

• How does litter affect wildlife? Animals can get stuck on or in it and be hurt or killed.
• What effect does it have when humans create roads and paths? It can trample down plant life and cars may hit animals trying to cross.
• What else can you spot? Keep an eye out for trees that have been cut down (and not replaced) – this removes shade and places for animals like squirrels and birds to nest. Trees also keep the soil healthy by absorbing water and providing shade that keeps it from drying and cracking, so cutting down trees also harms the soil.