OPAL surveys are entry level citizen science surveys and feature commonly found wildlife like worms, sycamore leaves, pond invertebrates, lichens, bugs and trees. They encourage people to observe and record the state of the environment and help them to find out how healthy it is. You can see them in detail on www.opalexplorenature
The National Museum can come to a centre, or a SWOAPG training day to run free sessions on the surveys – they could be used for the John Muir award, and some ( Air and Water survey) link directly to bioindicator topic in WJEC science. They are also a great way for getting people hands on with the environment – particularly the worm survey!
If this is of interest here is a flyer for training run by the museum and accredited by Queens University Belfast over three Wednesdays here in the Museum. Cost is £5! However people must register with the University and this will open on March 17th.
If this doesn’t fit the busy schedules of an outdoor centre, but you are still interested – they can probably arrange a date to suit in any centre in South Wales.
Contact Barbara.Brown@museumwales.ac.uk for more information