Oldham Lockdown Museum

Week 6 (29th June – 5th July): Nature

From goats reclaiming the streets of Llandudno, to urban residents simply being able to hear the sound of bird song while traffic levels dropped, nature has played a part in many people’s experience of Spring/Summer 2020.

Last week in Oldham’s Lockdown Museum we asked you to tell us about the lockdown experiences you have had which involved nature. Have you spent more time in your local park than usual? Or have you hung a bird feeder up by your window for the first time? Have you succeeded (or failed?!) in growing something? Did you find that the act of taking a daily walk meant that you noticed the seasons changing more? We’d love to see photos of things you’ve seen in your garden or spotted on your walk. We have had LOADS of entries for the nature theme, so we’ll be adding to this gallery throughout the week.

Deer at St Paul's, Royton

At St. Paul's school in Royton we had to undertake a real alternative ' lockdown' procedure due to a deer coming onto our site. This was very exciting but also frightening for the deer. Eventually a local vet who lives behind the school joined me in enticing the deer to leave the premises to find safety.

Alexandra Park school Bird Feeders

During the Science Share our children made their own bird feeders and bird seed to entice the Alexandra Park birds out of their nests for a snack.

Amelia's walk

In April I went on a walk with my mum to Woodhouses Village, Daisy Nook then back home. Woodhouses is a nice area to walk through.

Dryad's Saddle

This is a Dryad’s Saddle fungus which a friend had cut off an ash tree.

Louise's back garden

Here's a photo of my back garden.

Veg boxes

These veg boxes contain produce grown here in Oldham.

Empty beds at the end of winter

This is the council's nursery at the start of the year. These beds have been used to grow food.

Peppers in the greenhouse

This is one of the council's greenhouses. These pepper plants will supply food to residents.

Froglet

This ex-tadpole is starting a new life as a frog in Lees Eco Park.

Phil's Hoverfly (Heliophilus)

Phil's Elephant Hawk Moth

During lockdown seeking out nature in your own "backyard" can help with "mindfulness". It's fantastic what you can see, find and learn from nature.

Phil's Lime Hawk Moth

Thistle Tortoise Beetle

Phil's Kestrel

Toddling on Tandle Hill

From busy parks, play centres and kids clubs, to open fields, long grass, sky and space. Tandle hills has been and will continue to be our santuary. Children need free limitless space, time and play without the rules of the house, adults and world around them. When it was all too much this is what healed us.

Linda's shadows

The sun has been amazing and surprising in its appearance during a lot of lockdown.. casting some beautiful shadows.

Linda's garden

I decided to extend my tiny garden upwards by repurposing an old stepladder.

Linda's bird bath

I’ve enjoyed watching the birds celebrating lockdown and thought they deserved a thank you so I made them this bird bath. They’ve not used it yet!

Linda's foxgloves

Foxgloves seem to have been going crazy during lockdown and are blooming like mad.

Zoe's path

The secluded path near where I live. Everyone has discovered places like this during lock down.

Debbie's Lapwing

Lapwing on Brun Moor, Saddleworth: With a shrill ‘WEEW-ee, WEEW-we’

Nick's Sundew

I visited the Sundew site by Greenfield reservoir yesterday and it's hanging on by the skin of its teeth. I could only find one small patch in the small clough which is still full of last year's dead Bog Asphodel flower stems. Fortunately there are still a few patches in the drainage channel below the clough, hopefully the ditch won’t get dredged out again for a while. It's hard to tell whether the present scarcity is due to recent dry weather or is a long-term effect of climate change.

Debbie's dunlin

This small bird at the water's edge, I think is a DUNLIN which is a small, elusive wader which nests on blanket bog. The pools provide an abundance of tiny insects and invertebrates for the DUNLIN chicks at Swelllards Reservoir.

Debbie's golden plover

Golden Plover seen between Black Moss and Swellards Reservoirs

Debbie's curlew in flight

I am a key worker, so I take most of my walks in the evening after work. Curlew spend the winter in coastal areas and arrive on our extensive moorland and open bogs in Spring for breeding. A larger wader and an iconic bird of the moors, with its distinctive call and long down curved bill. Fairly shy, making it hard to get a closer look. This Curlew is on Rocher Moss, Saddleworth.

Deadline for ‘Nature’ submissions was 9am Monday 6th July. We are happy to receive them after this but we may not be able to include them in our gallery on this page, although we will still add them to our collection for future generations.