August is the month when your Tiny Forest, even if it’s still a young one, will be looking beautifully dense, green and filled with ripening berries. A flourishing Forest can only mean one thing! No, it is not weeding, but that is not a bad idea either. It is the explosion of biodiversity! After our May Biodiversity Week, this is a good chance to see what lives or stops by your Tiny Forest, as the warmer season is slowly coming to an end. Enjoy the last warm evenings of the year to share stories with your community and stay into the night for ‘mothing’! 

You might have become pretty good at observing pollinators by now, but have you had a chance to pay closer attention to the ones with the most majestic wings? The UK has 59 species of butterflies (57 residents and 2 summer visitors). At the same time, there are over 2,500 species of its less popular but equally impressive and important cousin, the moth. The best time to observe butterflies is on a warm, sunny and windless day. Find a good spot in your Tiny Forest and sit still. The Tiny Forest Butterfly Survey has two parts – a 10-minute timed count and a count of all species that visit the Tiny Forest while you are there. The survey coms with an ID guide, but you can also visit the Butterfly Conservation website to learn more about the different species. For those willing to bring attention to the wider Lepidoptera order, why not give “mothing“ a try?

There is nothing more enjoyable than spending warm summer evenings in nature. August is a popular time of year to take a family holiday. However, many families are not able to fill the summer break with fun activities for their children because of a lack of time or sufficient funds, often leading to them to feel left out. A Tiny Forest can provide a lovely inner-city oasis where a lot of joyful activities can take place. One of our favourite activities to organise in our Tiny Forests are storytelling sessions. Storytelling is a fantastic way to help children make sense of the complex world around them and explore difficult questions. You can pick a couple of old tales from the local library, involve that neighbour who loves telling long stories in an animated way, and take the young ones on a great adventure!

Head to your Tiny Forest to take part in counting butterflies. There are two Butterfly Surveys available. Find out on our YouTube channel how to conduct a Butterfly Time Count Survey and a Butterfly Species List Survey and make sure you access both on your phone or by downloading and printing them our website.