Field Studies Council Centers (UK):
Blencathra Field Centre - 1997
Images of the Northern England natural landscapes (from
this and other trips)
you can find at Natural
Landscapes of the World section of our site.
In April 1997 Association ECOSYSTEM arranged the educational trip of a group
of schoolchildren from Krasnodar region to the , that situated in the North England, near the famous Lake District National
Park.
There were 12 school students 14-16 years old and three teachers in the group. Picture on
the right shows our group with the tutors and other emloyeers of the Centre
Blencathra Field Center - the most northern on England. It consists from a
few residential and office constructions, build in the old country style. On the picture
left is our group near the main building before morning out-door lesson.
Each day we had field activities, some were close to the Centre, some far away and we went
there by bus.
Operated in partnership with the Lake District National Park Authority,
the Centre occupies a dramatic setting on the south west side of Blencathra mountain near
Keswick. Habitats include freshwater, sand dunes and rocky shores together with moorlands
and a wide variety of woodlands.
One of the most interesting activities was freshwater investigation, since the nearest
mountain creek was quite close to the Centre.
Hydrobiology research we learned in Blencathra was very similar to our:
same methods, same equipment, same objects. Most of the children in the group have already
had this experience in the Moscow Field Ecology Centre.
But it was still interesting to see how our British colleagues arranged the same lessons.
Afternoon we usually spent in the far excursions, traveled all over
Center's surroundings. We visited the most interesting cultural and historical sites, for
example - the ancient dolmens, megalithic structures used for religious and astronomy
purposes in Neolith and Bronze age (like Stonehenge).
Center's surrounding offers a magnificent panorama of the Lake District
with its rich tapestry of England's highest mountains, quiet pastures, wooded valleys,
streams and lakes.
One of the days we made a mountain rise to the one of the highest local tops. It was very
unexpectedly to meet there a group of Ukrainian students, traveling with the backpacks
over Lake District National park (left).
Images of the Northern England natural landscapes (from
this and other trips)
you can find at Natural
Landscapes of the World section of our site.
