Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

LAST week I went to climb Snowdon and in the attractive village of Llanberis.

I discovered a small museum which many others all over Britain would do well to follow.

It is called Cwm Derwen Woodland and Wildlife Centre and what they have done is to black out a room in which the mammals and birds which are active at night can be displayed.

This set-up has been created before but here there are some fundamental innovations. Tape recordings of the sounds of each creature ring out into the darkness and each visitor is provided with a torch. Wandering about in the dark and pointing your torch at the various animals gives the feeling of being in a wood at night. Far too many naturalists, who should know better, do not realise that the majority of mammals and some birds, especially the owls, are active at night.

I know why many mammals are nocturnal. It is because the human predator is active during the day.

My torch and flash camera revealed stoat, fox, badger and a number of bats, while the barn owl and the tawny owl were both displayed to perfection.

The idea of exploring by torchlight is so simple, it is a wonder that more museums do not do it.

Not only is it simple, it's also cheap.

This museum is easily reached by travelling along the pretty little quarry railway in Llanberis and whenever I'm in the area I'm going to go again.

In the meantime, I'm just hoping that other natural history museums, both large and small, amateur and professional, can develop something similar.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.