Mistletoe Survey

We need your help. We want to find all the mistletoe plants growing in Histon and Impington! It is very easy to join in our survey - we have only four simple questions for you to answer!

Mistletoe only grows on trees where a seed has been stuck to a branch by a bird. It forms large “balls” of green which are especially visible on bare branches in winter.

It is Christmas and there are quite a few traditions associated with mistletoe, often featuring kissing. So you might enjoy going out to look for mistletoe. In Cambridge they have already been helped by the public to map their mistletoe; all as part of an exercise to record wildlife in the city.

For this mistletoe survey the Abbey Fields team are collaborating with the Parish Council who are interested in recording wildlife in the parishes.

Mistletoe is easy to spot once you have got your eye in. For example, this tree by the Peace Memorial has several plants high up on its branches.

To find out more about mistletoe and the strange lifestyle of this parasitic plant see our website.

Download our survey instructions (with pictures of what to look out for) and recording sheet here.

The mistletoe survey can be done over several outings, but we need your results by 15th January 2023.

Photograph or scan your completed forms and email them, and any photographs that you want to share, to us at sitemanagers@abbeyfields.online

We will put the village-wide mistletoe map on our website once we have checked all the information that you send to us.

Remember we need your results by 15th January 2023.

House sparrow roost survey

We need your help. We want to find all the places in Histon and Impington where groups of house sparrow roost (‘ bed down’) for the night.

The house sparrow is RED-listed after a dramatic decline in numbers. They are very sociable and stick together in groups chattering to each other all the time as they move around. Towards dusk they head for a favourite thick bush or hedge to spend the night huddled together for warmth. As they gather they up the volume of the chatter as everyone jostles for the best position deep in the shelter of the bush – it can get very loud.

To find a roost you need to listen out for an extremely noisy bush! So just take an afternoon walk anywhere in the village and listen out.

For this house sparrow roost survey the Abbey Fields team are collaborating with the Parish Council who are interested in recording wildlife in the parishes.

To find out more about the house sparrow and the reasons for its RED listing see our website.

Download our survey instructions (with a recording of what to listen out for) and recording sheet here.

The house sparrow roost survey can be done over several outings, but we need your results by 15th January 2023.

Photograph or scan your completed forms and email them to us at sitemanagers@abbeyfields.online

Remember we need your results by 15th January 2023.

Park Lane roost

Take a walk to Park Lane – perhaps pop into Long Meadow as part of your walk – about an hour before it gets dark. Just listen and look up.

In the afternoon, especially on still cloudless days, hundreds of rooks and jackdaws can gather in the skies above Park Lane and adjacent roads (Park Avenue, St Audrey’s Close, Somerset Road) and over Long Meadow.

At these times you can get at first a few circling around calling, then boosted by new arrivals, until there is a cacophony of calls and hundreds of black birds silhouetted against the darkening sky. Their swirling around in a group is spectacular and the sound is pretty awesome too.

The actual roost is on the big mature trees on Histon Manor on the north side of Park Lane.

To find out more about rooks and jackdaws, their life style and habits and what each sounds like, check out our website.

Why not take a picture or two and post them on the Abbey Fields Preservation Facebook page.

Make a bug hotel for your garden

This activity was designed by the RSPB and this link gives suggestions of what to do.

Why not take a picture or two of your finished bug hotel and post them on the Abbey Fields Preservation Facebook page so that we can all see how well you did!

Take a photograph on the theme “Our village at Christmas”

What caught your eye in the village this Christmas? Get into the habit of taking pictures in all seasons and all weathers. The best pictures are not always taken on a warm sunny day. We are already planning for new photography competitions in 2023 so watch out for announcements.

If you want to share some of your pictures of the village at Christmas you can post them on the Abbey Fields Preservation Facebook page.

Website numbers quiz

All the answers to be found on our website! Just have a browse around and find the answers to the 20 questions below. You can print out the questions here.

If you get them all the total sum of all the numbers should be 28,656.5. Brilliant if you get there!

You can find the answers here.

Pictures to colour

Download three pictures to colour in here.

Word search puzzles

Try our two word search puzzles. Download the PDF here.

Make a bat mask

An easy mask to make at home – be a more realistic BATMAN!

This activity was designed by the Bat Conservation Trust and provides templates and instructions for masks of three species of bat present in the UK: common pipistrelle, brown long eared bat, and Daubenton’s bat.

We have limited information on bats around the village and for Long Meadow and Croft Close Set-aside, but pipistrelles are definitely present.

To find out more about pipistrelle bats, their life style and habits and what each sounds like, check out our website.

Why not take a picture or two of your finished masks and post them on the Abbey Fields Preservation Facebook page so that we can all see how well you did!

Find these six trees

Can you correctly match the tree with its location? Download the PDF here.

All SIX trees are to be found in the village in one of the public open spaces – can you identify which tree goes where? Maybe you recognise all of them right away, but maybe you will need to go out to check that you have the right answers.

You can find the answers here.

Quiz Answers

Website Number Quiz: 1=778, 2=142, 3=120, 4=500, 5=7, 6=10, 7=8000, 8=4.5, 9=2021, 10=20, 11=2000, 12=10, 13=1888, 14=11000, 15=1996, 16=4, 17=40, 18=9, 19=7, 20=100

Find this tree: A=6, B=5, C=4, D=2, E=1, F=3.