Wild Lives

Welcome to Wild about Colchester. Each week we are going to investigate the wildlife around Colchester. The theme this week is all about wild lives – who and what lives here and has lived here through the history of Colchester.  

In the bingo sheet (PDF, 4.09MB) for this week we have asked you to find some places that would have been important to people’s lives, or some evidence of plant and animal life cycles. Can you find them all? 

Here are some activities to try either at home or on one of the Colchester Borough sites.  

• Why not start with thinking about who you live with? Why does your family live in Colchester? How long has your family live in Colchester? Were they born here? Did they come here for work or any other reason? Who do you know who has lived in Colchester the longest? How about who has arrived most recently? 
• People have lived in Colchester for many, many years – in fact Colchester is known as Britain’s oldest City and used to be the Roman Capital of Britain.  
• Can you create a timeline of Colchester? One has been started with a few notable things happening in Colchester already added. When did these happen? You can find the dates for these, and many more things to add at Visit Colchester.
• You can find out about a few people who lived in Colchester if you visit Bourne Valley and download the App for Android or iOS. This introduces you to Emma Legerton the miller’s daughter, John Gerard – a medieval botanist and Brother Jerome from St John’s Abbey. 

It is not just people who live in Colchester. Many animals and plants do as well. How about getting to know some of them?