February – Protecting Our Dark Skies

The February we ran our annual Dark Skies event, inviting children to explore the night sky, learn about light pollution, and take part in the Earth Hour Light switch off.

Dark skies are an often-overlooked part of our countryside heritage. By raising awareness of their importance, we help protect the natural environment while inspiring the next generation to value and care for the world around them. This event blends education with wonder, encouraging communities to reconnect with nature after dark and understand how simple changes can make a big difference.

Read about our previous dark skies events here.

Our 2026 Dark Skies event took place at The SWT Wolseley Centre, on 25th February 2026, where we were joined by Fern and Fables, and a local Beavers group for a night of creatively exploring the importance of protecting our dark skies through crafts, storytelling and exploring our landscape on an night-time walk with bat detectors!

The Beavers enjoyed stories full of wonder and magic, learning about the importance of our night sky, and the impact of light pollution. Through making clay stars, printed with leaf patterns, a night-time walk to see bats (and lots of frogs!) we explored the beauty of our dark skies, all toped off with a campfire, hot chocolates and biscuits!

Thank you to the SWT team for hosting us and sharing your amazing bat knowledge, and thank you to Julie from Fern and Fables for your wonderful stories!

Thank you to Cannock Chase National Landscape for their partnership in funding this event through the Access for All fund.