​It’s been lights, camera, action! in Berrycroft Hub again.
This time we’ve had the brilliant Dr Sophia Adams discussing Bronze Age hoards & metal working for the Museum of London’s new Havering hoard exhibition.
All very exciting stuff & well worth going to when it opens!!

We had a great bone & antler working session today with our awesome workshop tutor, experimental archaeologist Dr. James Dilley.
Berrycroft Hub’s classroom was positively buzzing with conservation & laughter as everyone got to know each other - just the sort of atmosphere we love here!
We’re really impressed with the selection of objects that were made. Everyone was inspired to do more projects at home & hopefully get to actually use their needles too.
At 4pm it was still frosty outside & we wrapped up the workshop with steaming hot tea & slices of delicious cake before everyone headed home.

As usual with all our workshops we’re starting the day with an introductory talk that contextualises the objects about to be made. Today’s workshop is bone & antler working with experimental archaeologist Dr.  James Dilley.
James is a widely respected prehistoric expert & is completing his PhD at Southampton University.
All our workshop tutors are specialists in their fields so not only are you guaranteed an excellent day with us but also the opportunity to learn an incredible amount!

It’s bright & cold this morning at Berrycroft Hub. A beautiful frost has touched just about everything & we’ve had to put fresh water out for the dawn birds.
Back inside the Hub it’s warm & cheery as we prepare for today’s bone & antler workshop with experimental archaeologist Dr. James Dilley 

​Join Nick Bowles from Butterfly Conservation to learn how to identify, survey and record British butterflies and moths.
Accurate records can make an enormous difference to efforts to conserve wildlife, locally and nationally. It helps land managers to know both which species are breeding on any patch, and how their management affects numbers.
The aim of the workshop is to increase both the accuracy and frequency of butterfly and moth recording.
You will also gain extra knowledge to boost the enjoyment of any observation whilst out walking or even just in your own garden.

​We’re filming educational videos for another museum today (shrouded in secrecy again, sorry folks).
Fingers crossed the weather holds for our outdoor shots this morning but at least off road barista bar is serving hot coffee, chocolate biscuits & homemade cake!

​It’s only week two of January & we’re off on a flying start to 2020 at Berrycroft Hub!
We were probably just a little too excited when our new BTO bird feeders arrived. Sally-Ann now has them hanging in the Hub’s garden area giving it a definite Springwatch style vibe as our 2020 garden bird monitoring begins.
We’ve also been hosting a couple of film crews as Ancient Craft - James Dilley has been in the limelight again. (As usual we are sworn to secrecy until official release dates).
There’s been some Bronze Age art work going on in the indoor classroom with a session on pen & ink drawing. These looked fantastic finished in their frames & ready to hang!
Keeping on the prehistory theme we’ve been doing more field walking on our Mesolithic site beside the Hub & have found plenty of flint flakes, cores & blades. These are all being recorded & it’s exciting to think people have been knapping flints on this exact spot since the last ice age!
Our farmland bird project has also started in earnest for 2020 with two new owl boxes installed & plenty of barn owl activity being recorded. We have three pairs of barn owls all hunting on our field margins at present & it’s been wonderful to watch them. The short-eared owls are back again for their winter with us & we’ve been regularly seeing our tawny owls that live in the wood near the Hub too. Plenty of little owl screeching was recorded just before Christmas but they’ve gone quiet now. We know they are active & finding plenty to eat by all the pellets under their tree hole.
On the subject of birds, our much loved & somewhat mischievous resident jackdaw, Harry, has amassed a large collection of Christmas cracker toys & is guarding them like Smaug the dragon. Touch them at your peril!
Similar to us, Harry is not a great fan of these early dark mornings & has taken to sulking when the lights turn on & the kettle starts to sing. We have all been left in no doubt that our rattling around getting breakfast ready is definitely disturbing his lie-in.

We’re celebrating the New Year by unwrapping the pots back from Graham Taylor. 
These beautiful pots were made on Graham Taylor’s most recent prehistoric pottery workshop with us & we love them!
Now you all can have the chance to quickly admire them too before they are reunited with their makers...

‘Tis the season of goodwill & food is the language of love!
Really excel in being organised this Christmas & treat your loved one to a workshop cooking up a Tudor feast on Valentine’s Day with the brilliant culinary archaeologist Caroline Nicolay

Create your own a bark container, like those found alongside Ötzi the Iceman in the Italian Alps in 1991. Come & find out more about one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century & how bark & other plant fibres such as bast were used during prehistory to create equipment, clothing & structures.
This workshop will be led by Dr. James Dilley an experimental archaeologist & a PhD Student at the University of Southampton, who specialises in prehistoric technology.