As summer moves to autumn and the nights are getting longer there may be fewer wildflowers and butterflies around, but there is a little more time to contemplate the nature we’ve seen over the year. While some like to photograph or paint wildlife, for many putting pen to paper to write about the natural world is an enjoyable and therapeutic pastime.

On September 20th nature writer Nic Wilson will be joining us at the Paxton Pits Education Centre to lead a workshop. The day will start with a walk around the reserve to get some inspiration and explore how we can use our senses to inspire readers. Then there will be written exercises and discussion, and participants will leave with writing prompts and ideas to help them continue to learn and broaden their skills.

Nic is known to Guardian readers as one of the contributors to the Country Diary column. She also writes about wildflowers and nature for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and has had her work published in several magazines and anthologies. She worked as an English teacher for several years before becoming a writer and is soon to release her first book Land Beneath the Waves.

And if you want to add imagery to your writing then on September 30th we will be welcoming back Sharon Williamson to run a session on nature journalling. A nature journal is a personal notebook filled sketches and words of wildlife observations and gives the creator an outlet for the inspiration a visit to nature reserve can give us. It also serves as a record of the species you have seen throughout the year and helps you hone your writing and artistic skills.

While these events are aimed at adults there are plenty of events available for all the family. We have a couple of spaces available at Little Bugs Club, one Monday a month, for pre-schoolers where we will run activities on a different theme each month. Activities always include something fun about wildlife outdoors, plus crafts, stories and refreshments. Previous themes have included celebrating swallows and swifts, pond dipping and mud pie making.

Families with primary school aged children should get in touch if they would like to attend our monthly Saturday morning group, again for families wanting to attend something regularly. We will explore a new wildlife theme each month, with other like-minded families who love getting outdoors and want to help local wildlife! Previous themes have included everything from preparing beaver-themed cupcakes to raise funds for a beaver release at the Nene Wetlands to a pond dipping murder mystery.

Visit www.wildlifebcn.org/paxtonpits to find out more about all these events and book.

You may have heard about Strawberry Hill – a former farm near Risely – which has been left to go wild for 35 years and is now home to many nightingales, warblers and other wildlife. The Wildlife Trust is currently running an appeal to buy the site and save it for people and nature forever. You can learn more about this amazing site and help us save it at www.wildlifebcn.org/strawberryhillappeal