Clair Schwarz Runs Workshop at the Festival of Nature: Wrens

On the 13 and 14 June 2026, as part of the Festival of Nature weekend, Clair Schwarz led a two-day workshop inspired by her research into the ‘Wrens’ – a community of women and children who lived on the Curragh in 19th Century Ireland.

Children and families created wrens from clay and pinecones, and decorated masks. With some 400 plus participants, the popular workshop allowed for some beautiful and fun creations to be made, while learning about the habits of wrens, and how to help them thrive in our gardens by ‘being messy’, providing habitat and food through thoughtful planting. Small booklets about the wren in European folklore and the Irish Wrens were given away as mementos of the day alongside the products of the workshop. Clair was delighted to be part of the Festival of Nature as it provided an important opportunity to celebrate and honour the natural world while sharing her research in an accessible and creative way.

Feedback on the workshop:

“Lovely range of activities from the university, much appreciated. And very friendly people!”

“Great”

“great”

“Loved it, thanks so much to everyone involved! Really engaging activities and the children learned loads… Without necessarily realising!”

“Kids enjoyed a lot”

“Love the event overall and how informative it was”

“Loved it very fun and informative”

“Good fun!”

“Brilliant hands-on activities with plenty of supplies and enthusiastic facilitators”

“Lovely friendly people, lots of craft materials, nice range of activities”

For more information about VAMP member, Clair Schwarz, click here.