**Cancelled** Join us to look and listen for creatures of the night! Summer is an ideal time to observe several species of katydids, crickets, cicadas and birds. We will also […]
Online registration is now closed. Please email Bert bharris@cliftoninstitute.org if you'd like to attend. Join us at the residence of our co-directors to experience a remnant prairie, a planted meadow, […]
Nature journaling is a powerful tool for learning about plants and animals, a mindful practice for connecting to nature, and just a great way to spend time outside. Managing Director […]
Join us for a bird walk around the field station! Led by an expert birder. All levels welcome! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by […]
Join us way down yonder for a Pawpaw party! We are excited to host this celebration of our only native tropical fruit tree! With many colorful nicknames such as the […]
Since 2019 we have been working to restore a 100-acre cattle pasture into a diverse native grassland, using eight different methods to compare different ways of establishing and maintaining grassland […]
Join us for a bird walk around the field station! Led by an expert birder. All levels welcome! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by […]
Join us for a walk on our trails with one our naturalists. Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by an adult. Weather policy: Date and […]
Love them, fear them, or somewhere in-between, spiders are some of the most magical animals on the planet that are everywhere around us quietly keeping ecosystems running! Spend the afternoon […]
Join us for a bird walk around the field station! Led by an expert birder. All levels welcome! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by […]
Join us for a walk on our trails with one our naturalists! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by an adult. Weather policy: Date and […]
Collecting and propagating native seeds is a great way to help spread native plant populations, add 100% native species to your gardens, and learn about the native plants in your […]
This fall the Clifton Institute, in collaboration with Fauquier County Public Schools and the Fauquier County We Need Bees Committee, is beginning an exciting new project: Lawn Lab. This experiment […]
Did you know that flying squirrels glow pink? Or that some lichens fluoresce chartreuse or orange? We are still discovering the hidden world of fluorescence—plants, animals, fungi, and minerals that […]
Join us for a bird walk around the field station! Led by an expert birder. All levels welcome! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by […]
Nature journaling is a powerful tool for learning about plants and animals, a mindful practice for connecting to nature, and just a great way to spend time outside. Managing Director […]
We get questions all the time about how to manage invasive plants and we want to help you rid your property of unwanted invaders! In this program, Landowner Outreach Associate […]
In this program Co-Director and amateur lichenologist Bert Harris will teach participants the basics of lichen biology and identification. He'll then lead participants on a lichen tour of the rocky […]
Join us for a bird walk around the field station! Led by an expert birder. All levels welcome! Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children ages 12 and up, accompanied by […]
**THIS IS A VIRTUAL EVENT** Get ready for winter by brushing up on sparrow identification! Every season brings its own challenges for birdwatching. In winter, similar-looking sparrows can be hard […]
Join us for a walk on our trails with one our naturalists. Cost: Free! Age: Adults and children accompanied by an adult. Weather policy: Date and time subject to change […]
Grasses have a reputation for being really challenging to identify, but with a little practice and expert guidance it’s not too hard to learn to recognize the most common grasses […]
Join us for the 25th Annual The Plains/Airlie Christmas Bird Count this December! Our goal? Count as many birds as we can in our 15-mile-diameter count circle, which includes a […]
Our monthly Walks with a Naturalist are a chance to explore our trails with one of our staff naturalists and learn about the plants and animals that live on the […]
Winter is a great time of year to learn how to identify trees and to practice looking at bark and twigs. In this program, we will take you on a […]
Nature journaling is a powerful tool for learning about plants and animals, a mindful practice for connecting to nature, and just a great way to spend time outside. Managing Director […]