Spend this summer exploring nature in your local area with the Bitesize Summer Nature Challenge, introduced by Sir David Attenborough.

In the UK’s warmest season nature is blooming all around us and it's the perfect time to get exploring.

Evidence of the living world is everywhere, whether you live in a town, city or the countryside you just have to step outside your front door to get started.

BBC Bitesize has created a series of resources for primary and secondary school age children to help make the most of Summer 2020 and learn about nature on your doorstep.

When you're exploring you could find bees, butterflies, birds, foxes, wild flowers, snails and much more.

Create a nature diary of your findings and share your pictures and discoveries with BBC Bitesize.

Recording what you discover

While you are out exploring you can keep track of what you find.

If you are counting things a good way to keep track is to use a tally table.

Tally marks are small vertical lines, each one representing one unit.

The fifth tally mark in a group is always drawn across the first four - as this makes it easier to count the total in groups of five.

Taking pictures of what you see

It is great to record your findings with visuals.

Taking photographs is a great way to do this, and can be done on a variety of devices.

However, drawing means that you don't have to upload and print your images.

Your drawings don't need to be perfect - you just need to get an idea of your observation down on paper.

Get started

Take part in the Bitesize Summer Nature Challenge using the worksheet below to help you.

You can include drawings, photos, notes, stories, charts, graphs and tables, eg keeping a tally of how many ladybirds you see.

Get an adult to share your pictures and rough location, ie town and county, using hashtag #BBCBitesizeNature and @BBCBitesize.

National Trust: Build a home for wildlife

You will need an adult to help you with this activity.

Try this activity from the National Trust.

All sorts of animals, bugs and birds need homes and most choose to build very different ones.

Before you have a go at building a home for wildlife, there are a few things you need to think about:

• What animal are you building a house for?

For this challenge it's probably best to build a house for a small animal.

Hedgehogs, for example, don't need a lot of space, but you could choose to build somewhere for even smaller things like woodlice, spiders or worms and you’d need even fewer materials and less garden space.

• How will the animals use the home you've built?

Do you think that they will want to live in the home you make? Or maybe just visit it and explore? Or could they use it for hibernating?

• What can you learn from the sort of home the animal currently lives in?

It's best to build something similar to the animal's current home, so natural materials like moss, sticks and stones will be better than plastic and metal.

You could also try cardboard if you wanted to make something really detailed.

• Where are you going to build it?

Can it be on the ground, underneath it, or in the trees? Does it need to be dry or wet?

If you find your wildlife home empty at first, don't despair - take a look back in a week or so and you may find an unexpected guest has moved in.

More tips

More tips on exploring nature from around the web:

• The Wildlife Trusts - Where to see summer wildlife

• Woodland Trust - Things to do in woodland

• RSPB - Guide to birdwatching

• Mind - Ideas to try in nature