The sacks contain toys which are relevant to 12 stories involving Benjamin the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and his friend Glen the border collie and their encounters with local wildlife.

In the first story Benjamin visits the Green Heart Den, a community garden on Marsh Street, and meets Pip, the pipistrelle bat.

Pip says: “We pipistrelles are the most common British bat but we’re still very important as there are fewer places for us to hang out these days. We are very small and weigh just a few grams but we eat up to 3000 insects a night.”

The story is an entertaining way to get the wildlife message across and this particular story sack contains bat wings, flower headbands and replicas of Benjamin and Glen.  

Distributed by Barrow’s Wildside project, the first sack was launched by project officers Sue Thurley and Gemma Blackburn at Barrow Library with 13 children getting involved.

Sue said: “Story sacks are a great way for parents and children to learn about local wildlife together. Each story in the sacks is based around real wildlife in real places on your doorstep so you can go out and have a wildlife adventure yourself.”

Story sacks have been distributed locally to the Action for Children Children’s centres, Toddler Time at Spring Mount, Walney, Furness Childcare and Tilly and Toms’ Day Nursery.

The sacks are loaned to these groups free of charge. There are still some left. If any nurseries or play groups are interested in borrowing the sacks contact Sue at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  or on 01229 471066.