Halton Nature Watch: Bringing Invertebrates to Life Across Our Borough (Part 1)

As we head into autumn, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on one of our largest collaborative projects this year: Halton Nature Watch.

This initiative is a team effort between Animal Teach, Halton Borough Council’s Environmental Services Team, and Hazlehurst Studios. While Naomi at Animal Teach and Siobhan (HBC’s Ecologist) led the invaluable work in schools—sharing knowledge around zoology and ecology to inspire a sense of wonder in young people, this blog series is Hazlehurst’s take on the project—focusing on the creative, artistic, and design work we contributed behind the scenes and out at public events.

There was plenty of back-and-forth when choosing a name, but we ultimately settled on Halton Nature Watch. We wanted a title that could grow and evolve beyond this year’s core theme: The Year of the Invertebrate.

A Brand Built for Growth

Before any public launches could happen, we needed an identity that captured the spirit of the project. We turned to studio artist Toni Louise Carter (TLC Illustration), who created a stunning paper-cutout style logo.

Caption: The flexible paper-cutout logo designed by TLC Illustration.

Toni designed the branding so it can easily adapt to showcase new themes and species in future years while maintaining a distinct, recognisable look for Halton Nature Watch. You can explore more of her design process on her website.

Classrooms, Creativity & Eco-Mindful Printing

While Naomi and Siobhan were out visiting schools and alternative provision groups to inspire young people about bugs and minibeasts, our studio artist Rachael Prime was hard at work adding visual magic to their educational materials.

Rachael created a series of beautiful illustrations to accompany the comprehensive activity booklet that Animal Teach put together for the sessions.

• 

• 

• 

Photo credit: Lauren Quayle

You can read Rachael’s behind-the-scenes post about creating these artworks on her Substack.

Sustainability was central to our creative process. Using Rachael’s artwork, we produced custom colouring pages and spotter guides in-house on our Risograph printer. To keep our environmental footprint as light as possible, every guide was printed on donated or recycled paper stock.

What's Next?

With the educational resources in schools, it was time for Hazlehurst Studios to focus on the public engagement side—bringing nature to the wider community through large-scale art, interactive activities, and live events.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we dive into how giant slug sculptures, 2,000 festival-goers, and a visit from the Mayor kicked off our public event tour at Halton Fest!