As well as the permanent artworks which are gradually populating the length of the Trail, there are other less permanent, creative happenings that have popped up for a short time to enhance the natural environment before washing, fading or being taken away again. In 2022 there were three major incursions (outlined below) with more following in 2023. Watch this space for happenings in 2024 and beyond ...

2022 Silverdale Beetle Hunt

Artist, Steve Chell, is known for the weird and wonderful insects he creates. He made 52 beetles for the Creative Network to place out in the Silverdale Glen area of the Trail. These beetles were mounted high and low amongst the trees and undergrowth of the Glen and left there to be searched for and found by budding entomologists and explorers. The Hunt was promoted through a Facebook page where an identification sheet could be downloaded and used to check off beetles found. The beetles remained in the Glen for the summer and autumn and proved an extremely popular outdoor activity for children and their grown ups. Unfortunately, the beetles were so lovely that many went missing, however, a children's beetle making workshop led to many more being made to repopulate the Trail. 

2023 SILVERDALE HERRING HUNT

Following the successful Beetle Hunt, in 2023 a new herring hunt was staged by volunteer Creative Network artists along the beautiful Silverdale Glen, a riverside walk between Rushen Abbey and the Silverdale childrens play park and boating lake.

​A facebook call was put out to all little (and large) hunters to visit the Glen and get hunting the herring.

​A shoal of weird and wonderful, magical herring, (created by Network artists), left the sea at Castletown and swam up the Silverburn river along the 'Herring Way', (Bayr ny Skeddan), to take up residence in Silverdale Glen. These strange fish left their watery habitat and hid amongst the trees, waiting for families to come and find them. A downloadable identification chart was published on the facebook page ​www.facebook.com/SilverdaleHerringHunt and many children spent happy and healthy holiday hours outside tracking down the hiding fish.

2022 & 2023 getting Creative with clay - family drop-in sessions 

Families were invited to come and get messy with clay, creating free-style creatures on a canvas of tree trunks. The sessions took place amongst a triangle of trees in Poulsom Park, Castletown, at the start of the Silverburn Art Trail. Around 30 families for the first session and 50 in the second, were brave enough to turn up in old clothes to get stuck in. In some cases, three generations of the same family attended and participated, enjoying the freedom to play with clay and natural decorations and create a temporary open air galleries in the park. Due to subsequent rain, the galleries were short lived as the clay was washed back into the ground from whence it came.

2022 Creative Writing and Foraged materials

A series of three workshops based around creative writing and paper and ink making from natural, biodegradable, foraged materials, led to an exciting installation of poetry and writing in Silverdale Glen at the northerly end of the Trail. The writers and material makers met to hang, slot and place their work in the trees, in walls, on fences, under ivy strands etc. for visitors to the Glen to happen across and hopefully enjoy. Most of the natural materials did not last long in the wind and the rain before they disintegrated and washed away.