Walk, Mini-beasts and Wetlands

Coming in this morning I was greeted to a fairly common occurrence at Foxglove, a sighting of Roe Deer.

Sadly by the time Richmond C of E Primary School, ages 5 to 7, arrived the deer were long gone and they unsurprisingly avoided the various areas we used for the day's events!
On the way in my group stopped at the Lake Hide and used the bird scope to look at the various waterfowl, discussing simple plumage on the Mallard present and comparing Little Grebe and Moorhens.

Once at the Field Centre the group was given a short presentation on the various species on the reserve and how we monitor them, before heading out for a habitat walk .

We had split the large group into small teams which enabled us to give a better experience. Luckily we had a solid team of pre-briefed volunteers who were able to assist us in the various habitats, including learning about mini-beasts at the outdoor classroom. There a multitude of beasties were discovered under the rotting logs and we played a coloured string game looking at camouflage.

This looper caterpillar was of particular interest, mimicking a twig!

While all this was happening another group was busy pond dipping; looking at the numerous Common Toads, Sticklebacks, Great Diving Beetles and their larvae amongst other aquatic life.

The normal Thursday jobs were left in the capable hands of Tony and Mike who did water checks and the season’s water tests, as always very professional.

No sooner had the children got back on their coach to leave than the heavens opened and a deluge of rain fell…. but by then the volunteers were back at the Field Centre having well earned tea and cake.

We cannot express our ‘thanks’ enough to those volunteers who gave their time to help out with the school event today; Jonathan, Christine, Jackie, and Stuart, it ran smoothly and without a hitch, again ‘thank you’ and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks again to Tony and Mike - keeping things going while we were elsewhere.