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We went for a walk to Harrington Nature Reserve where we met Emma from The Groundwork Trust. This fantastic organisation looks after the Reserve and all the animals in it.
Before we set off to explore the Reserve Emma talked to us about how to stay safe. As we walked around and through the Reserve we saw lots of interesting things. We learnt that the male duck is called a mallard and that he has a bright green head to attract the females 'whit woo'. We also saw lots of amazing fungi, even a fairy village! BUT we knew NOT to touch or eat any of these after listening very closely to Emma's safety talk.
As we got further into the Reserve we spotted a box in the trees and had to guess what animal lived in it. We had some great guesses - bats, birds, owls. Owls was the correct answer, it was the home of a Barn Owl, or as Jake called it a Harry Potter owl. We learnt that a barn owl has excellent hearing and that is how it catches its food. We all pretended to be barn owls and went off to find a space and listen to the sounds in the environment. When we flew back to Emma we told her what sounds we could hear - cars, birds, a beep, crows and even Batman!
Unfortunately some people don't take care of the Reserve!
As well as
letting dogs mess all over the place there was evidence of fly
tipping, which had been set fire to and of a bonfire in the Please look after our Reserve it is an amazing place, especially for children to learn.
When we got to
the open area of the Reserve Emma talked to us about Autumn and the
animals that use this season to She gave us some nuts (Cheerios) and we had to pretend we were squirrels and go and hide them, then forget all about them.
We then went in search of another owl box, this time the Tawny Owl.
As we went along
we collect lots of different colours of leaves, plants, lichen,
twigs, stones and anything else we could find When we got to where the owl box was we also saw a crows nest. Tawny owls have excellent eye sight, which is how they catch their food.
When we got back to the open area we had to pretend to be squirrels again and try and remember where our nuts were. Some of us found all 3 we had hidden but some of us couldn't find any! Emma told us that this was what happened in nature and that some squirrels wouldn't survive. Mrs Pike learnt something new too, that squirrels babies are born around Christmas time.
Emma came into class to talk to us about our visit to the Reserve - we remembered lots of facts, she was very impressed. We got into teams and made our own nature reserves, using lots of natural resources. There are amazing - have a look at them the next time you are in the classroom.
We also made some bird feeders, this was great fun. We could make any shape we wanted and join them together.
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