Wild Things Autumn Term 21

The first half of the Autumn Term we looked at minibeasts and started basic identification. It is surprising how many children can't ID a woodlouse or centipede, so we always try to make sure all the children can tell a spider from a harvestman and recognise other invertebrate types.
 
We ended this half of term by surveying the nearby St John's Church at their request. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of these activities.
During the second half of Autumn Term we have been coppicing the willow stools in our outdoor learning area. The children were shown how to cut and sort the willow canes and how to remove larger offshoots. We then took the willow canes to "Wild Things Wood" where the children used them to weave a new layer into our 'dead hedge' to protect the area around the hedgehog house there.
 
We also had a session on trying to identify common tree and hedgerow species from their leaves and also from twigs and buds. The children enjoyed collecting leaves that most of them wanted to take them home afterwards.
Last week we looked at some old bird nests in class and looked at the difference between the nests of robins, blackbirds, magpies and crows/rooks. We also looked at different mammal nests, particularly squirrel dreys. We then went out on site to see where the bird nests were on site, counting and identifying what birds made them. We also looked for our bird boxes and planned where to add some new ones for the last session.
The last session of the Autumn Term Wild Things was a fast paced trek through Wild Things Wood. The children helped to clean out the hedgehog house and put in fresh bedding just in case. It hasn't been used so far by hedgehogs this Autumn, but we did find an old bumblebee nest and the protective cocoons of a Bee Moth species (see photos below). We also looked at the three bird boxes in Wild Things Wood, two of which had blue tit nests in... not a bad result. We looked at what trees would be good for putting up more nest boxes, including some for robins.
We finished up the session by making pine cone bird feeders to take home once they had cooled down and set. It has been a great term for Wild Things and everyone has enjoyed it.