Today, Primary 5 together with our Eco Group were delighted to welcome Jack Wootton into school to talk about a special project which he is working on behalf of Galloway Fisheries Trust. Our young learners were very interested to hear about how the Sparling are endangered, having once been in 15 Scottish rivers, they now survive in only three. One of these rivers is The Cree.  Mr Wootton explained how sensitive the fish are to any conditions which might change the environment of the river they are living in. We heard about water dams, pollution and intense fishing all being issues affecting the species. We also learned about the life cycle of Sparling including where they spawn, how they are washed down to estuaries and then their movement back up rivers when conditions are best. Mr Wootton is working to safeguard the Sparlings’ existence in the Cree and is also looking to introduce the fish back into other suitable rivers. The children learned about how important it is not to make detrimental changes to our eco system. It was interesting to hear that, historically, that the River Urr once had Sparling too. The children were also intrigued to learn that the fish smells like cucumber, that its body is transparent when looked at from the underside and that some eggs are so small, they are less than 1mm in diameter. The children were asked for suggestions about how we can safeguard this species in Scottish rivers for the future and there were many good ideas put forward. Our Eco Group and Primary 5 are very keen to been involved in this project as it continues over the next few months and to track its progress. The children were also excited to hear there was possibility that Mr Wootton might be able to bring in some real live Sparling for us to look at!  We are very grateful to Mr Wootton for his interesting talk: many of our young people found his enthusiasm for his work very motivational and he may even have inspired some of them to pursue careers in safeguarding wildlife in the years to come!