Hello  everyone,
We hope you’ve been able to enjoy time outdoors in the good weather we’ve had.  There have been a few rainy days too, which helps plants and flowers to grow, and gives animals and birds a much needed drink, or bath…

As Spring starts to move into Summer,  new life has been growing fast, like these beautiful wild lupins and buttercups that have sprung up at Darnley Dams.
                      How many different colours of flower can you see?

Have you spotted any baby birds or animals about?
There are baby robins, blackbirds, blue tits and sparrows all coming out of their nests just now.

Baby robins hatch from blue eggs like this one.

At first Mum and Dad Robin feed their babies in the nest like this.  (Look at those 3 hungry beaks…!)

When the baby robins grow bigger they learn to fly.
About now they look like this, with a speckled tummy.
(Their tummy does not turn red until they are older).
They are about the same size as Mum and Dad, but more fluffy…Mum and Dad will now be teaching them how to look for food. Until they learn how to do this on their own, Mum and Dad still sometimes feed them beak to beak in the bushes.
(Mrs MacLeod was lucky enough to see this happen in her garden.
This is her “pet” robin taking some food for his 2 babies.)

And if you live anywhere near a big pond, at this time of year you might see baby ducks (ducklings), or baby swans (called cygnets) like these ones. Cygnets are grey and fluffy when they are little.
How many cygnets can you count here?

Have you or your family been watching BBC Springwatch in the weekday evenings? It shows you all kinds of amazing animals and birds that are being born all around the country.  To give you a taste, take a look at the short video below, Woodland Wonders, with sights & sounds from the woods. It’s so peaceful to watch just before you go to sleep… Click on the green text link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08fqgk0

Watch and see which animals & birds you can spot… 
and Listen…. What different sounds can you hear…?

If you have any photos of interesting things you have seen growing, please send them in via Twitter or the school email.
We could put them together to make our own gallery of what is growing all around us…

And how about you?
Have you grown in the Spring too?
Have you learned to do new things like the young birds?
Let us know!