A glorious day in the forest as we still hang on to the mini heatwave that is passing over Scotland.
Spring has certainly arrived with the trees in full blossom and looking heavenly. The last session in the woods would have benefited with a day like today and we stopped and talked about the blossoms and catkins that are in abundance ( apart from poor old Mr Oak).
No fire today but we sat around and talked about the letter we have sent to the Council, asking for permission to put up dog poo and litter posters. We have also asked if we could plant trees in the forest as part of our conservation side of the John Muir Award.
Today, we were looking at animals and their traces and how to identify them.
We started off talking about what animals were in this forest, or native of Scotland. Deer, fox, badger, hedgehog, stoat, weasel, rabbit and the birds.
How to identify?
Remains of food, remains of prey, poo, feathers and fur, habitats and nests, prints and markings.
1. First we had an ecosystem game, where pupils were young trees, deer and wolves, in different amounts. It was a tag games where the deer eat the trees and the wolves try to eat the deer. What happens when we vary the amount of each? We have extinction of various species if we don’t get it right, or manage it properly. A fun game with good points to it.
2. The pupils then went looking for glues out in the forest of any animals that have been about and then we shared some interesting findings
Scratch marks through the forest floor, probably deer looking for roots
Lots of feathers where an bird has been eaten, a wood pigeon identified by the feathers, probably a fox
Nibbled and half eaten pine cone, a squirrel.
3. tracking game. Three pupils have to move through the forest making signs with sticks, stones or chalk, showing what direction they are moving. They have five minutes and then the hunters have to track them down!
Evaluation and Personal reflection.
A wonderful time to be in the forest and after a long winter it is great to hear the birds singing and see this forest come alive. The pupils have been here since September and seen a great change. It was good to have an opportunity to talk about the trees but that is the great thing about coming out to the forest, you can find the time to pick things up you missed out before. Always flexibility!
The animal activities could be developed and looked at a bit more so the next time we come to the forest I will pick this back up and go a little further. The pupils really enjoyed today.