Eyes Like a Hawk

After 3 days of cancelled plans either by ourselves or others we finally made it outside...for a whole day!

And because nothing was booked in we decided to make a day of it at Arundel Wetlands. Despite visiting once a month for the last few months, we're always on a tight schedule and rarely get to wonder at our own pace. The forecast was brightening late morning and sure enough it was bang on.

We headed straight for the Wetland Discovery boat safari and low and behold, Monica, the boys' tutor was at the helm. With only one other family onboard we learnt more from Monica as we enjoyed a gentle breeze through the reeds in search of water voles and toads. Nath must have eyes like a hawk because he spotted some mating toads tucked inside the reeds; even when he pointed them out I still couldn't see them, but slowly more and more pairs and toad spawn became evident.

We chatted with Monica briefly after the trip and asked her about our missing information on the Bewick's swans and discovered that we hadn't missed the willow weaving at the first session because they'd run out of time. She asked how the reed seeds were coming along and we had to confess to only one success story...so far.

Just before we left we had the opportunity to watch a member of staff feed the diving ducks in the Icelandic pen and listened to her talk about the various breeds and how endangered birds', like the Scaly-sided Merganser, eggs are taken to Slimbridge for incubating.

Connor took his camcorder along and filmed the Scoters dancing and displays, full of the joys of spring; I anticipate a funny video as a result!

Otherwise it was a general wander round, with a few pit stops in the hides and of course a play on the equipment for the boys to blast out some of their energy. It was a relaxing and enjoyable day - the sun helped!

Summer Snowflake and a pair of Mandarin ducks

The Scaly-sided Merganser, Long Tailed Duck and Eurasian Common Scoter

Blue Tits, Coal Tits and a Robin

"Open Your Eyes"

This lovely poem, written by Herbie Hallet, 14, featured in the latest issue of RSPB's Wingbeat magazine...I just thought it was worth a share.

Open Your Eyes

Open your eyes and look all around,

Pin back your ears and hear every sound.

You might just miss it if you blink;

Don't close your eyes, don't even wink.

For all around you is a wonderful thing - 

A rabbit may hop, a bird may sing,

A squirrel may scamper up a tree, 

But if you don't look, you'll never see.

Turn off the telly and get outside,

listen to pebbles roll on the tide,

Put down the controller, turn off the Wii,

Go into the wild and you will feel free.

A deer may leap a wooden gate,

A fish may be tricked and go for the bait,

A hovering kestrel stalking a mouse,

You'll miss it all if you stay in the house.

You're wasting your life just watching a screen,

There's so many things outside to be seen.

So get off your butt and show that you care,

Don't take it for granted that it'll always be there.

Note to self...must get me and the boys outside more often!

Second Session

I blogged about this session over at our regular blog so have created this post with a link to that...keeping things tidy!

More Photos Than Words Today

First Session

We missed the first of the John Muir meet ups in February due to illness so had a bit of catching up do to, mainly around the important and inspirational people, John Muir and Sir Peter Scott.

Finally, today (again due to more illness) we found some time to do it. Firstly the boys watched the John Muir Award Information film on YouTube and then they completed their factsheets about John Muir and Sir Peter Scott.

The rest of the group completed these factsheets on site at the Wetlands by following a trail so the boys were at a bit of a disadvantage; but I helped them find suitable websites which contained the answers and as our own mini group completed 99% of the sheets. The only question we couldn't find the answer to was "how many Bewick's swans were recorded by 2015?" We discovered there was a swans census in January of this year and we weren't sure if it referred to the results of that. The boys will have to find out from Monica (their tutor) at the next meet up.

The boys then each designed a project cover as their piece of "artwork". They both relied on their ICT skills for this which never cease to blow me away and it's interesting to see their different ideas.

Connor's Work 

Nath's work

It's disappointing that the boys missed the willow weaving and reed seed harvesting as there is no way for us to DIY those kind of activities. But they've made a great effort to get up to speed with everything else and now have a much better understanding of what the award is all about.

The Story So Far

The John Muir Award is an educational initiative of the John Muir Trust and they describe the scheme as follows:

The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places.

It encourages you to be more aware of nature and wild places, and to take some responsibility for them - in a spirit of fun and adventure.

It does this by challenging you to Discover a wild place, actively Explore it, do something to Conserve it, and Share your experiences.

Leading up to starting the award, we attended a few general workshops which I blogged about here:


What Lives in this Habitat WWT Arundel -  23.10.14

How Do Birds Fly? WWT Arundel - 20.11.14

Migration WWT Arundel - 22.1.15


HERE is a link to the month by month breakdown of what the boys will be doing over the next few months to achieve their Conservation awards.

I decided to create this blog to keep all the resources in one place and track the boys activities and record their ideas and achievements.