August Session at the Wetlands

We had by far the worst weather of all our sessions at Arundel today...IN AUGUST, it poured and the boys didn't have coats! They were prepared in as much as they took gardening gloves and wore long trousers but were soaked to the skin by the time they had finished their outdoor task which was to weed around and monitor the hedgerow saplings they planted back in April.

Armed with secateurs they worked as a single file team to chop away nettles, thistles, bramble, cow parsley, willow herb and dock. Connor stayed the other side of the hedgerow to pile the thrown weeds into tidy piles, he was regularly attacked by flying brambles and nettles!

They noticed that the thistle was thicker away from tree coverage suggesting they grow stronger in more sunlight and through discussion they observed that it was mostly 75/80% thistle followed by cow parsley and dock growing in the area. The weeds had grown exponentially in comparison to the saplings, taking over and strangling their progress.

Monica and the team decided to leave a controlled area at one end of the hedge to let the weeds grow freely to see what impact it has on the growth of the saplings.

During this mission, the younger group were bug hunting and one child enthusiastically came over with a tiny newt inside a spotting jar; a welcome and exciting distraction. Unfortunately I was too slow to get a photo as Monica was keen it was returned to its home as soon as possible being such a young juvenile.

When the weeding was complete, the braver of the group wanted to stay outside for their turn to bug hunt and successfully spotted wood louse, spiders, a millipede and empty snail shells. The rest of the group headed indoors to dry off and took a snack break which for Nath and Connor involved hot chocolate...yes IN AUGUST!!!

Fortunately the remainder of the session was indoors and the team got to handle some captured moths in spotting jars which had been sedated in the fridge, before creating and assembling their own bug hotels to take home and position in the garden. The Wetlands provided dried reeds, tubes, cups, straw, shredded paper etc and of course each child came up with their own unique and individual designs.

Ribboned Wave?

Oak Eggar?

Getting creative

A selection of our posters in the Wetlands cafe area

The boys poster

WWT Arundel for Hedgerow Monitoring and Planting

We've been spoilt with more amazing weather today and so we made the most of having membership to the Wetlands and arrived early so that we could have a peaceful wander before the afternoon workshop.

Friends also had the same idea so we met up with them for a picnic lunch outside...suncream was required!

We saw plenty of ducklings and goslings, all very cute and witnessed the lapwings performing their aerial mating displays high in the blue skies. We also got to see and hear a Spitfire go overhead a couple of times which was very unexpected and a bit of a treat too.

Today's session focused on hedgerows but included a talk and look at eggs in incubation, some of which are due to be transported to Slimbridge for specialised care and the boys were also shown a variety of moths which had been sedated by being kept in a fridge, all of which were wetland varieties of moth and very beautiful close up, one even looked as though it had a superhero mask!

It was reassuring to hear that we're not the only ones to have limited success with the reed seeds but Monica encouraged everyone to keep monitoring and watering them, changing position and care if necessary.

Outside the kids were shown a stretch of hedgerow and asked to examine and identify the variety of bushes contained within it. To start with, and with unaccustomed eyes, it was tricky, but with a little help from Monica who has a wealth of knowledge we think there was approximately 7 including Dog Rose, Hawthorn, Privet, Bramble, Sloe, Myrtle, Viburnum. This month's take home task is to find a nearby hedgerow and monitor it for wildlife etc.

Connor had the hawk eyes today and spotted a tiny bright yellow spider in amongst the virburnum; sadly noone was able to identify it but Mark (the other tutor) took some photos to show a colleague.

Their next task was to plant some saplings in the wild garden area, adjacent to a newly installed weaved willow fence which would grow and take its place as the willow dies and disintegrates. Wetland staff had already done the hard bit and dug some holes so the kids dropped the saplings in along with a cane and then wrapped them with a plastic tube to protect them from greedy ducks and geese. Finally they trod the earth back in place around the saplings and watered them. It'll be interesting to watch them grow over the coming year.

Greylag Geese

All together now "aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh"

Mum keeping an eagle eye

Could have sat and watched them for hours

Marsh Marigold maybe? 

Canadian goose and goslings

Variety of eggs for incubation

Eggs in incubation

Transportation box for eggs going to Slimbridge

Identification chart and different eggs

Candling helps show what's going on inside the eggs

Cowslip, one of my favourites

A little stoat anxiously trying to cross the path