Thought I'd do an end of weekend blog. Normally don't do anything over the weekend on the computer, but recent weeks have proved that there really is nothing worth watching on the TV and I've caught up on all my recorded programmes. So have been spending more time on here listening to music and playing on Facebook and, tonight, I'm doing those and writing up the blog.
This weekend has been particularly busy as the weather has been good and we had a couple of events booked at our local Country Parks.
Saturday was Riverside for a mini beast hunt. We obviously go there far too often as we don't even have to give our names now, haha. But the events are really good, the staff are lovely and they don't cost much; the mini beast session cost £1.50! So what did we do? Well, we started at the pond for some pond dipping, looking out for different creatures that live in the water.
The Pond
The little pile of twigs and leaves (lower centre) is a coot's nest where they put their babies when they are off looking for food. Bit like a playpen.
The Tray of goodies
It doesn't really show much in this picture, but the tray ended up with loads of water boatmen, tiny watermites, snails, caddis larvae which were really weird and waterlice (underwater woodlouse). One boy managed to net a stickleback and another a newt.
Then off to the meadow with nets and jars clutched in hands to look for insects.
 |
| 'fishing for insects' |
 |
| Our ranger and some of the others |
 |
| Callum with net |
Admittedly there wasn't a great deal of diversity to find at this time of year, so it might be worth going on another hunt at the end of the summer. Callum did find lots of red ants, a black ladybird, a tiny spider, lots of fruit flies, a few little beetles and a green winged insect that looked like a grass seed which I can't remember the name of and have looked on google, but can't find it. Really need to invest in a good insect book.
All in all a good morning was had by the both of us. In the afternoon we planted beans, cabbages and brussel sprout plants along with carrot and beetroot seeds.
Then today, Sunday; which didn't start off too well. Both Callum and myself felt a bit rough; both of us have colds or the start of hayfever and both had very snuffly noses and not a lot of energy, but we wanted to go on our tree walk, so dragged ourselves up and off we went with dad in tow this time.
It was Capstone Park today with Ranger Dave for a 2.5hr walk around the park looking at the different types of trees that were there. We, obviously, didn't identify every tree, but picked out the most common ones. Will let pictures speak for themselves on this one.
 |
| Common Oak |
 |
| Large Common Oak Tree in Ancient Woodland |
 |
| Hazel |
 |
| Ash |
 |
| Norway Maple |
 |
| Field Maple |
 |
| Whitebeam |
There was a lot more than that, but didn't take pictures of them all. Had a lovely walk and the weather stayed dry if overcast. Both Callum and I felt a lot better afterwards. Had the rest of the afternoon to laze; with Callum on Roblox catching up with his friend he's made from China for the rest of the day until bedtime, while I read my book.
So weekend over and a week of catching up to do as we don't have a lot of outings planned.
Cya
No comments:
Post a Comment