wildlife in the woods

The sun shone down on our woodlands this week and we continued to spot the signs of spring. We went on a hunt for snowdrops, celandines and delicate primroses. The buds on the trees are starting to develop and the children found alder cones and made bumble bees from them and learned a song about spring.

'Spring is here',

said the bumblebee,

'How do you know?'

said the old oak tree,

'Because I saw a daffodil,

Dancing with the fairies on the windy hill"

We went and looked at our 'Children's Forest', which now has a brilliant deer fence around it to protect the saplings whilst they grow. Despite last years nibbling by the deer, there were buds a plenty on the trees and so will be back in a few weeks to see the leaves unfurl as we get further into spring.

There were lots of animal tracks evident on our way to the woodlands. In one short stretch they found deer, fox and badger prints. The children were showing how good they have become at identifying different animals from their tracks and discussing where and which directions the animals were going.

This week there were lots of tools used. Sawing, peeling and whittling some hazel. We also made a bird feeder. The string which tied up our bird feeding cones made last week had been nibbled through and had disappeared....cheeky squirrels. We made one on a stick this week and stick it into the ground. Let's see how long it lasts...