Watch the Birdie

On Monday, the Year 3 Forest School group took part in the RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch. http://www.rspb.org.uk/schoolswatch/

Some seeds on the roof of the outdoor classroom

The weather was wet and very windy making bird spotting quite challenging. The children began by putting out some bird seed to try and encourage some birds to pay us a visit. We found some old feeders strung up in the hedgerow so we took them down, cleaned out the old feed and replaced it with some new food. It is important to regularly clean bird feeders and bird tables otherwise diseases can be spread amongst the birds.

We set up camp in the outdoor classroom and took it in turn to keep watch. Meanwhile we added some decorative touches to the new bird boxes we will be installing in the next few weeks. We have some open fronted boxes to appeal to birds such as robins and pied wagtails and some with small entrance holes which are preferred by blue tits.

Cleaning out the old seed

As expected, we spotted lots of gulls. They have a penchant for the crisps left on the playground by the children. We also saw some magpies and Alex spotted an old magpie nest in the hedegrow. Bailey said that there were birds hiding in the hedgerow as he could hear them singing. We identified the birdsong to be that of sparrows. The RSPB website has lots of examples of birdsong that you can listen to.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/h/housesparrow/index.aspx

Our customised bird boxes

Although we didn't see any today, we also often have pied wagtails, blue tits and blackbirds visiting our grounds. The Year 6 group are going to record their sightings on Friday so hopefully the weather will be a little more settled!