Hawk out for a Walk

The dappled shade of the woodland gave welcome relief from the blazing sunshine this afternoon.

We headed to a favourite spot and the children set about moving logs to create a place to sit and enjoy a cooling drink. Just then, we spotted someone on the path below us. It was large bird of prey that her owner brought to exercise in the wood. The children were eager to find out more. After some keen questioning we discovered that it was a three year old female harris hawk who had a two foot wingspan and fed on chicks. We also discovered, that like owls, hawks eat their prey whole, retaining the indigestible parts (such as the fur, feathers and bones) in their crop (a pouch in their neck). The fur and bones are regurgitated later as a pellet.

Drawing on their experience of sound mapping last week, the children noticed that whilst the harris hawk was present, they could not hear the singing of other birds in the woodland.

On the way to the woods, Bailey had found a leaf that had a soft downy underside. Once we had set up camp, the children decided to take a look in the field guides we had with us to try and identify the leaf. Unfortunately, we did not find any similar leaves in our guides, but the children were able to use the guides to identify other leaves near our camp including silver birch and hazel. They were also able to identify a ladybird nymph.

Some of the children decided that their log circle needed a 'fire'. They knew that we were not able to light a real fire in the wood, but thought it would be nice to create an imaginary fire as a focal point for our circle. The children set about collecting sticks and Alex, Abbie, Dylan and Bailey worked together to create a tipi fire. They used rocks as hammers to hammer their sticks into the soil and provide a more stable structure.

Whilst having our drink and snack, the children were bubbling with ideas about what they would like to do on our next visit to the woods from insect spotting to making hammocks and swings. Bailey made a list of the resources we would need to bring with us to be able to carry out our plans.