Nature and Teen Rangers- October Half Term
  
In October half term the bravest of us Teen Rangers and Nature Rangers joined forces
(safety in numbers!) for a really spooky bat walk around Rainton Meadows and Joe's Pond.
Before we went out some of us made pumpkin lanterns and then Karen came to tell us a bit
about bats. We were relieved to find out that there are no vampire bats in this country
and that they don't suck your blood in any case. She brought Bovril with her who's a
pipistrelle bat which is the same kind as we were hoping to find on our walk. She was
much smaller than we expected her to be even though she's fully grown.
As well as pipistrelles along the tree lines we were looking (or listening)for noctule
bats high in the sky and daubenton's bats over the pond.
We took bat detectors with us so that even when we couldn't see bats (and we hardly saw
any) we could sometimes hear them clicking away through the detectors. We even heard them
eating midgy flies.
A bonus on the walk was seeing short eared owls flying around and one even sat obligingly
still on a fence post for us all to get a good look.
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Teen Rangers- 11th August
Vernon and Mick visited Rainton Meadows with the owls called Abigail, Oliver and Ash. Then we were able to hold them and stroke them whilst being told interesting facts about them, their habitats and their prey. We were surprised at how soft their feathers were and that the smaller owls had sharper and stronger talons than the bigger owls. Finally we went around the reserve and we found out that all five British owls could be found there.
Emma Elliott, Shola Lloyd, Alice Wilkinson |
Nature Rangers- 11th August
We started the day with some fun puzzles about owls that really got us thinking! We then had a discussion about the 5 British Owls: all of which live on the reserve here at Rainton Meadows! We then took a 20 minute walk around the reserve to see the habitats our owls call home. We then played an active game that helped us understand how owls hunt. After all this excitement, it was time for us to have a sit down. We headed back to the visitor centre where two members of the World Owl Trust had brought along three beautiful owls: a Little, Indian Scops, and Bengal Eagle Owl. The children really loved being so close to these magnificent birds! |
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Nature Rangers- 4th August
Our first meeting in August involved finding out all about Water Voles. Karen, our expert, told us lots of interesting facts about these lovely, but threatened creatures and then took us on a walk around the Reserve to look for evidence of Water Vole activities. We discovered some interesting holes which Karen felt may well lead to burrows! We had a lot of fun playing a game which helped us to understand many of the threats face by water voles in today's world. |
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Teen Rangers- 28th July
After the Nature Rangers had left the Teen Rangers collected some microscopic animals from the pond in order to support the food chain in the aquarium. Lots of fun was had and some new friends were made. |
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Nature Rangers- 28th July
The Nature Rangers had lots of fun in July pond dipping for mini beasts. We identified some of the creatures and put together an indoor pond aquarium which os on show in the Visitors Centre at Rainton Meadows. Some of the children drew their favourite invertebrates and found out some very interesting information. Did you know that a Water Scorpion breathes through its tail? Amazing! |
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