Some time ago one of the teachers at Cradle Hill Primary School put a message on the Seaford Natural History Society’s facebook Page, asking if it might be possible to do a Bioblitz event at the school.
After sounding out some possible volunteers and a preliminary meeting with the school, we agreed that we could do this. As it was to be with Years 2s (6 – 7 year olds), we realised that a “Bioblitz” might be a rather a grand idea of what would actually happen!
The date for the event was 7th November, when the whole school was engaged in various kinds of environmental/nature study activities. Dinah Pryor and Ann Roe had agreed to join us and to take part in the event. We spent most of the day in the Forest School area, with the children coming out in groups of about 15, each Group having about 30 minutes looking for “mini-beasts”.
At the start of each session, Janet caught their attention with an explanation of how we needed to be gentle with the creatures we found. (“We will be like giants to them – imagine if a giant came along and started shaking you out of your house!”) Each of us then took three or four children off on a safari, looking under stones and logs.
We found lots of slugs, snails, earthworms and woodlice. Some of the groups found spiders or millipedes. There was even a field mouse, although only one child saw it. Centipedes proved to be a big hit and quite a few of the children were eager to hold one (very gently).
In addition to animals, we also saw quite a few interesting fungi. We talked a lot about what the various creatures might eat, and how they moved. Many of the children were very engaged in the activity, in many cases being quite happy to look for creatures themselves, to touch them and ask questions.
We were most impressed by the concentration these young children were able to give to the natural world around them. Hopefully, it will encourage some of them to look for themselves in their own gardens.
At the end of each session, we reminded the children to wash their hands – definitely needed for some of them, who had really got stuck into the activity! Many thanks to Dinah and Ann for giving up their time for this.
Janet and Jim Howell
Seaford Natural History Society
