Bugs in the bushes

Part of the Countryside Skills course is to be able to identify the different plants and animals living in our local habitats. We found beetles, spiders, slugs, centipedes, millipedes, butterflies, caterpillars and more while bug hunting in the garden - all very exciting!

There are many beautiful wildflowers out at the moment.  We identified cowslips, red campion, white dead nettle, buttercups and cow parsley among others.

We pressed the flowers and then tested our memories (and got the ID guides out again) a few weeks later when they had dried out.

The results have been preserved by laminating and will feature in the students’ portfolios.

New term, new school year, new students!

It seems like only yesterday that we were waving the students off for their long summer holiday, but here we are again, ready for a new year!

Our first group back are from Bishopswood School. There are a few familiar faces, but also some new recruits which is always exciting for everyone.

We started off the course with an introduction to using tools safely, sawing ourselves wooden name badges and drilling holes in the top for the string.

We coloured in our name badges and wrote our names on one side. We’ll use them to hang over the boot pegs in the ‘scout hut’, so that we remember which wellies to put on next time!

When we’d finished making our badges, we went to meet the Earth Trust chickens and give them some food and water.

It was a great start to the term, and we’re looking forward to many more sunny mornings together!

Giving HMS Neptune a hair cut!

Down at Neptune Wood, the Earth Trust has a number of willow sculptures representing HMS Neptune, three cannon balls, a scope and an anchor. Every autumn, the sculptures get a haircut and loose ends woven in, so that they remain neat and tidy.

The Countryside Skills students have done all the work! We’ve learned how to use loppers and secateurs safely, ready for coppicing in Little Wittenham Wood later in the year.

We have bundled up all the willow wands (after tickling each other with them from afar!) ready to use for building hurdles later in the year.

Here are some pictures of Bishopswood School tackling HMS Neptune: