Frog in BPCG pond
Saturday Morning Nature Explorers held their first meeting on 1 October. We had lots of fun looking at some of the plant, animal and insect species that can be found in the Park and special thanks to our visiting bug expert, Darren, and his microscope! Some of the species we saw were fox, frog, male and female jays, robin, great tit, nuthatch, magpies, the inevitable pigeons, a colony of yellow honey ants, devils coach horse, 7 spot and 22 spot ladybirds, 3 different species of woodlouse, and lots of different spiders. Have a look at a short video of our resident frog taken by Raphael and his dad, Adrian.
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Our second meeting on was Saturday 5 November, when we were looking at spooky nature with a special focus on all matters arachnid greatly assisted by some fabulous props courtesy of the British Tarantula Society. Our final meeting of 2011 was Saturday 3 December when we took the opportunity to get into the festive spirit by propagating some mistletoe and making table decorations using natural materials from the Park (oh and some baubles and stick-on jewels, it was almost Christmas after all!).
We turned over a new leaf for our January meeting of 2012 with an in-depth look at the new life concealed in winter twigs. This session also produced some fantastic twig art. We met on a freezing cold morning in February but luckily we were going on a trip to (the centrally heated) South London Botanical Institute to have a look at their Herbarium specimens and pick up some expert tips to help us create a Herbarium of our own. Everyone enjoyed the change of scene, the opportunity to explore a different garden and to have a look at some of our findings under the microscopes.
In March we had a closer look at amphibians including some of the 32 frogs who were mating in our pond on that Saturday. We will be monitoring the progress of the resulting tadpoles closely. A big thank you to Jamie from London’s Amphibian and Reptile Group who came all the way from north London to share his expertise.
On Saturday 7 April we held an Easter egg hunt with naturally themed clues (penned in rhyming couplets, no less). We also held a seasonal spring scavenge hunt, had a closer look at some bird’s nests and made some fantastic nests of our own. I’m not sure what the birds made of our exotic offerings but they definitely enhanced the orchard trees.
For our May meeting we took a closer look at the fascinating lives of bees (and a closer sniff at our fellow Nature Explorers!). Activities included the chance to identify our colony by scent, choreographing our very own waggledance, and the opportunity to sample some honey cake recipes (two quite palatable and one slightly burnt!). We also made homes for solitary bees to take home. An especial thank you to Caroline van Issum from London’s Buzzing who came along to share her knowledge and enthusiasm about bees and brought some fantastic posters to show us. Take a look at the London’s Buzzing website for more bee information.
Our next meeting will be Saturday 2 June when we’ll be having a go at making pooters and sweep nets before having a closer look at some flying creatures.
For more details contact Beth on mailto: projectdev@brockwellgreenhouses.org.uk or 07427 685714