Due to the current circumstances I, like all the staff and volunteers, am missing being a part of the incredible team at Tophill Low. It's been a few months since a school group has visited the reserve as the last group visit was at the end of November. Meanwhile, I have been in local schools working with pupils learning about all things to do with water and in particular the problems of flooding in Hull. Ironic when you consider the situation at Tophill back in January. So learning has been taking place; whether it's inside the classroom or out on the reserve working alongside children who are so enthusiastic about everything new that you can teach them, is a great buzz.
Now, for everyone, it's completely different and I've been producing, along with my colleagues, some on line resources for Yorkshire Water's education web pages to get pupils learning at home. There are activities on the site about cleaning water, poo power, saving water, the water cycle and also learning about the environment outdoors. Please visit Education resources to access a wealth of information you can use with your children at home.
One pond in my garden is made from an old sink
Purple violets are now flowering and attracting insects
And I have been learning at home too. By taking the time at home that we all have a little more of, I've been spending much more time observing the birds and wildlife just outside my door. My garden is obviously not on the scale of Tophill Low but if you plan and manage your garden in a wildlife friendly way then you can create your very own nature reserve. I have a couple of ponds where about a month ago we saw mating common frogs, there is a log pile harbouring woodlice, millipedes and spiders, flowering purple violets attracting early emerging bees and a clump of ornamental grass which I know has been used by a hedgehog over winter. Even spending time weeding my flower beds I have discovered a type of bee fly and there's been plenty of ladybirds. But with all these animals I know the family but not quite the species so I've been trying to learn them which has been quite a daunting task on occasion but fascinating too. There's always something to learn about the wildlife around you.
Even in fields where you might think you have a good knowledge of species, in my case birds, there is always something to learn. Common garden birds make an ideal subject in the present circumstances and by spending more time watching I'm finding out more about some of the common visitors to my garden. Feeding hierarchy at the bird table and feeders is very prevalent with a pack of long tailed tits only ever visiting early in the morning. Coal tits very rarely stay long on the feeders, quickly taking their seed and flying off, whereas blue tits and great tits spend much longer with great tits preferring to use the perches on the seed feeder, the blue tit clinging onto the wire on the fat balls. The size difference in coal tit and great tit is very noticeable if they arrive together but looking at these two species the plumage pattern on the face is very similar. Top of the pecking order in my garden are a very healthy colony of tree sparrows who seem to nest everywhere, from the dedicated line of boxes we've put up to behind a wall bracket for a flower basket. There is so much more to learn and I am looking forward to taking the opportunity of doing so.
Coal tit and great tit showing their very similar face plumage
Yesterday I took part in a challenge that gave a bit of competition to my garden birding and that was to join virtual teams across the globe in their own bird races to support the Champions of the Flyway project that runs every year in Israel to highlight and fund raise for projects linked to the plight of migrating birds. Every time I went out in the garden or looked out of the window I recorded the species that I saw, whether they were feeding in the garden, flying over or I could see them in the fields that adjoin our property. By the time night fell I had recorded 37 species and my husband had also seen a red legged partridge from his office, so 38 in total. Although there had been some omissions like the great spotted woodpecker that normally visits every day and the barn owl that hunts across the fields that I can usually see at dusk from the house, I was pleased with the total and especially delighted to find a pair of prospecting pied wagtails around some ivy in the garden and a roosting little owl in the field hedge.
Pied wagtail on the lawn
There are plenty of images, challenges, videos, quizzes, reports and fantastic photos to enthuse and inspire you on a variety of social media platforms as well as all those books on our shelves that we haven't dipped into for a long time. So if you can, seize this strange opportunity that we have to stay at home and really enjoy the wildlife that we have on our own doorsteps.
