I don't know about you, but for me the brief glimpse of summer we had this weekend came as a seriously welcome respite from the seemingly never-ending winter! Just last week, the children of Haltwhistle Lower Community Campus had to deal with four seasons in one day including icy winds and actual hail and sleet up on the moors at Geltsdale.
Despite the cold, the sun did manage to break through the clouds for brief periods and we had great fun hunting for different kinds of moss in amongst the heather...
The children created their own mini-moorlands to take home...
...listened out for curlews, cuckoos, red grouse, and meadow pipits...
...discovered camouflaged hen harriers in the heather...
...and took turns hiding themselves like nesting hen harriers in the heather!
In fact weather aside, the only thing that could have made it better would have been the sight of an actual hen harrier gliding over the moors.