Hello again. It's time once more for another of our WEX blogs. As per usual, it's written by the very knowledgeable Freddie and this time we have photos from WEX George. Thanks go to you both, great job!
This time at WEX we did all about why Swifts and other birds are in decline. Firstly, I did a word search on the theme of migration. Then, because there were a few new people, we played the name game. This is a game where a person has to say their real name and then the name of an animal or bird which begins with the same letter. I was Freddie Finch and George was George Gannet. After that John, one of the leaders, showed us all a PowerPoint on Hirundine (the family of birds which includes Swifts, Swallows and Martins). All of the Hirundines fly back from Africa in spring to breed and spend the summer in the UK.
First, we looked at Sand Martins. The RSPB and other organisations help these birds by making sand martin banks (like the one below at Old Moor).
Nicola here...I showed Freddie a blog from 2013. It shows the sand bank being built and draught proofing with Persian carpet. Back to Freddie...
Next, we looked at House Martins, which are not currently endangered, and then at Swallows who arrive in Britain 2-3 weeks after the House Martins. Finally, we looked at Swifts which catch their prey with little whiskers next to their beaks. Swifts always return to the same nesting sites and they are in serious decline in the wild. We can help by putting Swift bricks in the eaves of houses, schools and other buildings or by putting up wooden swift boxes. This RSPB webpage gives lots of ideas about how you can help. by creating a home for swifts.Next, we went out onto the reserve to pay a visit to the family hide to see what we could see. Some of the things we saw were a Mediterranean Gull, a Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Pochard, Golden Eye, Cormorant, Black Headed Gulls and a Buzzard flying over the trees in the distance.
The photos below were all taken by George.
As we were going back, we passed the Tree Sparrow Farm hide and we saw quite a lot of birds. These included a Collared Dove, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and a whole family of Reed Buntings!
As we were getting closer to the end of our walk George and I stopped off at the garden hide and took a look at what was in the bird garden. We saw Bullfinches, Goldfinches and a Brambling. George has taken some amazing photos of these birds all on the same feeder together (see below)!
Then we went back to catch up with everybody else in the classroom. I made a few crafts including a tree made out of different pieces of patterned paper. The trunk was made out of swirly brown paper and the crown was made out of dotty green paper. I also painted some red glitter glue onto the crown of the tree to make it look like an apple tree.
The other craft I made was a mobile made out of rainbow paper. I also made a few aluminium foil flowers which I plan to tie on to my mobile.
Thank you to everyone who leaves nice comments about my blog, I really like reading them! Thank you especially to “Bridgeman” for giving me some great suggestions of new reserves to visit.
Nicola here again. I'm sure you'll agree that Freddie has written another wonderful blog about our WEX group. I'm sure that you will also agree that we have a budding photographer in George!
Next blog next month.
Another good read from Freddie and some great photos by George - especially getting a shot of the Med gull and the trio of finches. It’s always good to see brambling.
I hope you get to go to some of the other reserves you’ve not been to before. You’ll have to let us all know where you’ve been and what you saw.