I've spent a couple of days this week supporting our field teachers, with two classes visiting us from Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School. The children have had a great time, learning about all sorts of nature, and lake dipping has probably been the most popular activity for the majority of them. Huge pond snails and leeches were the favourite finds.
The children learn to use a range of senses, and to help them listen, we start off with some "listening jewels". The children sit down, close their eyes, put the jewel to one ear, and listen for about a minute. Then we ask them what they heard. Some of the replies are quite predictable - a bird, a grasshopper, a bus, leaves rustling in the wind.
The evidence from this exercise is that either some children have very sharp hearing, perfectly tuned in for distant sounds or we have wildlife here that we've previously missed!
Visitors can try to locate all of these animals at any time, but listening jewels don't work for adults...