The Squirrel Station: Friday 5th February

Hello Happy Hedgehogs and Super Squirrels

Welcome of Forest School

How has your first week of February 2021 been?

Thank you to those of you that completed the Big Bird Watch, I have submitted the results to the RSPB and together we have made even more progress towards our bronze certificate. We are over halfway now so well done! Let's see if we can complete enough challenges between us this week to achieve the bronze certificate.

Wild challenges to complete

As we have spent the last few weeks looking at and listening to birds I thought we could move on to looking at trees as these are so important to birds for many reasons. Can you think why? Not only do they provide food sources like nuts and berries but birds also like to build their nests in trees. February to August is the time of year that birds build their nests so you could start looking out on your walks to see if you can spot any birds' nests. If you do see any, please can you send me a picture? I shall be looking out on my walks and also at forest school to see if I can spot any.

Did you know Squirrels and Hedgehogs... that squirrels actually build nests in trees? Squirrels' nests are called dreys and they look like this. They are typically built where tree branches form a fork (like a V shape)

One of my favourite activities to complete outdoors is measuring the age of a tree. Did you know you can tell how old a tree is by cutting it down and counting the number of rings on the trunk? However, as some of you know we do not want to be cutting trees down to measure them so below is another method that you can try:

You can get a rough estimate of the age of a tree without cutting it down and counting the rings. The circumference of a tree can be used to estimate its age, as roughly a tree will increase its girth by 2.5cm in a year. So, simply measure around the trunk of the tree (the circumference) at about 1m from the ground. Make sure you measure to the nearest centimetre. Then divide the circumference by 2.5 (you may need to use a calculator to do this or ask an adult to help) to give an age in years. A tree with a 50cm circumference will therefore be about 20 years old.

Each week we usually consider the weather for various reasons. We may consider what clothing we need to wear or how the weather has made changes to our environment. I found an activity which you can do at home to observe changes in weather. You will need to find a pine cone before you can begin so you may look out for one when you go out for a walk. Where might you find a pine cone?

Pinecone weather gauge

A challenge for you squirrels (How to make a barometer). Hedgehogs, you are very welcome to try this one at home. It is a fun activity (adult support required).

I hope you have a super, duper weekend

Love from Miss Swain and Daphne